Morgan McKinley says employers will face recruitment challenges in 2022 as the ‘great quit’ continues.
More than 80% of Irish professionals surveyed by Morgan McKinley plan to change careers next year.
In its annual report salary guide, the staffing firm also said salary increases this year are expected to be between 5% and 10% in some sectors – with increases of 15% to 20% for in-demand niche skills.
Irish firm Morgan McKinley surveyed key hiring decision makers from 62 companies and 4,134 professionals from various industries in Ireland, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Japan, Canada and the UK. United for an overview of the hiring landscape in 2022.
He made predictions for the coming year based on these results and released his 2022 salary calculator for the Irish market.
Most In-Demand STEM Roles for 2022
For Ireland’s technology and IT sectors, Morgan McKinley predicts that data analysts, data engineers and data scientists will be in high demand this year. There will also be a strong demand for DevOps talent, software engineers, cloud engineers, and full-stack engineers.
This year will see continued demand for cybersecurity professionals, he added, including technology architects, risk analysts, compliance engineers, SOC analysts, security engineers and security consultants. The cryptocurrency sector, although not as developed here as other areas of technology, will also create opportunities.
“The experience of the prolonged public health emergency has prompted countless workers to re-evaluate their work options”
– TRAYC KEEVANS
For the science sectors, Morgan McKinley predicts that Ireland will see an increase in demand for gene therapy specialists in the pharmaceutical industry. Quality control and assurance personnel will also be in high demand, but demand for quality engineers may be lower than in previous years as biopharmaceuticals become more of an investment target than medical devices. Companies will also be looking for upstream and downstream scientists in the processing and manufacturing of biologics, as such professionals are in short supply here, according to Morgan McKinley.
People looking for a job in the engineering sector can expect to find opportunities to work with companies on their ESG objectives. Sustainability and energy engineers are in high demand and roles in this field are a good way to start an engineering career, according to Morgan McKinley. Process engineers, maintenance engineers, continuous improvement specialists and mechanical engineers are also needed, with the increased manufacture of antiviral tablets in Ireland during the pandemic.
In the financial services sector, a significant number of digital positions will be offered in the coming year.
“The most demanding job markets of our time”
Morgan McKinley found that 82% of professionals in Ireland plan to change careers in the next six to 12 months and wages would increase by up to 10% to reflect this.
Those who took the survey were asked about flexible working, the hiring process and why they would consider leaving or joining a potential employer.
The majority (68%) said their organization offered flexible working. Three quarters of respondents in Ireland said they would leave an employer if they did not offer their preferred flexible working options.
A third of people said they would like to spend one or two days a week in the office, while 22% said they would prefer two to three days and 29% said they would prefer to work from home or remotely while the weather. However, only 23% of workers surveyed currently work at companies that offer one to two days a week in the office, while 29% said they work remotely all the time and 27% have two to three days in the office.
Morgan McKinley’s global director of FDI, Trayc Keevans, said the results suggested 2022 would be an employee market. “We are currently seeing the most demanding job markets of our time,” she said.
Retaining talent amid the great resignation
Keevans added that the “Big Resignation” trend that emerged last year is “still going strong.”
“The experience of the sustained public health emergency has prompted countless workers to re-evaluate their work options, fine-tune a better work-life balance and make deliberate choices about the direction of their careers. They look for opportunities that offer them the right pay, benefits, and long-term working conditions. The new opportunities offered by remote work mean that workers can now access roles that were previously geographically off limits. »
However, employers have to deal with what Keevans called a “constant misalignment between the supply and demand of employees in the marketplace”.
“We are seeing the return of counter-offers because there is a strong demand to fill positions…Organizations are under incredible pressure to adapt their leadership, management and work practices. In order to attract talent, many employers are adapting their working models to hybrid or full remote working or offering higher wages in response.
Talent retention is also a challenge for employers in today’s job market. According to the survey, 40% of professionals said their organization offered more flexible work options. Just under a third (31%) said they were offered professional development and upskilling opportunities, while 22% said their organization invested in technology to facilitate flexible working. Only 15% said they were offered retraining. Significantly, the majority of respondents (45%) said they did not know what their employer was doing to retain talent.
Keevans recommended that companies “consider building a company culture that promotes inclusion and connection” where hybrid or remote working is part of the way they work.
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