LKQ Euro Car Parts Blog - February 2023: Fixing the skills gap starts with retaining talent

Date: Monday 27 February 2023

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The UK’s labour market is as tight as it has ever been. There are simply not enough people in the employment market to meet demand.

As a result, those with vocations – like teachers and nurses – are finding they have other options once they tire of difficult working conditions and poor remuneration. 

Both professions face big talent shortages made increasingly more difficult by people leaving in droves.

The aftermarket is not immune to this trend, and it too is already under-resourced, especially when it comes to new talent entering the sector.

This makes retention and engagement essential to both preventing the skills gap from becoming any greater and in demonstrating to young people that they can choose a career in which they will be rewarded, looked after, and developed.

Pay is obviously key and labour rates in the sector have probably been trending below where they should be relative to inflation in the wider economy. I’m sure many garages and bodyshops have already acted here or are considering changes for the new financial year ahead.

But it is just the start. A tight labour market creates higher expectations for nice working environments and for employers to invest in personal and professional progression.  

Meanwhile, the younger generation entering the workforce have a very different perception of what employers should offer in terms of flexibility and a work life balance even when compared to the much-maligned millennials, who are now approaching middle age.

Now it’s true that most people don’t chose to become technicians because of the opportunities to work from home a few days a week or for free flat whites when they’re in the office. In much the same way that you don’t become a teacher or nurse for the pay and benefits.

It is, largely, a profession people chose because they have an interest or passion in cars.

Though as the alarming trend of nurses leaving their jobs to stack shelves in supermarkets shows, there is a limit to how much people will endure.

This isn’t to say that conditions are terrible in the aftermarket. But it’s something we need to think about.

Garage and workshop owners need to ask themselves if they are good bosses – do they keep people happy, are conditions safe and comfortable, do they train their people and offer flexibility?

I can speak from our own experience here. Over the past few years, we in LKQ Euro Car Parts have heavily invested time, energy and resources into becoming a better employer because we weren’t always as good as we needed to be.

We’ve worked hard to address this, from the conditions in our branches and distribution centres to the opportunities for training and progression pathways throughout our business. 

The job isn’t complete, in truth it never is, but we’ve made great strides towards becoming a much better place to work. As a result, we now find it easier to hang on to good people and to attract more in.

The independent aftermarket has some unique advantages in terms of what it can offer, from professional technical qualifications in an increasingly sophisticated and specialist area, to having lower barriers to entry for people becoming their own bosses.

This is a specific area garage and bodyshop owners nearer retirement could focus on, by training a potential successor with business as well as technical skills so that this person might one day buy and run their business rather than pulling the shutters down on retirement. 

The industry can’t rely on the good will of those with a passion for car engines forever. It must be able retain and attract the best talent and that starts with a great employee experience.

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