In the competition for talent, the arms industry must become more flexible.
(Photo: Reuters)
In the armaments industry, the world of work seemed fine recently. Twenty or thirty years of service are not uncommon in this tight-knit industry. Once armament, always armament: The industry could rely on that for a long time. The problem: This promise is no longer valid.
Because the job market has changed. At least since the beginning of the corona crisis, the bargaining power of employees has been growing. And that power grows every year as more baby boomers retire from the active workforce.
The next generation is significantly more demanding, mobile and flexible on the job market than its predecessors. She values home office and work-life balance. If the basic conditions don’t fit, they go somewhere else. With this somewhat hedonistic attitude, they shape the workforces of entire corporations – whether the employers like it or not.
This has certainly been registered in the armaments and security industry, but little has changed so far – apart from a few days of home office. The specialists still come from the same two or three universities. Bundeswehr networks are still paving the way for careers.
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In addition, the proportion of women in most defense companies is appallingly low, as is the proportion of international executives. You don’t have to be a diversity researcher to know that an industry doesn’t always thrive when it comes to new ways of thinking.
A problem for the Bundeswehr
The fact is: these are the worst possible conditions for the turning point proclaimed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Because just as a result of the announcement of the multi-billion dollar special fund for the Bundeswehr, more jobs are already being advertised in Germany’s armaments companies than originally planned. These will be difficult to fill as career paths continue within the company or industry.
Not only the escalating procurement bureaucracy for new tanks, fighter jets and ammunition should make it difficult to advance the modernization of the Bundeswehr quickly. The shortage of skilled workers in the defense industry could become an equally big problem. Except that the shortage of staff cannot be resolved by simply reorganizing the procurement system.
Good for the industry: The negative image of the armaments industry seems to have improved slightly with the start of the Ukraine war. Companies should take advantage of this and leverage previously untapped potential, which means in concrete terms: becoming more international, more flexible, more modern and also more female. Otherwise the turning point in the armaments industry could fail.
More: The 100 billion euro problem: Minister of Finance criticizes the procurement system of the Bundeswehr