People in Manufacturing
20th November 2023
Recruiting, employing and managing people, has never been more challenging, especially in manufacturing.
Expectations means changing jobs is faster than ever
The manufacturing sector in the UK has always played a vital role in the nation's economy, providing employment and driving growth. Attracting a younger generation employees has progressively become more difficult as manufacturers compete with new jobs, offering flexible hours and hybrid working. Younger generations are also less patient about promotion, this often means people are constantly leaving and changing not only jobs, but wanting to explore careers options in other industries. As a result, people are changing jobs and moving into new roles at a rate unimaginable pre-covid. Employees, especially in manufacturing, have more leverage than ever before. There needs to be a different approach to attracting, on-boarding and retaining key talent, especially amongst the younger generations.
With the right strategies in place, these challenges can be overcome
I've worked in manufacturing production logistics HR in the automotive sector for approaching a decade, and it's regarded as one of the most challenging environments to recruit for. As a part of our remit, we supply a flexing labour force, which means we rely on agency workers to meet the demands of ebb and flow. Understanding why people take on agency work is at the heart of our strategy. For some, agency work is about the convenience, whilst others it's bringing a gap between what they consider career options. I understand this as when I'd completed my degree, I took on agency work. The key to R&HA's employment success, is we understand the drivers of agency work. We’ve have a clear process, and made sure that people working as agency with us can see 'their opportunities' to develop a career in our business. At the same time, we have processes where we can spot talent and good attitude in agency workers. Applying the right strategies helps us to spot those who want to upskill and want to access training programs to develop a career. This helps us create a pipeline of workers for the future.
Nobody ever left school saying I want a career in logistics!
Most people in logistics stumble into it as they take on temporary agency work and are given jobs as a warehouse operative. Whether seasonal work to supplement their income or just to tide them over between jobs while they seek a better career move. Logistics and supply chain careers are often-overlooked but the logistics industry plays a huge role in our economy. A career in logistics can potentially offer great opportunities for personal development. This is why logistics is often the surprising career path for many who took a short-term temporary agency job in a warehouse.
The importance of having dedicated logistics in manufacturing
With the exception of automotive manufacturing, most manufacturers in the UK have fuzzy boundaries between manufacturing and production logistics. Job roles aren’t clear and as a result there is little expertise in production logistics. This means the opportunity for personal development in the roles which are regarded as low skilled are typically overlooked. Plus those with manufacturing expertise spend precious hours performing logistics operations. Yet these entry level logistics roles are the ones easiest to recruit and train for, which is why they could be the perfect pipeline for recruiting - with the right strategy.
Back to Insights
Here’s how the 360 onsite logistics audit and assessment works!
Put us to the test, what have you got to lose?
Contact us for a FREE ‘on site' logistics audit – carried out under a non disclosure agreement - our findings will be reported in full confidence and will provide a detailed analysis of where savings and improvements can be made.
There’s only one condition - you must be UK based and be operating in the automotive sector, with a head count of around 25 - 30 or more operating in logistics roles.