Long-term roles and pay rises offered to beat staff shortages

Somerset organic dairy business Yeo Valley Production has launched a job retention scheme with pay rises for workers in a bid to beat staff shortages affecting the industry.

The company, which has sites across the county, is offering longterm roles for hundreds of temporary workers.

The retention scheme includes enhanced benefits and a route to long-term jobs for candidates able to continue working for the company on a temporary basis as it settles into what it calls “post-pandemic life in the short-term”.

This is supported by a pay increase of more than nine per cent for all workers starting the new career paths with Yeo Valley Production. The dairy producer currently has about 60 temporary roles available at its sites in Blagdon, Newton Abbot, Cannington, Highbridge and Crewkerne.

The company is among a rising number of employers moving to give temporary workers longerterm prospects as they look beyond Brexit and Covid-19.

More UK employers are now offering enhanced pay and a clear pathway to progression for temporary workers as the labour market continues to flex. Increasing numbers of firms are showing a commitment to turning temporary positions into permanent roles.

The post-brexit temporary jobs market is meanwhile stronger than ever, and could be key in bringing vital skills and large employers such as Yeo Valley together in the longer term as the UK economy continues to settle in the wake of both Brexit and the pandemic.

Candidates applying for general operator roles with the dairy giant on a temporary basis will now have a clear opportunity to progress towards multi-skilled quality or leadership roles or an apprenticeship engineering position, depending on preference and ability. Georgina Collins, head of talent and opportunity at Yeo Valley Production, said: “We’ve been working around the clock in the face of increased demand for our dairy products throughout Covid-19 and could not have achieved this without the extraordinary support of temporary workers who have stepped up across the South West to help us get the job done.

“Now that we’re hopefully over the peak of the pandemic, and moving past the extreme market pressures we’ve been experiencing, the launch of strategies like these will help us into a more settled way of working in the long run and help us make a more permanent promise to our temporary workforce in return.”

Acorn Recruitment said it was encouraging to see more employers such as Yeo Valley launching schemes designed to engage the temporary workforce on a longerterm basis for the sake of the economy as a whole.