NEWS ROUNDUP
Survey reveals impacts of COVID-19
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ntil a vaccine is widely available within New Zealand, COVID-19 will continue to change our business landscape. Ernst and Young’s latest COVID-19 Pulse Survey reveals the workforce challenges facing us. While most organisations are returning to regular work patterns, the impact of COVID-19 is evident on everything from budgets to wellness. Fifty-eight per cent of New Zealand organisations surveyed noted that
workforce health and wellbeing is their main challenge. This is an increase of 24 per cent from the previous survey (October 2020). Accordingly, it is no surprise to see employee wellbeing as the most important people priority reported by most respondents (72 per cent). Recruitment is almost back to ‘normal’, but some skills are still elusive. Only 9 per cent of organisations currently have a hiring freeze in place, a decrease of 13 per cent since the previous survey.
With the border closures making it harder to recruit talent from overseas, 30 per cent of organisations are increasingly looking to upskill and develop their existing staff. Salary budgets are still ‘up in the air’ for many, with around 30 per cent of organisations still undecided about the next annual review cycle. Sixteen per cent of the sample are increasing salary review budgets.
Are skills in some sectors becoming endangered?
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recent survey shows sectors now most at risk of having obsolete skills are technology and telecoms, finance and engineering. The report, commissioned by Degreed, surveyed over 5,000 workers in eight global markets. The current economic uncertainty resulting from the coronavirus crisis is accelerating demand for new skills among 60 per cent of workers. Yet, nearly half of businesses (46 per cent) have reduced their upskilling opportunities in the past six months. The result is a widening global skills gap, with over a third (38 per cent)
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HUMAN RESOURCES
AUTUMN 2021
of workers feeling less confident they have the skills to do their job effectively, compared with prepandemic, and nearly half (46 per cent) predicting their current skills will die out in the next three-to-five years. Employees report this is increasing stress levels and reducing their productivity and performance, which, in turn, hurts businesses. Chris McCarthy, CEO at Degreed, says, “The businesses that survive and flourish following the crisis will be different than they were before. This means workers are having to sharpen their current skills and build new
ones to meet changing demands. Yet just as upskilling became vital to economic recovery, most organisations have cut investment in learning and development opportunities. We already know the global skills gap is costing trillions of dollars in lost GDP. Not to mention the impact on employee wellbeing.” You'll find a full copy of the Degreed report here. The State of skills: Endangered Skills 2021
