In order to evaluate trends over the past 12 months and intentions for the year ahead, RECRUITERS sought the views and insights of more than 4,000 senior business leaders and hiring managers across Ireland. The data is based on a nationwide survey we conducted in October 2021 from businesses of different sizes and industries in Ireland.
77% of employers are optimistic about the Irish economy in 2022, up from 64% in 2021. Those that are not so optimistic (23%) include professionals in the tourism, entertainment, finance, construction, manufacturing and retail sectors.
The majority, 56% of employers, claim they currently have access to the talent and skills they need to achieve their 2022 company objectives (up from 40% in 2021). 68% of these employers still planning on hiring more talent in 2022 despite this access. Of those that don’t have the talent or skills needed to achieve 2022 objectives (44% of respondents), the majority of these (71%) are small and medium-sized enterprises of between 11 and 500 staff.
Overall, most employers (85%) expect to hire new staff in 2022. Of those planning to hire, 67% of employers plan on hiring permanent staff only (up from 53% in 2021), 3% plan on hiring all contracting and temporary workers only (2021: 4%) and 30% plan on hiring a mixture of permanent and contract workers in 2022.
Furthermore, when asked why they plan on hiring staff in 2022, the majority (50%) said they needed new staff to implement new strategies and demands (2021: 57%). 25% are hiring new staff to meet peaks in the demand in 2022 (2021: 27%), 16% expect to hire new staff to overcome staff attrition and 9% need to hire new staff in order to rebuild their teams from 2020/2021 (up from 5% in 2021).
Last year, nearly all employers (64%) predicted that salaries would remain the same in 2021. However, this was not the case with 65% of employers actually implementing salary increases in 2021. This growth in salaries is set to continue in 2022 with 66% predicting further increases, 34% expecting salaries to remain the same and 0% predicting salary decreases (down from 3% in 2021).
In 2021, most employers (49%) focused on hiring new staff compared to 34% in 2020. 43% of employers focused on retaining existing staff (2020: 51%) with the majority operating in the software and IT services and Finance sectors. Only 8% of employers focused on reducing staff in 2021 (2020: 15%).
Overall, most employers feel that attracting the right talent with the right skills will be the biggest challenge when hiring in 2022. The second biggest challenge for employers hiring good talent is competition from other employers (up one place from third position in 2021), followed by a shortage of suitable applicants applying to their roles (down one from 2021). As we gained more confidence working remotely in 2021, hiring and onboarding new staff remotely fell two places to sixth as employers feel hiring budget constraints and not meeting salary expectations as bigger challenges in 2022.
For more information visit-https://www.recruiters.ie/blog/2022-hiring-trends-and-business-outlook/
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