Manufacturing leaders threaten to quit over skills
1 min read
British manufacturing is threatened with a mass exodus of executives because companies aren't doing enough to help improve their skills, a report published this week has revealed.
The 2013 Harvey Nash Manufacturing Leadership survey shows that 40% of executive staff in the sector are planning to switch jobs because they believe they are being starved of skills.
Sector skills organisation Semta, which helped produce the report, is urging employers to invest in training and grow their own, more loyal, talent through apprenticeships.
The report also showed that hiring staff is proving problematic with around 10,000 hard-to-fill vacancies every year mainly due to skills shortages.
Semta CEO Sarah Sillars (pictured) said: "For the last three years business leaders surveyed have cited their top operational concerns as an inability to recruit good people and a lack of available skilled workers.
"Money may be tight right now but skills gaps and shortages impact on companies' ability to deliver and stay competitive. It's clear employers risk losing experienced staff unless they invest in skills."
The report also provides an insight into how little is being done to increase the number of women working in manufacturing and engineering. Of those surveyed, almost three quarters said their organisation was not actively trying to increase the number of women employees within their business.
