Getting on for half of HR leaders have reported that their company is losing up to 15% in revenues because of the UK labour shortage.
According to research into the implications of the skills crisis by software recommendation company GetApp UK, 92% of HR professionals believe the labour shortage is having an impact on business and many have witnessed staff being overloaded with work because of the lack of employees.
Of that 92%, 42% stated their company was losing between 11-15% in revenue due to the shortage of skilled workers, while a quarter (24%) of businesses claimed to have lost between 16-20%.
The most severe implications of this lack of talent included overloading current employees with more work (49%), a reduction in employee morale (44%), and an expected drop in revenue (44%).
Skills shortages
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More than half (55%) said the shortage started during the pandemic, but 20% believed it began before the onset of Covid.
Furthermore, 45% of recruiters believe the labour shortage is most strongly felt by HR departments, followed by IT and sales departments at 16% respectively.
When asked what actions businesses were taking to tackle the lack of skilled workers, most said they were working with HR agencies to combat the loss of talent (52%).
The need to retain existing staff and attract candidates had seen 46% of businesses provide employees with more company benefits and 45% attempt to reduce employee pressure to diminish their likelihood of quitting. Pay rises had only been offered by 36%.
The figures showed an increase in the number of candidates turning down job offers; 37% of HR professionals stated that 21-30% of interviewees rejected their job offer, while 19% faced rejections from 31-40% of candidates.
For Sukanya Awasthi, content analyst at GetApp UK, the preferences of workers had changed radically since the Covid pandemic, although other factors such as Brexit also contributed to the skills shortage.
She said that apart from offering more tangible benefits to employees “businesses may also want to rethink their hiring strategy to focus more on employee skill sets and less on factors like traditional degrees. Companies that adapt to the needs of the shifting market and adopt technology to connect with the right candidates will potentially see improved outcomes.”
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