Fingal Chamber is delighted to present the results of its second Business Sentiment Survey for 2022.
Once again, our survey has been designed to pinpoint key challenges for business in Fingal and identify solutions to support them. The survey also helps us refine Chamber policy on the significant issues that have been highlighted.
Fingal Chamber advocates for business, provides advice, support, referrals, lobbying and represents members to deliver positive change for Fingal and its businesses.
The Chamber works with Government Ministers, MEPs, the Mayor of Fingal, Fingal County Council and local representatives to deliver pro business and employment initiatives.
The survey was conducted over a two-week period from 3 16 October 2022 and focused on the immediate and short term challenges facing businesses in the Fingal region, including additional questions reflecting those new challenges facing business since our last survey.
Of the total number of responses received, 30% were from businesses with 50 plus employees while 70% of responses came from businesses employing 50 or less.
More than 60% of responses came from the hospitality and tourism area, business and professional services, transport and logistics, retail and wholesale, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and production sectors.
The survey concentrated on key areas such as business challenges and competitiveness, staff retention and skills gaps, local authority support and policy, and work practices. Additional questions looking at the area of energy costs and savings were included to ascertain how this important issue is impacting Chamber members.
Again, the survey highlights significant challenges facing Fingal businesses in the short and medium term namely, staff retention and recruitment as well as the availability of skills and talent. The lack of housing for employees and energy costs are the biggest risks impacting Fingal’s competitiveness.
The responses provided strong optimism for the future of Fingal with between 45 65% of respondents expecting increases in staff numbers, training, revenue and profits for the year ahead.
The report also includes feedback on what policy changes Fingal businesses think should be adopted by Fingal County Council to help businesses.
Fingal Chamber conducts its business sentiment survey twice yearly providing critical feedback to its members, the local authority and local representatives on the important issues facing businesses in Fingal. The next survey will take place in Q1, 2023.
We asked ‘What is the biggest challenge facing your business in the next 12 months?’
Almost 32% of businesses said that staff retention and recruitment is the biggest challenge facing them.
While an increase in the minimum wage is welcome for jobseekers, this is another challenge for Irish businesses who are dealing with increased rising costs on an almost daily basis. However, ‘investment in people is of critical importance’ according to Sarah Fagan, Managing Director of Adare Human Resource Management, Fingal Chamber HR partners:
“Now more than ever, investment in people is of critical importance. Not only because of the expected turnover and associated costs of replacing employees, but also because within the market there is a skills shortage. Developing a robust retention strategy will provide the competitive edge in maintaining the talent that you have and, with the appropriate considerations, will positively impact on any talent acquisition.
“It is broadly accepted that flexible, blended, hybrid and remote working are here to stay. But while the pendulum of work life balance swings more favourably towards employee preferences, flexible work arrangements are only one aspect of the true Employer Value Proposition.”
What is the biggest challenge facing your business in the next 12 months?
According to the National Competitiveness & Productivity Council September 2022 report: “Good working conditions are essential for attracting and retaining talent to Ireland’s labour market and promoting quality of life, however, we must seek to understand the potential impact these better working conditions may have on Irish firms in terms of increased costs. This is particularly important given the context of inflation, Brexit, supply chain challenges, and the digital and green transitions, which will increase costs and administration burdens on firms, especially SME’s.”
Rising energy costs is the second biggest challenge facing Fingal businesses accounting for almost 19% of responses and almost 18% of businesses said that reducing costs is a challenge for them which is no surprise given the rising cost of inflation.
The report also noted that ‘managing flexible and remote working’ and ‘responding to climate change’ did not feature as a business challenge at this time
Turning to the question of ‘What is the biggest issue for Fingal’s competitiveness in the next 12 months?’
Almost 30% of businesses in Fingal said that the availability of housing is a serious issue for them and this is a common theme arising from other Chamber surveys around the country.
35.00%
25.00% 30.00%
0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00%
Housing availability Availability of skills and talent Infrastructure (water, energy, broadband, etc)
Public transport services or traffic congestion
Public services (education, health, etc)
Business taxation levels Other (please specify)
In addition the National Competitiveness & Productivity Council September 2022 report said:
“The delivery of housing remains a pressing requirement. The gap between housing supply and demand, and relatedly housing affordability, continues to be an issue for Ireland. This is impacting across both ownership and rental markets. Sufficient availability of affordable housing is important for the continued attraction of skilled worker, both domestic and international, to urban centres where such skills can drive Irish productivity growth. Difficulties in attracting staff due to housing costs will indirectly add to the costs of doing business, in terms of increased job search and pressure on staff compensation.”
Almost 25% of Fingal businesses cited the availability of skills and talent as their biggest challenge.
Once again, almost 15% said public transport services or traffic congestion were at risks to the region’s competitiveness.
Businesses also highlighted infrastructure such as water, energy and broadband as well as taxation levels as other areas impacting competitiveness in the region.
Fingal Chamber has been working on these important areas with the Minister for Housing, Fingal County Council, the NTA, TFI and TII.
What will be the biggest issue for Fingal’s competitiveness in the next 12 months?
We asked Fingal Businesses if they were concerned with the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Over 42% of businesses said they were concerned while almost 21% said they were extremely concerned. Almost 27% of businesses in the region said they were slightly concerned and 10% of businesses were not concerned.
45.00%
40.00%
35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
Extremely concerned
Concerned Slightly Concerned Not Concerned
Are you concerned about the impact of the war in Ukraine on your business?
Energy costs have increased exponentially since the war in Ukraine commenced at the end of February this year Almost 40% of businesses in Fingal said their energy costs have increased by between 26 50%, while almost 20% of businesses said their energy costs had increased by up to 25%. Almost 14% of said costs had risen by between 51-75% and another 14% said costs had increased by 100%+.
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35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
1-25% 26-50% 51-75% 76-100% 101% + N/a 0.00%
These costs are simply not sustainable for any business in the region Rising energy costs on the back of the significant impact of the global pandemic may well be a tipping point for many businesses, particularly SMEs.
Tourism is an important sector right across Fingal with many small towns and villages and an 88km costal route. According to Fingal County Council as the tourism industry sustains a total of 20,000 jobs (one in four jobs in Fingal) and generates a €500 million spend. A continued increase in energy costs could see many of the medium to smaller businesses in this sector struggle and cease trading as a direct result of this issue.
By what percentage have your energy costs increased in the past 12 months?
Almost 70% of businesses in Fingal said they had implemented energy saving measures in the past 12 months while 30% said they had not implemented any measures.
The range of energy saving measures included the installation of solar panels, insulation, turning off appliances overnight, using resources more effectively, improved control of heating, staff awareness on energy saving such as switching off lights, timers, powering off equipment and regular zoom meetings in lieu of in person.
In other businesses small changes helping to make a big difference were introduced such as cooking in larger batches in the same amount of time, outside lighting of the building was reduced and one business introduced Jumper Mondays!
When asked why energy saving measures had not been introduced respondents replied that that in itself was costly to implement and on top of all the other price increases it was prohibitive to them. Some businesses said they were working on a variety of initiatives but had not implemented them yet.
Responding to the question ‘Has your business experienced an increase in staff turnover over the past 12 months?’
The survey noted that 55% of Fingal businesses have experienced an increase in staff turnover while almost 45% said they had no increase in turnover.
Almost 65% of Fingal businesses said they found it difficult recruiting for a specific role, while just 8% said it was difficult filling a skills gap through internal resources and almost 28% of businesses said their business does not have a skills gap.
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Yes, recruiting for a specific role has been difficult Yes, filling a gap in skills through internal resources has been difficult No, my business does not have a skills gap
Through its partnership with Skillnet Ireland, Fingal Chamber is in a unique position to assist businesses in the region address their skills gap by:
• Identifying and addressing their skills needs
• Information regarding successful approaches to learning and talent development
• Offering flexible training programmes tailored to the needs of businesses in Fingal
• Expert guidance on achieving value when investing in learning and development
• Programmes for current and future leaders
• Certified and non certified technical training
Has your business struggled to fill a specific skills gap over the past 12 months?
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Responding to this question, 60% cited a positive work culture as the most important element in attracting and retaining staff. Over 51% of businesses said competitive salaries is important for them to attract and retain staff while, over 36% indicated that flexible and remote working is important for them and almost 29% said employee benefits are important when seeking and retaining staff.
According to a recent report by WTW Ireland (Willis Towers Watson) companies should adopt a ‘holistic approach’ to attracting and holding onto employees. The report stated that companies should focus on the entire employee experience they offer at work rather than short term reactive measures.
What measures does your business find most effective in attracting and retaining staff?
Over 26% of businesses reported staff collaboration as the biggest challenge facing them with remote or flexible working. Almost 19% cited employee productivity as their biggest challenge while almost 15% said staff or mental health issues was a concern for them. Cultivating a positive team culture was cited as a challenge for more than 13% of respondents and this result is interesting in light of the fact that most important aspect of attracting and retaining staff is ensuring there is a positive work culture.
What is the biggest challenge with remote or flexible working for your business?
On the question of how business meetings are conducted, almost 50% of respondents said their meetings are a combination of remote and in person. More than 32% said their business meetings are mostly in person in the workplace and almost 14% said their business meetings are held remotely.
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
Mostly Remote (Online) Mostly In-Person (Workplace) Combination of Both 0.00%
Responding to the question on how you feel about current supports offered to businesses by Fingal Council and Central Government more than half, 50% said they were satisfied supports and almost 26% said they were dissatisfied.
On the question of what policies or changes do you think should be adopted by Fingal County Council and Central Government to help your business a variety of replies were put forward.
Energy and support for ‘crippling’ energy costs was the highest recuring theme for respondents. Many respondents said they would like to see grants for switching to solar energy
A reduction/re evaluation of rates, maintaining VAT at 9%, cost reduction rate support was a prominent theme for some respondents.
Comments that businesses are not being listened to, lack of collaboration with businesses to understand the challenges facing them, a need to build stronger connections with small businesses also featured highly in this segment
Outdated, less onerous tendering procedures and quick decisions in this area was mentioned by a number of respondents.
Other respondents mentioned that improved availability and affordability of housing needs to be considered urgently.
How do you feel about the current supports offered to businesses by Fingal County Council and Central Government?
Businesses were asked how they expect their business to perform in the next 12 months
Stay the same
Despite the challenges of recruitment and retention, skills gaps, lack of housing, soaring energy costs and inflation, the outlook remains positive for Fingal as over 50% of business reported that they expect to increase staff numbers, 65% said that staff training will increase, 60% expect revenue to increase and almost 45% expect profits to increase over the next 12 months.
