A hands off approach

If many hands make light work, imagine the problems created by a scarcity of skilled people. Here, Joel Cox considers the impact on production, knowledge transfer, and the future of the workforce.

We hear a lot about today’s problems associated with not only hiring people, but finding individuals with relevant skills, training them, and maintaining a sustainable pipeline.

Only recently, the leader of one of the world’s biggest automotive manufacturers spelled it out. Jim Farley, CEO of the Ford Motor Company, revealed that the business currently has hundreds of open mechanic positions in the US alone, many of which come with a $100k-plus salary. It’s a problem shared by sectors such as the emergency services, plumbing, electronics, and trucking.

It wouldn’t matter if one added another $50k to those pay cheques; it’s the lack of skilled and qualified people that’s the problem. As Farley put it, learning how to take a diesel engine out of a heavy-duty truck takes five years. It’s the legacy of a societal trend that has undervalued trade skills and manual-labour-based jobs, which has coincided with increasing industrial and infrastructure demands. It’s a perfect storm — a tornado, even.

Throw into the mix the white-collar roles being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI), and we’ve got a situation where many young people are being funnelled into pathways to nowhere. Turns out, getting your hands dirty isn’t exactly a selling point these days — after all, how can anyone enjoy a six-figure job when those grease-stained fingers can’t even swipe a sparkling clean iPhone?

For manufacturers of heavy-duty industrial equipment, filling technical sales roles has become a surprisingly difficult challenge. These positions often represent a natural career progression for skilled workshop engineers – roles that combine hands-on technical knowledge with customer-facing responsibilities, such as specifying equipment, solving on-site problems, and guiding clients through complex industrial solutions. Despite the obvious career appeal, the pool of candidates is small: few engineers are willing or able to pivot from the predictable rhythm of the workshop to a role that demands travel, client management, and strong interpersonal skills.

An emptying talent pool

The shortage is compounded by the fact that these positions require dual expertise: deep technical understanding and commercial acumen. Candidates must be credible in front of both engineers and decision-makers, able to translate highly technical specifications into value propositions without losing nuance.

As a result, companies often find themselves fishing in a tiny, highly skilled talent pond, and risk losing experienced engineers to external opportunities before they ever reach the sales bench. In an industry already feeling the pinch of a skills shortage on the shop floor, the scarcity of qualified technical salespeople creates a bottleneck that is slowing growth, delaying project delivery, and leaving clients underserved.

One of the most insidious challenges manufacturers face today isn’t just recruiting new talent, it’s losing decades of knowledge when experienced staff retire. In many workshops and plants, highly skilled engineers and technicians carry not only technical expertise, but also invaluable practical know-how and a network of industry contacts. Yet in organisations where ‘we’re too busy’ or ‘this is my job’ has been the prevailing culture, that knowledge often never gets passed down to junior staff. When these veterans retire, the company doesn’t just lose a person, it loses a repository of operational insight, problem-solving shortcuts, and client relationships that took years, sometimes decades, to build.

The impact is immediate and long-lasting. Junior staff may be left reinventing solutions, making mistakes that could have been avoided, or relying heavily on manuals that can’t capture the subtlety of hands-on experience. Projects take longer, client confidence can waver, and training costs rise as new staff must climb the learning curve unaided. In industries that depend on precision, safety, and specialist knowledge – like heavy-duty braking systems, lifting equipment, or industrial machinery – this knowledge attrition can be as damaging as any skills shortage. Without intentional knowledge transfer, companies risk retiring not just people, but the very expertise that underpins theirompetetive advantage.

Tackling the problem

But enough about problems; what might the solutions be?

Addressing the skills shortages that challenge manufacturers today requires more than simply posting vacancies and hoping for the best. One of the most effective starting points is structured knowledge transfer. Human resources (HR) can facilitate this by formalising mentorship, shadowing, and documentation programmes that ensure senior engineers actively pass on their experience to junior colleagues. Even modest steps, such as recording workshop procedures, capturing troubleshooting methods, or recording how customer issues are managed, can preserve wisdom that would otherwise disappear.

Alongside stronger information transfer, apprenticeship schemes and fast-track training initiatives help close skill gaps by bringing in new talent and accelerating their development. Targeting candidates from related industries and giving them meaningful, hands-on exposure ensures that both technical and operational understanding builds quickly. With HR mapping out critical skill gaps and designing structured pathways, training becomes better aligned to business needs.

Recruitment itself also needs a rethink. In sectors where expertise is scarce, reactive hiring is no longer viable. A proactive, steady recruitment cadence, where companies continually source, nurture, and assess candidates, reduces the time roles sit empty and helps organisations avoid crises when experienced people retire. Building pipelines with vocational schools, colleges, and industry networks can ensure that potential recruits are always in view.

Retention is equally important. Giving employees clear routes for internal mobility, whether into technical sales, supervisory positions, or specialised engineering roles, encourages them to stay and develop. Rewarding mentorship not only recognises senior staff but also reinforces the culture of knowledge sharing needed to maintain capability.

To broaden the talent pool and reduce monotony, flexible work design can play a role as well. Even in hands-on industries, offering varied working hours, shift rotations, remote work, or relocation support can make positions more attractive and accessible.

Finally, thoughtful use of automation and standardisation can alleviate some of the pressure. By streamlining repetitive tasks and creating consistent procedures, companies free up their most experienced people to focus on higher-value work — training, solving complex problems, and supporting long-term capability building.

Combined, these HR-driven strategies help organisations navigate the skills shortage, while creating a stronger, more resilient workforce.

Less is more

Paradoxically, the skills shortages and recruitment pressures facing industry today can become the catalysts for a stronger, more adaptable workforce tomorrow. As companies respond with better knowledge-sharing practices, continuous recruitment, clearer career pathways, and more thoughtful work design, they’re not just filling vacancies, they’re reshaping their organisations for the better.

Flexible hours, smarter shift patterns, limited remote work options, and relocation support are no longer perks, but practical tools that broaden the talent arena and improve work-life balance. In rising to the challenge, HR ends up building a more resilient, progressive, and attractive workplace, and one that is far better aligned with the expectations of the modern workforce.