Resourcing and talent planning report

The CIPD’s Resourcing and talent planning report 2022, produced in partnership with Omni RMS, explores the difficulties that UK employers are facing in recruiting and retaining people during the cost-of-living crisis. Now in its 23rd year, the report and supplementary case studies help employers and their people teams make informed decisions about people management and investment.

Flexible working aids recruitment and retention

69% advertise at least some jobs as ‘open to flexible working’. 54% (of those who've said they've experienced recruitment difficulties) are offering greater work flexibility to address their recruitment difficulties. 68% of organisations that offer hybrid/remote working report it has allowed their organisation to attract and retain more talent.

Related content: Planning for hybrid working

Employers focus on better pay and benefits

Organisations are increasingly offering better pay and/or benefits to address recruitment difficulties (36%, up from 29% last year). This is now the most common step organisations take to improve retention. There are considerable sector differences, however, with private sector organisations far more likely to increase pay than public sector organisations.

Competition for talent remains high

Competition for talent has increased over the last year and recruiting for senior and skilled roles has been the most challenging (58%). 60% report that talent is more difficult to retain now than last year, but organisations are taking steps to improve the situation by increasing their recruitment and talent management budgets.

Upskilling defends against recruitment challenges

Nearly two-fifths of organisations (38%) are increasing efforts to meet their skills requirements by developing more talent in-house. Upskilling existing employees is the most common response to recruitment difficulties (60%). Almost half of organisations (46%) currently offer apprenticeships, around a third have graduate and/or post-A-level entry routes and just over a quarter have intern schemes.

Variable efforts to increase diversity

61% have a formal diversity policy and the majority are taking steps to attract diverse candidates. Just 35% are actively trying to recruit talent of all ages, while less than a quarter advertise in different sources to attract under-represented groups (24%). Meanwhile, roughly a third (32%) of organisations are active in their efforts to recruit more diverse candidates to the board.

Technology use boosts candidate experience

80% say their use of technology in the recruitment process has increased as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic. Organisations report increasing benefits from their use of technology, the most common being increased accessibility for candidates. This year, a higher proportion say that their use of technology has improved candidates’ experience and sped up the recruitment process.