SiteEngineers and cover
Finding, keeping and covering maintenance engineers: holidays, sickness, nights and peak.
- Engineers and cover
Agency fees: what you're actually paying for
The gap between the engineer's pay and the charge rate looks like pure profit. Much of it isn't. What sits in the rate, and what to ask.
24 October 2026 · 4 min read - Engineers and cover
Temp to perm: hiring an agency engineer you like
The agency engineer knows your kit better than half your team. Before you offer them the job, read the transfer fee terms. Paying isn't your only choice.
23 October 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
Booking extra hands for a planned shutdown, in time
Parts ordered, scope signed off, and every good fitter already booked. How to get the right people for a shutdown, and when to start.
22 October 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
What the Conduct Regulations mean when you take an agency engineer
The Conduct Regulations look like the agency's problem. They also decide what you have to tell the agency, what it must check, and what it owes you back.
20 October 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
Right to work checks for agency and contract engineers
The engineer's at the gate, the line's down, and nobody knows who checked their right to work. Whose job it is, what changed on 1 October, and what to keep.
18 October 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
Inducting a contract engineer so they're useful on day one
A contract engineer who spends their first shift watching a fire safety video is a lost shift. An induction that gets them on the tools by mid-morning.
16 October 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
Onboarding a new maintenance engineer: the first 30 days
You waited months for this engineer. A plan for the first 30 days, so they're safe, useful on shift, and still with you at Christmas.
13 October 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
Counter-offers and resignations: keeping an engineer who's handed in notice
Your best shift engineer has just handed in a letter. Whether to counter, what to say in the first conversation, and how to use the notice period if they go.
11 October 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
Why your engineer vacancies sit open for months
The shift fitter job went up in spring and it's still open. Most of the delay is on your side of the fence, and most of it can be fixed.
8 October 2026 · 4 min read - Engineers and cover
Peak season in logistics: getting engineering cover lined up
Peak doesn't start in November. For the engineering team it starts now, with the rota, the spares and the cover you book before everyone else does.
7 October 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
Writing a maintenance engineer job advert that gets replies
Most engineer adverts read like every other one, so good engineers scroll past. What to put in yours so the right people pick up the phone.
5 October 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
The ageing maintenance team: planning for the retirements coming
Your most experienced engineers will retire, and most of what they know isn't written down. How to plan for it while they're still here.
3 October 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
Apprentices: growing your own engineers
You can't hire the engineers you need, so grow them. What an apprentice costs, what funding there is, and how to make it work on a busy site.
1 October 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
Overtime as cover: when it works and when it breaks people
Overtime is the quickest cover you have. Used for a week, it works. Used for a vacancy, it wears out the people you can least afford to lose.
28 September 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
Agency engineers and the 12-week rule: what changes on day 85
Holiday cover becomes sickness cover and your agency fitter hits three months on site. What they get on day one, how the 12-week clock counts, and what changes on day 85.
27 September 2026 · 7 min read - Engineers and cover
On-call rotas that people will actually do
Most on-call rotas fail quietly. The phone rings out and the line waits. How to build a rota your engineers will stick to.
21 September 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
Shift patterns for maintenance teams: 4 on 4 off, days and continental
4 on 4 off is popular. Days with on-call looks cheap. Continental shares the nights. What each pattern does to your cover, your engineers and your breakdowns.
20 September 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
Keeping good engineers when the site down the road pays more
A new site opens nearby and pays more per hour. You can't always match it. What makes good engineers stay anyway, and what drives them out faster than pay.
17 September 2026 · 4 min read - Engineers and cover
Fitters, electricians and controls engineers: who you really need
Send the wrong trade to a breakdown and the first two hours go on finding out it's someone else's job. How to work out the mix your site needs, from your own fault log.
15 September 2026 · 5 min read - Engineers and cover
The multi-skilled engineer: what you can realistically ask for
Everyone wants a fitter who's also a sparky and a controls engineer. Most good engineers are strong in one trade and safe in another. How to ask for what you can get.
13 September 2026 · 5 min read
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