Top 50 SA 2009 Employer Index
Issue No. 46 - April/May 2009
Big employers still seek skills employers,
by Philip Morton and Philip Morton
Big employers still seek skills employers, in 2005, highlighted the difficulty of finding skilled staff as their major concern. Surprisingly that is still the priority four years on, in very different economic conditions.
Posture among the Top 50 employers – suggests key skills are no more available now than they were in more buoyant times. Most respondents say they want staff - good staff – to boost their capacity going forward.
“We surveyed more than the Top 50 in order to gauge who were in the Top 50, so the survey results are reflective of smaller organizations as well,” says Top 50 researcher, Morton Phillips Managing Partner, Phil Morton.
“There are always pockets where anomalies exist which relate to crisis or extreme circumstances. Hiring intentions, for example in the NFP sector relating to Aged Care and Community Services, continue to be high and retention of staff is important issue.”
Product, service or sector don’t seem to matter: large workforce operators still want qualified people. This applies to upper-level skills, too: ANZ Bank says it wants to “increase the number of senior executives with extensive banking experience” as opposed to pure management skills, in order to keep the management structure strong.
Those who have good workers are anxious to retain them and it’s illuminating to see who’s focused on doing so. It’s also encouraging: these big employers can see light at the end of the GFC tunnel and want to be prepared for the upswing.
“There will be a dog fight on for the best in the market when the economy returns to positive growth,” he says.
“Once confidence returns and cash is freed up there will be business plans which refer to taking market share and repositioning. This will include having the best people in place to ensure the best opportunity to grow.”
Phil believes the skills shortages are widespread and due to an imbalance of skills available.
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