Ennis & Co Group has told a House of Lords select committee that skills shortages are the biggest operational challenge facing automotive and mobility organisations, requiring strategic priority to ensure the sector is equipped to take advantage of transforming technologies and the net zero agenda.
The observation came as part of Ennis & Co’s written submission to the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into UK skills policy, with a focus on apprenticeships and training.
Drawing on insights from its recent research projects on industry skills gaps and its 15 years’ experience of sector engagement as automotive executive search specialists, Ennis & Co recommended that:
- Skills should become a strategic priority, owned by everyone around the boardroom table
- Skills gaps should be quantified with targets and commercial measures, tracked and acted upon.
- Organisations should focus on skills, not job titles, when developing resourcing plans with the flexibility to enable transfer and upskilling in a fast-moving environment.
- Businesses should enshrine DE&I in their skills strategies to access the widest possible talent pool.
The inquiry, led by committee chair Baroness Taylor of Bolton, has received written and oral evidence from businesses, industry bodies and academics to examine whether the UK’s current systems and policies for apprenticeships and in-work training are working well or in need of reform.
In its 3,000-word submission, Ennis & Co outlined the findings of its 2022 white paper, The Skills Evolution Roadmap 2025, which put forward a route out of the skills shortages being experienced across the automotive industry based on interviews with 44 senior leaders.
This involved building a skill strategy around three distinct career stages – early career, mid-career and late career – each of which requires different types of engagement and resources to support skills development.
The submission also described how, in the next stage of research – The Cost of Your Skills Gap– Ennis & Co developed a model to quantify the commercial benefit for organisations of investing in skills development as well as the risk of not investing.
Ennis & Co’s evidence then drilled down into the specific skills that were in most demand within the industry, including technician skills, advanced digital and software expertise, and skills in data science, e-commerce and multiple areas of engineering (software, electrical, electronic, chemical and mechanical).
Lynda Ennis, Founder and CEO of Ennis & Co Group, welcomed the opportunity to provide evidence to the select committee based on the group’s specialist knowledge of the automotive and mobility sector.
She said: “The inquiry is looking generally at the skills landscape in the UK and I felt it was important to fly the flag for automotive given the huge importance of the sector to the UK economy.
“We know from our research and our day-to-day engagement with senior executives that organisations are having to deal with key skills shortages and are competing for talent with other sectors.
“Training and development offer a pathway to retain and attract talent, but this requires investment and commitment at board level, as well as a clear strategy around future skills requirements.”
