Less than half, 46.5 percent, of companies in the Greater Toronto Area will increase staffing budgets this fiscal year, according to a recent workplace survey generated by Lannick Group of Companies. And 40.8 percent expect no change while 12.7 percent expect a staffing budget decrease.

“The survey shows a severe disconnect between what employers know — that talent attraction and retention is vitally important to the strength of a company — and what employers are willing to do to address their workplace satisfaction issues,” said Peter Jeewan, president and CEO of Lannick Group. ”Companies must be willing to invest time and money in the unique skills that every individual brings to the organization. A happy and dedicated workforce will ultimately increase productivity and excel your business.”

Key survey findings include:

• More than 40 percent of companies surveyed will see no change to their staffing budget this fiscal year compared to last, and over 30 percent will see only a minor increase (from 0 to 5 percent).
• The top two reasons cited for difficulty retaining staff were lack of budget (28.1 percent) and lack of work/life balance within their organization (24.0 percent).
• Contrary to this, more than 72 percent of respondents feel it is difficult to attract top talent in the current marketplace. Almost 50 percent say that this is due to a deficit of qualified applicants rather than their own hiring process and work environment.
• Although there is clearly a high concern about staffing, it is not necessarily being addressed. More than 12 percent of employers stated their own company is not positioned in an appealing way to target talent, which can have a critical impact on a company's hiring process and work environment.
• While over 15 percent of executives don’t believe in their own hiring system, over 70 percent rate their internal HR department as the number one resource they rely on to recruit new talent.

Results were collected via a third-party web-based survey application over a three-day period in June 2014. The 417 survey respondents are GTA-based chief executive officers, vice presidents, managers, controllers and directors at companies representing all industries with the majority working within the banking, manufacturing, financial services and insurance sectors. More than half (53.7 percent) of survey respondents are employed by companies with annual revenues in excess of $100 million.