COMMENT December/January 2022 Automation Smarter solutions for industrial efficiency automationmagazine.co.uk December/January 2022


Power resilience for a net zero world


Automation


Resilience against power disruptions plus smart management of multiple power 


ows Power resilience Smart Microgrids EV Charging Net Zero Energy Eciency Reducing Energy Bills Also in this issue:


Robotics Machine Vision Smart Factories Medical


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How far would you go to keep your workforce?


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British Automation and Robot Association (BARA) - www.bara.org.uk


new era has begun. Over the past two years we saw a seismic shift in our working lives, to a level never seen before, triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.


In effect, we are seeing a societal and industrial evolution at play. Never before in the industrial age has a majority of the workforce worked remotely – mostly from home. The model has always been to congregate the workforce on employers’ premises, leading to the all-too-familiar images of droves of workers rushing to and from their workplace, morning and evening, day in, day out.


UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA) - www.ukiva.org


Covid turned this on its head. Isolation from the virus meant isolation from other people, and when lockdowns ended, employers and business owners exhaled a sigh of relief to see their staff back under their roof. But the genie is out of the bottle and, as we all know how it goes, it’ll be difficult to put it back in!


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Now that remote working has been proven quite the success – even though some aspects of it meant employers had to adjust their thinking to the new ways of working – many are expecting flexible hours and to do most of their working week from home. Those who are not allowed to do so are resigning and moving on to jobs offering a better work-life balance – employees want employers with views that align with their own. Covid only too well reaffirmed how short and fragile life is. Some employers just shrug their shoulders at this, and try to recruit staff to align with the old working practices. Recruitment is costly, however, and there are labour shortages. As Moira Grassick, Managing Director at Peninsula Ireland, said: “Ultimately, employers need to look at the cost of retaining a great employee versus the cost of going through an entire recruitment process. It is then that the true value of retaining great staff becomes apparent.”


Hence, if you want to keep your staff, as an employer or business owner, look at offering flexible working arrangements – this will be amply rewarded with employee satisfaction, loyalty and lower staff churn rate – ultimately good for business and the bottom line.


Svetlana Josifovska, Editor


Editor Svetlana Josifovska Tel: 01732 883392


sjosifovska@datateam.co.uk


The statements and opinions expressed in connectingindustry/Automation magazine are not those of the editor or Datateam Business Media Ltd unless described as such.


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