Expleo, a global engineering, technology and consulting service provider, has announced the results of new research which found that larger enterprises in Ireland are planning to invest €7.8BN in improving company culture over the next 12 months. The research is published in Expleo’s Business Transformation Index (BTI) 2024.
The study was carried out by Censuswide on behalf of Expleo among 150 business and technology leaders in medium- to large-sized enterprises in Ireland. Its aim was to gain an understanding of current business sentiment and aspirations, and the role that technology will play in that. The research found that as businesses look to implement long-term digital transformation strategies, having the right team in place is paramount for them. Attracting and retaining the best staff was therefore cited as the top focus area in the next 12 months.
In a bid to enhance their recruitment and support this goal, the research revealed that the average medium-to-large-sized enterprise in Ireland will spend €1.7M on company culture over the next 12 months. Highlighting a need for this, one-fifth of business and IT leaders surveyed believe that poor company culture or reputation is hindering their ability to hire skilled people.
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Reflecting the new landscape of the working world, in addition to poor company culture, the top obstacles affecting hiring were found to be undesirable office location, as well as applicants not having the appropriate skills (both 32%). This was followed by unrealistic demands regarding remote or hybrid working (29%). Cumbersome and complicated visa processes and a lack of housing were also called out as issues by more than a quarter (26%) of organisations surveyed.
In addition to addressing improving company culture to overcome some of these challenges, businesses are also focusing on training and upskilling existing staff to address in-house skill shortages. The average medium-to-large-sized enterprise will spend €2M on training and upskilling of team members – equating to a spend of €8.9BN.
Businesses also identified some external measures that they believe would help to narrow the skills gap, with 45% saying increased government grants for upskilling could ease the issue. Meanwhile, 43% said easier visa processes would assist them in recruiting the right talent.
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Commenting on the findings, Phil Codd, managing director, Expleo Ireland, said: “Despite the diversity of our business landscape, we are made up of communities and if people don’t enjoy working in your organisation, word will very quickly get out and that can impact your ability to hire the most skilled people.
“Recruitment has become incredibly competitive, and everyone is looking to make marginal gains to improve their value proposition to prospective employees. Projects succeed or fail based on the quality, diversity and collaboration of the people involved and it is evident that many organisations are struggling with this.
“Our research showed that working with experienced partners is helping to mitigate this, as well as training and upskilling team members. It is important that employers think of the issue holistically – their innovation in this area will spark the innovation of their teams, too.”
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