The prosperity of a company and its ability to react quickly to challenges and be innovative depend to a large extent on the quality of its employees. How important Swiss SMEs attach to this factor was already shown in a 2017 Credit Suisse survey: In that year, Swiss SMEs indicated “employees and qualifications” as the most determining factor for entrepreneurial success. In this year's SME study, this factor is analyzed in greater depth, given the great importance of qualified personnel. Personnel development was put in the foreground through continuous training and promotion of collaborators, which can also provide an answer to a possible shortage of specialized personnel.
The turmoil due to the Coronavirus pandemic has overshadowed the shortage of skilled personnel for many companies. However, with the recovery started in 2021, this deficiency is making itself felt again. As the survey of 800 SMEs shows, the shortage of skilled workers is a harsh reality for most SMEs: two thirds of SMEs hiring indicate that over the past three years they have experienced very or quite great difficulties in filling vacant positions with suitable candidates. Particularly difficult to find were executive and project management skills as well as specialist skills. This shortage is manifested to a greater or lesser extent depending on the sector, the size of the company and the region.
A look into the future reveals that recruitment difficulties will tend to continue to increase: more than half of SMEs expect that the search for collaborators, already challenging in itself, will become even more difficult. In addition to the economic recovery, which has made the shortage of skilled workers even more evident, three trends should influence the supply and demand for skilled workers in the coming years: demographic aging, digitalisation and job flexibility. According to the survey, for example, around 36% of SMEs expect the retirement of baby boomers to cause more and more vacancies that will only be difficult to re-fill.
Although many SMEs experience some great difficulties in recruiting employees, the Swiss education system scores very well overall. A clear majority of the SMEs interviewed believe that the Swiss education system is well aligned with the needs of companies and even classical vocational training (without in-depth tertiary level) is rated positively by SMEs. This is an indication that dual vocational training contributes to the overall positive judgment of the Swiss education system. However, the requirements placed on staff are constantly increasing with the progress of digitalisation and outsourcing: for some time now there has been a clear shift towards tertiary training.
On closer inspection, it is noted that in particular basic vocational training often represents a springboard for a subsequent tertiary degree. In this way, the conclusion of professional training is marking less and less the end of the training course, but rather the beginning of advanced training. As the development of one's skills in a rapidly changing world of work is becoming increasingly important, there should also be certain adjustment factors in the Swiss education system. According to the survey, around half of SMEs hope that the Swiss education system will become more dynamic on the one hand and a stronger emphasis on learning soft skills on the other.
While the shortage of skilled labor represents a major challenge for most SMEs, they must not simply surrender to their fate. A possible tool to counter the shortage of specialized personnel is continuous training in the company. Our survey showed that 77% of SMEs offer further training because they do not find specific skills on the market. The survey also points to the urgency of investing in their staff: around 83% of SMEs offering further training indicate that without continuous training they would not be able to keep up with technological development.
In addition to filling direct knowledge gaps in companies, further training also satisfies many longer-term points in relation to personnel and recruitment issues. A clear majority of SMEs is of the opinion that further training increases the performance and productivity of employees (92%), increases the company's attractiveness towards future collaborators (90%) and, last but not least, also contributes to retaining employees. collaborators (89%). Given these multiple advantages, it is not surprising that 93% of SMEs offer their workers at least one opportunity for continuing education. Although SMEs are generally satisfied with the results of their continuing training efforts, few are those who describe their further training activities as very positive. This testifies to certain limits in offering professional training activities in the company. For example, for a majority of SMEs the lack of time for further training and the ability to organize and plan these activities represent at least some limitations. It is therefore not surprising that micro-enterprises offer much less continuous training than medium-sized and large enterprises. The lack of interest on the part of the collaborators is often an obstacle.
Closely connected with continuous training in the company are the identification and targeted development of internal talents. About 13% of SMEs say that they always prioritize their young talent when filling management positions, while 43% do so often. The advantages of recruiting internal staff are many and include, in addition to savings in terms of costs and time, also the increase in the motivation of employees to offer them career opportunities. However, the fact that 21% of SMEs do not take their young talent into account to fill management positions raises questions.
