13 replies to this topic

[mab01uk]

 

[bpirie1000]

Would be a greatjob. Alittle longer travel to work for me i am affraid...

Good luck finding staff....

[Stevie W]

Oh, the dream job if ever there was one!!!

[Icey]

I live locally and like using Somerford but what’s missing here is the pay. From memory they’re offering less than £30k a year for experienced staff.

Like every industry, it’s not that no one wants the work, it’s that no one wants the work for the rates of pay on offer. Offer £100k and you’d be fighting off experienced staff. But like they say, that would likely result in an untenable business.

What also doesn’t help is the instability in the industry. No one wants to train for years to earn less than £30k and be at risk of redundancy every time there’s a wobble in the wider economy.

[Lowestoftmodder]

Rents and mortgages keep rising and the cost of living (buying essentials etc) is rampantly increasing.
People will work at a shop checkout if it pays marginally better than an interesting job because they have to.. it’s not a choice for most of us.

Local semi skilled jobs are paying less than Aldi and Lidl store workers get yet the businesses say they can’t get the staff
It’s funny that the bosses of these companies drive very expensive cars and live in very large houses in very wealthy areas.. perhaps the ever increasing wealth divide in the uk (greed divide) has come back to bite some people on the @$$

I for one would rather empty bins for the extra couple of quid an hr than work in a semi skilled/skilled position at a local garage.
Hell even emptying dog bins in my area pays better than some highly skilled jobs.

Pay better, less top end greed?

Edited by Lowestoftmodder, 29 April 2023 - 08:17 AM.

[whistler]

Saw this was coming when they disbanded the RTIB and totally discredited trade apprenticeships. Friend of mine is a senior tech in a multi franchise garage and he despairs at the 'apprentices' he's given to train up. Most haven't got a clue when it comes to spanner work. They don't tend to stay long.

[Bobs2293]

Somerford have done work on my Mini in the past. The quality of their work is superb!
 

Trying to find one single person who can weld,paint and rebuild an engine is so difficult these days. 
 

No good apprentiships for many years now. (they have an apprentice). It’s finally becoming a problem. 
 

They obviously can’t pay someone silly money. Otherwise they’d charge £200 an hour and have no customers. 
 

I feel for them! 
 

No one is being trained in good vocational careers here and they can no longer get the skills from Europe. 

[mab01uk]

Its the same in the manufacturing industry I have worked in for 45+ years. I'm a Mechanical Design Engineer, started as an apprentice in the 1970's and am now working past retirement age....but companies keep paying me more to stay as they can't find experienced new recruits and most of the youngsters have degrees but in obscure subjects that are no use to many employers....mainly since Tony Blair encouraged every youngster to go to University and get a degree no matter how useless the subject matter was for getting a job at the end. Now we have too few time served younger engineers or tradesmen....

Even Blair's own son now says the former Prime Minister's pledge to send half of all young people to university is a failure. He said: "When you look at the 50 percent target, the belief was the more people go to university, the more people can access great opportunities, the more we would transition people fairly from full time education to full time employment. It has not worked out that way. Lots of students end up in jobs deemed to be low skilled that would not need a degree in the first place. Euan Blair believes schools should place an equal emphasis on the benefits of apprenticeships as they do on going to universities. He also criticised school league tables for failing to give credence to apprenticeships. What we are saying is there are lots of young people applying to university but a significant number are applying simply because they think it is the thing they are supposed to do and that is the route they have heard about through teachers or read about in the media."

 

[Designer]

When I trained for my trade, carpenter/joiner, there was a young lad who found it very difficult to do the theory and back ground learning of the trade and therefore did not do very well when it came to written test papers. But he was by far the best at all the practical work and went on to become a sort after carpenter/joiner. A man who absolutely loved his trade even with his lack of skills in theoretical stuff and if I could not take on a job as too busy I would put his name forward.

[68+86auto]

I am on a non mini forum and one of the members worked for them and if I remember correctly he chose to leave, I wonder why.

[Midas Mk1]

I live locally and like using Somerford but what’s missing here is the pay. From memory they’re offering less than £30k a year for experienced staff.

.

This. You get and keep good skilled staff paying the right wage, looking back on my earlier career I was taken advantage of loyalty & skill set vs pay, never again.

Lesson learnt.

Edited by Midas Mk1, 30 April 2023 - 01:45 PM.

[Lucas1988]

I'm in a slightly different industry, i'm a steeplejack but we have had this issue for over 10 yrs, to be honest cover just highlighted the issue more. we've got more work than we can realistically handle and have a very good reputation for the work we do, most people realise that if they want us to come and do a job for them they have to either pay to jump the queue or wait until we can fit them.

 

unfortunately the biggest issue we have in this country is as the original post mentions the difference between what we should be getting paid and what we as companies can realistically afford is not in line.

 

i have a number of friends who have left and gone to other parts of the world which pay what they think is realistic pay for the work and hours they do. i must say I'm sorely tempted. most of them are skilled trades who have spent years training to be met with unrealistic timeframes and working hours, when you go to places like aus and nz and can expect to be paid more than double for half the hours its not really a hard decision when most other countries give you massive grants to set up shop as well as grow their industries.

 

good luck to all other industries but its about time to sit up and realise if you want to recruit staff and keep them pay has to be at the correct level with good benefits and you will retain said staff after your training, it goes without saying that if you become an accredited training provider you will set a standard for other companies to train to so will increase the amount and standard  of staff you employ.

[Lowestoftmodder]

I live locally and like using Somerford but what’s missing here is the pay. From memory they’re offering less than £30k a year for experienced staff.

.

This. You get and keep good skilled staff paying the right wage, looking back on my earlier career I was taken advantage of loyalty & skill set vs pay, never again.

Lesson learnt.

Me too! Never again

[Lplus]

If people are prepared to wait 18 months then Somerford aren't charging enough.