Clarius Skills Index
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Retention top of
mind as positive economic signs set to spark employee
churn
Sky Business News Interview
with Kym Quick, CEO Clarius Group aired 25
February 2013
Australian business will need a sharp focus
on retaining top talent or risk missing growth opportunities amidst
signs of a recovering economy, according to the latest
December
Quarter 2012 Clarius Skills Index.
Economic indicators show consumer
confidence has surged to a two-year high* and global economies are
correcting with US unemployment improving and growth in China
stabilising. If these positive signs are sustained, the labour
market will respond by opening up more job opportunities.
The Clarius Index points to some
interesting challenges ahead for business with a persistent
shortage of 9,700 professionals across a range of sectors and a
major concern by employers that good staff will desert them as
markets improve.
The Index showed shortages across
Engineering (4,500 people), ICT (4,600) and
Accountants, Company Secretaries and Auditors (2,300).
Some upper echelons of management are also in short supply
including Corporate Services Managers (800 shortfall of
people) and Advertising and Sales Managers (2,700).
Clarius Group CEO, Kym Quick, said
employers across the board were seeking effective retention
strategies in a bid to head off a senior talent drain when the
churn begins in earnest, about mid 2013.
“Sentiment plays a strong part in hiring
decisions. Post GFC, world macro events led to depressed local
sentiment but positive economic signals are now reversing poor
business sentiment and this should lead to increased hiring
activity,” she said.
“This encourages candidates, who have
stayed put in recent years, to look for new opportunity, hence the
churn. As a result businesses are concerned they will lose key
talent and IP to competitors. It’s even tougher for companies
operating in sectors where there are professional skill shortages
because competition for the best talent will be fierce.”
The Index also
reports:
- Australia’s most in demand occupation is Corporate
Service Managers in ‘Extreme’ demand –This role typically
drives internal services, including future looking people
strategies, and is integral as companies look to grow amidst
current upward trends.
- Engineering professionals
are in ‘Extreme’ however
the skills focus will change, particularly as mining projects move
from construction phase to production. Very High
- Advertising and Sales
Managers are in ‘Very High’ demand as
consumers show increased willingness to part with their dollars in
2013.
- ICT professionals are in
‘Very High’ demand as school leavers continue to
abandon technical courses where enrolments in some courses have
halved.
FEATURED STORIES:
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| To understand the likely impact of the cyclical and structural
developments in the Australian economy on the future movement in
the Clarius Skills Index, it is helpful to look into how labour
moved from one occupation to another in the past. In light of
current cyclical and structural developments, we could expect a net
inflow from the mining and resources related occupations to the
occupations created by the non-mining part of the economy. More |
|
Australians are back to business for 2013 and as companies
recalibrate after a tough 12 months trading, Clarius looks at to
workforce trends and challenges for 2013. And one of the biggest
challenges for companies when the market picks up speed, about
mid-2013, will be churn as employees head for the door and new
opportunities. More |
If you would like more
information, download our media release, complete
report or view the latest television
interview from the links below:
The Clarius Skills Index is Australia’s first ever National skills
index that measures the extent of skilled labour shortages or
oversupply across 20 occupation categories, using labour force data
supplied by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
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