Attracting and Retaining Staff

What have been the biggest barriers to your business attracting and retaining staff?

Responses

Responding to this question, 38% of businesses said that recruiting for specific skills shortages posed difficulties in attracting and retaining staff, while almost 35% of respondents said competitive salaries and employee benefits are important for them in attracting new staff. Almost 25% of respondents said availability of housing and rental accommodation is factor in attracting new talent.

According to a report by Forbes in September 2022 on effective employment retention, employers should adopt the following strategies to retain staff - offer competitive salaries, be flexible with working arrangements allowing staff to work from home, where possible provide flexible scheduling and reduced workdays, encourage and promote a work-life balance, recognize and reward employees for their work, create a culture that employees want to be a part of, build employee engagement, create an emphasis on teamwork, offer wellbeing events and programs and manage for retention.

The need to retain staff, especially highly skilled ones is so important that some organisations are reportedly engaging in ‘stay interviews’ which are essentially informal meetings with colleagues to check in with them, catch any issues before they develop and ensure they are happy in their workplace.