Work Package 6 Attracting, Retaining, and Upskilling Workforce

WP 6

Lead partners and co-leaders: ERCI and UASFHE (co-leaders). Hitachi, DB, UASFHE, Alstom, ERCI, TUD, UASFHE

Duration: M12 – M36 

Ground-level view between railway tracks as two blurred freight trains speed past in opposite directions under a cloudy sky

While the skills alliance and previous work packages are centred around qualitative aspects in terms of emerging skill needs driving and reacting to technical developments and disruptions, this work package primarily addresses the quantitative dimension of the changing societies, labour markets and provision of adequate workforce for and in the European railway sector. Thus, the work package comprises tasks and actions aimed to increase sector attractiveness, introduce innovative recruiting approaches, improve workforce retention, and raise diversity (esp. in leadership) to build more value inside the value chain. Moreover, this work package also looks into career opportunities and pathways. 

These goals are achieved by five individual tasks: 

  • Task 6.1, led by Hitachi Rail and DB, centres around national and international recruiting strategies filling demographic gaps, which are already severe and will become decisive in the next decades. 
  • Task 6.2, led by UASFHE focusses on upskilling and reskilling needs throughout the rail value chain to cope with both technical/technological- and work-life-driven changes. 
  • Task 6.3, led by Alstom focusses on upskilling strategies for female and diverse leadership, to build replicable models. 
  • Task 6.4, led by ERCI is dedicated to sector attractiveness and promotion campaigns raising awareness and interest and making Railways a preferred choice of young talents. 
  • Task 6.5, led by TUD focuses on the promotion of career development (and lifelong learning) pathways in the rail sector. 
  • Task 6.6, led by UASFHE provides insights into career guidance strategies and maps employability pathways with special focus on the active role of the individual and the preferred techno-social work ecosystem. 

The work package is jointly led by the ERCI (European Railway Cluster Initiative) and the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt (UASFHE) and runs over 24 months from M13-36. The active partners come from different stakeholder groups including railway industry, railway operators and railway E&T providers and thus can contribute with multi-perspective expertise into quantitative challenges and opportunities of attracting learners, employees, and future workforce.