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TRAINING
Phil Jones, Managing Director of
Brother UK, says that Brother hasn’t
suffered from the skills shortage, but
has found recruitment harder, largely
due to economic factors.
“From 2008 to 2014, it was more
difficult to recruit new staff with an
appropriate skillset, as post-recession
people tended to stay put in their roles.
However, the market is clearly moving
again as the number of new job titles and
moves that come through on LinkedIn each
day is increasing rapidly,” he said.
The Midshire Group and Office
Evolution say that they, too, have been
largely unaffected so far, though it
is something they have had to make
allowances for.
Office Evolution Director Matt Goodall
notes that the biggest impact has been
the requirement to plan further in advance
when looking for new staff, particularly
within the technical area of the business.
“There is no longer a steady stream of
office equipment technicians sending
in CVs,” he said. “Instead we have to
find similar skill sets and then train staff
accordingly.”
Julian Stafford, Director of Midshire
Business Systems Northern, says that
staff levels and any potential gaps are
addressed at board level every month. “We
try to predict and foresee any future issues
before they arise,” he said.
Other companies have been affected in
more material ways. Eric Shackleton, Sales
Director of RDT Office Solutions Group,
said: “We hit the skills shortage barrier
early last year and our business came
up short on delivering the right message
to potential clients. We went through a
period when we just moved copiers with
no solution attached. Some members of
the sales team had not fully understood
the various software offerings and could
not converse confidently with the client, so
basically they ended up just selling a box.”
Shackleton adds that this skills gap had
affected the firm’s ability to differentiate
itself as a solutions-led business. “We were
just like any other supplier for a while, by
not providing devices with some sort of
document capture, document management
or monitoring software to enable the client
and us to have total control,” he said.
Recruitment challenges
Whether as a consequence of the skills
shortage or people’s tendency to stay
put during a recession, businesses like
Brother have had to work hard to attract
experienced trade sales people and
marketers.
“We are a
Times Top 100 Place to
Work
and also recently secured Investors
in People Gold accreditation, the highest
there is,” explained Jones. “We're investing
a lot in training and development,
workplace layout and employee
recognition programmes.”
Vision, too, has found it difficult to
recruit people with the correct skill levels.
Operations Director Mark Smyth said:
“Vision’s Services business has been
The much talked about skills crisis is seen as one of the biggest
challenges facing the UK economy, holding back growth and
limiting productivity. But what effect is it having on the printer
industry and what are suppliers doing to bridge the skills gap?
Bridging the
skills gap
actively sourcing additional, highly skilled
resource with printing and document
management core capabilities. The
process, whilst very important, is very time
consuming and it has been a challenge
at times to identify the right candidates,
although we are now on plan with the
targeted headcount for this fiscal year
based on our year-on-year growth.”
Shackleton points out that whilst there
are good people out there, once they are
established at another supplier it’s unusual
for them to move on unless there is a nice
financial reward, and even then they may
not be persuaded to leave.
“Right now we have a full complement
of staff, sales are buoyant and we are
selling good quantities of units, all
with some sort of solution attached or
embedded. If we are struggling anywhere,
it is in finding good data cleaners,
telephone marketing people and telesales
staff. Currently employed people will not
move on; they are worth their weight in
gold and unless suitably rewarded, they
will not leave their current place of work,”
he said.
He adds that, as a result, it is becoming
more necessary to provide appropriate
training to new recruits. “We found
that recruiting new staff with the right
motivation and eagerness to learn the skill
sets needed to succeed in this industry
was the better approach. We teach them,
we show them and allow them to educate
themselves in respect of the skills they
require to grow into true professionals,”
he said.
Office Evolution’s Matt Goodall says
that whilst recruiting new staff has not
been a major issue for Office Evolution, it
has got harder and more expensive as the
business’s offering has evolved. “Although
potential new staff are happy to join us,
they seek a salary that is higher, due to an
Continued...
Phil Jones,
Managing Director,
Brother UK
There is no
longer a
steady stream
of office
equipment
technicians
sending in
CVs. Instead
we have to
find similar
skill sets and
train staff
accordingly.
Matt Goodall,
Director,
Office Evolution
