Attracting new talent: The travails of Swiss employers

According to the "Reimagining Work and Rewards Survey" by WTW (formerly Willis Towers Watson), a leading global consulting firm, 72 percent of Swiss companies are barely able to attract new talent - or at least have problems attracting new employees. This is a massive increase compared to 2020. Because back then, "only" 29 percent of respondents reported having difficulties recruiting employees. Five in ten companies (48 %) also believe it will be difficult to retain their employees* this year - a significant increase from 17 % in 2020. A total of 1650 employers worldwide took part in the survey, which was conducted between October 28 and December 10, 2021, including 25 from Switzerland. The respondents employ 11.9 million people.

Acute shortage of skilled workers in the digital sector

The results of the aforementioned study also show that the problems are particularly acute when it comes to digital tasks. 95 % of respondents have difficulty recruiting or retaining employees with skills such as cybersecurity, data analytics and UX. More than half (57 %) say they have problems with labor supply for sales roles.

The upheaval caused by the pandemic has greatly changed the way companies operate. While a quarter (29 %s) believe they will reach their "new normal" in workflows by the second quarter of this year, 14 %s don't expect things to settle down until 2023 or later. Chloé Karam, Director Employee Experience Consulting at WTW, says, "Companies across all industries are under significant pressure to adapt to a new business environment and profound workforce changes. There is currently no greater challenge than hiring and retaining employees. Unfortunately, recent survey results show that companies believe the situation will get worse, especially for employees with digital skills."

Few companies have comprehensive compensation strategy

Only 12 % of Swiss companies have clearly differentiated their total compensation offering from that of their competitors. 40 % effectively communicate their total compensation strategy to their own employees so that they understand and value the total offering. The survey also showed that high-performing companies are more likely to realign their total compensation philosophy, which spans compensation, benefits, career and well-being. Many want to place more emphasis on helping employees develop their careers within the company.

Marco Schmid, Associate Director Work & Rewards at WTW, says: "In this extremely competitive labor market, it is important to stand out as a company. Differentiating the total rewards offering is one way to do this. For companies, this means not just asking 'How much should we pay? ' but 'How should we reward our employees? ' This includes a greater focus on non-financial elements such as professional development." In short, successful companies need to rethink their overall compensation strategy to compete in a tough labor market.

Attracting new talent: What can companies do?

The following recommendations for action can be derived from the findings of the WTW survey:

• Be bold: leadership and human resource capabilities must be developed to address current opportunities and challenges.
• Be human: Setting new strategies and solutions is about unleashing the power of people.

In implementing the two strategic directions, leaders should focus on the following:

• Integrated labor and compensation strategy: an integrated labor and compensation strategy linked to new business and financial strategies and accelerated by technology.
• People-focused, data-driven: Data-driven employee and work insights to inform, measure, and refine new work and compensation options.
• Enable and Sustain: Pilot and pivot projects as needed to embed new capabilities into the organization and employee experience.

Source: WTW