A disconnect between the salaries engineering and manufacturing (E&M) talent wants and the salaraies being offered by E&M companies is exacerbating the skills shortage, new research has revealed.
Michael Page’s 2025 Salary Guides shows a challenging staffing landscape for E&M leaders, where three quarters (75%) of organisations have struggled to hire in the past year, with more than half (54%) citing matching candidate salary expectations as their biggest challenge.
The 2025 Salary Guides, which analyse hundreds of roles to generate data on recruitment demand, popular roles and hiring timelines for UK firms across 15 sectors, also explore the latest trends in the UK recruitment landscape.
With hiring and retaining talent emerging as the top concern in the last 12 months for leaders across E&M, the report shows that businesses lacking a considered recruitment approach and competitive employer value proposition may lose out on securing top talent. With salary the primary concern for both employer and candidate, understanding wider market trends has never been more important.
Ruth Hancock, Regional Director at Michael Page commented: “This year, economic challenges have had an impact on recruitment throughout the engineering and manufacturing sector. There is reason for optimism, however, with planned government investment into infrastructure projects that could help to stimulate job creation and wider growth across the sector.
“With more opportunities and greater job flow, industry leaders will have the confidence they need to make strides with their hiring. Equally, candidates will feel encouraged to make job moves in a more stable market – offering more potential and less risk for both parties.
“Throughout the year we’ve seen a clear trend emerge: hiring managers who make offers sooner are securing the best candidates. With this in mind, and as the talent pipeline becomes more dynamic, leaders should seize this opportunity to ensure their candidate offerings are competitive and timely, in order to secure their preferred candidates in the future.”
Beyond mismatched salary expectations, 73% of E&M business leaders said that finding candidates with the right skills was a significant hurdle. For more than three in five (65%), the lack of candidates available in the market was amongst their main challenges, reflecting a growing need for specialised recruitment strategies.
Hancock added: “There are plenty of options available to businesses to ensure they’re not falling foul of mismatched expectations – from looking at total package offers, where salary is bolstered by other provisions, through to benchmarking salaries against the industry standard. It’s important for businesses to articulate what sets them apart and ensure they’re not falling behind in the race for top talent.”
In addition to recruitment challenges, the report also shows that 60% of E&M organisations are battling retention issues. Similar to their hiring obstacles, the main challenge in retaining staff for 58% of UK leaders is offering a competitive salary.
An additional 42% said that work/life balance has affected employee retention, with 21% also saying career progression has impacted the number of workers staying in role.
This data spotlights the opportunity for businesses to rethink their recruitment strategies in order to futureproof their teams – shifting from hiring as an immediate solution to creating a long-term talent pipeline. From drawing on specialist knowledge to working with recruitment partners to reach a broader set of candidates, the report highlights the need to forge a clear path to the talent businesses require, both now and in the future.
For businesses looking to unlock further hiring insights, the Michael Page 2025 Salary Guides can be downloaded here.
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