Korn Ferry Survey: Hiring to Remain Stagnant

October 9, 2012 – Fifty-eight percent of hiring executives intend to increase staff at all levels across their organizations within the next 12 months while 69 percent are waiting for resolution on the fiscal cliff or the European financial crisis, according to a recent survey by Korn/Ferry International. Despite future hiring intentions, results revealed broad-based hiring is stagnant. While 26 percent responded that they are currently hiring people, 25 percent said they are either thinking about laying people off or in the process of laying people off. Forty-nine percent said they were holding the line – remaining status quo and delaying a decision either way. The two top outside factors creating a pause in hiring: the U.S. fiscal cliff cited by 39 percent of respondents; and EU economic instability, with a 30 percent response. Nineteen percent of executives said that the U.S. lowering its corporate tax rate would make them prone to increase hiring.