With the digital skills shortage still high across the UK, employers are changing their hiring strategies to fill job vacancies. 

Almost three quarters of employers in Scotland (71%) have said that, to address skill shortages, they would be willing to employ staff without the necessary skills. 

Further, 22% have increased their training budget to focus on upskilling their existing staff.

Hays, the workforce solutions and recruitment company, released their Salary and Recruiting Trends guide 2023, which includes over 13,000 responses from UK employers and professionals, and over 900 responses from those working in Scotland,

Difficulties in hiring staff have reached a peak, the research shows: 94% of Scottish employers report having experienced skills shortages in the past 12 months. 

Concurring with other research, the report said that the skills shortage was having a negative impact on productivity, morale, and the ability to deliver projects. 

The skills shortages is also delaying advancements in digital transformation, and in cybersecurity, allowing increasing vulnerabilities. 

To combat the shortage, employers are continuing to increase pay to attract and retain staff, as well as being more likely to counter offer staff who hand in their notice.

Despite ongoing economic uncertainty, most employers still intend to hire staff over the next 12 months.

“This is positive,” Keith Mason, Hays Scotland director said, “but there’s currently a real need for employers to look outside their usual recruitment pool to fill posts.

“They should consider hiring staff from other related sectors or professions, and work to retrain staff with potential, while boosting their training budget to upskill existing staff.”

Mason recommends companies highlighter their Employee Value Proposition (EVP) when attracting talent to Scotland. 

For instance, Edinburgh has maintained its place as a leading international financial centre in the latest Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), placing seventh in Western Europe and second in the UK. Glasgow is also up in the rankings. 

Dundee is ranked as the best city in Europe to study video games design, and property costs 40% less than in London. 

“There are a lot of positives about living and working in Scotland, and we need to shout more about the massive career opportunities here. We’re also about to launch 100,000 new technology and maths graduates into the market – but how do we keep them in Scotland? These are important considerations for employers,” Mason said. 

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Brexit and a lack of work visas for international students could be causing talent to leave Scotland and the wider UK after studying here. As Scotland is an aging population attracting and retaining foreign talent may continue to prove vital to filling skills shortages across different industries. 

The Hays survey shows that 56% of professionals in Scotland are planning to move jobs in the next 12 months. However, this figure is quite low compared to the number of employers expecting to hire staff.

Over the last year 82% of employers in Scotland have increased their employees’ salaries or rates of pay, compared to just 57% who did so the year before. 

However, over half (51%) say this is not only to retain staff but a direct result of the rise in the cost of living. 

Additionally, a greater proportion of employers offered staff a performance-related bonus this year (46%).

“Salary, flexible working, employee benefits – these are all important,” says Mason. “But an organisation’s EVP should also cover Diversity, Equality & Inclusion, NetZero policies and sustainability. Especially for younger professionals, these values hold real resonance.”

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