People

		“Our strategy when it comes to people is personalisation. We go to great lengths to accommodate each person’s goals and desires and understand what it is that makes each staff member happy. We focus on their strengths and offer them every support to help them be the best they can be.”
		“Lack of qualified staff is a big issue for the ‘Angel’ side of our business. This has been an issue for us for 44 years. When we find good people, we grab them and try to work with them in the long term. We have staff who have been with Dial An Angel for many years. Our culture is family oriented; we are a family business and that ethos of family values comes through.”
		“WOW Sight & Sound has a very entrepreneurial culture and that culture translates onto the sales floor. You can’t buy something like that. Our store managers and staff have the flexibility to design their merchandising to their own advantage. Our stores aren’t a replica of each other. This gives our people the opportunity to take ownership of the store they work in and design a merchandising plan that works for them.”

Hiring intentions gather pace

The optimism of private business owners and managers is demonstrated by their intention to recruit. More than half of private businesses surveyed (59 per cent) said they intended to hire new staff in the next six months.

Qualified people slightly easier to find

Finding qualified staff was the most common constraint in hiring new people according to 42 per cent of private businesses. However, this figure is down from 52 per cent only six months ago, providing evidence that people are more willing to change jobs. Other hiring constraints include general economic concerns (up from 0 per cent six months ago to 27 per cent) and government regulations (up from three per cent to 19 per cent). This reflects ongoing uncertainty about issues such as the Federal Government’s proposed mining and carbon taxes.

Wages growth almost inevitable

More than four in five businesses (83 per cent) said they expected wages to increase over the next 12 months. The average expected increase was six per cent. This is consistent with figures from March and October 2010, when businesses expected wages to rise after minimal increases during the global financial crisis.

Businesses refocus on salaries and bonuses

Despite concern about skills shortages, private businesses are making slightly less effort to position themselves as attractive employers. The number of businesses reporting they were planning changes to position themselves as a more competitive employer decreased from 82 per cent six months ago to 71 per cent in this survey. Respondents most commonly used pay-related strategies such as bonuses (44 per cent) and higher salaries (30 per cent) to appeal to current and prospective employees. Employers are still offering non-financial inducements such as flexible working hours (27 per cent), working from home (11 per cent) and unpaid or lifestyle leave (nine per cent), but these benefits have declined in use since the October 2010 PwC Private Business Barometer.

Team spirit a plus for private businesses

We asked private businesses to nominate some less tangible attributes that allow them to compete against large businesses and enterprises in the employment market. Only eight per cent of respondents said competition from large enterprises was not an issue for them.

Most private businesses said the feeling of being connected to a team (62 per cent) was their greatest competitive advantage amongst potential employees. Half (50 per cent) said being part of a dynamic business was an attractive attribute, while 44 per cent nominated their flexible working arrangements as their key differentiator.

Strategies to retain people

In line with the trend in this survey, private businesses also appear to have reduced their focus on retaining key staff. The number of respondents who explicitly said they had no retention strategies rose from five per cent in October 2010 to eight per cent this survey. In addition, the proportion of businesses using these two retention strategies was lower in this survey than in the previous ones. Most private businesses (65 per cent) said they conducted regular career and salary reviews for key staff. Many also provided professional and personal skills training (62 per cent and 31 per cent respectively), and offered clear career advancement opportunities (35 per cent). Just under a third of businesses (31 per cent) said they offered work-life balance as a retention strategy. Pay-related strategies were most prevalent in the distribution and wholesale (65 per cent) and property and construction (63 per cent) sectors. Business services firms made the most use of flexible business practices (40 per cent).