Accenture: Challenges Could Threaten UK Business Growth

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

According to new research published recently  by Accenture (NYSE:ACN), 86 per cent of senior executives indicate that access to appropriately skilled workers is essential for economic recovery in the UK. However, more than half say it is difficult to recruit candidates with appropriate skills and nearly a third state that retention of high performers is currently a problem.

The difficulties with recruiting new staff may be compounded by the fact that the majority of executives who responded are focused on short-term needs when seeking new talent: Four out of five (80 per cent) say businesses consider immediate needs when recruiting new staff, while only 47 per cent consider the economic landscape of the next five years when recruiting and training staff.

The Accenture study also found that 91 per cent of senior executives indicate investing in employees’ skills is essential for their businesses to grow and nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) plan to invest in up-skilling their employees to achieve growth. When asked which three skills are most valuable to the success of their businesses, 61 per cent of respondents identified communication skills, followed by sector-specific technical skills (identified by 40 per cent) and analytics skills (30 per cent).