Companies struggling to retain talent

Companies struggling to retain talent

By Ronnel W. Domingo

Companies around the world are hard pressed to keep workers and attract new skilled recruits due to the tightening labor market, the recent Grant Thornton International survey showed.

The latest International Business Report found that the tightening labor market was putting an upward pressure on salaries while employers are pushed to exert more effort to retain and attract staff.

The IBR covered at least 78,000 businesses in 34 countries and territories spread over the Asia-Pacific, Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Accounting, tax and business advisory firm Punongbayan & Araullo (P&A) – Grant Thornton’s local partner – said survey results showed that 79 percent of local privately held businesses (PHBs) were more focused on attracting and retaining staff than they were a year ago.

Philippine PHBs are more focused on the matter compared to their East Asia neighbors, where the average was 58 percent, and the rest of the world (59 percent).

Earlier IBR surveys showed that the Philippines was third on the list of countries that consider lack of skilled workers as a major roadblock to business expansion.

“There’s a real struggle to find skilled workers across industries, so it makes sense to focus on efforts that will allow you to keep what talent you already have,” said Greg Navarro, P&A managing partner and chief executive.

Also, IBR results showed that globally, PHBs are paying significantly more in staff costs than a year ago with 68 percent of local respondents reporting higher staff costs.

“In the Philippines, compensation is the top draw for the majority of recruits,” he added.

Navarro said that in the country, compensation was given as the primary reason for leaving present employment, particularly if it means going abroad.

“Local companies have generally accepted this as a given and take for granted that it cannot compete money-wise with overseas placements, hence the focus on training and other means of attracting and keeping people,” he explained.

(As published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 5 April 2008. Articles about this particular IBR result have also been published in the Philippine Star, 6 April 2008; Manila Bulletin, 7 April 2008; and the Daily Tribune, 8 April 2008.)