C-suite to bolster hiring despite skills gap: study

A majority of private company executives say that hiring is still at the top of their “to-do” lists for 2014 despite concerns over the skills available in the workforce, according to a study released by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

More than half of business executives surveyed say hiring is a “top priority” in the new year. However, these C-suite officers highlight that it’s been difficult to find and attract employees with the right skills that can spur company growth.

Over the next 12 months, the quarterly study finds that private company executives say they plan to increase their composite average workforce by 1.9% as well as increase median hourly wages by 2.7%. However, this may hit an impasse as one-quarter note that finding qualified workers is a “barrier to growth.”

Of the more than 200 CEO/CFOs surveyed, PwC notes that an uptick in planned business acquisition – nearly 20% are reporting this tactic as a means to grow their bottom lines – could be used to help to “add much-needed skills to their workforce in bulk.”

“The acquisitions are an opportunity or alternative out there in gaining a qualified workforce,” says Ken Esch, a partner in PwC’s private company services practice. “We’ve seen that several times here recently where a target company has a particular skill set that complements the acquiring company’s business model so that rather than try grow that business model themselves they’ll go out and acquire a company to gain it.”

Specifically, 35% of service companies cite an increasing need for technology expertise among its workforce. One-quarter of product companies, meanwhile, favored “blue collar” workers possessing specialized skills. Within the manufacturer’s realm, these CEO/CFOs say they need workers with science, technology, engineering and mathematics abilities.  

“Service companies are deploying more and more technology in the delivery of the service,” says Esch. “That’s raising in importance the technical skill-set around programming data analytics that help drive sales growth for the business.”

Esch adds that there is more to be done to alleviate the pressures facing HR directors during this global financial recovery period, despite the fact that 43% of the private company executives surveyed have confidence in the world economy. 

“While companies are continuing to add workers, they’re not adding them at the pace that we’ve seen in prior recessions,” says Esch. “I think that just puts more pressure on the HR function of businesses because you’re doing your best to try to keep your people happy even though there’s probably a general sense that more workers are necessary to run the business and trying to fill the spots that become open is more and more difficult.”

HR directors can keep their workforce through a “multi-dimensional” strategy, Esch says. He lists employers can keep their high quality workers happy through compensation-type adjustments, instituting flexible time-off or flexible working arrangements and incorporating in-house training that includes experienced workers teaching new workers to “become comfortable and productive workers as soon as they possibly can.”

Additionally, private companies have started to reach out to community colleges in order to coordinate curriculum or courses that can afford “sufficient skills” to gain employment for future generations, Esch explains.