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Study finds jump in the number of employers struggling to hang on to their staff

There has been a significant rise in the number of organisations struggling to retain their staff over the past year and recruitment difficulties persist, according to a new report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

However, the research also found that recruiting from overseas, targeting migrant workers, training existing staff and better use of employer brand will help UK employers tackle these problems.

The CIPD's annual Recruitment, Retention and Turnover Survey found that almost eight in ten organisations struggled to hang on to their staff in 2006, compared to nearly seven in ten in 2005.

According to the survey, while the large majority of organisations (89%) providing additional training to internal staff so that they can fill vacancies say that it has a positive impact, only 29% of employers currently use this initiative.

Nicola Monson, author of the report, said: "Employers will continue to struggle to find suitable candidates and keep staff turnover under control if their approach to recruitment and retention fails to take account of both business and employee needs.

"Only half of employers currently have a formal resourcing strategy, which suggests many are not planning for the future skills requirements of their organisation. This is particularly worrying given that specialist skills and required experience is still in such short supply.

"All organisations rely on talent so employers need to take a proactive approach to talent management and tap into the skills of the people wanting to contribute and progress.

"Actively developing employees should not only increase the internal talent pool, in turn reducing their reliance on external candidates, but also see problems retaining staff ease due to new career opportunities."

The study found the following initiatives are also very effective in helping organisations to overcome recruitment difficulties:

* Using the employer brand as a recruitment tool (75% say it has a positive impact but only 31% currently use)

* Offering flexible working (74% say it has a positive impact but only 30% currently use)

* Targeting migrant workers from EU countries and recruiting staff from abroad (75% say it has a positive impact but only 14% currently use)

The research will be discussed at the CIPD's Annual Talent Management, Recruitment and Retention Conference, on 19 - 21 June 2007 at Olympia, London.

The conference is co-located with the CIPD's Annual HR Software Show and Recruitment Exhibition. For further conference details visit the CIPD website: www.cipd.co.uk/recruitmentconference

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