Practical strategies to tackle labour shortages within your food & drink business

20 October 2021

The UK food and drink sector is battling a unique set of challenges that have coalesced to create fundamental labour shortages, placing huge pressure on businesses – both large and small. Grant Thornton’s specialist team will share insights on how to tackle these challenges, both from a people perspective, as well as an operational and production perspective.

They will also share highlights from a recent report on labour shortages they published on behalf of FDF, NFU and 10 other industry bodies, including the key asks we have put to government to help enable the sector to transition to a new future. The session is designed to be informative and practical, enabling you to take these insights and implement them within your business.

Topics

Download (920 kb)

Presenters

Rob Turner, Insight & Analytics Director at Grant Thornton

Rob specialises in the analysis of large quantitative and qualitative data to derive intelligent insight that informs service delivery and performance improvement. Having worked extensively with central, sub-regional and local government over the last 15 years, Rob has significant experience in programme and policy review, economic impact assessment and appraisal, strategy development and data analysis. Rob recently led Grant Thornton’s work on publishing a report on labour shortages across the food and drink sector, on behalf of FDF, NFU and 10 other industry bodies.

Katie Nightingale, People Advisory Associate Director at Grant Thornton

Katie is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), with over 20 years HR experience in large, private organisations across a number of sectors, including food and beverage. Through her career she has advised leadership teams on all aspects of the people agenda, and thrive on supporting organisations to design and embed change programmes that have a positive impact on their people. She has a real passion for developing people and championing inclusive cultures to create environments where everyone can reach their potential. As well as her work with clients, Katie is also a member of the Advisory Panel for the 5% Club; they support emerging and diverse talent to prepare for the future.

Kevin Wilson, Business Consulting Associate Director at Grant Thornton

Kevin is a degree educated, results focussed associate director with extensive experience and expertise in supply chain management gained through a range of food, manufacturing and distribution industries. He has over 30 years experience in supply chain design and management, procurement, factory planning and demand management.

Kevin’s recent work includes:

  • Inventory working capital analysis and Brexit workshop for international tools business
  • Impact of Brexit on supply chain for a global drinks manufacturer
  • Brexit review and planning for an international wholesaler and distributor of learning materials

Download slides

Practical strategies to tackle labour shortages within your food & drink business