Staff shedding rate 'lowest in W. Europe'

Malta has the lowest rate of managerial and professional staff shedding in Western Europe, according to The Global Snapshot, an international survey on hiring and firing conducted by Antal International.

Companies were asked whether they were currently hiring or letting go professional and managerial staff and whether they intended to do so over the coming quarter. In Malta only 13 per cent of respondents said they were currently letting staff go, well below the 30 per cent average rate for the 11 Western European countries surveyed.

The shedding staff rates for the other 10 countries are: Austria (40 per cent), Belgium (37 per cent), France (36 per cent), Germany (31 per cent), Italy (28 per cent), Luxembourg (35 per cent), the Netherlands (29 per cent), Spain (17 per cent), Switzerland (37 per cent) and UK (31 per cent).

Within the 19 European countries surveyed, Malta has the second lowest staff dismissal rate, after Croatia and Turkey, which both have a rate of 11 per cent.

However, Malta saw its rate of hiring staff decline somewhat from 72 per cent in Antal's April survey to 41 per cent in this latest survey. The average rate for hiring staff in the Western European group is 44 per cent.

The report says: "The downturn now appears to have arrived in Malta with hiring down from the very high level of 72 per cent recorded by the last snapshot. However, the country still has a low rate of shedding staff, in fact the lowest in Western Europe.

"Employers seem to be cautious but are set to moderately increase recruitment levels in the next three months."

In fact, 43 per cent of Maltese companies surveyed said they expect to hire managerial and professional staff over the coming quarter.

Among the large countries surveyed, 74 per cent of Chinese companies said they were currently hiring professional staff while 34 per cent said they were dismissing managerial employees.

Fifty-one per cent of Indian companies - compared to 29 per cent in April - said they were currently recruiting managers while 22 per cent said they were dismissing staff.

In the United States 55 per cent of companies were recruiting compared to 43 per cent in April, 56 per cent intend to hire in the coming quarter compared to 34 per cent in the previous survey and 34 per cent were letting staff go compared to 38 per cent in April.

On a global level, hiring has risen, although marginally, from 46 per cent in April to 50 per cent. Caution is also manifested in intentions to hire over the coming quarter, up from 44 per cent to 48 per cent.

Perhaps of greater significance is the decline in the percentage of organisations shedding professional and managerial staff from 35 per cent to 25 per cent, an indication that businesses are starting to plan ahead for better times.

"We would be very brave (or possibly very foolhardy) to assert that the economic crisis that has assailed the world is over, but there is little doubt that the results of this edition of Global Snapshot give cause for some optimism.

"The hiring and firing of staff is one of the most effective measures of business confidence and there is no denying that, with a few exceptions, the jobs market for professionals and managers is improving all around the world," the survey report says.

It concludes: "Of course there may still be unforeseen troubles waiting around the corner - the W-shaped recession or the 'dead cat bounce', for example, so beloved by the more apocalyptic commentators.

"But what may save us even if they are lying in ambush is an underlying sense of confidence that appears to be returning for the first time in nearly two long and difficult years."

The Antal International "Global Snapshot" is a regular survey of hiring and firing trends in some of the world's most important employment markets and in those likely to join this group over the coming decade. This fourth report in the series is based on material sourced from over 7,000 businesses in commerce, industry and the financial services sector in 34 countries on five continents in August.

Antal International is a management professional recruitment specialist with 64 offices in 28 countries and works with many of the world's most successful and ambitious multinationals.