Employers are having to offer inducements to secure qualified workers

As businesses try to resume normal activity with the relaxation of restrictions imposed during the Covid pandemic they have been faced with a shortage of suitably-qualified workers.

With stiff competition for a scarce resource, they are also having to use inducements to encourage existing staff to stay with them.

According to research carried out by and published in January by Deutsche Bank: “Huge numbers are leaving the labour market entirely and more than 80 percent do not want a job.”

The problem is particularly acute in the IT sector, where an estimated 31 percent of workers were actively seeking new roles between July and September 2021.

All this has prompted employers to offer more and more inducements to encourage new recruits to apply for vacancies, from offering a sum of money to anyone who attends an interview to enhancing entitlements for sick pay and paid annual leave as well as offering other perks for existing employees.

It is likely that the pressure on employers will only increase as the cost of living climbs.