Your recruitment problem isn’t going away, so you have to think differently…

There’s a shortage of skilled engineers, combine this with high employment, and rising prices, you get expensive recruitment fees and rising salary costs, double whammy.

This isn’t going to change. Rather than feel helpless and resigned to recruitment nightmares and rising salary costs there is another solution to at least part of the problem. The answer is tech not just talent.

Think about it simply, if you have a team of 50 Engineers and each could complete one more job per day (or even just one more job per week), what would this mean to your business? Would you need to recruit more people so desperately?

Technology has come a long way. Engineering teams delivering planned and reactive maintenance across a whole range of industries now rely on software to be more productive. Features such as intelligent scheduling, means only correctly skilled engineers are assigned to relevant jobs, based on real-time asset data, for better preventative maintenance.

Integrated inventory control means engineers aren’t showing up without parts. Mobile software provides full contract, asset, and job history, so tasks are completed accurately, and data entered easily in the field. Technology has removed the need for Engineers to start and end each day or week in the office, whilst giving Service Manager’s the information and traceability they crave, so they’re in complete control. Each of these, plus other technology features, are proven to help increase efficiency and maximise First Time Fix Rates, and that’s how you get more jobs completed in less time.

But here’s the clincher: Good Engineers want to work for companies that use technology to make their lives easier, a typical interview question being “which scheduling system do you use?” They want a rewarding job, a well-planned and realistic workday, less paperwork, and less time in the office. So investing in the right tech helps you recruit when you really need to, so you can attract and retain the best Engineers.

Recruitment costs aren’t likely to change soon, but you could be making efficiencies within weeks. So next time you blame service failures on staff shortages, take a look at your technology not just your (lack of) talent.