Who wants to work?
22 August 2023
Everywhere you look, from social media and newspapers to roadside billboards and company websites, organisations are trying to recruit personnel. And it’s been like this for a long time as the overall number of job vacancies has seemingly outstripped potential applicants.
Also, there are a record 2.58 million people who are economically inactive owing to long-term sickness, which is 449,000 up since the pandemic appeared in January 2020. Perhaps it’s another post-Covid paradox, but it means fewer people are seeking employment.
So throughout all industry, recruitment is a major challenge and the hire sector is no exception. In fact, this market is probably even more impacted given the need for hirers to offer a combination of technical know-how, customer engagement and commitment to service.
I did a quick ring-round recently amongst some hirers and industry suppliers to gauge their experiences. And the consensus is that recruitment is tough – very tough.
“We have vacancies all the time in engineering, sales and factory roles and it’s very difficult to fill them,” said Andrew Fishburn, Snorkel’s Vice President Sales for UK & EMEA whose European HQ and manufacturing base is in Washington, Tyne & Wear. “I think youngsters in particular have specific expectations of what they want to do, and they don’t want to work in this industry sector.”
Peter Beach, MD of Genquip Groundhog, said that “It’s not too difficult recruiting for office jobs but finding people to work in our Port Talbot factory is a real nightmare. We’re several personnel down at the moment. And occasionally, someone will start in the morning but by lunchtime they’ll have walked out – this must happen on average once a month.
“They say that assembling and fabricating our welfare units is too hard. They didn’t realise it would be ‘this difficult’. Yet our modern factory is a great, friendly place to work and learn in.”
Peter also believes that the benefits system can work negatively, with some people losing certain entitlements if they work above a stipulated number of hours.
“The irony is that we spend money on advertising for people, they turn up for an interview, tour the factory, accept the job, go through an induction, get kitted out with PPE and everything else they need, only for them to pack it in,” he added.
Thankfully, other Genquip Groundhog recruits do show more commitment and enthusiasm, but Peter’s experiences are echoed by Neil Richardson, MD of ThinkHire which manufactures and hires solar and hybrid power generation equipment. He told me that the company could recruit up to a dozen personnel for their recently opened factory in Oldham, and for other new roles in the expanding business, if they could only find them.
ThinkHire obviously makes products incorporating cutting-edge technology, from solar panels and battery packs, to telematics portals and monitoring software, so employees learn skills that will set themselves up for a long career in the net zero-related industries that will underpin much of the drive towards greater sustainability. But again, in the past new recruits have joined the business only to quit soon afterwards, saying the work is too challenging.
Tim Garland, MD of Elvington Plant Hire near York, told me that the company has been actively looking to fill vacancies for fitters and mechanics from the start of this year, especially as business has been particularly brisk in recent months, but it has proved very difficult.
“We advertised again recently using an online service and received ten replies, only two of which were relevant. One person came for an interview but turned the job down because they decided it was too far travel – so why apply in the first place? A second candidate is currently working for another hire business and is looking at other options, too.
“And it’s hard to find apprentices. It seems young people don’t want to get up early, do the hours or work outside.”
Tim, however, said that one unexpected bright spot has been recruiting truck drivers. “This time last year it was almost impossible, but I advertised recently and was inundated with 25 applications. We’ll virtually be able to pick and choose,” he said.
Keith Hallam, Trading Director – Tool Hire with Yeovil-based Bradfords Building Supplies, agreed that it can be particularly challenging to fill mechanical and driver/fitter roles with people who have the necessary experience and commitment.
“They just don’t seem to be out there. We obviously advertise and list the job requirements, but many applicants are from quite different backgrounds, such as fast food restaurants or basic caring roles. Fair play to them, they want to improve themselves and get a career but they have no relevant expertise.
“We need someone who is hands-on as soon as they land. And when you mention that there might be occasional Saturday morning working, many just don’t want to do it.
“It can be really difficult. And it’s ironic because once many people work in hire they simply love it and they find it a great industry,” said Keith. “It’s a question of attracting them in the first place and giving them the chance to experience it.
“During Covid, I think people were initially reluctant to move because of future uncertainty. Things eventually improved but now I think many are thinking about inflation, interest rates and energy costs and preferring to stay where they are. Thankfully, however, we have a good team here at Bradfords and staff turnover is low.”
On a more positive note, Brett Thompson, MD of Alide Hire Services which is based in Bristol and has three depots, reports fewer recruitment challenges. “We think our rates of pay are competitive and many years ago we stopped opening on a Saturday. We’ve been fortunate recently that a couple of people who left to go elsewhere came back to us. We also introduced a 40-hour working week just before Covid and it works well.”
David Turner, Marketing Director at regional hirer Smiths Equipment Hire based in Blackpool, said that recruitment “has probably never been as challenging as it is now. Generally there are a lot of jobs out there but businesses say they are not finding the right calibre of people. So any potential employer has to make sure they stand out.”
He adds that this is also important in order to keep good people who are already in a business, and I’ll be posting a separate item about Smiths’ experiences in this regard in the future. Indeed, as Diane Banister, MD of the Intelligent Dialogue training and personnel development consultancy told me recently, “retention is the new recruitment” as key personnel are worth their weight in gold.
However, finding those people remains a challenging prospect. There may be glimmers of a slight overall improvement, with the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics for April to June showing that employment and job vacancies had fallen slightly, while unemployment and redundancies were up. Perhaps more people will have a greater pressing need to find new work against a background of rising interest rates and inflation.
But whatever the broader situation, hirers – as in any other business sector – will need to differentiate themselves and stand out from the rest as being somewhere a candidate would want to work for. Again, more about that in a future blog post.
Meanwhile, what are your recruitment experiences? Let me know.
Photo: Jason Leung
