Companies Plan to Ramp Up Hiring in 2013

February 18, 2013 – Yoh’s 2013 Workforce Trends Study reveals that 80 percent of major U.S. employers expect their 2013 hiring will meet or exceed their rate of hiring in 2012. Of companies that plan to accelerate hiring in 2013, 83 percent expect to increase staffing levels by at least three percent. Demand for talent exists at nearly every level of these organizations, but especially in information technology, sales, and operations and production, according to the survey of 150 HR executives and hiring managers at organizations with revenue of $750 million or more. Those findings, however, are dampened by lingering concerns over a variety of economic and political headwinds. According to the Yoh survey, 44 percent of the respondents not expecting to increase hiring in 2013 say that too much economic uncertainty will restrict their hiring plans, while 40 percent report that current staffing levels already meet or exceed their needs–perhaps the result of efficiencies adopted during the lean years of the recession. “The optimism evident in our 2013 Workforce Trends Study is tempered by persistent economic uncertainty and operational efficiency that has reduced demand for workers,” said Lori Schultz, president of Yoh. “In addition, as the workforce grows more complex through, for example, the use of contract labor, a majority of organizations will be left flat-footed since they haven’t adjusted their workforce planning habits to account for this complexity.”