Aftermarket May 2022

W ith staff recruitment and retention a key issue for the sector, Autotech Group’s recent Talent Recharge event, held at the Red Bull MK-7 conference centre on the Red Bull Campus, Milton Keynes, provided a forum for the industry to discuss the issues. The tagline to the event was: ‘How to gain, train and retain automotive talent,’ and that was exactly what was discussed. First up was Autotech Group Gavin White, who explained the purpose of the day: “What I wanted to do was bring the industry together and talk about what has been on everybody’s lips.” Namely, staff recruitment, and staff retention. Gavin continued: “For the past four years everyone has asked me if I have a solution. And I ask them do you have a recruitment strategy? They say no. Do you have a recruitment budget? They say no.” According to Gavin, while businesses in the industry often see themselves as being in competition with other businesses in their sector, and that sector in competition with other sectors in the industry, the truth is that co- operation is the way forward: “We are all after the same people but this industry is being beaten to the punch by windfarms, and many other industries. No matter if we are dealers, garages or bodyshops, we need to work together.” On how the market looks at present, Gavin observed: “It 56 AFTERMARKET MAY 2022 ON THE ROAD www.aftermarketonline.net The skills crisis continues to grow in the sector, and a recent event was held to open discussion and look for answers TALENT RECHARGE: PLUGGED INTO NEW IDEAS? is a candidate-owned market, but the candidates are passive. They are not changing jobs. 91% of garages said they found it really hard to recruit post pandemic and Brexit. 88% of garages said in the future, recruiting candidates would be come harder. 70% said the skills shortage is holding their business back. 92% of candidates said they would be more invested if they were listened to properly.” Winding up for now, Gavin added: “The future starts today for us. We need to come together, and move forward and come up with strategies. We need to look at getting into schools, saying if you want to work in IT or in tech you can work in the motor sector. We do a lot of work around Milton Keynes, which has motor manufacturer HQ and F1 companies, but in the schools they don’t know they are here.” Think forward Compere and host for the day was James Osborne, The Recruitment Network, who observed: “We need to think forward, think about where our market is and get there today, not tomorrow. Some of you might be competitors, but you need to work together. Together we can make a big difference.” He went onto introduce Marc ‘Elvis’ Priestly, broadcaster and former team mechanic with McLaren, whose Above: Autotech Group CEO Gavin White addresses the event