Staff shortage in the car industry is in everyone’s way

Staff shortage is a persistent pain point in the car and motorcycle industry. It plays throughout the Netherlands, with small and large players. In the first quarter of 2023, there were 8,400 vacancies there, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS). By way of comparison: in the first quarter of 2018 there were 4300, almost doubling in five years. Bovag spokesperson Paul de Waal: “We regularly ask our members about their biggest bottlenecks. This results in a top ten and staff shortage is number 1; 47 percent of companies call it one of their biggest problems.” Then it’s not just about technicians, but they are the bulk of the problem.

With an important nuance, says Eric Berkhof, expert by experience as director of the Van Mossel Group with more than 340 dealers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Luxembourg. “There are no fewer technicians than five years ago.” The real problem, he says, is that they have a lot more work to do than they thought. Consequence, he says, of ‘wrong estimates’ about the evolution of the fleet. “Firstly, we thought everything would become electric, but that is not happening as quickly as we expected.” Furthermore, the Netherlands bought and sold much less new and more used, ‘as a result of which we now have the second oldest car fleet in Europe, and older cars simply need more repairs. Finally, EVs turned out to be less maintenance-free than predicted, because there is sometimes something wrong with that too.’ So those misappraisals did create a plethora of jobs. Van Mossel, Louwman, Hedin – they are all looking for dozens of mechanics.

Three causes of staff shortage

There are roughly three causes for the staff shortage, says Bovag spokesman De Waal. “The demand for technical personnel is high. So solar panel companies, but you often hear a company like ASML mentioned, also draw strongly on technicians. Problem two is the outflow due to ageing. Problem three is that the intake on the courses remains reasonably up to standard, but it is proving extremely difficult for companies to retain people.” And that is also because younger employees have a different attitude to life than the old guard of tinkerers. They don’t want a forty-hour contract, or want to take a day off, and they don’t want to be barked at by a boss who rigidly dictates the rules. De Waal: “They have a greater need for flexibility and are less well served by traditional authority relationships in the workplace.” And maybe they also want a little more recognition than they get.

Too few teachers

Gosse Bloem, marketing and HR director of the Louwman Dealer Group: “Together we will have to make that profession much more attractive in the future. Because there are plenty of guys who still love oil. There is still work for that, they really don’t need to be in the windmills.” On the other hand, the tech side of the profession is becoming increasingly challenging due to the electrification of the car, and there, too, Bloem sees interesting career prospects for a new generation of technicians, but also bears on the road. The more IT-oriented technicians avoid the car trade out of bias – ‘they still see that man with black hands standing in the pit’ – and training does not always tie in well with practice. Not all programs respond equally adequately to the energy transition, he notes. “There is no longer a car with a V-belt to be found, but it is still in the training. Then the MBO council says: ‘Yes, but we don’t have enough teachers who can teach electrically’. ROCs are trying to step up, but most of them are not doing enough yet.”

So maybe the turning point is in sight. In practice, the men at the controls see positive signals. Martijn Bovée van Louwman: “Where you had vicious circles at companies – people leaving who took other people with them, and those who stayed behind got even busier – I see that trend reversing at various locations. That people are returning, and that we actually have a positive influx again.” Attention and dialogue really help.

You can read more about how car companies feel the staff shortages and how the training courses anticipate the future in the extensive report that Bas van Putten wrote for AutoWeek 31, which is in stores this week.