Employers struggling to retain staff: SCP

Employers are struggling to retain their staff. Employees experience a lot of work pressure and stress, but employers don’t know how to solve this. Most employers also think that discrimination is rare in their company, but they are insufficiently aware that unintentional discrimination could be a problem in their organization.

That is the conclusion of the Social and Cultural Planning Office (SCP) in the fourth edition of Mapping the job market: employers. It is a long-term study in which many hundreds of employers participate. The report shows that there are many good intentions and agreements at the collective level, but these are not always reflected in daily practice.

Employers often do not know how to solve work pressure. Absenteeism due to illness was clearly higher in 2021/2022 than in previous years, although not all absenteeism was work-related. Almost all employers feel responsible for combating work stress, but one in three says that they have no influence on the degree of work stress experienced by staff. A third of employers also believe that employees who experience a lot of work stress are not suitable for the work they do, according to the SCP.

Employers value inclusion and diversity in the workplace. Yet the share of women in top and management positions still lags behind men's, despite one in five employers saying that more women in senior positions are a priority. Less than one in five employers employ someone with an occupational disability. The number of employers who say they do not feel responsible for hiring this group has risen from 23 to 29 percent. They would do it more often if there were schemes to cover sick leave, they say, but many employers are unaware that such schemes already exist.

Employers are positive about the functioning of older employees. Despite this, four out of ten employers do not consider it desirable to continue working beyond retirement age, despite the tight labor market. The number of employers who think positively about this has increased slightly.