Skill shortages have been forecast for so long it's strange that anyone is surprised now that they've arrived. As for retention, our own research suggests that people leave people (ie poor managers), not jobs. If you can't recruit due to skill shortages and you can't retain due to poor management, then the issues seem much more fundamental than staff training and development. Maybe organisations should look to improve the man-management of their managers as a first line of defence against losing their best employees.

Martin Goodwill l Join the web talk at recruitermagazine.co.uk