We may be in our third consecutive period of negative growth but the majority of UK businesses are not planning to make redundancies for the remainder of 2012 according to a survey of 900 UK businesses by Right Management, the talent and career management expert within ManpowerGroup.

• Workforce planning still a low priority despite talent shortages
• HR not informing business strategy in UK companies

Eighty-one per cent of the surveyed companies indicated that there would be ‘no redundancies at all’ in the next six months and just four per cent stated there would be significant employee cut backs.

“Companies appear to be staying resilient in the face of tough economic conditions and retaining staff, which is reassuring,” says David Miller, Managing Director of Right Management UK & Ireland. “However, this may be due to many companies having already made cuts and now operating in a stretched capacity. So while it is concerning to see the majority surveyed stating they lacked a workforce strategy, in our experience many companies are being more agile about how they use their people’s skills and knowledge but just don’t recognise this as workforce planning.”

Forty-one per cent of the surveyed companies said that they ‘do not do workforce planning and have no workforce strategy’ and a quarter (23 per cent) stated that Human Resource plays little or no role in business strategy.

“We know that despite unemployment being high, the availability of people with the right skills is causing a problem – utility firms need engineers, manufacturers need technicians and across all sectors there is a digital skills gap. Businesses will only succeed and grow in a very tough global environment if they align business and workforce strategies. Organisations need to know more than just the number of people they require, but also plan the capabilities they need to deliver. Investment in people by retaining and developing talent will mean businesses keep their competitive edge.”

This global study on redundancy trends, the first from Right Management, was carried out during the second quarter of 2012 in more than 40 countries and territories. It was conducted as part of the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which is the most extensive, forward-looking employment survey in the world. The redundancy trend data will be updated every six months and will serve as a barometer of workforce trends and activities.

Credit: onrec.com