Finding adequate staff and keeping them is the main difficulty in Belgium for 3 out of 4 companies, according to a study by HR service provider Acerta and KU Leuven published on Monday.
According to this survey, which was answered by 270 managers, “galloping inflation, impending recession and automatic wage indexation are major challenges for companies. But the shortage on the labor market is also anything but over. For 3 out of 4 companies, finding the right people and keeping them is the biggest concern right now.”
More than 9 out of 10 companies also say they provide feedback to candidates after a job interview, even if they didn’t get the job. When this is the case, it is almost always about personalized feedback (92.2%) for successful candidates; significantly less for unsuccessful applicants (58.9%).
“A positive experience triggers a positive attitude from the candidate afterwards. In this regard, there is a growing awareness of the importance of good feedback that pays off for both parties.“, points out Rein De Cooman, professor at KU Leuven.
Finally, 62% of companies consider it a (great) challenge to develop among their employees the skills that will be needed in the future. “Rather than pursuing a policy of layoffs and hiring, as has recently been the case with the American tech giants, Belgian companies prefer to bet on the long-term employability of workers. In this context, the willingness to learn and the ability to adapt are skills that are gaining in importance.“, comments Benoît Caufriez, director of Acerta Consult.