This Is Guernsey

By Tom Edwards

A SHORTFALL of 1,200 people for jobs in the local finance and legal sectors will exist in the next year, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. It has conducted a survey and discovered a major labour shortage that it believes shows the States’ economic growth and population control strategies are not aligned.

Thirty organisations employing more than 5,862 staff in the island took part.

CIPD Guernsey chairwoman Karen Martin said the results confirmed the business community’s concern about the shortage of skilled workers in Guernsey.

‘We hope it will serve as a useful resource for the newly-formed population and immigration control body,’ she said. ‘While the survey respondents came principally from the finance sector, many of the issues highlighted will affect every employment sector.

‘There is unlikely to be a quick-fix solution as the shortage indicated by the survey is within the skilled labour market and employers will therefore need to be creative if businesses are going to achieve the projected growth indicated in the survey.

‘More housing licences will be needed if Guernsey is to prevent the inevitable salary spiral as companies compete for the limited pool of talent.’

The survey showed that the organisations that took part were looking for flexible work arrangements and additional training to tackle the shortage.

Although the opportunity to participate was extended to all employers in the island, only four responses were received from the retail and commerce sector.

Mrs Martin said the statistics showed Guernsey already had more part-time workers than the UK average and that full use of such workers was essential.

‘Other solutions might be the employment of older people, home working and flexible arrangements designed to entice back into the labour market those skilled people who would not otherwise want to work, together with provision of relevant training for unskilled workers with the aptitude to become skilled workers,’ she said.

Dissatisfaction with pay was revealed by the survey as the main reason for employee turnover.

Another was the high number of locally-qualified people leaving the island.

Eighty-three per cent of organisations were resorting to ‘appointing people with the potential to grow into the role’.

The concern was that vacancies were difficult to fill with people from other sectors because understaffed companies need people who can hit the ground running.

‘While investment in technology can assist businesses streamline processes and increase productivity levels, it is often tasks performed by the lower-skilled workers that are eradicated through technological solutions and this will not therefore plug the knowledge gap indicated by the survey,’ said Mrs Martin.

‘Conversely, it is the use of technology that will enable people to work remotely. The problem is a complex one with no quick fixes.’

The CIPD will repeat the survey in the coming year and it is hoped a wider cross-section of the industry can be encouraged to participate.