At Made in Group’s latest breakfast morning, on 25th January 2023, more than 20 of the 50 members who attended were most interested in discussing people and skills in business. This resulted in two 30 minute breakout room discussions on the topic of ‘Optimising Skill Set in Business’. Both conversations were led by patrons of the Made in Group, 2.0 was held by Tom Harris from OGL & Wavenet - patron of Made in the Midlands.
Made in Group members can get involved in discussion groups to share insights with other manufacturers on current and relevant issues. Made in Group consists of Made in the Midlands and Made in Yorkshire, industry associations hosted on the Made Platform. Made is a private digital network for manufacturers and their industry influencers to share experiences.
In the latest Made in Group Virtual Breakfast Morning, multiple business individuals from a variety of sectors took part in a group discussion on Optimising Skill Set in Business. This included leaders from manufacturing firms based in the Midlands and Yorkshire.
Around 40 other members of the Made in Group also took part in roundtable discussions on topics: Internet of Things (IoT), Sustainable Manufacturing and Managing International Relationships. The discussions gave members the opportunity to share their challenges/successes, and to inspire and educate each other. All of the roundtables are condensed into short blog posts for other business leaders to consider and for Made members to reflect on. All of the blogs are published to the Made in Group websites - madeinthemidlands.com and madeinyorkshire.com.
In this week's discussion second session on optimising skills, members were asked two questions to uncover insight on what is happening within the industry when it comes to people and skills, directly from industry leaders themselves. The first question was:
What is the biggest struggle for businesses trying to recruit fresh talent?
Many members agreed that patience is a key measure, many businesses recruiting expect new people to be polished and as skilled as the people that have worked within the business for years. However one of the major challenges members are struggling with is the luxury of a handover period, where businesses pay two people to the same job for training purposes. This alongside salary expectations being higher due to the cost of living can make it difficult to recruit the right people.
A possible solution to this could be apprenticeship schemes, for those willing to learn. In order to attract talent members agreed that a good salary is just as important as employer branding with a clear progression and success plan.
This led conversation in nicely to next question of the session which was:
How can the UK make manufacturing more attractive?
One of the major things members agreed on in both discussion groups on the topic of optimising skill sets, is the need for more manufacturers to get involved with promoting the sector to schools. This includes visiting schools more regularly, doing more online to promote themselves as an employer of choice and helping to eliminate the ideology that manufacturing is a ‘dirty job’. Members also discussed that there should be more of a focus on retaining people that they have trained, creating a better working environment and investing in them.
Join our next virtual breakfast morning to be part of the conversation on 22nd February 2023, sign up below:
https://madeinthemidlands.com/events/backing-britain-virtual-breakfast-morning-7