From the war in Ukraine and the Middle East, to civil conflicts in Sudan and Myanmar, today’s world is a tinderbox that some have likened to the breakdown of international order that preceded the second world war.
The UK’s defence industry is struggling to attract and retain talent at precisely the moment it could be most needed. This reflects a wider challenge affecting all STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths). Almost half of all engineering and technology businesses in the UK report recruitment difficulties. The shortfall is affecting countries across the world, but the UK – the birthplace of the industrial revolution – has an engineering and manufacturing graduate share below competitors such as Germany, Japan, Italy and France. The shortfall is costing the UK economy an estimated £1.5bn annually.
£1.5bn
The estimated annual cost to the UK economy from STEM skills shortages
The UK’s share of world manufacturing more than halved between 2000 and 2022. Today’s STEM talent crisis is a “perfect storm”, argues David Lockwood, CEO of Babcock International Group, an international defence company. The crisis has been decades in the making. “Globalisation incentivised each nation to specialise, which in the UK has centred on sectors like financial services, leading to deindustrialisation and stagnation outside the capital, London,” Mr Lockwood explains.
A second contributing factor has been the declining intake of students in STEM higher education. “Despite a push to enlarge university enrolment, STEM courses can be more time- and cost-intensive to run,” says Mr Lockwood.
David Lockwood, CEO of Babcock International Group, sets out the risks of neglecting the UK’s defence workforce
The defence industry is affected by this wider STEM talent shrinkage, but it has also struggled with specific recruitment problems of its own. “People tend to picture men in uniform and tanks – but the defence sector is, and should be, so much more than that. It can be about logistics, cybersecurity, supply chains or space innovation, for example, and opportunities for people with different backgrounds and capabilities,” explains Louise Atkinson, former chief people officer at Babcock and now chief executive of Mission Systems, a Babcock business.
Many potential recruits are deterred by an industry perceived to be staffed overwhelmingly by white males. This reflects a wider STEM challenge: a survey by the Institution of Engineering and Technology on women in STEM showed that 32% of UK adults surveyed believe that women are put off by the male domination of the industry and, although 70% of UK engineering and technology employers say they want to improve workforce diversity, only 52% have taken recent action.
Creative solutions for stemming the talent problem
With the current geopolitical situation increasingly unstable, the UK defence industry needs to solve its talent problem – and fast. “The global political environment is more unstable than anything I’ve seen in my lifetime,” says Mr Lockwood. Geopolitical instability is not the only challenge, however. “If we want to have autonomy in green energy supply, or the production of personal protective equipment in the event of a pandemic, then we're really driving up the demand for STEM,” he adds.
Deepening ties to the local economy could be one way of securing talent in unconventional places. Babcock is a major employer across the UK, with a particularly strong presence in Plymouth, where it employs more than 7,000 people and contributes over £1bn to the south-west England economy. Working with the local community and hiring people with transferable competencies such as hairdressing, cleaning and culinary skills can help to embed manufacturing companies in regional economies. Initiatives such as the Production Support Operative (PSO) programme in Rosyth, Scotland, recruit and upskill people with diverse backgrounds, including those not currently in education, employment or training.
Louise Atkinson, chief executive of Mission Systems, a Babcock business, and former chief people officer at Babcock, explains how “zig-zag” careers are reshaping talent development
Companies also need to better understand how attitudes to work are changing among the young. “Zig-zag” career journeys alongside career fluidity are now more likely to be pursued by younger workers, such as those in Gen Z, in preference to a “job for life”.
“We need to make people feel that they are gathering experiences, gathering expertise, and becoming stronger as individuals by virtue of these different experiences in their career,” says Ms Atkinson. It also means that companies need to give serious consideration to the recruitment of mid-career candidates who may be switching from another profession, much like Ms Atkinson herself, whose earlier career was in financial services and hospitality.
At the other end of the age trajectory, companies can leverage the insights of their older, more experienced employees too. Although an ageing workforce is often framed as a problem, this cohort is an asset. “Babcock is working with employees near retirement age to think about how we can retain some of their skills and knowledge in the industry. We’re creating a pool of mentors, who can stay engaged in the workforce while giving them the opportunity to slow down or work part-time, according to their needs,” explains Ms Atkinson.
“The industry and government must work together to evangelise STEM.”
David Lockwood, CEO, Babcock International Group
Securing sovereignty
The defence industry needs a mindset shift from competition to collaboration, with funding to support this. “The industry and government must work together to evangelise STEM,” says Mr Lockwood. The government’s Strategic Defence Review and Defence Industrial Strategy have pledged to build skills, partnerships and innovation, while raising defence spending to 2.6% of GDP by 2027. This includes channelling £182m to support the defence talent pipeline, and a Defence Skills Passport framework to ease the transition from similar industries and the armed forces into jobs in defence.
“Our workforce is a sovereign asset – there are people in our business that know how to do things that nobody in the world knows how to do, and they are critical to national security,” notes Ms Atkinson. Securing the defence industry’s talent pipeline at every age and level is the surest way to keep the UK safe in an unstable world.
