You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
More than half of social housing employees plan to move jobs in next 12 months, warns consultancy
More than half of employees working in the sector expect to move jobs in the next 12 months, a management consultancy firm warned on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Housing’s conference in Brighton, Ria Bailes, founder of Bailes Partners Consulting, said research carried out by her company found that 56% of staff expect to move on from the sector for better salaries, benefits and career opportunities.
She made the comments during a session on attracting and retaining talent in a competitive job market.
Ms Bailes said the balance of power is shifting towards the employee rather than employer, and that organisations are “slow to react to the change”.
The research also found that 77% of employers experienced skills shortages in the past year.
Ms Bailes said recruitment is “really tough” at the moment.
READ MORE
“We see it in almost every organisation we go into at the moment. And unfortunately what we also observe is that we’re seeing organisations that are being relatively slow to react to what has been quite a significant change around recruitment and the labour market,” she said.
Ms Bailes added: “Some of the organisations that we deal with are slow to recognise that some of that power balance has changed – that the employer doesn’t hold all of that power anymore.
“Recruitment is a lot of hard work for managers, and managers have not necessarily had to have been that skilled in doing this before.”
She put the change down to a big shift in people rethinking how they want to live and work; a big driver of which was the pandemic, COVID-19 changing ways of working, and Brexit affecting the labour market.
“Layer these three things on top of the existing pressures of skills shortages, under investment in that long-term view around skills development, and this is where we see almost a perfect storm,” explained Ms Bailes.
Presenting the firm’s research, she said: “We are seeing a huge number of employers experiencing a skills shortage and struggling to recruit the right skills, the right talent, and the right people that they need.”
The research also showed that 54% of employees plan to upskill in their current or a different profession, while 84% of employers plan to support their team’s upskilling.
“[Employers] are using it as an alternative to purchasing in those skills they need. They are now starting to focus their attention toward upskilling,” Ms Bailes said.
In the same session, Olukemi Jeboda, director of people at Langley House Trust, which provides housing, support and care for ex-offenders and those at risk of offending, set out key things that organisations need to do to attract and keep talent.
They include being data-driven; building skills of internal staff; improving brand image, particularly online; looking after staff; and improving diversity.
“Declare where your organisation is going, what skills do you need to get there, and what strategy is best to attract those skills both internally and externally,” she said.
