Committee Staff note on E-Consultation
with engineering employers "Engineering in the UK"
The Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills
Committee hosted two web fora during the course of its inquiry
into Engineering. The first forum, entitled "Engineering
in the UK" was aimed at engineering employers. The Committee
was able to engage with employers who might not otherwise have
contributed to the inquiry, particularly those running small engineering
businesses, to identify the issues that really affect those on
the ground.
The forum was launched on 17 September 2008
and ran until 24 October 2008. Moderation was carried out by the
Committee Staff, although the forum was designed and operated
by the Parliamentary Web Centre. The discussion rules were altered
slightly from those normally used. This allowed users to divulge
their full names and details of their company, should they wish
to. This information was useful in that it provided more contextual
information about the posts.
PUBLICITY
Publicity was provided using a press notice
and A5 postcards which were distributed at a number of events
organised by various Engineering Institutions. Parliamentary Outreach
workers distributed postcards to relevant groups in the field.
In addition, a number of websites were involved in publicising
the forum.
THE QUESTIONS
AND PARTICIPANTS
The forum attracted 97 posts from 56 unique
contributors. It also received over 5000 views:
|
| Topic | Posts
| Views |
|
| 1. Are you optimistic about the future of engineering in the UK?
| 19 | 1,116
|
| 2. What one thing could the Government do to help engineering employers?
| 42 | 1,816
|
| 3. What are the biggest challenges and opportunities facing engineering companies?
| 19 | 1,125
|
| 4. How easy is it to recruit the engineering staff you need?
| 17 | 1,213
|
|
SUMMARY OF
RESPONSES
Out of necessity, the following summaries do not reproduce
all of the posts on the forum. They are intended to be a summary
of the major arguments, illustrated with selected posts. Some
posts have been moved between threads where this was appropriate.
The full list of contributions can still be viewed online at .http://forums.parliament.uk/uk-engineering.
1. How easy is it to recruit the engineering staff you
need?
Discussion of the recruitment and retention of engineering
staff was frequently included in contributions to the other threads
(discussed here). Posts generally identified a difficulty in recruiting
engineering staff.
Numbers
One widespread observation was that there is a shortage of
engineers. Contributors identified the cause as both the insufficient
numbers of students taking engineering courses and the fact that
a significant proportion of engineers choose an alternative career.
One contributor stated that: as engineering populations
age and vacancies are "booming" worldwide, the result
is the visibility of the shortfall of young people entering the
engineering profession. The result for many companies is a true
shortage of engineers that is (and will continue) to endanger
their growth and in some cases their existence.
One contribution offered a positive view of recruitment of
graduate engineers and apprentices but stressed that this was
a result of promoting engineering careers through "the relationships
we have built up with schools and universities we work with"
and participation in "the DTI funded Science, Technology,
Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) programme".
Many posts suggested reasons for the shortage of engineers.
For some it was a problem of remuneration, "Employers seem
to think we should work for low salaries because of `job satisfaction'",
although another post pointed out that "salaries have improved
over the last few years". Other contributors suggested another
reason for the shortage of engineers was that the public image
and status of the engineering profession was poor, influenced
for example by "high profile company collapses like MG Rover"
and misrepresentations of what an engineer is, "the unfortunate
tendency of newspapers to describe people who maintain railway
tracks as `engineers'-they are really semi-skilled labourers".
One post suggested that teachers had a very poor perception of
engineering as a career path-"picture an engineer as a man
in a cloth cap, carrying a spanner and oil can"-and that
for them, engineering was certainly not a career for a woman.
It was suggested that many teachers seemed to have the view that
an apprenticeship was the route for a failed university entrant,
not a positive career choice.
It was suggested that there is a particular difficulty in
recruiting and retaining experienced staff and in provision of
continuing professional development:
Deep expertise in the marketplace difficult to find.
Many people working as professional engineers within the UK
are not members of any institute and consider CPD as, quite literally,
a joke.
Some posts therefore described an alternative approach to
recruitment. The head of a small engineering team described how:
"In order to meet this skills shortfall we have decided to
`grow our own' engineers by recruiting from our own work force,
then putting them through modern apprenticeships".
Quality
As well as a shortfall in numbers, posts identified problems
with the quality of some candidates. Contributors suggested that
candidates often do not live up to their CVs, "I am of the
opinion that many of the candidates are more skilled at CV writing
than engineering " or are too impatient to develop experience,
finding it hard to adapt to the workplace.
The main problems appear to be a combination of poor education
[...] a non-existent work ethic, a belief that because they've
spent a year in a government sponsored training school they know
all about engineering, CV's that look very nice but are largely
works of fiction, as for higher end jobs I won't mention meaningless
degrees, wonderful 3D cad drawings when 2D technical drawing would
be far more practical. I would rather see a handwritten factual
CV, a good basic education suited to the job, a willing attitude
(VERY important) and simple courtesy and manners when dealing
with people.
Discussions across all threads featured suggestions that
improvements were needed to the education system. However, not
all posts were negative about the education system, "I think
the Scottish modern apprenticeship is an excellent scheme which
produces high calibre engineering employees at all levels".
2. Are you optimistic about the future of engineering in
the UK?
A number of posts expressed the opinion that the sector is
healthy. One Managing Director described that "the Engineering
sector is buoyant, there is no shortage of work. In fact our company
growth is mainly constrained by lack of professionally qualified
staff". Other posts saw engineering as key to the problems
of the future.
Engineering will be central to the delivery of solutions
for many of the pressing challenges facing the nation. Whilst,
particularly in these turbulent economic times, focus has shifted
from these engineering solutions to economic considerations mitigating
and adapting to climate change, securing the UK's future energy
supply and the renewal of inadequate infrastructure are still
with us and will not go away. All of these challenges will require
engineering knowledge and skills to be deployed on a massive scale.
I am optimistic that true engineering skills will remain, whether
licensed, recognised, professionally recorded or not they seem
to be an intrinsic part of our national character (fortunately).
I am optimistic that our young people if properly exposed to engineering
and nurtured when they express interest can form generations of
engineering talent to fill the years to come. I am optimistic
about the opportunities that engineering has, we have so much
infrastructure to replace and enhance, so many innovations and
technologies available to explore and refine to do those jobs
with and so many opportunities to apply engineering skills across
all sectors. Engineers solve problems, and we like a challenge.
However, a significant number of posts were not optimistic
in tone. Posts stated that UK engineering is losing out to overseas
competition, with one warning that "Engineering in this country
is dying a death". Many posts cited a decline in manufacturing
industry in the UK as a reason for pessimism with one contributor
stating that "no government since Harold Wilson has made
any serious attempt to improve British industry. They have all
been content to believe that the growing service and finance industries
would replace manufacturing".
One post suggested that the future of the engineering sector
depends on developing an intellectual property culture.
The UK needs an intellectual property culture [...] Unless
we change, our only engineering opportunities will be installing
new equipment from abroad and occasionally fixing it when it breaks
down, traditionally the technicians job and not very inspiring
for our new engineers [...] I am not at all optimistic that an
IP culture needing the additional skills of the non-engineering
types, especially legal, can be achieved in the UK; we have such
a legacy of arrogance and contempt in these fields, a total inability
to grasp basic physics and an almost allergic reaction to grubby
engineers.
3. What are the biggest challenges and opportunities facing
engineering companies?
A number of posts saw human resource issues as the biggest
challenge for the sector:
The biggest challenges and opportunities are about people.
As a nation we need to increase the number and quality of young
people coming in to the industry, having benefited from inspirational
STEM teaching at school, career guidance at critical points in
their education and having received a higher engineering education
which prepares them adequately for taking their place in the industry.
The opportunity is that young people are becoming more aware of
the contribution engineers can make to the world, particularly
to the challenges posed by climate change and energy. Having recruited
them we need to keep them-by challenging them with early responsibility
on exciting projects, by CPD [...] paying them properly, providing
a lifestyle comparable to other professions (working hours and
mobility are issues here) and offering a career structure which
satisfies ambitions (too many young engineers still feel that
engineering is just a springboard to other career paths). All
this is within our gift as an industry-the opportunity.
Other posts described the challenge of tackling the negative
image of engineers, or reversing their negative depiction in the
media:
Real talented engineers in the UK are de-motivated by the
media (engineers in this country are regarded as second class
citizens), a long term process may recover this anti-productive
historical attitude.
Others saw Government attitudes as a particular challenge:
The biggest challenge facing my engineering company and,
I suspect, may other, is to survive against the continuing indifference
of goverenment (not just this one).
A number of posts saw a challenge in the attitudes of those
in the sector and their clients, as well as the influence of Health
and Safety considerations:
A further challenge is the lack of demand for innovation
from clients, leading to a culture where it is more likely that
organisations develop competitive advantage via cost efficiency
rather than innovation.
[T]the dreaded Health and Safety departments find endless reasons
why existing slow and tedious manual methods must be retained.
My cat is perfectly capable of making Risk Assessments on her
own, without reference to any manual, just relying on experience
and judgment, why can't our workers be permitted the same freedom
of thought?
One post addressed the challenge of competing with low-wage
economies:
To produce high added value, high quality products that
get us away from direct competition with low-wage economies. If
we want to produce mass market goods-handy for employing lots
of people-we need to build great brands that differentiate us
clearly in the marketplace.
4. What one thing could the Government do to help engineering
employers?
The following were suggested:
- A number of posts requested that the term "engineer"
should be protected or that a new term should be used to describe
"engineers". Others suggested a licensing approach.
- Celebrate engineering and engineers and raise their
status and profile.
- Challenge the engineering institutions to do more to
promote engineering.
- Changes to the education system to:
- increase teaching quality in science;
- promote science in schools;
- promote physics in particular in schools;
- reduce the impact of Health and Safety legislation in
schools and thereby encourage practical work;
- increase time for practical work;
- increase educational standards; and
- include visits to engineering environments.
- Listen to real employers about their problems, not advisers
and analysts.
- More engineers in Government.
- A more co-ordinated approach to infrastructure spending
by the Government and implementation of the BERR Committee's Report
"Construction Matters". Continued Government investment
in infrastructure.
- Use Government procurement. Revisit the terms and conditions
of engagement for businesses, for example, the unlimited liability
carried by businesses under contracts.
- Re-establish the manufacturing base. Create a competitive
manufacturing environment in the UK.
- Join the Euro to allow manufacturing industry to compete
on level terms with European competition.
- Harness those leaving the armed forces with technical
training.
- Tackle the loss of jobs to abroad and foreign workers
in the UK.
- More help for small and medium-sized enterprises.
- Nothing. The Government cannot help-the profession,
who understand the industry, must act.
January 2009
| 
