In recent times, the transport industry in the UK has been impacted negatively by events such as COVID, Brexit and the Ukrainian war. However, with an increase in national awareness regarding driver shortages, funding improvements and newer policies, the UK government has begun to make vital inroads to rectifying the issue. Despite this, there is a consistent demand for more qualified HGV, transportation, and delivery drivers, with the transportation industry looking to rebuild to post-pandemic levels.
Training existing staff
One of the most significant ways for businesses in transport to tackle the issues surrounding a lack of properly qualified drivers is to first and foremost train up existing staff and welcome any career movers on the inside. Traditionally businesses have wanted to recruit drivers that are already trained and experienced, but since times have changed the demand for drivers has increased, with businesses looking at the idea of training up their own drivers as a viable one.
Retain and appeal to drivers with talent
Transport businesses need to be considering not just recruitment but how they can retain current staff, especially in these uncertain times. A major aspect to the issue is trying to make the transport industry look attractive to young workers, since logistics and transportation can suffer from a depreciated image. Working in the sector has not traditionally been considered a desirable career path for many different younger people, and this has to change!
Diversify and expanding recruitment
One of the key issues that a large number of transportation businesses have is that they have been recruiting the same way for a long period of time. However, the pandemic has caused an upheaval in the way that new businesses are looking to recruit now. Women, for example, are currently underrepresented in transportation roles.
This could be a vital area of improvement in the future, where businesses are able to expand by taking advantage of it. Women account for just 20% of the workers in the transportation sector. If businesses can look for different ways to recruit women into these roles, they may have more recruits to choose from overall.
Improving and investing in logistics
Investing in advanced forms of logistics could make the existing workforce that you have in place more efficient. This could drastically reduce the necessity for additional drivers, as the fresh productivity could potentially fill some of the gaps created by staff shortages. Software providers such as Mitrefinch have explained that using their systems to track productivity across the board can have a vastly impactful effect on the avoidance of driver shortages.
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