The human touch

The latest research from Birmingham University suggests that skill shortages in STEM occupations are just a figment of manufacturers’ imaginations.

Their report suggests that only 46% of 2009 engineering graduates were in jobs related to their degrees. The rest were either in a non-engineering related graduate position or in non-graduate employment.

The conclusion is that the shortage thesis is wrong.

I’m not so sure and I checked their findings with our Chief Economist, Lee Hopley. Her response was straightforward - "I’ll see Birmingham University’s supply statistics and raise them some demand side facts".

Lee pointed to an EEF survey on the modern manufacturing workforce published earlier this year which showed:

• Over the next five years a massive 69% of manufacturers expect to be facing problems recruiting production-related engineering skills.
• Over a third are not confident that they will be able to find the design skills and technical skills they require for their R&D activities.
• Managers for manufacturing operations are also expected to be thin on the ground, with 25% of companies expecting to have difficulties recruiting them in the next five years.

Are manufacturers concerned? Yes. Another survey showed that for 62% of EEF members, difficulties in attracting and retaining the right skills poses one of the biggest challenges to growth over the next twelve months.

As ever, looking behind the headlines the real story is never quite so straightforward.

UK manufacturers are innovative, customer-driven and globally focused. Their competitive strength hinges on their design and development capabilities, quality and customer service. The breadth of these activities, many of which are carried out in the UK and central to our broader economic recovery, needs a host of specialist science, engineering and technical skills. But the pipeline of young people with the right STEM foundations and an awareness of the opportunities that a career in manufacturing can offer has diminished over the past decade.

If we are to succeed in rebalancing our economy we have to do much, much more to reverse this trend.

Is government regulation costing you money and time, causing you hr headaches or resulting in lost orders? Between 2002 and 2010, the cost to UK business of the annual flow of new regulation more than doubled from £5bn in 2002 to £11.5bn in 2010.

In tough economic times we need to ensure that regulation is kept to a minimum and is as well-designed and sensibly implemented as possible.

The ‘Red Tape Challenge’ (RTC) is an opportunity for business like yours to get involved and start addressing the issue and shape a better business environment. It’s a government initiative that invites businesses to tell them which regulations are not working and how they could be improved.

Manufacturing will get out of this exercise what it puts in. We can see it as a gimmick and sit on the sidelines or get involved and generate ideas.  We will be taken most seriously if we submit a considered and focused body of evidence.

EEF wants to do its bit. Our Chief Executive, Terry Scuoler, is acting as the ‘sector champion’ for manufacturing. In this role he is promoting participation in the RTC and working to ensure that manufacturers’ views are taken seriously.

We are pulling together issues from across our membership and beyond to demonstrate the breadth of regulations weighing down on UK manufacturing. A consolidated body of evidence will help give maximum impact to the industry’s concerns.

If you are a manufacturer whose business is being undermined by regulation, let us know and we will champion the issue on your behalf. Send a description of the issue and the regulation causing it to redtapechallenge@eef.org.uk 

This article was originally published on our Economics Blog.

We’ve received a steady stream of enquiries from members over the last few months about the Bribery Act. This new UK bribery law is due to come into force on 1 July and it’s clear that many businesses are struggling to come to terms with the full impact of its implementation.

The Bribery Act is a piece of criminal legislation creating a new corporate crime of failing to prevent bribery. Companies need to assess the risks of bribery throughout their operations and then implement 'adequate procedures' to control those risks. 

Companies will commit a new offence of 'failing to prevent bribery' if any employee or associate commits bribery with the intention of gaining a business advantage for the company, and the company failed to put 'adequate procedures' in place to prevent it. It does not matter if the company knew nothing about the bribery – the emphasis is on the procedures the company has in place, rather than its awareness of what was going on.

But what exactly will this involve? Is having an anti-bribery statement sufficient? How far do you need to vet your overseas agents? What about your supply chain? And what does the UK’s tough stance on bribery and corruption mean for 'routine' business practices, including corporate hospitality?

Is Government guidance on the Bribery Act enough?

The government has produced guidance on the Bribery Act, but it is not prescriptive.  The guidance is supplemented by 11 case studies, a surprisingly high number of which involve manufacturers.  Does this mean that manufacturers will be particularly under the spotlight? If so, then surely doing nothing in response to the Bribery Act - or adopting a wait and see approach - will be a risky policy.

Companies need to understand what compliance with the Bribery Act means in practice.

It's not easy for companies to access support from experts with both criminal and corporate governance experience. So with this in mind, we've partnered with Siemens Plc and corporate defence specialists Squire Sanders Hammonds to hold two half day seminars. They're particularly relevant to MDs, CEOs, Finance Directors and other board members, as well as people in your business who are responsible for auditing and compliance. I invite you all to join us there to explore how the Bribery Act will impact on our sector.

Delegates who attend will also be eligible for discounted access to a full compliance kit produced by Squire Sanders Hammonds, including an anti-bribery policy, a presentation to the board, a statement of intent to post on your web-site, an agents due diligence checklist and example clauses for third party agent contracts.

Our seminars are on 19th and 21st July - so there's only limited time left to secure your place - and your business.

The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 will come into force on 1 October 2011 and earlier this year we ran a series of seminars to help HR professionals understand the impact the Regulations will have on their business. Draft guidance has now been released, with final Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) guidance likely to be available in April/May.

The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (‘the Regulations’) provide that agency workers working for the same hirer for more than 12 weeks will be entitled to equal treatment in certain basic terms and conditions, including pay, as directly recruited employees of the hirer doing a similar job.

The Regulations also give agency workers certain 'day one’ rights, including no less favourable access to collective facilities and amenities (including access to canteen, child care and transport facilities) and the same opportunity as comparable employees to be told about job vacancies.

EEF has been part of a BIS working group looking at early drafts of the guidance. The way in which the guidance deals with particular issues will affect how you deal with agency workers on a day-to-day basis and could impact on how or whether you use agency workers in the future.

We expect that all companies who use agency workers will have to alter some of their practices. We are therefore running two series of seminars, the first in June and July and the second in September. Our first update, Agency Worker Regulations 2010: Filling in the gaps is designed to bring delegates up to speed on the content of the finalised guidance and its impact on how to apply the regulations on the ground. We will be looking at what the guidance means for previously unanswered questions. This seminar is aimed at HR professionals who have already attended our earlier workshops, Gearing up for the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 in February; or those who already have a good knowledge of the contents of the Regulations.

The second seminars, run in September, are a rerun of our hugely popular Gearing up for the Agency Workers Regulations workshops for those who missed them. Updated to include the revised guidance from The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), these seminars will explain the new law and help you plan strategically for the changes. Delegates will benefit from our involvement with BIS during the drafting of the regulations and guidance and will be able to share their ideas on a confidential basis with others facing similar issues.  These workshops are aimed at HR professionals who would prefer to attend a workshop which assumes no prior knowledge of Agency Workers Regulations.

As ever, we urge you to book early to secure your place at these popular events.

Welcome to our new HR and Employment Law blog. Written by our own employment lawyers and HR experts, our blog will keep you up to date with the hot topics in HR and employment law, let you know what we talk to government about and give our opinion on legislative changes. 

We hope that you'll take the time to share with us your comments. It gives us all deeper insight into the issues facing business and sharing your ideas with other professionals contributes to an open debate about what government can do for manufacturing.