Employers are finding it hard to find staff with the right skills, with shortages most prevalent in sales, admin, engineering and manual trades.
A survey of over 1800 employers by Manpower revealed that despite a slight improvement in being able to fill job roles, managers and executives are finding it harder than last year to find skilled staff – with talented workers such as electricians, carpenters, plumbers and masons high on the wish list, along with administrative assistants, PAs, engineers and sales representatives.
Mark Cahill, managing director of Manpower UK, said employers need to be flexible in their approach to recruitment and think about using temporary staff to fill short-term gaps, especially older workers, mothers retuning to work or employees from outside the UK.
“In a tightening labour market, it is also important that employers think about holding onto staff – the benefits, career progression and training opportunities available are all important factors employers need to think about as part of their retention strategy,” he added.
“Our research earlier this year showed that staff retention was a key priority for all businesses and organisations. Good people are in demand and it’s very much a candidate’s market.”
One Response
If people were machines…..
It is odd really. Organizations put a lot of effort into making the best, most effective utilisation of their capital equipment. A whole industry has built up to provide just-in-time maintenance to avoid unscheduled down time.
What have we done to get the most effective utilisation of our people?
Why does the US have a faster rate of productivity growth than the UK or EU?
I know we Brits are very polite. Too polite to ask people to work harder? Too polite to ask what is needed to make the work easier to complete? Too status conscious to ask our “staff” how best to organize the work?
Realistically most organizations have 20% too many people already!
Get them all sparking and they will deliver 30% more business!
HR people bemoan their lack of a strategic role. Tell your CEO you can up the profit by 30%.
How strategic is that?