17 August 2022

Retailers have experienced a shift in the way customers want to interact with them in the showroom, which has led to an evolution in skills requirements. The majority of customers have done their online research and know exactly what they want to buy before they enter the premises. They want to touch and the feel the product to verify their choice, and they want an enjoyable customer experience.

These are among the recruitment challenges identified in a new report from Ennis and Co, the Skills Evolution Roadmap 2025. It also noted that customers no longer need to be ‘sold’ a product by a transactional sales executive but want to discuss their choice with a product expert. And the transition to the agency model will further erode the need for traditional, transactional sales executives in showrooms. Retailers, then, are pursuing a new vision of the showroom as customer-centred retail experiences.

With the increased adoption of EVs, showroom staff need to be highly knowledgeable about EV technology, as well as the lifestyle changes required when transitioning to electric mobility. They need soft skills such as empathy and the ability to communicate effectively to address customers’ individual lifestyle needs.

Retailers have identified gaps in digital skills – at leadership level in terms of setting the digital vision, on the technical side for teams working directly with digital products and foundational skills for staff working in general areas in the business. And new omnichannel and ‘click and collect’ ways of operating, combined with competition from online disruptors, have highlighted skills gaps in e-commerce and online marketing. Data analysts are also needed to inform digital marketing and CRM strategies.

Data skills are set to evolve over the next few years. In-car connectivity and the growth of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) business models will generate ongoing data that will need to be analysed and managed, unlike the data generated by a one-off sales event.

Further, retailers are now recruiting sustainability experts to drive change throughout their organisations. And with the retail sector on a journey of consolidation, people with

skills in mergers and acquisitions will also be needed to manage end-to-end mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and disposals.

Commercialising data

Automotive and mobility companies across the industry are adopting increasingly aggressive recruitment activities and raising starting salaries due to the intense competition for data scientists and analysts coupled with a worldwide skills shortage. Demand is being driven by the speed of digital transformation within the industry.

The explosion of accessible digital data is accelerating the search for data specialists to harvest and use data to drive efficiency in processes. Many companies are looking outside the sector to find the required skills. Some are looking at partnerships with educational institutions to identify talent pools that can be funnelled into their business, with clearly defined career paths.

Customer experience

Recognising the need for different types of skills for public-facing showroom staff, businesses are looking to reskill existing sales executives to become product experts where possible. There is a recognition that this requires a different, less transactional skill set; some are casting their net for showroom staff outside automotive to sectors that focus on customer service, particularly luxury retail and hospitality.

For customers seeking product information through online or phone chat as part of their buying journey, a new type of call centre operative is needed – someone who is a product expert with effective customer service skills.

Organisations are also taking steps to upskill staff in terms of EV knowledge. One tactic is to place EV experts in dealerships to cascade knowledge. Elsewhere there are plans to roll out training programmes to boost EV literacy at all levels.

With the increased adoption of EVs, showroom staff need to be highly knowledgeable not just about EV technology but also the lifestyle changes required when transitioning to electric mobility. Soft skills, such as empathy and the ability to communicate effectively, are needed to understand and satisfy customers’ individual lifestyle needs.

Shortage of technicians

The acute shortage of repair and service technicians has led to huge wage inflation, with sign-on bonuses now commonplace. To halt the exodus of technicians to higher-paying competitors and sectors outside automotive, one retailer has reported carrying out a wholesale review of workshop salaries, resulting in a multimillion-pound increase to pay plans, including retention/loyalty bonuses and more structured career paths.

Other retailers have opted out of the salary war, focusing on how technician jobs are packaged and generating their own talent pipelines. Existing technicians are being offered upskilling programmes to work on EVs. To counter the reluctance among some older technicians to retrain, one retailer is offering a premium on top of basic wages for EV-skilled technicians.

There is a major push among retailers to grow their own talent when it comes to the technician shortage, with many increasing their intake of apprentices significantly. One is recruiting as many as 200 apprentices per year.

Organisations are becoming more targeted in recruiting apprentices, forming relationships with local schools and sponsoring relevant college courses. For graduate-level jobs, companies are partnering with universities to sponsor candidates on degree apprenticeships or provide career paths for traditional graduates.

There is a widespread belief that the industry could sell itself better to potential apprentices and make talent pools more aware that being a modern-day technician is about software skills, technology and electronics rather than getting your hands dirty.

Evolving digital skills

Digital expertise has been a ‘hot’ skill requirement for a number of years due to the digital disruption taking place across the entire automotive and mobility sector. Skills are needed at all levels – the leaders who are navigating a path in today’s digital world, experts in areas such as artificial intelligence, IT systems, vehicle connectivity, e-commerce and marketing, and those requiring basic IT literacy to operate digital systems.

External recruitment, outsourcing and internal training to upskill staff are being used in various combinations across the industry to plug the gaps. But the demand for digital talent is driving businesses to offer higher salaries, as well as increased bonuses and equity grants to retain employees.

A number of businesses are devoting resources to digital horizon planning to ensure they have the right skills to take advantage of emerging evolving technologies.

Brand value through culture

The business leaders interviewed in the report unanimously agree on the increasing importance of the employer value proposition in attracting and retaining staff. Many business leaders reported that creating an open, values-driven culture and a positive brand experience for employees was often more effective as a talent strategy than competing on salary and benefits.

Younger candidates, in particular, are perceived as requiring ‘immediate gratification’, which means creating a culture that is innovative, exciting and capable of providing the stimulation and gratification they are seeking.

Diversity and inclusion initiatives, rich employee engagement, clearly defined career paths and flexible working patterns are among the strategies being used by companies to build positive working environments.

With this in mind, the arrival of electrification and sustainable mobility solutions represents an unprecedented opportunity for the industry. Many organisations reported that candidates were increasingly drawn to the idea of working in a sector that is delivering sustainability through decarbonisation. And interest in the sector is expected to increase further as EV adoption rises over the next few years. Some businesses are actively using their marketing teams to ‘sell’ their sustainability credentials to candidates – particularly younger workers.

The skills roadmap to 2025

Drawing together the learnings from interviews with 44 senior executives and observations from across five other key sectors, Ennis and Co believes that the key to addressing the skills gap is to break it down into two separate areas: organisation and people.

Looking at ‘organisation’, the skills shortage is a business-critical issue that senior leaders must own while driving the solution across the organisation. The consequences of the skills gaps go beyond the inconvenience of staff shortages or the adjustment in timing of a project. It has reached the stage where the skills shortage is preventing the delivery of business plans and needs to be managed as a major project. It needs to live somewhere with an owner that has a voice at the top table.

A structured approach is crucial, involving consultation across all functions of the business to define realistic objectives and the resources required to deliver them.

Transparency is essential to understand the scale and risk, including clarity around skills gaps that have previously been accommodated through contractors or short-term solutions. This will provide a full picture of the challenge and the resources needed to enable activities to be prioritised. A report of both the number and type of skills missing should be added to the risk register as it presents a significant threat to the delivery of the business strategy.

Delivery will involve a combination of seven key approaches: engaging with education; upskilling existing people; buying in new talent; creating an inclusive organisation; building smart partnerships; living the brand; and finding a commercial balance that recognises and accepts that the level of investment in skills may be beyond that which the business would otherwise accept.

When it comes to people, Ennis and Co considers that there are three primary segments to consider, two of which are being addressed to some extent, while the third appears largely untapped.

Career exploration: The research shows that there is significant engagement activity taking place with schools and universities to create talent pipelines through apprenticeships and graduate trainee schemes. It is crucial, however, that businesses understand the mindset of employees who are exploring career options to attract them to the business and retain them beyond their training period. This involves the way the organisation’s brand is positioned in the market and how that translates into workplace culture.

Established career: This is the majority (by number) of existing and potential employees – the people who are considering whether to stay with their current organisation because they see personal development and opportunities to grow in a progressive culture or who can move relatively easily to another organisation.

This group represents the key battleground for retaining and recruiting staff, but strategies currently being deployed by businesses lean heavily towards the transactional (higher wages, bonuses, equity grants etc). In a period of technological transformation, employee engagement is key to understanding the aspirations of people in the middle part of their careers – their level of job satisfaction and appetite for upskilling and reskilling.

Career choice: While some areas of diversity are being actively pursued, including gender and, to some extent, race and disability, the potential of engaging with more mature workers is regularly overlooked. The cost-of-living crisis may persuade some older employees to postpone retirement plans, and these employees could play a significant role in plugging skills gaps to help meet business objectives.

No one should pretend that finding a way out of the current situation will be easy, but elevating the talent strategy to boardroom status is a start. Ultimately, it comes down to agile and imaginative leadership to navigate the right path.

Extracted from the ‘Skills Evolution Roadmap 2025’ report from Ennis and Co

Tags: brand value, customer experience, Data, digital, Ennis and Co, EV, recruitment, retention, skills gap, technicians