In the Misco annual survey on HR developments, it was noted that the HR function, in organisations, is taking on a bigger role. In fact nearly four out of five respondents have seen the HR function in the organisation assuming more importance.

This is evidently the result of the challenges faced by business in recruiting and retaining talent. This increased role of the HR function is supported by the fact that HR departments are on average becoming larger.

Furthermore this survey showed that the three key strategic objectives of the HR function are staff development, staff motivation and staff retention. In terms of current challenges, the main challenge being faced by organisations in the HR area continue to be salary demands. The lack of experienced staff and the lack of qualified staff also received a significant number of mentions.

These results would tend to indicate that employers are being faced with a two-pronged challenge – a demand for higher salaries from employees who do not necessarily have the appropriate skills and experience that meet their requirements.

Focusing more specifically on the recruitment activity of companies, the survey shows that the main reason for recruitment difficulties faced by respondents to the survey was lack of experience. This was followed by salary demands. These two elements increased in importance when compared to previous years.

Very significantly more than one-third of respondents to the survey mentioned that they received no applications. Other difficulties mentioned were lack of formal qualifications and lack of interpersonal skills.

This brings me to focus more on the way the labour market is functioning in this country. I have already had the opportunity to write about the way the local labour market has become dysfunctional. The demand side in the labour market is represented by employers. In a functioning market, the demand side is enabled to exercise choice.

In a number of instances, salaries are being pushed up way above the real value of the job being done

In the current local labour market, employers practically have no opportunity to exercise their right to choice, as that has been usurped by the supply side. This is why I believe that the labour market has become dysfunctional.

The latest Eurobarometer data tends to confirm this view. The Eurobarometer Survey shows that 85 per cent of adults living in Malta describe the employment situation as being either very good or rather good, compared to 42 per cent for the EU as a whole. Only five per cent expect the employment situation to get worse in the coming months.

The end result is that in a number of instances, salaries are being pushed up way above the real value of the job being done. Moreover we are also noticing a certain loss of relativity among salaries for different posts, which encourages employees to shift from one career path to another, thereby creating further dysfunctions in the labour market.

There is then the behaviour being displayed by employees in the job seeking process. Some of this behaviour is absolutely discourteous towards employers, who after all are the ones creating the jobs. Most, if not all employers, complain of prospective employees not turning up for interviews, without any pre-advice.

Others will tell you stories of how they would have agreed with a prospective employee on a contract, and the person just does not turn up for work, because in the meantime the person would have agreed to join another employer.

Recently a client told me of the time when she had called a person for an interview. The prospective candidate arrived half-an-hour late. Out of a sense of concern the employer asked the prospective employee if something was wrong, and the prospective employee answered: “No nothing wrong. Is it a problem coming late for a job interview?”

The answers to the challenges being faced by employers in recruiting the employees they need, are certainly not easy to come by. Moreover employers cannot seek to find quick fixes that may come back to haunt them in the future.

We advise employers to think of two areas. First, having a compensation policy for their staff that takes account of the market as well as internal considerations. Second, having a full understanding of what they can offer their employees that is different from other employers. Both lead to one element – making sure that as employers they have a strong employer brand.