Eight in 10 employers foresee problems finding skilled staff to fill vacancies

More than eight in 10 organisations are anticipating difficulties ahead in finding quality people to fill vacancies, according to latest findings from the Recruitment Confidence Index (RCI).

The lack of confidence in not being able to find skilled staff currently stands at its highest level since the RCI - produced by Cranfield School of Management in association with Personnel Today - began in December 1999.

The sectors reporting most difficulty have consistently been engineering and computing.

As the talent war bites, employers are responding by planning to spend more on recruitment in an effort to attract suitable candidates. Four in 10 respondents expected to increase their recruitment expenditure over the next six months.

Key findings of this quarter’s RCI, which surveyed 608 recruiters across the UK:

• Business confidence is at a near all-time high for the eight-year period tracked by the RCI, with a net percentage of +72 organisations reporting an optimistic response.
• Expected staff turnover is at its highest level for five years, with a net percentage of +7 organisations anticipating an increase.
• Most organisations (78%) expect pay increases over the next year to remain in line with inflation.

Dr Emma Parry, research fellow at Cranfield, said: “Organisations have been recruiting more and more, but fewer high quality people have been coming into the workforce, resulting in rising recruitment difficulties for employers.”