A survey of 107 UK businesses by workwear supplier MyWorkwear finds that 64% are experiencing acute skills shortages, yet only 45% believe the government can resolve the crisis. Over 55% report difficulties recruiting or retaining staff, while 60% feel the situation has worsened in the past six months.
Despite widespread pessimism, 74% of respondents expect the Employment Rights Bill to improve the skills landscape. Top solutions cited include industry-specific training and increased funding support (nearly one-third).
“Having been in business since 1976 and working with so many industries, we often pick up trends across a wide variety of sectors, and the skills shortage is definitely something impacting a large majority of our customers. There is little confidence from businesses that the government’s approach will solve the crisis we’re seeing, and this is undermining confidence with 60% feeling the situation has worsened over the last six months. You can’t really make the most of new opportunities, if you don’t have the talent in place to meet customer requirements”, said James Worthington, Co-Managing Director at MyWorkwear.
“A lot of the measures introduced have fallen on deaf ears so far and I believe there’s a lot of scepticism around the latest Industrial Strategy and whether it will actually benefit small to medium-sized companies”, added Worthington.
On a positive note, 80% of firms believe branded workwear enhances employee pride, and 68% say it aids staff retention in a volatile jobs market.
For further information or to access the full survey, please visit: https://www.myworkwear.co.uk/content/86-the-myworkwear-skills-shortage
