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Volkswagen Aftersales (Technicians)
Vertu Motors has taken further action on pay to retain its technicians and recruit new staff.
The group said it was seeing “strong demand” for vehicle repair and service operations, driving revenue growth in both service and parts.
The group is retailing older used vehicles, which take longer to prepare, increasing demand on the workforce.
“Technician resource levels remain a constraining factor in meeting both retail demand for work and in the preparation of used vehicles for sale.
“Consequently, the group has taken further pay action in July to promote the recruitment and retention of Technicians and this should aid further growth.
The shortage of technicians has been widely chronicled. The Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) is predicting a 160,000 shortfall of workers in the UK automotive sector in the next decade.
Its recent Automotive Sector Employment report found that an aging population, decreased immigration and accelerating EV sales are creating a major skills challenge for the automotive labour market.
Despite forecasting a 2% decrease in the number of jobs available in the automotive industry by 2031, the report highlights that rising employment replacement demand – due to retirement, migration and occupational mobility – will significantly contribute to the expected and unprecedented number of available vacancies.
The role most in demand will be the vehicle technician, which will account for 16% of vacancies.