The skill set required to build a Bentley today still has parallels to the talent needed when the British icon first rolled into the world just over a century ago. A Bentley today is still about making no compromises when it comes to practically anything: New cars from Crewe still have significant inputs of hand labor, whether it involves plugging the electronics into place or hand-stitching the piping on the leather interior’s hides. This kind of unique talent has to renewed on a generational basis. That’s what Bentley’s doing right now.
Dovetailing with the outset of National Apprenticeship Week in the United Kingdom, Bentley has announced the biggest impending annual intake of workplace trainees in its history. Despite the realities of COVID-19, Bentley still plans to hire 112 young employees during 2021, representing new entries in an increasingly diverse workforce. Very differently from when W.O. Bentley was first starting out, about a third of the trainees will go directly into digital operations and technology. Others will be spread across disciplines ranging from engineering and project management to marketing and human resources. Part of Bentley’s second-century strategy, called Beyond 100, calls for end-to-end carbon neutrality by 2030.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 