Engineering companies struggle to find staff

An Institution of Engineering and Technology product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jul 10, 2007

The Institution of Engineering and Technology has warned that staff shortages experienced by engineering and technology companies in the UK may threaten growth and even UK competitiveness.

The IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) has revealed that more than 70% of engineering and technology companies in the UK are struggling to recruit experienced or mid career level staff.

Furthermore, the shortage of these skills has the potential to threaten growth and even UK competitiveness the IET warned.

The findings from the IET's annual skills survey of 500 business partners also showed that leadership skills were the most lacking among experienced staff, with a quarter of respondents stating that typical recruits did not meet their expectations.

Building on information obtained in 2006, The IET's latest survey reveals that although the engineering and technology sector is still growing and recruiting, only 56% of respondents believed that they would be able to recruit enough people into engineering and technical roles this year, a fall from 65% in 2006.

Robin McGill, Chief Executive of the IET said: "The difficulty in recruiting experienced staff has the potential to hinder or stifle growth and is a problem that cannot be easily or quickly addressed".

"Experience cannot be taught".

"In addition to qualifications and professional registration, businesses need to be investing more in the continued professional development of their staff to ensure that they retain and attract new recruits and successfully tackle the shortage of candidates at mid career level".

"It's not all down to business though".

"Getting science and technology in our education system right must be one of the first challenges the Brown government addresses".

When asked about the reasons for having difficulty in recruiting suitable candidates in the engineering and technology sector over the next four years 35% said shortages with specific skills, closely followed by lack of suitably qualified candidates (29%) and candidates lacking the right experience (20.3%).

Only 14.5% said that being unable to offer a sufficient salary would be a factor in recruiting staff in four years time.

In addition to leadership, practical, technical and communication skills were also areas where reasonable skills expectations had not been met among graduates, school leavers and experienced staff.

Ian Smith, Regional Senior Vice President, Oracle UK, Ireland and Israel, said: "The UK has a great heritage in engineering and technology, which we cannot throw away, but in today's global economy it is not enough to have technical skills and expect to be competitive".

"Having the capabilities of a leader with the vision to innovate products and services is critical to differentiating UK companies".

"We need to be creating a generation of entrepreneurial engineers and technologists, who are encouraged to take risks and explore new markets, because it is the only way this country will find new industries to sustain growth and economic well being".

The IET's survey also revealed that almost 90% of UK companies had to provide additional training to address knowledge or skills gaps of new recruits of all levels.