Survey reveals substantial numbers of people leaving their jobs

A survey by Personnel Today's sister publication IRS Employment Review of 94 organisations - covering a total of 121,578 employees - showed that they lost a total of 17,792 workers over the past 12 months.

Resignations were the most common reason for the departures. Others included a small number of employees who had transferred large numbers of staff under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE), while a larger number reported staff leaving due to ill health.

Notice periods are common, although the survey found that the length of notice varied with different employee groups. Forty-nine organisations had separate arrangements based on seniority; 15 differentiated between blue- and white-collar workers; 15 have separate arrangements based on historic/inherited arrangements - such as in instances arising from mergers or takeovers; and five organisations had arrangements based on bargaining groups.

Despite the introduction of new dispute resolution procedures in 2004, few respondents reported a fall in the number of workplace disputes settled by compromise agreements or tribunal hearings. However, the number expecting to see a reduction in the amount of disciplinary and grievance actions leading to employee departures in the next two years was higher than the number expecting an increase.

More than four million people leave their jobs every year. Most of these departures involve voluntary decisions such as resignations and retirement, but one in three involves redundancies or dismissals.

Nadia Williams

Employers squeeze recruitment budgets as jobs cost more to fill

Recruitment budgets are coming under pressure as employers try to cut costs, while staff shortages mean many jobs are proving increasingly expensive to fill.

Recruitment budgets are coming under pressure with more than half of all employers trying to cut costs, while staff shortages mean many jobs are proving increasingly expensive to fill, research shows.

The fifth annual HR Prospects survey, by Personnel Today's sister title IRS Employment Review, found that 52% of employers are currently trying to reduce their recruitment costs - rising to 63% of public sector employers.

At the same time, 73% of employers also admit that they are having recruitment problems - forcing many to re-advertise hard-to-fill posts or turn to recruitment agencies for help at the additional cost.

The survey of 431 organisations shows that employers are turning to e-recruitment (36%), negotiating better terms with agencies (28%) and reviewing their advertising practices (17%) to cut costs.

This year's key findings show that:

• HR's top priority for the coming year is to deal with new legislation banning age discrimination from October - cited by 74% of respondents
• Other widely mentioned priorities include training (71%), absence management (71%), employee retention (66%) and recruitment (64%)
• More than half (56%) of all employers have reviewed starting salaries over the past year

Employers are becoming increasingly interested in formal reward strategies which link the whole package of pay, bonuses, and benefits with performance.

Mark Crail, IRS Employment Review's managing editor, said: "Employers are no longer as optimistic as they have been in recent years that recruitment will become easier. Even so, they appear determined to ensure that their organisations can recruit and retain people with the right skills.

"We have seen this year an unprecedented level of activity as HR departments seek to get the best value for money from recruitment and other staffing budgets by negotiating better deals and adopting more effective recruitment practices."