Hawick Knitwear

Hawick Knitwear in the Scottish Borders employs about 20 non-UK nationals from countries including Latvia, Slovakia, Poland, Italy and Kenya.

Hawick Knitwear works mainly in skilled production roles such as garment auditing, body linking, seaming, cutting, machining, as well as Shima technician. This is a highly skilled role that involves creating computer discs which are then inserted into the Shima knitting machines (a leading knitting machine brand), allowing the machine operatives to knit the garment to the required specification.

"There are various jobs to do in what is a labour-intensive process," says Cindy Rodriguez, the company's Human Resources Manager. "There are several stages in the make up of the garments that are really quite skilled and it can take six to nine months to train one operative to become competent in one skill."

Hawick Knitwear found most of its overseas recruits by word of mouth, through connections to friends and family already working at the company and in the local area. Rodriguez also applied experience from her previous job at local salmon producer Farne Salmon, which piloted a scheme to bring overseas workers to the area.

"There is a skills gap in the local area," Rodriguez says. "The textile industry was huge in the Scottish Borders and in Hawick in particular, but with the UK-wide demise of manufacturing in general and textiles specifically, we've found that some locals don't see coming into the textile industry as their career going forward. We do promote employment locally, but it's been great to be able to fill the skills gap with workers from other countries, too."

Rodriguez describes the general work ethic as "fantastic", an attitude that has been well-received by the company's existing employees, many of whom are long-serving.

"They all generally want to work any overtime that's offered, they're always eager to come in to work extra hours. They're flexible, very loyal and committed and therefore integrate easily into the existing workforce, most of whom also share these qualities.

"Many of the staff in the production area work on a piece rate system, so the harder they work, the more they earn. The ability to fill various vacancies with a mix of local and non UK nationals has had a very good effect on the business as a whole and all recruits have been very well received, without exception."

The Hawick-based company, which can trace its roots back to 1874, employs 260 staff and supplies high-quality lambswool and cashmere garments for brand name and contract customers in the UK, Europe and the US. It currently produces around 500,000 garments a year at the rate of 10,000 to 12,000 a week.

Contact

Cindy Rodriguez
HR Manager
Hawick Knitwear
Liddesdale Road
Hawick
Roxburghshire
Scotland
TD9 0WX

Tel: 01450 363100
Fax: 01450 363111
Email: cindy.rodriguez@hawickknitwear.com
Web: www.hawickknitwear.com

Related link

• Farne Salmon