Re:locate magazine | Reports & Surveys | AXA Risk Monitor shows skills problems lead to business failure

82% of businesses are worried about future recruitment according to the AXA Risk Monitor Report. The survey questioned 400 decision makers within UK small and mediums-sized enterprises (SMEs – those with between five and 250 employees), spanning industries including financial services, retail and manufacturing. It also revealed that 46% of businesses consider lack of good staff as the most common reason for business failure. Of those surveyed, 69% say it has been harder to recruit over the last three years and they consider the main reasons for this to be:

Insufficient quality of candidates to meet requirements
General lack of skills in the market
Sector skills shortage
Unable to meet expectations on remuneration
Changes in standards of education.

Kim Clemo, human resources director, AXA commented: “Many of us happily chant the well-known adage that your most valuable business assets walk in and out of your door each day. At the same time we then wring our hands in dismay that we can’t get the staff, can’t afford to hire the best, and the people we do have don’t have the skills we need. We value training, but have to justify it against other capital investments that always feel more pressing.”

According to the National Employers Skills Survey 2005 there has been a marked improvement in the number of people with skills gaps. In fact, they have virtually halved from 11% to 6% in the last two years. However, the retail and hospitality industries are still suffering as they are finding it difficult to recruit people with soft skills, such as team working and customer service.

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