Hireland Survey Findings
Are Irish businesses ready, willing and able to hire? To help develop Hireland's campaign, Amárach Research recently surveyed SME owner managers and decision makers about their recruitment plans for 2012. The poll was conducted between 9th-12th January 2012. A total of 150 small and medium sized companies completed the survey. The companies surveyed currently employ an average of 36 staff.
The Key Findings
- Slightly more than half (52%) of SMEs plan to hire one or more new employees this year; most of the rest (43%) are undecided about their recruitment plans.
- Among those planning to hire in 2012, SMEs expect to employ an average of 4 new staff.
- SMEs expect to recruit employees with varying levels of experience:
– one in five (22%) plan to hire school leavers
– two in five (42%) plan to hire graduates
– nearly half (45%) plan to hire people with less than 5 years experience
– nearly two in five (38%) plan to hire people with more than 5 years experience
– over one in three (35%) plan to hire people on the live register or unemployed.
- Half of the planned new jobs will be mostly full time; 3 in 10 will be mostly part time and the balance will be a mixture of full time and part time jobs.
- Asked to describe what business benefits SMEs expected from hiring new staff, most look forward to the potential for better customer service, while others expect to be able to grow their business through improved productivity.
- Asked to describe the benefits to their staff from hiring new employees, most SMEs expect additional staff to take pressure of existing staff, freeing them up to focus on other things, as well as a general improvement in moral as they benefit from the energy and enthusiasm of new recruits.
- Finally, among those planning to hire this year, 6 in 10 SMEs would be willing in principle to support an initiative like Hireland.ie, i.e.: to make a public pledge to hire at least one new staff member this year.
The message is clear: Ireland's employers do see the need to hire more staff. It'll be good for business, for customers and for colleagues. The potential for job creation – driven by real business needs – is huge. Hireland will do its part to kick start the process of recovery.
