Swiss SMEs struggling to find employees

SMEs struggle to find staff, 'employees have more power' Keystone-SDA

Swiss small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are struggling to find staff, a problem made more acute by the increased bargaining power of employees and increased absenteeism.

These are the findings of a periodic study carried out by insurer Axa in cooperation with research institute Sotomo.

Labour shortages remain by far the biggest challenge for SMEs: 44% of the companies surveyed – 300 in German-speaking Switzerland and French-speaking Switzerland between March 3 and 10 – always or almost always had difficulty filling vacancies, and a further 40% struggled at least to some extent. Only 16% had no problem finding the required staff.

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These difficulties are exacerbated by employee absenteeism, a problem that has clearly worsened over the past four years: for about a quarter of the companies surveyed, this issue is now a major challenge. “Despite the weakening economy, labour shortages therefore remain a structural problem for SMEs,” Michael Hermann, head of Sotomo, was quoted as saying in a statement.

Adding to the difficulty is the fact that SMEs are competing for talent not only among themselves, but also with large companies (seen by 67% as strong or moderate competition) and state institutions. While most SMEs see themselves as more attractive than large corporations and the state with regard to values such as team spirit, appreciation and a family work environment, they also feel distinctly disadvantaged with regard to determining factors such as salary, pension or career opportunities.

Highly specialised personnel are particularly sought after, but difficult to find: 83% of the companies surveyed found it difficult to find them and 68% said they had difficulty acquiring managers or executives. On the other hand, personnel without professional experience are extremely easy to find.

SMEs agree that the most frequent difficulty in the recruitment phase is insufficient specialist knowledge. However, SMEs also pay attention to reliability (75%) and around two thirds of the companies surveyed count honesty as a key aspect. Almost equally important are social suitability and commitment within the team (55% and 54% respectively). In a direct comparison, the ability to work in a team often carries more weight: faced with a choice, almost three quarters of the SMEs (72%) prefer this aspect to specialist skills; only 19% would prefer a technically stronger but socially less suitable profile. “Today, soft factors, such as social integration in the company team, weigh more and more heavily in the actual decision-making process,” Hermann notes.

In general, the continuing shortage of personnel has shifted the balance of power in favour of the employees: according to the study, 63% of SMEs currently believe that job searchers have more bargaining power. Approximately four out of ten companies face demands for higher wages and almost a third of SMEs are faced with increasing demands for flexible working hours. In the recruitment process, almost half of the SMEs (48%) report wage demands that are considered rather high.

As a reaction, the companies surveyed focus on more flexibility: more than half of the SMEs currently offer individualised work models and part-time work opportunities. Other planned measures are additional benefits (39%), better pension and social security benefits (21%) and higher salaries (17%).

The majority of SMEs look to the future with confidence: 91% believe they will continue to exist ten years from now. The main threats to long-term survival are often economic uncertainty (40%), new customer demands (35%) and a lack of young talent (26%). This last aspect is also confirmed by the fact that 44% of companies find it difficult to find a succession solution.

Adapted from Italian by DeepL/ac

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