Recruitment policies need updating BCT
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• Recruiting and retaining staff is a problem seriously affecting 80% of the bus and coach industry, according to a hard-hitting report from Bus and Coach Training. The industry must get to grips with policies to improve staff retention.
Based on responses from nearly 60 bus and coach companies of all sizes, results revealed many companies were finding it difficult "to get appropriate people through the door at all," and one company interviewed found only 10 suitable applicants out of a total of 160. Recruitment must be approached in a more strategic way, says the report, including the use of selection criteria, training of selectors and making recruitment regular rather than waiting for a crisis.
Skilled staff are frequently "bored out of their skulls", says BCT and employers must look at methods of job enrichment, including reward pack ages, job content and employee involvement, such as the use of quality circle techniques, if the situation is to improve.
Applying training as a cureall for recruitment and retention problems is "a waste of money because in many cases training will not be the most appropriate provision to make," states the report.
Copies of A Survey of Skills Needs and Training for the Bus and Coach Industry are available from BCT; price £46 (228.75 for BCC members). Contact: (0923) 896607.