June 2003
Pressed for Time
The average time taken to fill vacancies is just over two months according to a CIPD survey of nearly one million employees.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) Labour turnover survey shows that 69% of respondents experienced difficulties recruiting in the first half of 2002.
Organisations took an average of 9.5 weeks to fill a vacancy in the first six months of the year – down from 11.1 weeks in the same period in the previous year.
“Staff turnover due to reorganisation, downsizing, retirement and people quitting their jobs to seek alternatives is a big concern for business and can have a detrimental effect on an organisations performance,” say Thorpe Molloy director, Karen Molloy, who oversees offices in both Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
“If employers are to solve what is becoming a major problem for them, they need to find effective ways of minimising the effect that turnover has on productivity and staff morale,” said Karen.
This is the eighth annual survey of labour turnover by the CIPD. The survey questionnaire was sent to 10,000 personnel professionals in the private and public sectors during June last year. Five hundred and thirty eight organisations responded, with a combined workforce of 795,239 people.
“One solution to the disruption caused by staff turnover is to speed up the recruitment process. The survey revealed that it took employers an average of 9.5 weeks to fill vacancies in the first half of 2002.
“This figure increased to more than three months for professional vacancies. At Thorpe Molloy, our knowledge and experience of the recruitment process also enable us to fill vacancies quickly, within hours if necessary, thereby minimising disruption and loss of production.”
The CIPD survey showed an overall labour turnover rate of 18.2%. Two thirds id the respondents reported that labour turnover had a negative effect on the performance of the organisation. Just less than 10% thought that the effect in the performance was positive.
“As well as affecting the performance of an organisation, staff turnover can also have substantial financial implications,” said Karen.
“The CIPD survey revealed that the average cost of labour turnover per employee was £3,462, while this figure increased to an average of £5,699 per leaver among managers. On top of this, recruitment can be a lengthy and costly process.
“It takes time to place an advert, filter through the responses and then conduct several interviews, and still there is no guarantee that the employer is going to find the right applicant.
“Work can build up to unmanageable levels during the three months that it can take to fill a professional vacancy. This can cause unnecessary stress and low morale amongst the workforce who are left to manage that person’s workload on top of their own.”
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