resourcing and talent planning survey 2011

7/31/2019 Resourcing and Talent Planning Survey 2011

1/43

1

1RESOURCING ANDTALENT PLANNING

Annual survey report 2011

in partnership with


2/43

RES

OURCINGANDTALENTPLANN

ING2011

1

2011

CONTENTS

Foreword 2

Summary of key findings 4

1 Recruiting employees 7

2 Resourcing and talent management in turbulent times 20

3 Diversity 27

4 Managing labour turnover 29

Conclusions 33

Background to the survey 35

Further sources of information 38

Acknowledgements 39

Footnotes 40


3/43

cipd.co.u

k/2011resourcingandtalentplann

ingsurvey

2

RESOURCING AND TALENT PLANNING

fOREwORD

Welcome to the teenth edition o our annual

Resourcing and Talent Planning survey report. As

in previous years, we provide useul benchmarking

data or organisations on resourcing trends, costs

and turnover. This year we have included new topical

sections which we hope you will nd useul

examining the employment o younger workers, the

length o the recruitment process, the nature o job

vacancies, relationships with recruitment partners and

the use o strengthsbased approaches to recruitment.

The headlines rom this years ndings are that

recruitment activity remains low, yet organisations

are experiencing recruitment diculties in spite o

more people in the labour market. The top reason

or the recruitment diculties is a lack o necessary

specialist or technical skills.

Strategies employed by some to try to ll

skills shortages include increasing their use o

apprenticeships, interns and considering sponsoring

students through universities. Employers however

need to think more holistically and long term when

it comes to skills shortages, such as linking up with

educational establishments to ensure the curriculum

is preparing students well or the world o work anddeveloping their internal talent pipelines around

skills shortage areas.

We eature a case study in this report rom the

Association o Greater Manchester Authorities

(AGMA). This reallie example helps to bring the

ndings to lie and provide some practical evidence

o how organisations are reconguring their

resourcing and talent strategies or maximum eect

in dicult times.

Claire McCartney

Adviser, Resourcing and Talent Planning

CIPD

Despite continued high unemployment, many

UK organisations continue to ace diculties

in attracting proessionals with the right skills

and experience. Hays has observed an increasing

tendency or organisations, regardless o size or

sector, to become more rigid with regards to the

people they wish to recruit. Employers are less

likely to compromise than they have been in the

past and will delay recruitment until they nd

someone with exactly the right skills, qualications

and experience. At the same time job roles are

becoming increasingly niche, which only adds to the

recruitment diculties employers ace today.

This research suggests these problems look set to

continue and will only get worse long term due to

the rising number o young people not in training,

education or employment, i organisations ail to

address underlying problems. Added to this many

o the challenges that organisations have always

aced still remain current, such as a shortage o

proessionals with specialist or technical skills and

the poor image associated with certain proessions.

This highlights the need or UK organisations to

invest in designing a creative resourcing and talent

attraction strategy now more than ever beore.

Julie Waddicor

Managing Director, Hays Human Resources, the

leading recruiting expert


4/43

RES


ING2011

3

2011

ABOUT US

Chartered Institute ofPersonnel and Development

The Chartered Institute o Personnel and

Development (CIPD) is Europes largest HR and

development proessional body. As a globally

recognised brand with over 135,000 members, we

pride ourselves on supporting and developing those

responsible or the management and development o

people within organisations.

Our aim is to drive sustained organisation

perormance through HR, shaping thinking, leading

practice and building HR capability within the

proession. Our topical research and public policy

activities set the vision, provide a voice or the

proession and promote new and improved HR and

management practices.

We know what good HR looks like and what HR

proessionals need to know, do and deliver at

dierent stages o their career, be they specialists or

generalists, working in the UK or internationally.

We oer:

membership proessional development including

qualiications and training

networking opportunities and worldclassevents

expertise in HR capabilitybuilding andconsultancy services

topical insights and analysis a wealth o resources and a voice or HR.

cipd.co.uk

Hays

Hays is the worlds leading recruiting expert in

qualied, proessional and skilled work. It employs

over 7,000 sta in 257 oces across 30 countries. Last

year Hays placed around 50,000 people in permanent

jobs and nearly 180,000 in temporary positions.

Hays works across 17 specialist areas, rom healthcare

to telecoms, banking to construction and education

to IT. It operates across the private, public and notor-

prot sectors.

Its recruiting experts deal with 150,000 CVs every

month and more than 50,000 live jobs globally at any

one time. The depth and breadth o their expertise

ensures that Hays understand the impact the right

individual can have on a business and how the right

job can transorm a persons lie.

www.hays.co.uk
http:///reader/full/cipd.co.ukhttp:///reader/full/www.hays.co.ukhttp:///reader/full/cipd.co.ukhttp:///reader/full/www.hays.co.uk


5/43

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

4


SUmmARy Of kEy fINDINGS

The CIPDs 2011 Resourcing and Talent Planning surveyreport, produced in partnership with Hays, contains valuableinformation on current and emerging trends in people

resourcing practice. This annual benchmarking survey is basedon 626 respondent organisations from the UK. The surveyexamines organisations resourcing and talent planningstrategies and practices and the key challenges and issues theyface. New question areas this year examine the employmentof younger workers, the length of the recruitment process, thenature of job vacancies, relationships with recruitment partnersand the use of strengths-based approaches to recruitment.

Resourcing strategies and objectives

Just over hal o survey participants reporthaving a ormal resourcing strategy.

Larger organisations are most likely to have aresourcing strategy.

The number and nature of vacancies

On average the number o vacanciesorganisations attempted to ill in 2010 remains

as low as in 2009, during the recession. The number o vacancies in very large

organisations, particularly in the public sector,

has dramatically reduced over the past three

years.

Threequarters o permanent vacancies wereilled with external candidates.

Threeiths o organisations require candidatesto have speciic sector experience.

Twice as many public sector organisations(48%) expect they will recruit ewer people as

a consequence o the abolition o the Deault

Retirement Age (23% overall).

Graduate recruitment

Twoiths o organisations are concerned thatthe increase in university tuition ees will have

an impact on the number o graduates in the

marketplace.

One in ten organisations are consideringsponsoring students through university (20%

o manuacturing and production), 22%

increasing their use o internships and 30%

increasing apprenticeship schemes (48% omanuacturing and production).

Just over a quarter o organisations operate astructured graduate recruitment programme

(35% o manuacturing and production).

Few organisations have closed graduaterecruitment programmes over the past

12 months; however, hal o public sector

organisations had reduced their intake (50%

compared with 20% in the private and notor-

proit sectors).


6/43

RES


ING2011

5

2011

Recruitment difficulties

One in three organisations report the length otheir recruitment process has led to the loss o

potential recruits.

Threequarters o organisations experiencedrecruitment diiculties in the past ew months.

Managers and proessionals and technicalpositions are the most diicult vacancies to ill.

As in previous years, the main reason orrecruitment diiculties is a lack o necessary

specialist or technical skills.

Nearly threequarters o organisations had madeeorts to improve their employee brand over

the last year, most commonly through employee

surveys and developing online career sites.

Attracting and selecting candidates

While the eectiveness o methods to attractapplicants varies according to organisation sector

and size, the most eective method overall

is reported to be through organisations own

corporate websites, as was the case last year.

The private sector, particularly manuacturingand production organisations, are three times

more likely than public sector organisations to

include recruitment agencies among their most

eective methods or attracting candidates.

Overall, a third o organisations report theyhave reduced their use o recruitment partners;

however, one in ive report they have ormed

a closer business partnership with them over

the past year and one in ten that they consider

them integral to attracting top talent.

Competencybased interviews (70%), interviewsollowing the contents o CVs/application orms

(63%) and structured interviews (56%) are, as

last year, the most common methods used to

select applicants.

Twoiths o organisations report they usea strengthsbased approach to recruitment,

although it is less commonly used in the public

sector (26%).

The median recruitment cost o illing a vacancyis 7,500 or senior managers/directors and 2,500

or other employees (adjusting or accuracy),

showing reductions compared with last year.

Resourcing in turbulent times

Hal o the organisations surveyed report theeconomic climate has had a negative impact

on their organisations resourcing budgets or

201112. This year, it is the public sector that is

most severely hit, with our out o ive (82%)

reporting their resourcing budgets will be

reduced (up rom 59% last year).

Changes in resourcing and talent practices in2011 compared with 2010 relect a stronger

ocus on costs and reductions in budgets. More

organisations anticipate they will be ocusing

on developing talent inhouse, retaining rather

than recruiting talent and reducing their

reliance on recruitment agencies and external

consultants or resourcing and development.

Nearly hal o public sector organisations willbe implementing a recruitment reeze in 2011,

compared with oneith o organisations

overall. Twothirds o public sector

organisations and 29% o private organisations

will be reducing the number o new recruits

they hire.

The volume o applicants or vacancies hasincreased, relecting the high unemployment

rate. Threequarters o organisations have

noticed an increase in the number o

unsuitable applicants and a third report that

there are too many suitable candidates to

choose rom. Despite high unemployment

over the last two years, more than hal (52%)

believe that competition or talent is even

greater as the pool o available talent to hire

has allen sharply (2010: 41%; 2009: 20%). Most organisations remain ocused on

managing talent despite increased attention

on reducing costs, with only 4% reporting

that their ocus on talent has decreased.

Nevertheless, 18% o organisations (32% o the

public sector) have reduced their overall talent

management spend as a consequence o the

economic downturn.


7/43

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

6


Diversity

Overall, in little change rom previous years,just over hal o organisations have a diversity

strategy, rising to 90% o public sector

organisations.

Our igures indicate a reduction in the use oseveral methods to address diversity issues this

year, particularly in the public sector, which has

traditionally led the way in diversity practice.

Labour turnover

The median labour turnover rate has decreasedover the past ew years (2011: 12.5%; 2010:

13.5%; 2009: 15.7%; 2008: 17.3%).

Smaller organisations are most likely to reportthat their labour turnover has increased and

larger organisations that it has decreased.

As in previous years, the majority o turnoveris attributed to employees leaving voluntarily.

The rate o voluntary leavers has increased

slightly in the private sector compared with last

year but decreased in the voluntary and public

services sector, relecting the growth/cuts in the

respective sectors.

The proportion o organisations making tenor more redundancies over the past year has

reduced rom 33% in 2009 to 12% in 2010.

Employee retention

Only twoiths (42%) o organisationsexperienced no diiculties in retaining sta

during 2010, a similar igure to the previous

year. Managers and proessionals/specialists and

technical employees remain the most diicult

categories o sta to retain.

Most organisations have taken one or moresteps to address sta retention; however, nearly

one in our organisations (a similar proportion

to the previous year) report that no speciic

retention initiatives were undertaken in 2010.

The most requently cited actions taken byemployers to address retention improving

the people management skills o line managers

and increased learning and development

opportunities are the methods most

commonly rated most eective. Improving the

induction process is also commonly used to

address retention but views on its eectiveness

are more mixed.


8/43

2011

1 RECRUITING EmPLOyEES

This section explores trends and developments in recruitmentstrategies and activity within UK organisations during 2010. Itexamines the adoption of formal resourcing strategies, changes

in the number of job vacancies organisations attempted tofill, the extent and nature of recruitment difficulties overthe past year and the strategies employers use to overcomethese challenges. It also includes developments in graduaterecruitment, the most effective approaches for attractingapplicants and the methods used for selection. For the firsttime we explore the nature of job vacancies, the length ofthe recruitment process, the employment of younger workers,changing relationships with recruitment partners and efforts to

improve the employer brand. Finally, the costs associated withrecruitment are discussed.

Resourcing strategies

Just over hal o respondents surveyed report their

organisation has a ormal resourcing strategy

in place, a similar proportion to last year (2011:

Table 1: Organisations with ormal resourcingstrategies in place, by size (%)

Size number o employees in UK %

54%; 2010: 56%; 2009: 58%). The likelihood o

organisations having a ormal strategy in placeincreases with organisational size, as was the case

last year (Table 1).1 There are no signicant sector

dierences.

Fewer than 10 26

1049 38

50249 46

250999 55

1,0004,999 68

More than 5,000 85

RES


ING2011

Base: 604

7


9/438


The number and nature of job vacancies

There is considerable variation in the numbero vacancies respondents organisations tried

to ll in 2010, partly because the number o

vacancies is strongly related to organisation size

(Table 2).2 Overall, the median number o vacancies

has allen rom 30 in 2008 to 20 over the past two

years as the recession aected increasing numbers

o organisations (Table 2).

While there is no overall change rom last year

in the median number o vacancies organisationstried to ll, there has been a substantial all in the

proportion o vacancies very large organisations

(5,000+ UK employees) attempted to ll, rom

a median o 550 in 2009 to 200 in 2010 (800 in

2008). The reduction in vacancies in very large

organisations is striking in the private and public

sectors, but particularly in the latter, where

the median number o vacancies organisations

attempted to ll in 2010 was less than a third than

in 2009. This refects the sluggish growth in the

private sector and, in particular, the signicant

cuts in public sector budgets.

Table 2: Median number o vacancies respondents tried to ill, by size o organisation and sector

2011 survey 2010 survey 2009 survey

No. o permanentsta employed in UK

AllPrivatesector

Publicservices

AllPrivatesector

Publicservices

AllPrivatesector

Publicservices

Median Median Median Median Median Median Median Median Median

149 3 3 1 3 3 2

50249 12 12 10 12 10 14 10 10 8*

250999* 45 50 30 46 45 50 60 52 70

1,0004,999 110 150 55 100 100 100 300 300 300

More than 5,000 200 500 150 550 850 500 800 800 550

All organisations 20 20 30 20 20 80 30 20 100

Base: 577 (2011); 442 (2010); 683 (2009)

*The categories for number of permanent staff employed in the UK differed slightly in the 2009 survey (250 or fewer; 251500,

5011,000, 1,0015,000, 5,00110,000, 10,001+). 2009 categories have been combined where appropriate and otherwise matched w ith

the best corresponding category of 2011/2010.

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey


10/43

2011

Overall, nearly threequarters (73%) o permanent

vacancies were lled with external candidates.Larger organisations, with a wide range o

talent to choose rom, are more likely to recruit

internally than smaller organisations.3 Public sector

organisations, particularly those with more than

1,000 UK employees, are more likely to recruit

internally than the private sector (Table 3).4

Organisations are divided in their use o temporary

contracts. More than a quarter (28%) haveemployed more people on temporary contracts

in 2010 compared with the previous year, while

a similar proportion (27%) have employed ewer

people on temporary contracts (45% remain

the same). Manuacturing and production

organisations are most likely to have increased

their use o temporary contracts and the public

services the least, perhaps refecting their reduced

recruitment generally (Figure 1).5

Table 3: Average percentage o job vacancies illed internally

Voluntary,No. o permanent sta community and notemployed in UK Private sector Public services orproit All

Mean Mean Mean Mean

149 15 17 7 13

50249 20 28 23 21

250999* 24 29 24 24

1,0004,999 35 58 12 39

More than 5,000 47 62 33 53

All organisations 25 45 19 27

Base: 533

figure 1: Use o teporar contracts, b sector in 2010, copared it te previous ear (%)

Manufacturing and production

Private sector services

Public services

Voluntary, community and not-for-profit

More Same Less

Base: 610

25

27

37

22

3837

50

32

50

23

31

28

RES


ING2011

9


11/4310


Sectorspecic experience is an essential

requirement o candidates in threeths (60%) oorganisations overall. While our gures suggest

it is less commonly required in the public sector

(48% compared with 59% o the voluntary,

community and notorprot sector and 63%

o the private sector),6 there are also substantial

dierences within sectors. For example, specic

sector experience is essential or the majority

o organisations operating in the chemical,

construction or mining industries and proessional

services, but not or those in general manuacturing

or retail and wholesale. Similarly, within the public

sector it is deemed particularly essential or health

and education organisations but less so or those in

central or local government.

Employing younger workers

Figures rom the Oce or National Statistics

show that while total unemployment ell during

the three months to February 2011, youth

unemployment rose to a record level o almost 1

million, equating to one in ve economically active

1624yearolds out o work. Moreover, concerns

have been raised as to whether high youth

unemployment will be urther compounded by the

abolition o the Deault Retirement Age later this

year and the increase in university tuition ees. This

year we included new questions in the survey to

explore these issues.

One in six organisations (17%) report they are

employing more 1624yearolds compared withone year ago; this compares with less than one

in eight (12%) who are employing ewer young

people (72% are employing the same number). The

employment o younger workers has reduced most

in the public sector, where one in our reports a

decrease compared with one in ten who reports an

increase (Table 4).7 This is likely to refect a general

reduction in recruitment in this sector.

Overall, onequarter o organisations expect the

abolition o the Deault Retirement Age will mean

they recruit ewer people; however, the gure

rises to nearly hal o public sector organisations.

It does not appear, however, that the abolition o

the Deault Retirement Age will have a particular

impact on the recruitment o young people, with

only one in ten organisations reporting it will result

in ewer 1624yearolds being recruited (Table 4).

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

Table 4: The employment o younger workers (%)

Voluntary,Manuacturing community

All and Private sector andrespondents production services Public services notorproit

Percentage employingewer 1624yearolds thanone year ago

Percentage agreeing theabolition o the DeaultRetirement Age meansthey will recruit ewer1624yearolds

Percentage agreeing theabolition o the Deault

Retirement Age means theywill recruit ewer people

12 10 9 25 10

11 18 6 17 9

23 25 15 48 22

Base: 605


12/43

2011

Graduate recruitment

Twoths o organisations (39%) are concernedthat the increase in university tuition ees will

have an impact on the number o graduates in

the marketplace. Public sector organisations are

particularly concerned (49% compared with 34%

o private sector services, 42% o notorprots

and 43% o manuacturing and production

organisations).8

Perhaps in order to address this decit, or in

response to additional government support to

boost apprenticeship schemes, a third o public

sector organisations, nearly hal o manuacturing

and production and about a quarter o private

sector services and notorprot organisations

are considering increasing apprenticeship schemes

(Table 5). About a quarter o organisations overall

are considering increasing their use o internships,

although the proportion is markedly lower in the

public sector. Overall, one in ten organisations are

considering sponsoring students through university,

but the proportion doubles in manuacturing and

production, where the lack o appropriate skills isa common cause o recruitment diculties (Table

5; see also Tables 8 and 9). Larger organisations are

also more likely to consider sponsoring students

through university (19% o those with more than

5,000 employees).9

Overall, just over a quarter o organisations

operate a structured graduate recruitment

programme (Table 6). The operation o

these programmes is signicantly related to

organisation size (Figure 2).10 They also appear

to be most common in the manuacturing

and production sector, as last year when a

step increase in their use was noted (Table 6).

It appears that this sector is investing in the

development o skills to address their decit

in the workorce generally. As in previous

years voluntary, community and notorprot

organisations are least likely to operate a

structured graduate recruitment programme.11

Table 5: Activities organisations are considering (%)


All and Private sector andrespondents production services Public services notorproit

Increasing apprenticeshipschemes

30 48 24 33 27

Increasing your use ointernships

22 27 23 12 27

Sponsoring studentsthrough university

10 20 8 12 1

Base: 615

Table 6: Organisations operating a structured graduate recruitment programme, by sector (%)

2011 2010 2009 2008

All 27 34 22 23

Sector

Manuacturing and production 35 35 23 24

Private sector services 29 37 24 27

Voluntary, community and notorproit6 18 5 7

Public services 26 33 23 24

RES


ING2011

Base: 614 (2011); 472 (2010); 752 (2009)

11
http:///reader/full/programme.11http:///reader/full/programme.11http:///reader/full/programme.11


13/43

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

12


The majority o respondents rom organisations

without a recruitment programme or graduatesreport that their organisation has never had such

a programme or not had one or some time (97%).

Even in the cashstrapped public sector, only 3%

report they have closed their graduate recruitment

programme in the last 12 months.

Nearly a third (31%) o organisations who have a

graduate recruitment programme have increased

their intake over the past year, while a quarter

have reduced their intake (24%). This shows an

improvement on the previous year at the height o

the recession, when 43% had reduced their intake.

The impact o the budget cuts in the public sector

are, however, clearly apparent as more than twice

as many organisations in this sector (50% compared

with 20% in the private and notorprot sectors)

have reduced their graduate intake.

Length of recruitment process

One in three (31%) organisations report that thelength o their recruitment process has led to the

loss o potential recruits. This issue appears to be

exacerbated by organisation size. Nearly hal o

organisations with more than 5,000 employees

report that the length o their recruitment process

has led to the loss o potential recruits, compared

with 38% o those in organisations o 250999

employees and just 15% o organisations with

ewer than 50 employees.12 There are no signicant

sector dierences.

Recruitment difficulties

Threequarters o organisations with vacancies

report diculties in lling at least some over the

past ew months (75%). This is an increase on last

year (2010: 68%) and may refect the decrease in

unemployment in the rst ew months o 2011.

It is less, however, than in previous years, perhaps

because organisations were attempting to ll ewer

vacancies (2009: 81%; 2008: 86%).

figure 2: Organisations operating a structured graduate recruitent prograe, b size (%)

Number ofUK employees

39

42

9Fewer than 50

17

1650249

21

29250999

1,0004,99947

61More than 5,000

62

10 40 50 60 70 80

2011

0 3020

Percentage

2010

Base: 609 (2011); 466 (2010)
http:///reader/full/employees.12http:///reader/full/employees.12http:///reader/full/employees.12


14/43

2011

The private sector, particularly manuacturing and

production organisations, are most likely to havediculties lling vacancies (Table 7).13 Table 8

shows that over hal o organisations in this sector

have diculty lling technical vacancies and this

may refect specic skills shortages in the UK. The

most dicult category o sta to recruit in other

sectors is managers and proessionals/specialists,

as was the case last year. In general, there is little

change in the categories o vacancies that are most

dicult to recruit or compared with last year.

As would be expected, given the cuts to

public sector budgets, one in ten public sector

organisations report they did not have any

vacancies to ll, twice as many as last year. There is

little change in this regard in the other sectors.

Table 9 shows the reasons respondents cite or their

recruitment diculties. The ndings are similar

to previous years. Lack o necessary specialist or

technical skills remains by ar the most requently

cited cause o diculties, reported by nearly

threequarters o respondents (2011: 72%; 2010:

67%; 2009: 73%; 2008: 70%). This is particularly

an issue or the manuacturing and production

sector and the public services sector, where there

is a particularly high demand or such skills. Lack

o ormal qualications is ar less o an issue.

These ndings support arguments or greater

collaboration between industry and academic

institutions and more vocational training in orderto meet organisations skill requirements.

Higher pay expectations than the organisation

could oer and lack o experience are the next

most requently cited causes o recruitment

problems (46% and 40% respectively). Interestingly,

these are less o an issue in the public sector,

perhaps because public sector applicants have

dierent expectations o pay or because some pay

scales are set at a national level. Lack o experience

may be less o an issue than the necessary skills or

qualications required in many public sector roles.

The proportion reporting their recruitment

problems are due to potential candidates

reluctance to move in the current economic climate

has decreased rom just over a quarter in 2010 to

19% this year. Economic growth, albeit slow, is

likely to be responsible or this reduction but the

hangover o the recession is highlighted as one in

ve organisations still blame the economic climate

or their recruitment problems. Despite high

unemployment, 15% o respondents report they

have experienced problems due to no applicants. In

line with last years ndings, this is particularly an

issue or the public sector (22%), which is also more

likely to report the image o their sector/occupation

is a problem (22%).

Table 7: Organisations experiencing diiculties recruiting or one or more category o vacancy, by

organisation size (% o those that have had vacancies to ill)


and Private sector andAll 2011 production services Public services notorproit

Diiculty illing one or75 88 77 66 62

more vacancies

No diiculties experienced 25 12 23 34 38

Base: 561

RES


ING2011

13


15/4314


Table 8: Categories o vacancy that proved particularly diicult to ill (% o respondents)

Voluntary,community

Manuacturing Private andand sector Public notor

All 2011 production services services proit All 2010

Other managers andproessionals/specialists

34 41 33 27 34 37

Technical 30 53 29 20 16 28

Senior managers/directors

14 13 16 10 16 16

Services (customer,personal, protective 7 6 8 3 5 5and sales)

Administrative,secretarial

4 3 4 4 4 3

Manual/crat workers 4 11 3 1 0 2

Other 6 5 3 10 11 4

No diicultiesexperienced

23 12 22 30 38 25

No vacancies to ill 6 3 7 10 1 6

Base: 597 (2011); 468 (2010)

Voluntary,community

Manuacturing Private andAll and sector Public notor All

2011 production services services proit 2010

Table 9: Reasons or recruitment diiculties (%)

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

Lack o necessary specialistor technical skills

72 82 69 80 59 67

Look or more pay thanyou could oer

46 47 48 34 52 39

Lack o experience 40 42 43 27 41 36

Reluctance to move incurrent economic climate

19 24 18 17 15 26

Lack o interpersonalskills

16 9 19 10 20 12

No applicants 15 9 16 22 20 15

Image o sector/occupation/organisation

13 7 12 22 11 12

Relocation diiculties 9 19 6 10 7 8

Lack o ormalqualiications

7 7 7 5 7 4

The impact o theimmigration cap*

3 2 4 3 4

Other 4 3 3 8 7 7

Base: 427 (2011); 330 (2010)

*new item introduced in 2011


16/43

2011

Improving the employer brand

Nearly threequarters o organisations have madeeorts to improve their employer brand over the

past year (Table 10). The larger the organisation,

the more likely it is to have undertaken one or

more activities to improve its brand. Twoths o

small organisations with ewer than 50 employees

report they have taken no action to improve their

employer brand compared with onequarter o

organisations with 250999 employees and one

sixth o those with more than 5,000 employees.

There are no signicant sector dierences.

The most popular approaches to improving

employer brand are employee surveys and

developing online careers sites, with larger

organisations most likely to have adopted these

methods.14 The public sector is most likely to

have introduced or extended fexible working/

homeworking,15 whereas the private sector is

more likely to have made eorts to improve its

brand through working with charities or corporate

sponsorship.16 Voluntary, community and notor-

prot organisations are most likely to have used

placement students to improve their brand.17

Attracting candidates

The eectiveness o methods to attract applicantsvaries according to sector and organisation size

(Table 11). Overall, the most eective method is

through organisations own corporate websites,

as was the case last year. The eectiveness o this

method increases with organisation size, probably

due to the increased brand awareness and

perhaps because larger organisations have more

advanced websites.18

The private sector, particularly manuacturing

and production organisations, is three times

more likely than public sector organisations to

report recruitment agencies among their most

eective methods and twice as likely as voluntary

sector organisations (regardless o size). Search

consultants and employee reerral schemes are also

notably more popular in the private sector than in

the public or voluntary sectors.

In contrast, the public and voluntary sectors are

more likely to nd the press eective or attracting

applicants, including local and national newspaper

advertisements and specialist journals/trade press.

Secondments are also deemed to be more eective

in these sectors than in the private sector.

Table 10: Work undertaken over last year to improve employer brand (%)

Voluntary,community

All Private Public and

2011 sector services notorproit

Employee surveys 39 39 38 43

Developing online careers site 30 33 23 29

Introducing/extending lexible working/homeworking

24 20 39 29

Placement students 23 21 19 35

Graduate careers airs 15 17 11 8

Working with charities 14 16 8 6

Corporate sponsorship 11 13 2 8

Introducing sabbaticals 3 4 1 5

Other7 6 6 10

No action taken to improve employer brand 27 28 29 22

RES


ING2011

Base: 601

15
http:///reader/full/methods.14http:///reader/full/methods.14http:///reader/full/sponsorship.16http:///reader/full/sponsorship.16http:///reader/full/brand.17http:///reader/full/brand.17http:///reader/full/websites.18http:///reader/full/websites.18http:///reader/full/methods.14http:///reader/full/sponsorship.16http:///reader/full/brand.17http:///reader/full/websites.18


17/4316


Table 11: Most eective methods or attracting applications, by industry sector (%)

Sector 2011 Number o UK employees 2011

All2010

All2011

Manufacturing

andproduction

Privatesector

services

Publicservices

Voluntary,

communityand

not-for-profit

149

50249

250999

1,0

004,9

99

Morethan

5,0

00

Own corporate website 63 59 44 57 77 66 42 55 57 77 79

Recruitment agencies 60 54 77 62 22 30 39 59 66 51 41

Local newspaper advertisements 36 32 38 23 41 51 28 35 35 29 29

Employee reerral scheme 35 29 33 38 5 14 20 33 27 32 29

Commercial job boards 33 27 33 29 14 29 21 27 25 42 26

Specialist journals/trade press 31 27 24 23 30 43 26 23 32 32 24

Encourage speculative applications/wordo mouth

24 25 30 29 9 23 27 31 23 19 19

Jobcentre Plus 23 25 24 24 22 34 16 29 21 25 32

Proessional networking (such asLinkedIn)

14 16 11 23 5 9 28 13 13 18 17

Search consultants 22 15 24 17 5 4 14 11 17 18 15

Links with schools/colleges/universities 18 13 16 13 9 17 12 13 11 18 15

Apprenticeships 12 11 19 9 13 9 10 10 11 12 17

National newspaper advertisements 16 11 4 6 23 29 10 9 15 10 15

Secondments 11 11 7 8 21 12 2 9 13 11 19Links with other local organisationsmaking redundancies*

7 13 5 7 9 6 5 9 11 8

Alumni (previous employees) 5 5 6 7 2 1 7 2 6 11 3

Social networking sites (such asFacebook)

3 4 4 5 3 4 3 2 2 8 12

Local Employment Partnership (LEP) 6 3 1 4 2 5 1 2 3 4 9

Other 5 5 2 3 12 6 8 3 4 4 5

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

Base: 604 (2011); 464 (2010)

*new item introduced in 2011

Despite the popularity o social networking

sites such as Facebook, they are not seen to be

particularly eective or attracting candidates.

Proessional networking sites, such as LinkedIn, are

more popular, particularly in the private services

sector, although there has only been a small

percentage increase in their reported eectiveness

compared with last year.


18/43

2011

Recruitment partners

A new question this year asked respondents i theirattitude to and relationships with recruitment

partners has changed over the past 12 months. Just

over a third report things have not changed

(Table 12). A similar proportion report they have

reduced their use o recruitment partners and 6%

that they have stopped using them altogether,

with one in ten considering them an unaordable

expense (one in ve in the notorprot sector)

and a similar proportion an unnecessary expense.

In contrast, one in ve (predominantly private

sector organisations) report they have ormed

a closer business partnership with recruitment

partners over the past year and one in ten (again

predominantly private sector organisations) report

they consider them integral to attracting top talent.

Selecting candidates

There has been little change in the methods usedto select candidates over the past ew years, with

the exception o a drop in the use o general

ability tests compared with 2009 (Table 13).

Interviews remain the most common selection

method with competencybased interviews

being most popular overall. Interviews ollowing

the contents o CVs/application orms are also

particularly popular in the private sector (70%

compared with 41% in the public sector and 57%

in the notorprot sector), whereas the public

and notorprot sectors avour structured (panel)

interviews (82% and 79% respectively compared

with 45% in the private sector).

Tests or specic jobrelated skills are more popular

in the public and notorprot sectors (61% and

62% respectively compared with 43% in the private

sector), whereas telephone interviews are more

popular in the private sector (52% compared with

12% in the public sector and 26% in the notor-

prot sector).

Table 12: Changes in attitudes to and relationships with recruitment partners over the past 12 months (%)

Voluntary,community

All Private Public and2011 sector services notorproit

Not changed 36 34 40 39

Reduced use o recruitment partners 32 34 32 26

Formed a closer business partnership withthem

19 23 8 12

Consider them an unnecessary expense 12 11 13 16Consider them an unaordable expense 11 10 11 22

Consider them integral to attracting toptalent

9 11 2 4

Stopped using recruitment partners 6 5 8 5

Other 3 3 3 3

Base: 604

RES


ING2011

17


19/4318


Table 13: Methods used to select applicants (%)

2011 2010 2009survey survey survey

Competencybased interviews 70 78 69

Interviews ollowing contents o CV/application orm 63 64 68

Structured interviews (panel) 56 61 59

Tests or speciic jobrelated skills 49 48 50

Telephone interviews 43 47 38

Literacy and/or numeracy tests 38 43 39

Personality/aptitude/psychometric questionnaires 35 44 35

Assessment centres 35 42 35

Preapplication elimination/progression question(s) 25 32 N/A

General ability tests 23 27 44

Group exercises (or example roleplaying) 21 30 26

Preinterview reerences (academic or employment) 9 16 19

Video CVs 0 1 N/A

Other 3 4 6

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

Base: 605 (2011); 473 (2010); 754 (2009)

Strengths-based recruitment

Twoths o organisations (40%) report they use a

strengthsbased approach to recruitment, although

it is less commonly used in the public sector (26%).19

In all sectors, smaller organisations are most likely

to report they use a strengthsbased approach

(60% o organisations with 149 employees use it

compared with 34% o organisations with 250999

employees and 24% o organisations with more

than 5,000 employees).20

Most o those who use a strengthsbased approach

to recruitment are neutral about how easy it is toadminister in practice, regardless o sector or size.

Nearly a third (32%) nd it easy or very easy and

only one in ten (11%) nd it dicult.

Over threequarters o those who use a strengths

based approach to recruitment believe it

brings benets in terms o increased individual

perormance (78%). Twothirds believe it improves

retention (67%) and increases engagement (63%).

Twoths (39%) report it results in greater diversity

o skills in the workplace.

Many organisations that use a strengthsbased

approach to recruitment also use a strengthsbased

approach or other people processes. More than

hal use it or perormance management processes

(59%), succession planning (55%) and learning and

development (53%). Twoths use it or talent

management (42%) and a third use it or workorce

planning (32%). Just under three in ten (29%) also

use it or redeployment.

Recruitment costs

Last year we noted an increase in the proportion

o organisations that calculate their recruitmentcosts (2010: 65%; 2009: 53%; 2008: 51%). This year,

the proportion is back in line with previous years

(52%). The increase last year may have been due

to sampling dierences or a consequence o an

increased ocus on costs during the recession that

has not continued.

Fourths (79%) o organisations that calculate

recruitment costs provided cost estimates per

hire. There is considerable variance in the amount

organisations spend (at least partly due to our
http:///reader/full/employees).20http:///reader/full/employees).20http:///reader/full/employees).20


20/43

2011

ndings that organisations include dierent costs

in their calculations, see Table 14). In generalthe median gures (Table 15) are lower than last

year or both senior manager/directors and other

employees.

In order to explore the validity o estimates, this

year we also asked respondents to indicate how

accurate their cost estimates were. Hal (51%) o

estimates or costs o recruiting senior managers/

directors were accurate to plus or minus 10% and

83% to plus or minus 20%. Twoths o estimates

or other employees were accurate to plus or minus

10% and 74% to plus or minus 20%. Table 16

shows the median gures or estimates that were

believed to be accurate to up to plus or minus 20%.

The gures indicate, as we ound last year, that

organisations spend considerably more on senior

appointments than on other employees. This

refects the value attached to good leadership and

perhaps the additional challenges o attracting

the best candidates or senior positions. This is

particularly the case in the private sector, where

considerably more is spent on the recruitment o

senior managers/directors than in the public or not

orprot sectors.

Table 14: Criteria included in cost per hire

calculations (%)

Size number o employees in UK %

Advertising costs

Agency/search costs

Employee reerrals

Travel expenses

Relocation expenses

Fixed costs o resourcing team

Opportunity costs o hiringmanagers' time

OtherDon't know

Base: 299

81

75

35

30

17

24

24

34

Table 15: Estimated total costs (advertising costs, agency or search ees) per hire ()

Median 2011 Median 2010(no. o (no. o

Occupational group respondents) Minimum Maximum respondents)

Senior managers/directors 7,000 (219) 251 55,000 8,333 (234)

Other employees 2,000 (246) 150 32,000 2,930 (262)

Number of respondents shown in brackets

Table 16: Median total costs (advertising costs, agency or search ees) per hire or estimates accurate toplus or minus 20% ()

Voluntary,

Median 2011Manuacturing

and Private Public

community

and notor

Occupational group production sector services proit

RES


ING2011

Senior managers/directors 7,500 8,000 9,000 5,000 3,500

Other employees 2,500 3,400 2,000 3,000 1,500

Base: 150

19


21/43

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

20


2 RESOURCING AND TALENTmANAGEmENT IN TURBULENTTImES

In January 2010 the UK officially emerged from the recession;however, the economic environment remains uncertain formany organisations. The environmental disasters in Japan,the uprisings and wars in the Middle East, rising oil prices andEuropean debt highlight the volatility of global markets. In theUK, economic growth remains sluggish and there are concernsregarding the impact of the VAT increases, high inflation andthe austerity measures of the Coalition Government. Thissection examines the impact of the economic environment

on resourcing budgets, strategies and activities in 2010. Itlooks at changes in views on the employment market and theimplications for managing talent.

The impact of the economic climate on

resourcing

Overall, hal o organisations report that the

economic climate has had a negative impact on

their organisations resourcing budgets or 201112(Table 17). This year, however, it is the public

sector that is most severely hit, with ourths

(82%) reporting their resourcing budgets will be

reduced (up rom 59% last year). In contrast, ewer

private and notorprot sector organisations

ace reductions this year compared with last,

although more are still reducing their budgets than

increasing them.

Changes in resourcing and talent practices in

2011 compared with 2010 refect a stronger

ocus on costs and reductions in budgets (Figure

3). Twothirds plan to develop more talent in-

house (compared with onethird in 2010) andmore organisations plan to reduce reliance on

recruitment agencies and external consultants or

resourcing and development. The proportion o

organisations planning to ocus more on retaining

rather than recruiting talent has increased to 51%

in 2011 rom 28% in 2010.


22/43

2011

Changes in recruitment practices are also

anticipated. More organisations plan to make useo new media/technology to recruit, which may

be a costcutting strategy but can also improve

the eciency and eectiveness o the recruitment

process. On a positive note more organisations plan

to invest more time and eort in the quality o

candidates they hire and will be taking actions to

improve ways o identiying quality candidates.

Public sector organisations are more than twice

as likely to be implementing a recruitment reeze

in 2011 (46% compared with 22% overall).

Nevertheless, this is an improvement on 2010, when

58% o public sector organisations implemented a

recruitment reeze. The situation is also somewhat

brighter or many private sector organisations,with 15% reporting they will be implementing a

recruitment reeze in 2011 compared with 26%

in 2010. Nevertheless, the economic recovery

remains slow or many, with 29% o private

sector organisations and 66% o public sector

organisations reporting they will be reducing the

number o new recruits they hire in 2011, similar

proportions to 2010. Inevitably more public than

private sector organisations report they will be

reducing their headcount in 2011 and losing key

talent (33% compared with 9% in the private

sector) and redeploying people into new roles (66%

compared with 37% in the private sector).

Table 17: Impact o the current economic climate on organisations resourcing budgets (%)

Private Public Voluntary, communityAll sector services and notorproit

2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010

Reduced 49 53 41 51 82 59 51 61

Stayed aboutthe same

36 37 39 40 14 36 40 34

Increased 8 7 11 4 1 5 4 5

Don't know 7 3 8 5 3 5

Base: 615 (2011); 475 (2010)

RES


ING2011

21


23/43

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

22


figure 3: Resourcing and talent practices ipleented in 2011 and 2010 (% o respondents)

Developing more talent in-house

Continuing to recruit key talent/niche areas

Focusing more on retaining rather than recruiting talent

Reducing reliance on recruitment agencies

Use of new media/technology to recruit

Investing more time and effort in the qualityof candidates we hire

Redeploying people into new roles

Reducing the number of new recruits we hire

Taking actions to improve ways ofidentifying quality candidates

Increasing the number of interim/contractstaff recruited

Reducing our use of external consultantsfor resourcing and development

Increased recruitment of apprentices/interns

Implementing a recruitment freeze

Reducing our headcount but preserving key talent

Recruiting talent discarded by competitors

Reducing our headcount and losing key talent

Offering sabbaticals, career breaks, additional holidays

Reducing employees' working hoursto avoid making people redundant

8Reducing graduate recruitment 8

6Suspending graduate recruitment 7

36

28

36

28

26

30

3535

3515

2923

2819

2412

2230

2216

1811

1312

1210

1210

66

5946

51

47

46

45

44

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Percentage of respondents2011 2010

Base: 582


24/43

RES


ING2011

23

2011

Views on the employment market

In little change to last year, threequarters oorganisations report they have noticed an increase

in the number o unsuitable applicants as they have

ewer roles to ll (Figure 4). Far ewer (34%) report

that there are too many suitable candidates to

choose rom and, despite high unemployment over

the past two years, more than hal (52%) believe that

competition or talent is even greater as the pool o

available talent to hire has allen sharply (2010: 41%;

2009: 20%). For many organisations there appears a

clear mismatch between the skills they require and

those available in the labour market.

Competition or talent appears to be particularly

keen in the private sector. Twothirds (64%) o

manuacturing and production organisations

and 55% o private services organisations agree

that competition or talent is even greater now,compared with 39% o the public sector and 34%

o notorprots.21 In contrast, the public sector

and notorprots are more likely to agree they

have too many suitable candidates to choose

rom (61% and 47% respectively compared with

23% o manuacturing and production and 27%

o private sector services).22

Threeths (62%) o respondents agree that the

demand or temporary and contract workers will

increase as employers will be reluctant to take

on permanent sta during uncertain times, while

44% agree that parttime workers will become

more appealing to employers who are looking to

cut costs.

figure 4: Vies on te eploent aret (% agreeing or strongl agreeing)

With fewer roles to fill we havenoticed an increase in the number

of unsuitable applicants.

The demand for temporary and contract workerswill increase as employers will be reluctant to

take on permanent staff during uncertain t imes.

Employers will use the economic downturn asan opportunity to get rid of poor performers

and bring about culture change.

Competition for talent is even greater nowas the pool of available talent to hire has

fallen sharply.

Part-time workers will become more appealingto employers who are looking to cut costs.

Employers are acting too hastily in makingpeople redundant and as a result they will lose too

many employees with valuable knowledge and skills.

With fewer roles to fill there are now toomany suitable candidates to choose between.*

The abolition of the Default Retirement Agewill mean we recruit fewer people.*

Employers will look to make older workers over theage of 65 redundant before their younger workers.

73

76

54

62

66

66

55

63

72

52

41

20

44

45

52

44

48

53

34

32

23

19

22

27

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Percentage of respondents

2011 2010 2009

Base: 607 (2011); 475 (2010); 746 (2009)

*item added 2010/2011
http:///reader/full/not-for-profits.21http:///reader/full/not-for-profits.21http:///reader/full/services).22http:///reader/full/services).22http:///reader/full/not-for-profits.21http:///reader/full/services).22


25/4324


More than hal o respondents (55%) across

all sectors believe that employers will use theeconomic downturn as an opportunity to get rid o

poor perormers and bring about culture change.

While high, this shows a downward trend on the

past two years (2010: 63%; 2009: 72% agree or

strongly agree), perhaps refecting a slowing in

the number o redundancies. Similarly there is

a gradual downward trend in the proportion o

respondents who express concern that employers

are acting too hastily in making people redundant

and as a result they will lose too many employees

with valuable knowledge and skills or that

employers will look to make older workers over the

age o 65 redundant beore their younger workers.

Nearly a quarter (23%) o respondents believe

that the abolition o the Deault Retirement Age

will mean they recruit ewer people (48% in the

public sector).23

Implications for talent management

The value o eective talent management hasnot been lost in the recent attention on reducing

costs. Twoths (41%) o organisations report

that the current economic situation has led

to an increased ocus on talent management

(43% in 2010) and only 4% that it has led to a

decreased ocus (7% in 2010) with no signicant

dierences across sectors. Unsurprisingly, however,

the public sector are about twice as likely this

year to report they have reduced their overall

talent management spend due to the downturn

compared with other sectors (Table 18).24

The proportion o organisations that report

the economic downturn has had an impact on

approaches to reward across the business has

slightly reduced compared with last year (54%

compared with 61% in 2010). As last year, it

appears that organisations across all sectors

are being more selective in who they reward. A

smaller proportion o organisations report their

approach to reward or individuals identied as

talent has been aected by the downturn (42%)

than report their approach to reward across the

business has been aected (54%).

Table 18: Has your overall talent management spend been reduced due to the economic downturn? (%)cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

Voluntary,All community and All

2011 Private sector Public sector notorproit 2010

Yes 18 17 32 13 23

No 38 43 16 32 41

N/A (no talentmanagement spend)

44 40 52 55 36

Base: 617 (2011); 471 (2010)
http:///reader/full/sector).23http:///reader/full/sector).23http:///reader/full/sector).23


26/43

RES


ING2011

25

2011

Case study: Innovative recruitment and cost saving in the Associationof Greater Manchester Authorities

The Association o Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) represents the ten local authorities in

Greater Manchester and works in partnership with a wider group o associate councils and public

sector organisations. AGMA chie executives and council leaders work together on a range o key

strategic and policy issues which impact on Greater Manchester, including resourcing strategies

and recruitment and retention issues.

The AGMA initiative in cost reduction in the area o resourcing has been described as a truly

pioneering example o collaboration between a number o local authorities and is already

delivering against a range o objectives.

The initial aim was to make a signicant saving on the 56 million annual cost o external

media advertising reported in 200809 and to create a more ecient and eective recruitment

system. A shared portal was commissioned to oer a rontend website (www.yourcounciljobs.

co.uk) with a backoce erecruitment system, which would give a standardised, sharedservice

approach or job applicants across councils. Some o the benets or applicants include the ability

to go to one place to register their interest, to be able to look in specic categories or jobs

o particular relevance to them, to be able to amend an existing application orm in order to

apply or a urther post and to receive email alerts when new jobs relevant to their interests are

posted. In addition, communications to jobseekers are now standardised or every council.

This approach has seen real benets across each o the local authorities; workfows are now

standardised as every HR team runs identical systems and there is consistency in reporting within

all councils, enabling them to benchmark their processes more clearly. The councils use this

benchmarking data to make additional improvements and eciencies.

Jayne Whitehead, AGMA Category Procurement Manager, has projectmanaged the initiative

with managers represented rom each participating authority and describes the process as one

o true collaboration, with 100% commitment rom all the councils involved. The benets

are clear; annual media costs are dramatically reduced to approximately 250,000 across ten

partner organisations and there has been a reduction in timetohire o 13 days. This has hadthe knockon eect o reducing expenditure on agency sta. The average cost o a recruitment

advertisement per role was previously 974.00; it is now 152.00. There have also been benets

outside the original intention, including doubling the number o online applications or council

posts, with administrative cost savings in HR o approximately 250,000 across the consortium.

More than 61,000 registered users are now on the system and the councils are successully lling

their own talent pools o prospective jobseekers. Overall, the project team is now celebrating a

1.7 million reduction in recruitment expenditure over the past 12 months.

(continued)


27/43

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

26


There were some challenges in the implementation o this new way o working. All the councilshad to be convinced about the benets o the changes. With the implementation o a new IT

system having its own set o challenges, the project has taken 12 months to introduce, longer

than rst anticipated. Implementing the changes during a period o radical restructuring in all

councils also proved particularly challenging. However, Jayne describes how both the need to

make eciencies and eedback rom jobseekers meant that we had to nd a dierent way o

doing things. Jayne also recognises how the neutrality o her own role (each council pays a tenth

o her salary) has been essential in ensuring that the project has been air to all its participants,

oering a centralised shared resource to manage the project.

The project is now set to develop yet urther with the aim o becoming entirely selunding

within the next year by accepting advertising rom other organisations. Two new websites are

planned or recruitment into schools and social care jobs, bringing even less reliance on media

and agencies. AGMA will also be urther building its own talent pool.

Jayne describes the initiative as a true example o what you can do i you collaborate across

authorities. Not only the separate councils but also diverse teams and unctions including HR, IT,

procurement, communications and marketing have worked together to deliver this innovative

and inspiring project.

Inormation provided by Jayne Whitehead, AGMA Category Procurement Manager


28/43

2011

3 DIVERSITy

This section examines organisations approaches to diversity,including the use of formal diversity strategies and themethods used to address diversity issues.

Just over hal o organisations report they have with just under twothirds o notorprot

a ormal diversity strategy, showing little change organisations and just twoths o private sector

over the past our years (2011: 52%; 2010: 55%; companies (Table 19).25 Diversity strategies are also

2009: 60%; 2008: 55%). Consistent with previous more common in larger organisations (regardless

years ndings, most public sector organisations o sector).26

(90%) have a ormal diversity strategy, compared

Table 19: Does your organisation have a ormal diversity strategy? (%)

Yes No Don't know

All 52 41 7

Sector

Private sector 41 50 8

Public services 90 9 1

Voluntary, community and notorproit 63 33 4

Number o UK employeesFewer than 50 45 50 5

50249 43 51 6

250999 48 44 7

1,0004,999 65 31 4

More than 5,000 80 9 11

Base: 613

RES


ING2011

27
http:///reader/full/sector).26http:///reader/full/sector).26http:///reader/full/sector).26


29/4328


As was the case last year, over threequarters

o organisations with a ormal diversity policyattempt to address diversity issues through

monitoring recruitment and/or stang

inormation to obtain data on gender, ethnicity,

disability, age, and so on (Table 20). Less than

threeths train interviewers to understand what

diversity is about and the impact o stereotypes.

Other diversityocused initiatives are even

less common; moreover, the gures indicate a

reduction in the use o several methods compared

with previous years. The pressures o the recession

may have led to a reduced ocus on diversity.

Given the links between diversity in the workorce

and productivity, organisations that ail to give

this issue the attention it requires may nd

themselves at a disadvantage in the uture.

Traditionally, the public sector has tended to lead

the way in terms o diversity practices. Again thisyear they are signicantly more likely to address

diversity issues through monitoring recruitment

and/or stang inormation; through providing

recruitment documents in other ormats; through

advertising vacancies in dierent sources to

attract underrepresented groups; and through

setting recruitment targets to correct a workorce

imbalance. Nevertheless they are less likely than

other sectors to actively try to attract talent o all

ages (Table 20). Moreover, our gures indicate that

the reduction in the use o several diversity methods

compared with previous years is particularly

pronounced in the public sector. The change o

government and budget reduction measures have

led to signicant change programmes in many

public sector organisations, which may have resulted

in a reduced ocus on diversity issues.

Table 20: Methods used to address diversity issues in organisations (% with ormal diversity strategy)

Voluntary,communityPrivate Public and notsector services orproit

2011 2010 2009 2008 2011 2011 2011survey survey survey survey (2010) (2010) (2010)

Monitoring recruitment and/or stainginormation to obtain data on gender, 78 79 84 83 70 (71) 88 (96) 88 (76)ethnicity, disability, age, any other categories

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

Training interviewers to understandwhat diversity is about and the impact ostereotypes

57 68 68 60 53 (66) 64 (73) 57 (72)

Actively trying to attract talent o all ages* 45 53 32 43

Operating policies that go beyond basic

legislative requirements on age, gender, race,disability, sexual orientation, religion and belie

39 49 52 48 34 (44) 47 (63) 47 (40)

Providing recruitment documents in other39 41 37 31 24 (22) 64 (77) 47 (52)

ormats (online, largeprint, audio, and so on)

Checking that any tests used are valid, reliableand cultureree and were tested on diversenorm groups

36 42 47 34 39 (44) 35 (45) 27 (16)

Advertising vacancies in dierent sources to31 37 51 48 22 (30) 44 (53) 41 (32)

attract underrepresented groups

Using speciic images/words in your recruitmentadvertising to appeal to a wider audience

29 38 42 42 25 (30) 36 (52) 33 (40)

Making attempts to employ the longterm19 19 13 29

unemployed*

Setting recruitment targets to correct aworkorce imbalance

9 15 14 12 4 (8) 18 (31) 8 (16)

Base: 312 (2011); 253 (2010); 419 (2009)

*new item added in 2011


30/43

RES


ING2011

29

2011

4 mANAGING LABOUR TURNOVER

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that UKunemployment rose by 27,000 in the three months to the endof January 2011 to 2.53 million, the highest since 1994. When

unemployment is high the number of employees leavingorganisations voluntarily is expected to decrease. Here weexamine whether this is happening and how organisations aretackling the issue of employee retention.

Among organisations that are able to supply

turnover data, the median labour turnover rate

has decreased over the past ew years (Table 21).

The median gure, however, hides dierences

across organisations. Slightly more organisations

report their turnover has increased in 2010

compared with 2009 (38%) than has decreased

(33%), while or nearly a third (29%) it remained

the same. Smaller organisations are more likely

to report their labour turnover has increased and

larger organisations that it has decreased.27

As in previous years, the majority o turnover (53%)

is still attributed to employees leaving voluntarily

(Table 22). As the economy has improved themedian proportion o turnover due to redundancies

has reduced. Only 12% o organisations that

provided reasons or leaving made more than ten

redundancies in the previous year compared with

33% in 2010, 26% in 2009 and 22% in 2008. A third

(34%) o organisations that made redundancies

oered career transition services.

While median turnover rates have reduced

across all sectors, Table 23 shows that the rate

o voluntary leavers has increased slightly in

the private sector compared with last year but

decreased in the voluntary and public services

sector. This refects improvements in the economic

outlook or the private sector and the widespread

cuts in the public sector, which also have a direct

impact on many notorprot organisations that

provide services or the public sector.

Cost of labour turnover

While just over hal o organisations calculate

their recruitment costs, only 13% calculate the

cost o their labour turnover (2010: 14%). The

majority o organisations report they do not

calculate these costs (79%), while 7% dont know

i they are calculated or not.

Nearly hal (46%) o those who calculate their

turnover costs want to maintain their current

turnover rate, while oneth (38%) want to

reduce turnover during 2011 and 15% want to

increase it.

Retaining employees

The steps organisations take to retain employees

in their workorce can have a signicant impact

on organisational eciency and success through
http:///reader/full/decreased.27http:///reader/full/decreased.27http:///reader/full/decreased.27


31/4330


Table 21: Median rate o labour turnover (%)

2011 2010 survey 2009 survey 2008 survey 2007 survey 2006 survey

12.5 13.5 15.7 17.3 18.1 18.3

Base: 175 (2011)

Table 22: Median labour turnover rates, by reason or leaving (%)

2011 survey 2010 survey 2009 survey

Voluntary redundancies 0 0 0

Compulsory redundancies 0 1.0 0.5

Dismissed/let involuntarily

(including death in service)0.7 0.9 1.4

Fixed/shortterm contracts 0 0 0.7

Retired 0 0.4 0.7

Let voluntarily 6.6 8.4 9.0

Base: 154 (2011)

Table 23: Median labour turnover rates, by industry sector (%)

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

Sector All leavers Voluntary leavers

2011survey

2010survey

2009survey

2011survey

2010survey

2009survey

Manuacturing and production 9.3 (38) 12.4 (44) 15.3 (80) 3.7 (35) 2.7 (42) 7.7 (75)

Private sector services 13.8 (96) 14.6 (77) 16.8 (150) 8.7 (82) 7.4 (71) 10.4 (129)

Public services 8.5 (28) 8.6 (19) 12.6 (52) 3.4 (10) 5.8 (15) 7.6 (45)

Voluntary, community, notorproit 13.1 (11) 15.9 (15) 16.4 (38) 7.0 (24) 10.2 (18) 11.0 (35)

Number of respondents shown in brackets

decreasing employee turnover, loss o talent and

recruitment and training costs, while having a

positive impact on motivation, job satisaction and

the employer brand.

Only twoths (42%) o organisations

experienced no diculties in retaining sta

during 2010. This gure is similar to last year

(45%) but higher than the ndings or 2008,

when 31% reported they had no retention

diculties. These ndings refect the increased

caution o employees regarding leaving their

jobs during times o economic uncertainty and

high unemployment. Supporting this are our

ndings that the public (49%) and notorprot

sectors (49%) are more likely to report they had

no diculties in retaining sta during 2010

compared with the private sector (38%).

As in previous years, organisations most

commonly have diculty retaining managers

and proessionals/specialists (Table 24). The

manuacturing and production sector are most

likely to report diculties retaining technical


32/43

2011

sta and the private services sector that they have

most diculty retaining services sta. This mayrefect the higher demand or these categories o

employees in these sectors.

While most organisations have taken one or more

steps to address sta retention, nearly one in our

organisations (23%) report that no specic retention

initiatives were undertaken. This is a similar

proportion to last year, although substantially higher

than in previous years when retention diculties

were more common due to a tighter labour market

(Table 25). Public sector organisations are twice

as likely not to have taken any steps to address

retention as those in the private or not orprot

sectors (39% compared with 20% o private sector

and 16% o notorprots).28

The most common methods used to address

retention in 2010, used by nearly twoths o

organisations, are to improve line managers

people skills, improve learning and development

opportunities and improve the induction process.

Improving line managers people skills and

learning and development opportunities are alsomost commonly rated among the top three most

eective retention methods. The eectiveness o

improving induction processes is more varied, with

22% rating it among the top three most eective

methods and 12% among the top three least

eective methods. Views are also mixed regarding

the eectiveness o improved pay. It is likely that

employees are motivated by dierent actors.

Employers need to provide a healthy working

environment where employees are treated with

respect and make eorts to match their retention

initiatives with what sta want.

Table 24: Retention diiculties, by occupational category (%)

Voluntary,community

Private andAll Manuacturing sector Public notor All

2011 and production services services proit 2010

Managers and proessionals/specialists

28 26 29 25 29 27

Technical 21 37 19 17 13 20

Services (customer, personal,

protective and sales)13 7 21 4 4 12

Administrative, secretarial 9 5 8 15 13 7

Senior managers/directors 7 5 8 10 6 9

Manual/crat workers 6 11 6 3 4 4

Base: 601 (2011); 451 (2010)

RES


ING2011

31
http:///reader/full/not-for-profits).28http:///reader/full/not-for-profits).28http:///reader/full/not-for-profits).28


33/4332


Table 25: Steps taken speciically to address sta retention (%)

Used in Least Most Used in Used in Used in2010 eective eective 2009 2008 2007

Improved line managers' peopleskills

39 7 31 42 39 37

Increased learning anddevelopment opportunities

38 5 34 35 47 46

Improved induction process 38 12 22 31 45 45

Improved employee involvement 34 8 24 32 35 29

Improved selection techniques 30 7 25 31 42 46

Improved pay 27 11 23 22 42 53

Oered coaching/mentoring/buddy systems

24 8 14 20 24 22

Improved beneits 21 8 14 19 32 36

Better promotion to employeeso the employer brand

18 10 5 15 21 16

Created clearer career paths 18 6 2 21 18 17

Revised the way sta arerewarded so their eorts are 18 4 13 14 19 19better recognised

Made changes to improve worklie balance

17 5 13 19 31 30

Improved physical workingconditions

15 8 7 13 19 12

Redesigned jobs to make themmore satisying

11 4 8 13 18 14

Increased our use o counter-oers*

4 4 14

No speciic initiatives undertaken 23 3 1 27 13 9

Base: 559 (2011 survey); 431 (2010 survey); 695 (2009 survey); 710 (2008 survey)

* new item added in 2011

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey


34/43

RES


ING2011

33

2011

CONCLUSIONS

Looking forward

In January 2010 the UK ocially emerged rom

the longest recession since the 1930s. Economic

growth, however, remains sluggish and the public

sector has embarked on a ouryear programme o

the biggest government spending cuts in decades

to address the scal decit.

In the labour market, unemployment remained

high throughout 2010. Figures rom the Oce

or National Statistics (ONS) show that UK

unemployment rose by 27,000 in the three months

to the end o January 2011 to 2.53 million, the

highest since 1994. While recent months have seen

signs o improvement, there are concerns that the

slow growth in the private sector will be unable

to ully compensate or the increasing job losses in

the public sector that will result rom the budget

cuts. This is supported by the ndings rom the

CIPDs spring 2011 Labour Market Outlook, which

shows the impact on the overall labour market o a

slight rise in private sector recruitment is still being

cancelled out by largescale public sector job losses.

The ndings o the CIPDs 2011 Resourcing and

Talent Planning survey refect the challengeso the economic environment. Organisations

generally have increased their ocus on costs. On

average, organisations spent less on lling each

vacancy and a th have reduced their resourcing

budgets and talent management spend. In the

public sector the ocus on costs and budget

reductions was particularly apparent.

The end o the recession has meant ewer

redundancies in 2010. Nevertheless, over a third

o public sector and oneth o private sector

organisations reduced their headcount. The

number o vacancies on oer by organisations

remained as low as in 2009 overall and continued

to decrease in very large organisations, particularly

in the public sector.

Looking orward, private sector growth is expected

to remain slow and the ull impact o public

sector budget cuts is still to come. Resourcing and

talent management budgets will be urther hit

in 201112 and many public sector organisations

will implement recruitment reezes and reduce

graduate intake and recruitment generally.

Resourcing and talent practices are changing to

refect the stronger ocus on costs and reductions

in budgets. Particularly in the public sector, but

also in the private sector, trends indicate a greater

ocus on developing talent inhouse, retaining

rather than recruiting talent and reducing reliance

on recruitment agencies and external consultants

or resourcing and development.

Our ndings do not present a positive outlook

or the vast number o unemployed. A substantial

proportion o organisations reports that the

already low number o vacancies available to them

is likely to be urther aected by the abolitiono the Deault Retirement Age. Yet despite the

high unemployment rate, most organisations

reported diculties in lling vacancies, mostly due

to skill shortages. We have also seen an increase

in the proportion o organisations reporting

that competition or talent is even greater as the

pool o available talent to hire has allen sharply.

For many organisations there appears a clear

mismatch between the skills they require and

those available in the labour market. Some are

concerned this will be exacerbated by the increase

in university tuition ees. Some are responding


35/43

cipd.co.u


ingsurvey

34


by increasing apprenticeship schemes, internships

and sponsoring students through university. Suchschemes may be aided by the Governments recently

announced 60 million commitment to help boost

youth employment and provide extra support or

apprenticeships and changes to vocational training

and education. How ar this will go towards meeting

organisations skill requirements remains to be seen.

On a positive note our ndings indicate that talent

management is viewed as more, not less, important

in dicult times, although with reduced budgets,

organisations will have to be innovative with

their approach and strategies. In order to survive

organisations will need to make certain they ocus

beyond the costcutting required in the current

environment to ensuring their talent strategies are

aligned to longterm business success.

The CIPDs Shaping the Future and Next Generation

HR fagship projects have both explored the

important issues o sustainability. Shaping the Future

in particular warns against the dangers o talent

tunnel vision taking a shortsighted view on talent

strategies which are solely ocused on the needs o

the here and now.

Oten organisations pay too little attention to

identiying and developing the capabilities that

individuals will need in the long term. This implies a

leadership/talent management capability gap with

too much ocus on the operational needs o today

rather than the organisational imperatives

o tomorrow.

Its never too late to start equipping your people

with the skills and knowledge they need to meet

both present and uture challenges. So what practical

recommendations can we make or resourcing and

talent proessionals, drawn rom our Shaping the

Future evidence?

Audit your organisations current skills and future

capabilitiesI you havent done so already, conduct a thorough

inventory o your organisations current skills and map

those against the capabilities you are likely to need

in the uture. Hold orecasting sessions which look at

macro and micro trends, how these will impact your

way o working and the changes that will be required

or uture success.

Build your talent and succession pipeline

You also need to be proactively building up your

talent pipelines (horizontally and vertically), so that

you are developing people with uturet skills and

capabilities. A silver lining rom the current economic

climate is that more organisations are ocusing on

developing internal talent and ully utilising the

skills o their existing workorce. Fresh talent is

still important but recruitment strategies should

complement internal pipelines.

Maintain a continuous focus on capability-

building

Capabilitybuilding should be part o a continuous

process, embedded into policies and practices. Across

our case study organisations, managers talked about the

need to embed development and skills training as part

o business as usual, rather than as a oneo activity.

Develop a creative approach to skills and

capability development

Even when budgets are tight, it is essential that

sta get the development they need to ensure they

have the capabilities or their curr

resourcing and talent planning survey 2011

Documents