The demand for skilled people is real and it's costing the sector. In 2025 there were 55,000 unfilled long-term vacancies in UK manufacturing, costing the economy £6bn in lost output every year, according to Make UK's Industrial Strategy Skills Commission Report 2025. That gap is the single biggest brake on growth for most firms.
Employers feel it acutely. Barclays Corporate found that skills shortages (75%), recruitment (36%) and talent retention (32%) top the list of barriers to growth for manufacturers. In engineering specifically, the Institution of Engineering and Technology reports that 76% of employers struggle to recruit for key roles, with technical and specialist sustainability skills at the top of the list.
So the picture is clear: more work than there are people to do it, and the pinch is sharpest exactly where runs are getting shorter and more varied. That's where flexible skills become the deciding factor.
Shorter runs mean more changeovers, more variety and more judgement on the line. The skills that match are the ones that move with the work. Make UK's 2030 Skills: Closing the Gap report found that 74% of manufacturers expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills (the ability to think, adapt and learn) to increase by 2030.
Automation is reshaping the roles underneath that demand. Six in ten (59%) manufacturers cited automation and half (50%) cited wider digitalisation as trends changing jobs and skills needs, again per Make UK's 2030 Skills report. These tools don't replace people so much as change what people spend their day doing, from manual repetition towards setup, oversight and problem-solving.
There's room to run here, too. The UK ranks just 24th in global robotics density, and targeted innovation and digital investment could add £150 billion to the UK's GDP by 2035, according to Make UK's Making it Smarter report. For context, the government's Smart Machines Strategy 2035 notes the UK used only 101 robots per 10,000 workers in 2020, well behind international leaders. As automation catches up, the premium on people who can work alongside it only grows.
Start by hiring for adaptability, not just a single machine or product. On shorter runs, the person who can learn a new changeover quickly is worth more than the person who's fast at one task and stuck on the rest. Write job adverts around capability and willingness to learn, and test for it at interview with practical, scenario-based questions.
Then build from within. Make UK's Executive Survey 2026 found that 40% of manufacturers are looking to upskill their existing workforce for redeployment as automation and digitalisation take hold, with that figure rising for firms of more than 1,000 employees. Pair new hires with structured upskilling so flexibility compounds across the whole team, not just the newest recruit.
Retention matters as much as recruitment. With skills shortages and talent retention both high on the list of barriers, a flexible team you keep is worth far more than one you constantly rebuild.
We built Reed.ai to make specialist manufacturing hiring faster and simpler. We search a database of 15 million candidates to find people with the adaptable, hands-on skills shorter runs reward, and we manage the process end to end: sourcing, matching, shortlisting and booking interviews. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost. Tell us the role and let's find your next flexible hire today.
