South Africa is facing a national skills shortage, fuelling competition among companies for skilled and experienced employees, an unfolding problem prevalent across beleaguered businesses battling to cope with an unprecedented Covid-related loss of skills.
According to a 2022 survey of 2 650 risk experts by international financial services provider Allianz, skills shortages have been named as the eighth-largest risk facing South African businesses and the seventh-greatest risk world-wide.
Globally, a ‘Great Resignation’ of people across the board is still causing a deep erosion of skills since the pandemic’s onset, manifesting in a loss of expertise that has been ranked as the 10th most pressing concern facing organisations.
The resulting “war of talent”, a statement issued by DHL says, “is particularly acute in the logistics industry, which has had to meet growing levels of demand resulting from the e-commerce boom of the past two years while grappling with unprecedented supply chain disruptions resulting from congestion in global trade lanes”.
According to DHL Supply Chain Africa’s CEO, Paul Stone, there is a shortage of skilled workers in South Africa’s logistics industry, despite the country’s record high unemployment levels.
Furthermore, it means that attracting and retaining top talent have become key priorities for businesses seeking to maintain profitability and deliver maximum value to clients.
These trends, further fuelled by a new wave of demand as economies reopen and businesses seek to recover from the impacts of the pandemic, have given rise to heightened competition between companies for skilled and experienced workers, the freight forwarder’s statement says.
Stone adds: “Branding is, therefore, a growing strategic concern for successful companies in South Africa and around the world.
“This hinges on the success of human resource policies and management in building a positive, productive organisational culture that is able to attract and retain top talent.”
