Resourcing Talent

This situation is worse for some business types. Collision shops, in particular, are struggling to find good people. And the bigger the business, the harder it is to find skilled staff.

This chart puts into hard numbers what many Members have been feeling across the industry: it’s harder to find skilled staff today than it was even a year ago.

• The number of Members who say they’re struggling to find skilled staff has leapt 10 percentage points in a year.
• Almost a third of Members are currently looking for staff and almost a quarter have unfilled positions.

As in previous years, larger businesses are facing more staffing challenges than smaller businesses, particularly when it comes to finding skilled staff.

• 55% of larger businesses say they’re struggling to find skilled staff and more than a third have unfilled positions. Only 28% say they’re adequately staffed.
• About the same number of mid-sized businesses say they’re adequately staffed (42%) as say they’re struggling to find staff (43%).
• Just over a quarter of small businesses say they’re struggling to find skilled staff.

How badly Members are affected by the skills shortage varies widely depending on what part of the aftermarket they operate in.

• A third of mechanical workshops are currently looking for staff and 44% say they’re struggling to find them.
• Collision shops are the most likely to struggle to find good staff (61%) and the least likely to be adequately staffed (22%).
• More than a third of tyre and suspension shops reported having vacancies, while more than half (53%) said they were struggling to find skilled staff.