Rural Scotland Business Panel Survey October 2022

6. Workforce

Key findings

Over half of employers felt their ability to attract new talent (55%) and staff working at capacity (54%) were risks to their business.

Other risks included skills shortages (49%), ability to pay competitive wages (48%) and lack of permanent staff (45%). Fewer mentioned lack of temporary or seasonal staff (35%), lack of transport (29%) and lack of staff accommodation (22%).

Most employers (84%) felt equipped to respond to workforce-related risks, while 15% did not.

Workforce-related risks

Over half of employers felt their ability to attract new talent (55%) and staff working at capacity (54%) were risks to their business. This was followed by skills shortages (49%), ability to pay competitive wages (48%) and lack of permanent staff (45%). Fewer mentioned lack of temporary or seasonal staff (36%), lack of transport (29%) and lack of staff accommodation (22%) (Figure 6.1).

Variation

In terms of sectoral variation:

• Tourism businesses were more likely than average to feel at risk from: staff working at capacity (66%), ability to attract new talent (63%), ability to pay competitive wages (62%), lack of temporary or seasonal staff (62%), lack of permanent staff (56%), lack of transport (53%) and lack of staff accommodation (38%)
• Food and drink businesses were more likely to feel at risk from: staff working at capacity (61%), ability to attract new talent (62%), skills shortages (56%), ability to pay competitive wages (53%), lack of temporary or seasonal staff (53%), lack of permanent staff (52%), lack of staff accomodation (36%) and lack of transport (36%).

Others that were more likely than average to say most of these workforce issues was at least a medium risk included:

• Businesses in remote rural areas
• Large businesses with 11-24 or 25+ staff members
• Those impacted by EU Exit, COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and rising costs
• Businesses behind where they would like to be on productivity, competitiveness, and skills performance.

Ability to respond to risks

Most businesses (84%) felt equipped to respond to workforce-related risks, while 15% did not (Figure 6.2).

Variation

The following businesses were more likely to not feel equipped to respond to workforce-related risks:

• Businesses in remote rural areas (22% not equipped)
• Tourism (27%) and food and drink businesses (23%)
• Those impacted by the Russia-Ukraine conflict (18%), EU Exit (17%) and rising costs (16%)
• Businesses behind where they would like to be on skills development (26%), competitiveness (25%), adoption of technology (22%) and productivity (19%).

As with general risks to the business, most businesses (more than 7 in 10) felt they were very or fairly well equipped to respond to each one (see Appendix A).