Recruitment and retention of skilled staff remains HR’s biggest challenge with 9 out of 10 organisations reporting difficulties in filling vacancies in 2003 – compared with three-quarters in 2002, according to a review of HR prospects.
The CIPD reports that 54% of organisations cite ‘skill shortages’ and ‘finding applicants with suitable experience’ the most common reasons for recruitment difficulty. Almost three-quarters of HR professionals also report retention difficulties.
With employment levels set to rise by 250,000, it says that HR will have to tap into under-used sources of labour, such as immigrants or jobless people, or face wage costs increases.
John Philpott, the CIPD’s Chief Economist, said: “The pressures of a tight labour market and business upturn will challenge the increasing proportion of organisations with a written HR strategy to deliver on their strategic goals if they are to remain credible. Poor administrative processes and weak measurement of the added value of good people management, and costs of its neglect, will be key issues for HR professionals.”
Other key findings in the review include the following.
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2 Responses
Difficulties in finding staff?…an employer’s self made problem
I find it hard to reconcile statistics such as “9 out of 10 employers expressed difficulties in finding staff in 2003” against the views expressed by many of our clients – that age has represented a barrier to their employment. Employers are probably expressing a view which should read “we find it hard to get experienced people at the rates we are prepared to pay!” – a false economy of course
Mike Saunders, Wrinklies Direct
What about older workers?
Though I find it very hard to believe, I still keep hearing of recruiters having difficulty finding the right staff. I am also still aware, through good and bad practice feedback, that employers are still practicing wholesale age discrimination in employment.
The ADE law will be laid down this year and put into practice 24 months later. Avoiding the over 50s (from where the right staff can be found) now is crazy. A ready and able workforce, prejudiced against for no other reason than their chronological age, is now archaic and making recruiters look silly.
The government won’t be able to tolerate this
situation. 3.5 million older workers plus hundreds of ‘ambulance chasing’ lawyers will enjoy bringing the law home in 2006.
Philip Walker (CAADE) – The Campaign Against Age Discrimination in Employment.
http://www.caade.net
caade@ntlworld.com