Yoh Survey Shows Major U.S. Companies Expect to Ramp Up Hiring in 2013

PHILADELPHIA—February 14, 2013— Yoh's 2013 Workforce Trends Study reveals that 80 percent of major U.S. employers expect their 2013 hiring will meet or exceed their rate of hiring in 2012. Of companies that plan to accelerate hiring in 2013, 83 percent expect to increase staffing levels by at least 3 percent. Demand for talent exists at nearly every level of these organizations, but especially in information technology, sales and operations and production, according to the survey of 150 HR executives and hiring managers at organizations with revenue of $750 million or more.  

Those findings, however, are dampened by lingering concerns over a variety of economic and political headwinds. According to the Yoh survey, 44 percent of the respondents not expecting to increase hiring in 2013 say that too much economic uncertainty will restrict their hiring plans, while 40 percent report that current staffing levels already meet or exceed their needs—perhaps the result of efficiencies adopted during the lean years of the recession. 

“The optimism evident in our 2013 Workforce Trends Study is tempered by persistent economic uncertainty and operational efficiency that has reduced demand for workers,” says Lori Schultz, President of Yoh. “In addition, as the workforce grows more complex through, for example, the use of contract labor, a majority of organizations will be left flat-footed since they haven’t adjusted their workforce planning habits to account for this complexity. Organizations must scrutinize their workforce plans and design them to address the lingering economic uncertainty and increased complexity of the workforce. Now more than ever, systematic workforce planning will be crucial to quickly sourcing, recruiting, and hiring top performers.”

The Yoh survey, administered by Amplitude Research, Inc. between Jan. 11 and Jan. 14, 2013, examined the practices and expectations of 150 human resources executives and hiring managers at some of the largest employers in the U.S. All respondents came from U.S. companies with revenues of at least $750 million and workforces of at least 1,500 employees.

The survey’s other key findings include the following:

• Politics could impede hiring plans. Some 45 percent of respondents note that the recent and ongoing political climate, including continuing fiscal policy negotiations, will slow or freeze their hiring plans for 2013.
• Obamacare could also deter hiring. Some 27 percent of companies say that they expect the implementation of Obamacare to suppress hiring in 2013. An additional 16 percent say they cannot even begin to guess at Obamacare’s impact on hiring, suggesting further uncertainty heading into 2013.
• Companies struggle to source top talent. The vast majority—81 percent—of organizations surveyed report that quality (i.e., finding top performers) is the most important factor when hiring new employees. Yet 91 percent of respondents have encountered challenges finding and/or recruiting qualified, skilled professionals that fit their talent needs. A quarter of employers have difficulty recruiting candidates once they find them, and 65 percent have trouble even finding such talent.
• Workforce complexity grows due to continued use of contract labor in 2013. Two-thirds of the respondents expect to use temporary employees or contract workers in 2013, and 75 percent of companies surveyed expect to maintain or increase their use of contract labor. The widespread use of contract workers raises a number of issues for employers, from the increased complexity of sourcing and recruiting to the tracking and management of these temporary workers.
• Companies struggle with workforce planning. Despite many companies’ intentions to expand hiring in 2013, only 13 percent have a workforce plan with defined contingencies. Without proactively addressing the impact of events that could significantly affect workforce planning, the majority of companies jeopardize the success of their recruiting. Compounding the lack of contingency plans, 67 percent of respondents delay workforce plan reconciliation for a quarter or longer. This figure includes 17 percent who don’t re-evaluate staffing needs at regular intervals or only do so when changes in demand become clearly evident.
• Many organizations limit social media recruiting to candidate searches or job posting broadcasts. Many firms are also missing a major opportunity to better engage skilled candidates through social media. Half of respondents use social media to broadcast open positions and 42 percent use these channels to perform simple candidate searches, but only 31 percent use social media as a key component of their employment brand and recruitment strategy. Nearly 25 percent of respondents do not use social media in their recruiting practices at all, an astonishing statistic considering the pervasiveness of social media in all levels of the American culture.
• Recruiting remains a challenge. While 91 percent of respondents admit they face difficulties finding or recruiting candidates, 61 percent of organizations still plan to handle all recruiting processes internally. This confidence doesn’t seem to align with current uncertainty and workforce complexity nor with untapped opportunities to make greater use of social media for recruiting, and contingency workforce planning for quick adaptations if conditions change.

Download the full results of the Yoh survey at http://info.yoh.com/2013-workforce-trends-study.  

ABOUT YOH
For over 70 years, Yoh has provided the talent needed for the jobs and projects critical to our clients’ success by providing comprehensive workforce solutions that focus on Aerospace and Defense, Engineering, Federal Services, Health Care, Life Sciences, Information Technology and Telecommunications. Yoh fulfills immediate resource needs and delivers enterprise workforce solutions, including Managed Services, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Vendor Management Systems, Independent Contractor Compliance, and Payroll Services. For more information, visit yoh.com.