Head hunter backs new research as firms continue to lose staff

A Cheshire-based head hunter is backing new research out this week which reveals a jump in the number of employers struggling to hang on to their staff.

Doug Mackay of recruitment specialist Collingwood Search & Selection Ltd says larger blue chip companies in particular are finding it hard to retain talented staff because they fail to offer incentives such as flexible working. Collingwood was recently showcased to the Prime Minister Tony Blair as an organisation achieving a good system of flexible working.

A report out this week from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found a significant rise in the number of organisations who faced problems retaining their staff over the past year. Its survey found that almost eight in ten companies struggled to retain employees in 2006, compared with nearly seven in ten in 2005.

ëSmall to medium sized companies fair better when it comes to keeping their staff in our experience because they are more likely to offer flexible working packages, home working or rural working for example,í said Doug, from Chester. ëIt can cost a firm two and a half times a personís annual salary to re-recruit which is a costly mistake.í

The CIPD survey found that many employers are overlooking the most obvious ways of recruiting and retaining talented staff, such as offering flexible working and the necessary training. In fact, 74% of firms questioned said flexible working has a positive impact but only 31% currently operate it.

The research is being discussed at the CIPD's Annual Talent Management, Recruitment and Retention Conference this week, where delegates can hear what other organisations are doing to tackle their recruitment and retention
difficulties.

Only the public sector has seen a drop in recruitment difficulties which reflects the pressure on the public sector to make efficiency savings (80% of public sector organisations say they experienced recruitment difficulties, compared to 89% in the 2006 survey).