There’s a lot of uncertainty in both the local and global economy at the moment. It’s something we are commonly hearing from our clients. So here is a condensed version of the latest Quarterly Work Outlook report from the Australian HR Institute.
Finding #1: Hiring or firing?
44% of businesses surveyed intend to increase staffing levels this quarter while 3% are intending to decrease employee numbers. Therefore, over 50% of Aussie businesses are happy with their current staff numbers. What are your recruitment plans for the next 12 months?
Finding #2: The talent pool remains shallow
Across industries, 43% of Aussie employers are finding it difficult to recruit people with the skills they want. The main challenges reported are:
- 72% said there was a lack of suitable candidates
- 45% found candidate salary expectations were higher than expected
- 37% blamed competition from rival organisations
- 29% described the role as unattractive
Can you relate to any of these responses?
Finding #3: 1 in 5 employees are incompetent for their role
This is startling but not surprising. Over the last few years, many businesses have struggled to recruit people with the skillsets they need. So they just ‘made do’ and employees were expected to hit the ground running. As a strategy, this is doomed to failure and now management is finding that productivity is slumping and competency levels are low.
However, you can change these outcomes by investing in training – both internal and external – and by reviewing job descriptions against staff skillsets.
Training people in the skills you require increases productivity and keeps them engaged and happy. In fact, research on the benefits of investing in staff training consistently finds that for every $1 invested in training, employers can expect to receive between $1-4 in productivity gains.
Reviewing job descriptions against staff skillsets in each position gives you the opportunity to identify abilities and experience you may be underutilising. It also gives you the opportunity to redesign roles around the people you currently have so you can maximise everyone’s potential and increase staff retention. We can help you review your organisation’s job descriptions and evaluate how best to utilise your staff.
Finding #4: Employee turnover is still high
Employees are still on the move and looking for more. It’s often more money because of cost of living pressures. However, there is a lot of employee fatigue, ill-health and overwhelm – particularly in the main employment age groups of 25-55 years. This is so prevalent, a study funded by the University of Melbourne found one-third of employees in this age group were considering quitting.
Again, this is something you can control by:
- Introducing workplace wellness programs
- Providing highly flexible working arrangements
- Carefully evaluating your organisational culture
- Putting in place desirable recognition and incentive programs that make employees feel valued
Happy staff stay
Keeping your best people and upskilling those with potential will always be the best option for any business. We can help you do that with our wide range of HR consulting services that cover all aspects of the employee life cycle. Whether you are looking for assistance with a specific project or require regular support, we are here to advise you. To request a consultation, simply call 02 8977 4002.