Mary Connaughton

Director, CIPD Ireland

At global, national and sectoral level, we are living through a tsunami of changes, significantly impacting our lives and our workplaces.

For employees and employers, influences such as digitalisation, COVID-19, global warming, war and inflation are already delivering changing priorities, different values and diverse ways of working. 

Building for the future means laying the right foundations and ensuring that current issues, such as skills shortages, resourcing, working practices, wellbeing etc are tackled in a participative, agile and people-centric way.

Skill shortages

Right now, the majority (85%) of employers are experiencing skill shortages, according to our CIPD’s HR Practices in Ireland 2022 survey. This gap is across all types of jobs and has shown a stark jump since before the pandemic – with 50% of employers have problems recruiting for operations/frontline roles in 2022, up from 20% in early 2020.

The great re-evaluation

While many employers are concerned about a “great resignation,” our research on employee turnover rates found the rates in 2022 are comparable to early 2020 and do not provide evidence of a great resignation.

What is clear is there has been a significant re-evaluation by employees on the role of work in their life and what they expect from their work. Dissatisfaction with these factors is the biggest reason why an employee might leave (69%), higher than for better rewards (65%) or career opportunities (62%).

In response, employers need to put more attention on the purpose of the work and personalise how individuals can work, in the context of their life plan.

Investing in learning has become a central success factor for individuals to stay current.

Developing skills

Attracting, developing and retaining employees is the top priority for employers this year. More attention is going on providing development and wider, including international, experience. Two thirds of employers are reviewing their skill needs for the future, with a smaller number redesigning roles or automating activities. Investing in learning has become a central success factor for individuals to stay current.

Finding best working pattern

Remote and hybrid working is with us to stay, reflecting a fundamental shift in working methods and many employers now have this as key to attracting and retaining staff. Collaborative approaches are being used for teams to identify the best working pattern to balance the needs of customers, the business and employees. 

The success of resourcing and hybrid working strategies will depend on employers putting people first and getting more creative on ways to bring in flexibility to all employees, including those roles have traditionally been full-time on-site.