Holding on to staff is to become more important than ever for employers in the year ahead, according to research published today (May 14 2004) by IRS Employment Review. With recruitment problems now perceived to be insurmountable, staff retention jumps to second place in the HR managerís priority to-do list for the year ahead, the IRS HR Prospects 2004 survey has found.
There is some evidence that HR managersí efforts to reduce recruitment difficulties have not made significant inroads into the problem. In 2002, seven in 10 (71.4%) employers had experienced recruitment difficulties in the previous 12 months. But two years later, seven in 10 (70.2%) of the same employers were still reporting such problems.
This research, conducted in early 2004, is based on a survey of 519 HR departments. The questionnaire was followed up by a focus group and one-to-one interviews. The results are available in the new issue (799) of IRS Employment Review (www.irsemploymentreview.com
Other key findings include:
Recruitment
The public sector is the most affected by recruitment difficulties (86.4% of public sector respondents confirmed this), while firms in the manufacturing and production sector are least affected (65.9%). 74.5% of private sector services are affected by recruitment difficulties.
Re-advertising, turning to agencies/head-hunters, and advertising on the internet are the most common actions being taken to tackle recruitment.
The public sector is less likely than employers in general to improve starting salaries, or to turn to agencies or headhunters. It is more likely to advertise on the internet, to introduce or increase relocation expenses, to offer flexible hours of work and to readvertise vacancies. It is also twice as likely to offer starting bonuses.
The manufacturing and production sector is less likely to offer starting bonuses, speed up the recruitment process, improve starting salaries, advertise on the internet, offer flexible hours of work or re-advertise.
Private sector services firms are less likely to introduce or increase relocation expenses, and more likely to turn to agencies or headhunters.
Retention
Improving communication with staff, providing training and development, and improving the skills of line managers are the key actions being taken to improve retention.
Measures used in the past 12 months and, therefore, likely to be used even more in the coming year include:
Measures used %*
Improved communication with employees 63.2%
Provided training and development opportunities 61.0%
Improved the skills of line managers 50.2%
Improved the selection of new staff 43.0%
Offered more flexible hours of work 42.6%
Increased pay 39.3%
Increased the opportunities to change job 26.3%
Improved benefits 23.1%
Source: IRS Employment Review
IRS Employment Review Recruitment and Retention editor Neil Rankin said:
ìHR professionals are finding that they can only devote so much time and attention to any one issue, and with growing pessimism about the impact they can have on solving their recruitment problems, they are looking at how they can hang on to existing staff. With ever-increasing pressures on keeping costs down, HR managers will have to be even more creative in their efforts to maintain a happy and productive workforce.î
The full HR Prospects 2004 survey is published in IRS Employment Review (799) available from customer services on 020- 8662 2000, price 30 or can be found on
Hang on to those staff!
Holding on to staff is to become more important than ever for employers in the year ahead, according to research published today (May 14 2004) by IRS Employment Review.