# Britain’s Halfords targets retirees in recruitment drive Author: Pal Sinha, Barnali Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali Published: 2022-11-23 Category: NEWS Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/news Meta Title: Halfords recruits 1,000 technicians amid labour shortages Meta Description: Explore how Halfords plans to address the UK labor shortage crisis by targeting retirees and offering flexible working options in their car repair centres. URL: https://financedigest.com/britains-halfords-targets-retirees-in-recruitment-drivehtml ![undefined](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm5qst7v3003gwirgwqtxn8i8/images/2022-11-23t081342z1lynxmpeiam05hrtroptp4halfords-grp-results-1736814823228-compressed.jpg) LONDON (Reuters) – Halfords is aiming to recruit 1,000 new technicians over the next 12 months by attracting retirees to work in its car repair centres, as Britain’s tight labour market drives employers to think up new hiring strategies. Companies in Britain are struggling to recruit staff. The country’s unemployment rate hit its lowest level since 1974 in October at the same time as the number of people leaving the workforce has risen. People taking [early retirement](https://www.financedigest.com/how-to-retire-early.html "How to retire early") plus the impact of lower migration levels after Britain left the European Union, has depleted the workforce, adding to inflation pressures which are already hurting the economy. Halfords, which sells motoring and cycling services and products, said on Wednesday it would target people who had left the workforce in the last few [years but could now be considering a return as high inflation](https://www.financedigest.com/spains-inflation-to-be-lower-this-year-than-in-2022-minister.html "Spain’s inflation to be lower this year than in 2022 -minister") causes a cost-of-living crisis. We need to be ambitious and creative in the way we go about [meeting the demand](https://www.financedigest.com/meeting-both-operational-and-customer-demands-how-insurance-can-adapt-in-a-disrupted-world.html "Meeting both operational and customer demands – how insurance can adapt in a disrupted world") for technicians,” Halfords Chief Executive Graham Stapleton said in a statement. We want to give people the best possible route to [return to work.”](https://www.financedigest.com/how-digital-signage-and-avoip-solutions-can-enhance-the-return-to-work.html "How Digital Signage and AVoIP Solutions Can Enhance the Return to Work") Compared to 2019, [Britain had 600,000 more people this year](https://www.financedigest.com/2043-the-year-britain-will-turn-cashless.html "2043: The year Britain will turn cashless") who were not participating in the jobs market. Hospitality and retail are amongst the [sectors that can’t fill roles despite wages rising](https://www.financedigest.com/guess-what-public-sector-adoption-of-e-invoicing-on-the-rise.html "GUESS WHAT? PUBLIC SECTOR ADOPTION OF E-INVOICING ON THE RISE!"). By [offering more flexible](https://www.financedigest.com/britain-urges-banks-to-offer-mortgage-flexibility-in-cost-of-living-crisis.html "Britain urges banks to offer mortgage flexibility in cost-of-living crisis") working, including part-time hours, and apprenticeships to older people, plus opening a training academy, Halfords hopes it will be able to recruit retirees. The [group also wants to encourage more women to train](https://www.financedigest.com/mazars-to-acquire-financial-modelling-consultancy-and-training-provider-corality-financial-group.html "Mazars to acquire financial modelling consultancy and training provider, Corality Financial Group") to repair cars. [Operating from over 600 garages across Britain](https://www.financedigest.com/britain-sets-5g-goal-says-no-magic-number-of-operators.html "Britain sets 5G goal, says no ‘magic number’ of operators"), Halfords is the largest provider of motoring services and it expects demand for vehicle servicing, maintenance and annual MOT tests on cars to increase because the country’s car fleet is ageing. Halfords also [reported results](https://www.financedigest.com/severe-april-storms-result-in-2bn-hit-to-us-economy-according-to-aon-catastrophe-report.html "Severe April storms result in bn hit to US economy, according to Aon catastrophe report") on Wednesday. (Reporting by Sarah Young, editing by Paul Sandle) --- This blog is powered by Superblog. Visit https://superblog.ai to know more. ---