A survey, set up by Subsea UK in collaboration with its Skills Forum, has revealed that staff retention is on the up. The survey was conducted amongst Subsea UK members to establish what the current rate of staff turnover was and how it reflects against the previous year.
With various reports indicating that the industry has critical issues with regard to retaining its staff, Subsea UK felt it was timely to conduct a survey among its members to establish how serious the situation has become.
However, good news emerged from the findings which revealed that annual staff turnover is running at an average of less than 10%, with majority of members agreeing that this is lower than the previous year.
The survey has also indicated that a higher rate of contract staff negatively reflects on a company’s overall retention rate.
Chief executive of Subsea UK, David Pridden said: “It has been widely publicised that Britain’s fastest growing industry sector is struggling to meet the demand for skilled workers. This crisis directly threatens the expansion of the North Sea's subsea companies and it is vital to focus on the retention of current and future skills in order to not loose out to other industry sectors such as space and automotive.
Dianne Stewart, Chair of the Subsea UK Skills Forum and Global Resourcing Manager for Subsea 7 also admits that retention should be a long-term focus and adds: “While these findings suggests that staff turnover has at least slowed somewhat it has also revealed the benefits of employing permanent staff in relation to retention.
“Through these surveys, where we are able to share information, the collaboration of industry is vital for our sector to establish and act upon the issues we face.”The Skills Forum, which was set up to address and shape policy and major initiatives in the skills area, is also focusing on encouraging chartered status by persuading companies that it is in their interest to employ chartered engineers.
Stewart adds: “There is a need to stimulate our engineers and promote the industry as part of a modern knowledge-based economy. Our industry needs to promote chartered status and give companies a recognised level of ability.”