Halfords targets UK over-50s because it seeks to fill 1,000 roles

Halfords is aiming to recruit 1,000 automobile technicians by focusing on retirees and girls as UK companies compete for expert staff amid power labour shortages.

The bike and automobile elements vendor set out plans to supply apprenticeships to over-50s, who stop work through the pandemic, in addition to entice extra girls, ex-offenders and deprived youth into the roles within the subsequent 12 months as its providers enterprise grows. Halfords has over 600 garages and practically 700 vans.

“We’ve obtained to be extra inventive about getting colleagues into technical roles”, chief government Graham Stapleton stated. “The issue is that it’s tougher than it was just a few years in the past to recruit technicians. Extra folks have retired and the labour pool has shrunk”.

About 1mn folks gave up employment for the reason that begin of the pandemic, with retirement the most typical cause quoted by these aged between 50 and 70, based on official statistics. In the meantime, the unemployment price hit its lowest degree since 1974 final month, with UK companies struggling to recruit.

In August, Dame Sharon White, chair of John Lewis Partnership, urged retirees to return to work to deal with labour shortages.

Halfords’ announcement got here because it advised buyers that annual income can be on the decrease finish of its £65mn to £75mn vary, sending the shares down greater than 6pc to 200p in morning buying and selling. The inventory has fallen greater than 45pc for the reason that star of the yr.

Money-strapped customers have been spending much less on “greater ticket” objects and ditching discretionary purchases, the corporate stated.

It posted pre-tax income of £29.3mn for the 26 weeks to September 30, lower than half of the equal interval in 2021, largely due to greater day-to-day prices. Income rose 10.2 per cent to £765.7mn on 2021, boosted by repairs and MOTs however retail gross sales fell 6 per cent through the interval, as fewer consumers purchased bikes after a surge through the pandemic.

Halfords plans to be a services-led firm by 2023, based on Stapleton, who described it as a “actually pivotal level” because it forecast that greater than half of its income will come from providers by subsequent yr.

“There may be undoubtedly a brighter future forward for Halfords as a service-provider-that-does-some-retail and never vice versa,” analysts at Peel Hunt stated.

The corporate carried out strongly on the finish of the pandemic, as customers obtained again into automobiles to commute and journey once more, however has since been hit by inflationary pressures, greater power prices and a weaker overseas change price towards the greenback.

Stapleton stated that one other impact of the price of dwelling disaster has been customers switching from driving automobiles to using e-bikes and scooters. He additionally predicted a “robust Christmas” for youngsters’s bicycles.