Nissan Sunderland
Nissan Sunderland is the UK's biggest car producer and the most productive car plant in Europe.
They faced both a severe shortage of qualified Maintenance Technicians and a move to a 24-hour shift pattern. SMRS analysed the home locations of all current members of the Maintenance team. This showed clusters of employees in particular geographic areas from which both recruitment and retention rates were significantly higher. We also analysed locally advertised salaries and benefits, local companies making redundancies and potential sources of trainees for the roles.
The subsequent campaign - covering posters, leaflets, radio and press – not only attracted the number of qualified recruits required, but enabled the training scheme to be expanded, lowered cost-per-hire, helped to improve retention and increased the number of speculative applications.
Recruiting Apprentices was just as challenging. Given the high numbers required and the desire to encourage female applicants, we had to undertake a detailed research and planning exercise.
Our research on potential Apprentices covered location, travel, education, media consumption, lifestyle choices and influencers. We then planned an integrated media campaign, incorporating press advertising and editorial, radio, lifestyle magazines, posters and leaflets. The resulting campaign was so successful that we have been able to replicate it year after year with little need for development.