Manufacturing in a Hiring Crisis?

Article by Tony Williams , Business Manager - Manufacturing, Warehousing & Logistics.

Having spent the past 10 years of my career working within FMCG Manufacturing sector I like to keep abreast of the current industry news. I was alarmed to recently read in the Food Manufacturer online about the challenges of hiring new talent in the Food & Drink Manufacturing sector. It reported that more than a third of UK manufacturers reported hiring new talent was one of their biggest challenges only to be made worse that businesses expect to lose an additional 25% of their workforce over the next 5 years due to things like retirement and more than half (53%) unable to replace the lost knowledge when skilled professionals leave or retire. The largest manufacturing sector in the UK and most critical manufacturing sector, which makes the products that we rely on daily, is facing a recruitment catastrophe.

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Was this alarming, yes! A shock, well no! Factors such as historic underinvestment/promotion into Apprenticeship programs and STEM-based qualifications, which have stifled the development of new talent into the industry are nothing new. Plus an ageing workforce hurtling towards retirement has been a hot topic issue for years. But these challenges have been further compounded in the past 4 years due to the pandemic, war in Ukraine, escalation in energy costs, and increased insurance. All of this has led to inflation and resulted in wages having to rise to meet inflation, further adding to increasing costs for most manufacturers, which are constantly being challenged by retailers and consumers to cut costs and keep prices low on supermarket shelves. It’s a constant challenge to balance the books between keeping your staff happy and keeping the customer/consumer happy, whilst trying to make a profit.

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Many of the clients I speak with are constantly struggling to find talent, often asking for information on what the candidate market is like. What salaries and benefits are on offer? What working conditions are other businesses offering - from shift patterns to hybrid or remote models, all with an aim to stay one step ahead of the competition, which is a positive step and approach, but just often takes too long to implement to attract the talent that’s out there now.?

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Many are shifting towards implementing internal recruitment teams to do their recruitment directly to save costs over their historic agency spend, but this can prove to be a false economy. Several former colleagues who have moved into internal recruitment say their job is taken up in meetings with managers to discuss recruitment rather than actually finding people. Or the business has not invested in the adequate resources to ‘source’ the best talent in the market, just having to rely on what comes in via ad response, which is more than often not the right talent, let alone the best talent in the market. You see it regularly with business recruiting pages and pages of vacancies for months and months, not allowed to go out for external support, to the frustration of the hiring manager who is losing productivity and money having a vacancy which remains unfilled and mainly having to pay out more in overtime to plug the gap.

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Whilst businesses have embraced and increased graduate schemes, sponsoring STEM degree qualifications and upping their apprenticeships, these will all take time to come to fruition. What can you do about your staff shortage now? A few tips to factor in to attract and recruit the best talent.

• Be Transparent: Many businesses advertise roles as competitive! This is a huge red flag to a candidate! Be honest and say what salary is on offer if you want people to apply, if you don’t then candidates just scroll past your adverts.
• Remuneration: Are you paying market level? I know this isn’t always possible for SME businesses compared with the larger blue chip companies. Whilst money is important, it's not always down to salary. What else can you offer in terms of benefits? Working hours, hybrid/remote working, pension, realistic bonuses, promotion opportunities. These other elements can carry the same if not more weight than basic salary alone.
• Be Reactive!: The biggest killer to any recruitment process is time! Process dragging on, sitting on applications for days if not weeks, delays in interviews, no feedback for weeks. It’s a jungle out there with the best talent being snapped up, so you don’t have time to procrastinate. People won’t wait and they will leave the process with a bitter taste.?
• Don’t Low Ball!: You’ve done the hard work and found the ideal candidate. Congratulations! So why then insult them by paying less than what was on offer and therefore from the outset stating that you don’t value them? The amount of time lost on the recruitment process due to business lowballing a candidate to save a couple of grand on the salary and losing the candidate they want and having to start from scratch. How much have you lost by not having that position filled? More than you were trying to save I bet and that cost keeps increasing the more you fail to fill the vacancy. Not to mention the damage to your reputation and brand! The industry might employ 450,000 across the UK, but it's still a very close-knit industry and word gets around.

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But if you’re reading this article and the above is ringing true and you find yourself struggling, then why not get in touch with me to discuss your challenges? With over 10 years of FMCG Recruitment experience throughout the UK, I can support you with job descriptions, salary benchmarking, proactive sourcing and headhunting of the right calibre of talent, selling and promoting your business as well as supporting and managing the recruitment process from start to finish on your behalf. There is no cost or risk in a discussion, so what do you have to lose? Instead, you might just benefit as a business, getting that pesky vacancy filled which currently is costing you more and more money to have vacant…..give me a call!

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