Inflation leading to wage pressure, rising costs associated with human resource management and high turnover – these are the three main challenges in the employee area that companies in the SME sector are currently facing, according to data collected by the Keralla Research Institute on behalf of VanityStyle. What other personnel problems are micro, small and medium-sized enterprises struggling with?
As revealed by the study commissioned by VanityStyle in the 4th quarter of this year, the biggest personnel challenge for entrepreneurs in the SME sector is currently high inflation, which affects, among other things, the rising wage expectations on the part of employees. This problem affects 35.4% of the surveyed entities, primarily small (40%) and micro enterprises (37.2%), as well as service companies (41.4% of indications). The respondents ranked rising operational costs, including those related to personnel management, second. Every fourth enterprise faces this, and their effects are particularly noticeable for medium-sized companies employing from 50 to 249 employees (35% of indications).
“Wage pressure is not only the result of inflation and rising cost of employees’ living, but also the combination of these factors with low unemployment” explains Ewelina Glińskia-Kołodziej, Chief Operating Officer of Trenkwalder Poland employment agency. “Low supply of candidates is in turn the cause of increasing competition between companies that want to fill their staff gaps. In such a situation, employees who do not feel deeply connected to the organization easily and willingly change jobs, following higher wages, and employers spend more and more on attracting and retaining employees in their team” she adds.
High turnover, which came third, is a significant challenge for just over 20% of entities in the SME sector. As revealed by the study, this problem increases with the size of employment – it is reported by 11.7% of microenterprises, 20.5% of small entities and a whopping 36% of medium-sized companies.
“Many factors affect employee rotation, starting with employment conditions, the level of remuneration and the offered non-wage benefits, through the atmosphere at work, including relations with superiors and colleagues, and ending with advancement opportunities, a sense of stability or job satisfaction” explains Joanna Skoczeń, CEO of VanityStyle. “As a company, we ourselves come from the SME sector and we face very similar personnel challenges as other entrepreneurs. The studies carried out, but also our experiences, show that one of the key aspects that affect the limitation of rotation is the development of an organizational culture focused on people, aimed at acquiring and retaining talents; a culture of listening, understanding and supporting employees with benefits tailored to their needs” she adds.
The study shows that staff rotation is a problem mainly in the production sector in the SME sector (28.8% of indications). Ewelina Glińskia-Kołodziej observes that it is worth looking at this phenomenon not only from the company’s indicators level but also individual departments, positions, age groups or work tenure.
Stress and lack of employee motivation are a challenge for the SME sector
As a significant personnel challenge, the surveyed entrepreneurs from the SME sector also indicate a high level of stress among employees. 19.4% of the respondents indicate this.
Joanna Skoczeń emphasizes that employers should strive not only to reduce stress in the work environment but also support team members in effectively dealing with it also in the private sphere. Stress lies at the basis of many diseases, both of a somatic and mental nature. One of the most effective ways to reduce it is physical activity, which is why more and more companies try to encourage employees to exercise, e.g. by providing them access to sports cards.
The next positions in the list of personnel challenges that entrepreneurs from the SME sector are currently dealing with were issues such as a decrease in employee motivation, low engagement in performing duties, a high number of sick absences and a drop in efficiency. These problems are indicated by 18.2%, 17.6%, 16.6% and 16.4% of respondents respectively.
What else troubles SME sector companies?
As the survey commissioned by VanityStyle shows, representatives of SME sector companies are also complaining about high recruitment and candidate acquisition costs (15.4% of indications), ineffective information flow in the company (13.6% of indications) and a shortage of HR resources (12% of indications). Just over 11% of respondents see the problem of management not understanding the needs of employees. Medium-sized enterprises are most often aware of this state of affairs (15% of indications).
Source: https://managerplus.pl/sektor-msp-mierzy-sie-z-inflacja-rosnacymi-kosztami-operacyjnymi-i-rotacja-pracownikow-47288
