While staff retention has become a major issue for Irish businesses, 78 per cent of personnel managers say they would change up to half of their workforce "tomorrow" if they could, according to a new survey.
Not surprisingly, two-thirds of managers interviewed believe that hiring the right people is a priority. Two-thirds of them also believe retaining the right people is important.
Taken in conjunction with their desire to get rid of half their staff, these findings suggest human resources strategies in many businesses are not operating very effectively.
The survey, details of which are carried in the latest issue of Industrial Relations News, analyses responses from 253 senior HR professionals out of 500 invited to participate.
Besides problems of staff retention, the survey finds more traditional concerns such as rising wage costs and inflation are high on the worry list of personnel managers. Asked "If you could change employees in your workforce, how many would you change?", 78 per cent of respondents say they would change between 25 per cent and 50 per cent, while 67 per cent regard hiring the right people as a priority and 68 per cent say retaining the workforce is important.
One reason for the apparently contradictory findings may be that companies are finding replacement staff are of a poorer standard than those leaving.
In line with other recent surveys, the latest one from HRM Recruitment Group reports 30 per cent of managers identifying lack of resources as the biggest single weakness in their HR structures and 22 per cent find too much time is taken up by procedural issues. Resistance by workers to change is identified by 22 per cent of managers as a problem but 30 per cent complain about difficulties in keeping line managers focused on HR issues.
Asked "what do you feel are the key reasons candidates join your company?", 27 per cent cite learning opportunities, 21 per cent note technology or area of expertise and 17 per cent mention working environment. Salary and benefits come in at just 2 per cent, but this may be because a tight labour market means a decent salary has to be offered to good potential recruits in the first place.
Despite all the talk about is sues such as a "culture of innovation" or lifelong learning, these were considered much less important than hanging on to the right staff, finding ways of getting rid of the wrong staff and worries about wage inflation.