E-BIKE BOOM PUTS NMS RECRUIT AT THE HUB OF JOBS GROWTH
A GLOBAL shift towards sustainability has put NMS Recruit at the hub of huge jobs growth activity in a sector that’s racing to meet consumer demand.
The use of urban electric bikes has been speeding up worldwide as concerns mount about the impact of vehicle emissions on air quality in our towns and cities.
A massive surge in home food deliveries – initially the result of the pandemic lockdown and still growing - has also seen a need for quick and cheap transport measures become ever more vital to delivery businesses operating in a fast-paced environment.
As NMS prepares to hit a record trading quarter - 42 per cent up on March 2021 - the e-bike boom is firmly gearing up to contribute to the company’s success as it moves into worldwide recruitment for jobs in electric cycle-related industries and services.
Demand among employers experiencing this trading upturn in e-bike manufacture and retail has increased not just in the UK but in New York, the Netherlands and Nairobi, with NMS now recruiting here for commercial roles as well as for technicians and engineers.
And, said Alex Drury, who heads up the company’s Sales Division, this major new recruitment initiative all stemmed from a partnership with one small London-based e-bike company searching for staff in the capital where electric transport is seen as crucial to tackling traffic congestion and carbon emissions.
He explained: “It soon became obvious that the market for e-bikes has become massive. The green agenda means everyone is now aware of global environmental issues and increasingly businesses and individuals are taking action to reduce vehicle emissions and cut their transport costs.
“More and more traffic-heavy towns and cities are getting equipped with cycle lanes and bringing in cycle hire schemes which encourage people to take to the road on bikes, particularly electric ones. The obvious result is an increased demand for staff by companies worldwide who are manufacturing, selling and servicing them.”
The UK e-bike market is now worth £280 million in sales with evidence pointing to serious growth as the government’s plan to completely ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by the end of the 2020s gets closer.
In New York, e-bikes are outselling electric cars while in the Netherlands there’s already an outstanding bicycle infrastructure with more than 35,000km of cycle ways throughout the country and an ingrained culture of cycling over driving. And in Nairobi environmental measures are being taken to counteract the effects of traffic congestion on urban air quality by getting people to switch to green transport, with particular emphasis on e-bikes.
However, an interesting twist on the economic good fortunes of the e-bike industry has come out of the coronavirus pandemic.
Alex said: “Throughout lockdown, there was an enormous surge in the amount of home deliveries of fast food. Here the e-bike well and truly came into its own - nippy, cheap to run and, most importantly, getting hot food delivered quickly.
“Even though Covid restrictions are now gone, there’s still no sign of demand slowing down with ‘ordering in’ now looking like a permanent fixture when it comes to dining.”
NMS Recruit’s Operations Director Lisa Carew said the urban electric bike revolution was becoming a key component in the business’ trading operation as green transport becomes an increasingly important environmental issue.
Despite supply chains being heavily hit, the e-bike market continued to increase during the pandemic crisis and sales in the UK are now expected to triple over the next three years.
She added: “As we take steps to rebuild the economy and, at the same time, keep our focus on moves towards sustainability, it’s rewarding to see jobs expanding in diverse areas such as electronic cycles, their manufacture, sales and service provision.
“It’s also a perfect example of us immediately identifying a potential growth area and seizing the opportunity to give employers the right workforce to keep their businesses buoyant.”