HR professionals from across the light rail sector have reported that recruitment remains a challenge in a highly competitive employment environment.

Members of the UKTram HR working group say that there remains a shortage in candidates for engineering and customer facing roles, although they are doing well when it comes to attracting new drivers.

The latest meeting of the group also discussed plans for a new benchmarking project. Jamie Swift, UKTram Marketing and Commercial Manager, explained: “From the new year, we will collate annual datasets from each operator to set a UK light rail benchmark.

“The KPIs it will cover include staff turnover, sickness absence levels, workplace diversity plus any remaining Covid related stats such as absence and periods of self-isolation.”

The well attended meeting also welcomed a representative from the National Tramway Museum to the group and heard that members from heritage sector faced many of the same issues as larger networks as they employed paid staff alongside volunteers.

The group also discussed more ideas on how the industry as a whole can attract more young people and whether international recruitment may be a future option to recruit more specialist engineers.