A PERIOD OF UNCERTAINTY
In a time of the cost-of-living crisis and labour shortage being huge factors of everyday life, we reflected on the deciding factors why people change careers in general.
The cost-of-living crisis is of course the rise in household bills, stretching people’s wages even further which is a struggle, especially for those already in difficult circumstances. It has been reported by our charity partners Turning Tides that more people than ever face homelessness as a consequence of this. This significantly raises the question for a lot of people whether to look into increasing their wages, either by secondary employment or changing jobs completely.
LARGEST INDUSTRIES HIT
Labour shortage is also prevalent in many industry sectors. The National Statistics reported the biggest sectors of labour shortage being printing services reducing by 44%, Metal Forming, Welding and Related Trades by -40%, Elementary Cleaning Occupations by -36%, Construction and Building Trades by -15% and Electrical and Electronic Trades -10% (Change between 12 months to September 2016 and 12 months to September 2021).
The shortage is a mixture of Brexit and Covid related conditions. Interestingly centring down on The National Statistics report on Construction and Building Trades all areas in the UK have seen a decrease. The South West has seen the least amount of change with a decrease of 0.6 with London being hit the hardest with a decrease of 36%. The trades industry has been hit over the last 5/6 years, inclusive of divisions which effect the rail industry but there have also been some steady industries such as engineering and transport associate
professionals.
CAREER CHANGE POLL RESULTS
Results of a recent poll we did on LinkedIn looked into the factors of changing careers, out of 52 votes 56% chose the most important factor for them at this moment as ‘career progression and wage’. The second was ‘working from home and flexibility’ 33%. Other options of ‘great online employer reviews’ and ‘meet colleagues/environment’ scored 10% and under.
Looking at these factors it’s obvious that working from home and remotely during Covid and the flexibility this brought people is still on everyone’s minds as people realised this work balance benefited them, now being a factor in changing careers.
Furthermore, career progression and wage although have always been major factors in career change decisions it’s still important to look at the factor of it being predominately still top of people’s agendas. Specifically for filling job roles, it’s important to factor in what is important to career changers when persuading the best people in the industry and what can be catered for in the position in the rail industry.
HOW WE ARE SUPPORTING THE RAIL INDUSTRY SHORTAGE
“A labour shortage and training are the biggest concerns within the rail industry. Due to multi-billion-pound government investment in rail infrastructure, there is a growing need to train new people into the industry. A study by City & Guilds and the National Skills Academy for Rail (NSAR), revealed that 28 per cent of rail employees are over 50 and 120,000 people will need to be recruited over the next decade. The impacts of Brexit and Covid have not helped this. By working with our clients and planning ahead we will look to organise training for those with past rail experience to help develop and grow our workforce enabling us to deliver for our clients when called upon.”
Ray Higgins
The main qualifications we can advise on are the ICI course (Industry Common Induction) combined with the London Underground induction and the National Rail induction. Operatives who pass the induction will also need a valid medical and D&A test.
To do these courses you will need a sponsor which is where we can assist you further as an approved sponsor. With the right notice, we ensure operatives are trained on time, and ready for when the work commences, making sure candidates have paid their course fees to achieve the required certification.