Building people resilience can be the fastest and most cost-effective improvement senior engineers can make to their business’ resilience, research shows

Independent research commissioned by RS Components (RS) has shown that, by building resilience among their staff, senior engineers can often make fast and cost-effective improvements to their business’ overall resilience.

The third report in the Resilience Index series – The Resilience Index: People -How a focus on people can strengthen resilience quickly and cost-effectively – identified five key practical actions that senior engineers should consider taking to build resilience across their team and drive forward the overall resilience of their business.

The actions identified will help companies not only to recruit and train the right people to support their aims but will also help to underpin a company’s behavioural resilience by prioritising safety, skills, and capabilities.

The five actions are:

1. Tackle the training deficit. Continuous upskilling of people will help to maximise operational efficiency and minimise losses but is also necessary due to the number of unfilled vacancies.
2. Put safety first. Undertake thorough risk assessments to reduce risks and ensure appropriate PPE for staff safety at all times.
3. Outsource certain activities. By analysing what can be outsourced to improve operational efficiency, senior engineers can outsource certain activities to suppliers to free up staff to deliver greater value across operations.
4. Work out what makes people tick. Consider how to manage, motivate, and reward an engaged workforce keen to look at what’s new, what’s next, and what impact they can make.
5. Recognise the value of HR. Recruit HR leaders who’ll bring to the boardroom commercial experience and ideas to release performance and potential from people. Not salary scales, policies, or fruit.

Peter Malpas, President EMEA at RS Components, comments: “It is estimated that transforming manufacturing resilience in the UK could add £26bn of productivity value to the economy. It’s clear that company workforces have a vital role to play in achieving this.

“The findings of the third report show that strengthening resilience across your team can be one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to build resilience across your business.

“As a strategic partner in supply chains, RS Components offers bespoke services and solutions to help senior engineers unlock the opportunities offered by building people resilience. From personalised PPE to keeping the workforce safe, through to services such as inventory solutions which mean elements of operations can be outsourced and valuable time freed up to drive improvements on site.”

For a copy of The Resilience Index: People – How a focus on people can strengthen resilience quickly and cost-effectively, visit: https://www.rs-connectedthinking.com/en/operational-efficiency/insight/the-resilience-index-people