Europe defence firms lure young recruits with yoga, higher pay, and even condoms

BERLIN - Rheinmetall has come up with a cheeky way to introduce itself to young job seekers.  

At recruitment events, executives from the German defence contractor have been known to hand out condom packages stamped with the company’s name and a message: “Safety counts. Always and everywhere.”

It is a sign of changing times in Europe, where weapons makers are going to extreme lengths to court a new generation of workers, even resorting to racy gimmicks to appeal to a labour force that has been traditionally male. 

Other defence employers are offering yoga classes and generous pay, and widening the recruiting net to convert restaurant cooks into welders building battleships.

The once buttoned-down industry is attempting to rebrand itself to attract people needed to assemble the tanks, missiles and submarines needed to protect the continent.

Arms manufacturers, suddenly flush with orders, are racing to refresh an ageing workforce with recent graduates and workers poached from other industries.

But coders, nuclear engineers and even plumbers have other options, and typically are not drawn to careers building instruments of destruction.

“This is an industry that previously was not so attractive and wasn’t used to competing for the best talent,” said international security professor Christian Kaunert from Dublin City University.

“Now they need to upskill their image and become more attractive to younger people.”

A boost in defence spending to 3 per cent of gross domestic product – Nato members set a long-term target of 5 per cent in June – would require as many as 760,000 skilled workers in Europe by 2030, estimates consultancy Kearney. Employment stood at about one million in 2023, according to the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD).

The money is on the way, if not yet pouring in.

With

Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine

and US President Donald Trump pressing allies to spend more, the European Union committed €800 billion (S$1.2 trillion) for rearmament. Germany has made defence a top priority, while Britain reallocated funds from foreign aid.

But hiring and retaining talent has been made difficult by years of underinvestment, deindustrialisation and the public image of weapons manufacturing, which has not ranked high on the desirability scale for younger recruits.

Defence has been “a declining industry for a long time”, Babcock International Group chief executive David Lockwood said in an interview.

“If you want a site manager for a site of 500 to 600 people, you’ve really got to grow your own,” he said. The biggest constraint at the UK builder of frigates, submarines and aircraft carriers is having the right people in the right roles, Mr Lockwood and his top aides have said.

One challenge is finding people with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem).

There has been a persistent shortage of Stem workers, a spokesperson for Italian defence firm Leonardo said. To reach younger workers, it is offering more competitive pay and strengthening career development programmes, as it targets hiring up to 7,000 people by 2028 – including in quantum technologies, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. 

Radar-maker Hensoldt said it wants to recruit 1,000 people in 2025, with an emphasis on computer scientists, electrical engineers and mechatronics, which combines electronics with mechanical engineering.

One potential source for talent is in the carmaking industry, which is shedding jobs due to overcapacity.

Rheinmetall is converting two of its automotive plants and retraining workers for defence, while Hensoldt offered to take unwanted employees from car suppliers Continental and Robert Bosch. 

Race for talent

Mr Timo Lehne, CEO of recruitment consultancy SThree, said: “They’re all aware that once the money comes, the fight for labour will become quite intense. We believe there’s going to be quite a tight race for top talent.”

Employees at European aerospace and defence firms command annual incomes averaging €59,000, 43 per cent higher than the region’s average wage, according to ASD, the industry group.

While support for Ukraine has improved attitudes towards the industry, weapons manufacturers have also faced protests at campus recruitment events.

But companies that cannot staff up fast enough risk missing out on the approaching spending boom. That is why defence companies are polishing their image and sweetening the perks. 

Rheinmetall has also sponsored the Borussia Dortmund football team to attract younger workers. The company seeks to add 9,000 employees by 2027, including plant operators, welders and aircraft mechanics.

Theon International, a Greek maker of night-vision goggles, said it offers parenting support, yoga classes and language courses.

Austria’s Steyr Motors is collaborating with technical schools and universities, said CEO Julian Cassutti. “We’re working to highlight how modern, cutting-edge and meaningful our work is,” he said.

Still, challenges remain in reshaping the perception of the defence sector. 

People have left Babcock “because they see what’s happening in the world and don’t feel like they want to be an active part of that”, chief people officer Louise Atkinson said in an interview. At the same time, “there are more people that are attracted to the sector because they want to defend everything that we hold dear”.

Blue-collar vacancies like welding, pipe fitting and plumbing are particularly hard to fill. 

US attrition rates in aerospace and defence reach more than 40 per cent for some skilled trades, according to McKinsey.

“In Europe, the situation is even more acute,” said senior McKinsey partners Brooke Weddle and Hugues Lavandier. They see evidence of lower hiring rates and higher attrition, especially in critical areas, they said.  

There are signs of progress. The flow of candidates is getting stronger, SThree’s Mr Lehne said. More flexible employment could help, he said, as weapons makers show rising interest in contract workers.

At Babcock, graduate and apprenticeship programmes are significantly oversubscribed, Mr Lockwood the CEO said, joking that it has taken until his mid-60s to be “cool at last”. He cited one former chef who became a welding apprentice, adding that kitchen priorities like a clean work environment, precision and paying attention are “what you have to do at Babcock”.

BAE Systems, the UK maker of the Eurofighter Typhoon jet, has also notched successes. The company’s apprenticeship programme is “massively oversubscribed”, CEO Charles Woodburn said on a recent panel in London.

Mr Ollie Edwards, a 25-year-old design engineer at BAE in Portsmouth, England, said he was attracted by job stability, the national scale of the projects, and being able to solve problems every day. 

The increase in defence spending is “not necessarily a nice thing, but it does provide a lot of opportunity”, he said. “There are quite a few young people who have seen what’s going on, and they want to get involved.” BLOOMBERG