More employers investing in future talent, report finds

Future ahead

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD’s) latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook, hiring intentions among UK employers are at their highest for more than six years.

More organisations plan to invest in future talent, with 31% of employers with hard-to-fill vacancies intending to hire more UK graduates, 22% planning to hire more apprentices and half of such employers planning to up-skill existing staff in the next two years.

Gerwyn Davies, labour market adviser at the CIPD, says: “Employers have all too often blamed government policy for skills shortages, when they often have more control and power over the future needs of their workforce. It’s therefore encouraging to see so many employers planning to invest in their workforce now, rather than risk paying a premium for talent when the economy picks up further and skills shortages begin to spread.”

“Employers should also be thinking about how they design job roles that will meet the changing needs of the business and up-skill existing staff to fill those roles.”