Seek Executives Research & Survey Teams Reveal This 2014’s Top Staffing Challenges for Companies

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, July 24, 2014 --(PR.com)-- 2008’s economic recession hit the world’s economies like a wrecking ball. It has been over half a decade but its effects still linger as countries are still getting back on their feet.

This is illustrated by the fact that from the pool of employers that we surveyed over fifty-eight percent of them said they still feel like they’re in the middle of the recession. Profits aren’t what they used to be as the general public’s overall purchasing power has declined. Moreover, among small businesses with 50 or fewer employees that we were able to study, the number of employers who share this sentiment is 66 percent.

This national survey was conducted online on behalf of Seek Executives from December 6 to February 12, 2014, and included a representative sample of 3,251 hiring managers and human resource professionals across industries and company sizes in the Middle Eastern region.

Stagnant or declining sales and human capital issues are among the concerns employers voiced in the study. Sixty-two percent reported that sales did not increase at their companies in the last half of 2013. While the outlook for 2014 is improving, more than half (56 percent) of employers don’t expect a rise in sales in the first half of the year.

According to one of the representative of Seek Executives overlooking the surveys, “Many companies are still struggling to regain footing that was lost during the recession.” “Only 28 percent of employers reported that their business has returned to normal or is better than it was before 2008. Retention and productivity issues are top of mind as companies deal with constricting budgets, reorganizations and long vacancies, and look to engage with current and potential employees in a more meaningful way.”

More than half of employers say they currently have positions for which they can’t find qualified candidates. In addition to recruiting high-skill applicants, below are some of the issues that the pool of respondents felt was top hurdles that they were facing this year in 2014:

· Retaining top talent – 32 percent
· Lifting employee morale – 31 percent
· Providing competitive compensation – 27 percent
· Worker burnout – 26 percent
· Maintaining productivity levels – 25 percent
· Managing organizational changes – 20 percent
· Employee engagement – 17 percent
· Providing upward mobility – 17 percent
· Providing enough training opportunities to employees – 15 percent
· Cutting down on cost-per-hire – 12 percent
· Lack of succession planning – 11 percent
· Limited recruitment budget – 11 percent
· Adapting to new ways to source/recruit candidates – 8 percent