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Be proactive, not reactive
It is easy to be reactive when it comes to retaining employees, waiting until an employee is about to leave before offering them any added benefits or incentives to stay. But greater success will be achieved through paying closer attention to what employees want and need throughout the employee lifecycle. This way they will think twice before being tempted by another offer.
Variety is the spice of life
Roles in the defence industry tend to involve working on longer term projects - usually between five and ten years due to the product lifecycle. Whilst this provides employee security, it can create its own problems, with the danger that employees will become disengaged and demoralised through carrying out the same work month after month.
The John Prodger Recruitment survey found that challenging and interesting work outstrips job security and salary, as the most important factor in a role, highlighting that this should be a focus area for employers. Whilst smaller companies tend to give their people more exposure to different aspects of a project, this can be an issue in larger companies, which usually employ people for much more specific tasks. Where possible, employers should try and be flexible and offer staff the opportunity to move around - this will not only keep them happy for longer but also improve the adaptability of the workforce as a whole.
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of weakness. If there is a high attrition rate in one particular area, this could indicate a problem with the manager.
Money isn't everything
It is an old fashioned view that employees are simply motivated by their pay packet, yet companies often think that this alone will keep staff happy and engaged. Talented engineers are increasingly looking for career progression, training and development and work-life balance through flexible and remote working opportunities, so these should also be thrown into the benefits mix.
Invest in PR
The defence industry has had a lot of bad publicity and is increasingly under scrutiny due to new environmental pressures such as terrorism. As a result, companies must work even harder to ensure they communicate their key messages to potential and current employees, as well as the general public. Defence is one of the driving industries in the UK and can offer fantastic career opportunities on world class, innovative projects. Companies must embrace and communicate this in order to compete successfully in today's jobs market.
Conclusion
Talented engineers with the right skills and experience are hard to come by and this situation looks set to continue. To stay ahead of the game, employers in the defence industry need to start thinking more carefully about how they attract and retain these much sought after candidates. The investment will pay off in the long run.
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