Kenyan Bosses Explain Why Companies Are Freezing Job Hirings
FKE revealed that most companies are struggling to retain staff and hire new prospects to bolster their operations due to the lack of qualified candidates in their region of operations.
admin
Kenyan employers have revealed that they are deciding not to hire new staff due to the lack of qualified candidates, according to a new report released by the Federation of Kenyan Employers (FKE).
The report is titled the Skills Needs Survey and was released on Tuesday during a media event in Nairobi attended by local media houses including Viral Tea.
FKE revealed that most companies are struggling to retain staff and not hiring new prospects to bolster their operations due to the lack of qualified candidates in their region of operations.
Also blamed for the job freezing was high salary expectations by candidates coming as companies face economic downturns coupled with the high cost of living currently experienced across the country.
FKE CEO Jacqueline Mugo during the release of the Skills Needs Survey report on November 21, 2023. /MARVIN CHEGE.VIRALTEAKE
"Among the reasons for non-employment or retention of staff was lack of qualified candidates in the companies’ region was singled out as another top cause (29%) and high salary expectations by candidates (26%)," stated the report in part.
”With technological changes, labour market dynamics are evolving faster than ever and the mismatch between workers' skills and those required by available jobs has become a top priority policy concern. As such, many employers report difficulties finding suitably skilled workers, even though the unemployment rate is high," FKE CEO Jacqueline Mugo weighed in during the release of the report.
Furthermore, the report exposed some of the consequences of skills deficits experienced by enterprises. They included inhibition of business expansion (25%), loss of revenue 24% and loss of customers or market share (21%).
On the bright side, however, the FKE report shed light on the steps companies are taking to compensate for the lack of skills required to drive their companies in the digital age, which in many cases leads to staff haemorrhage, some of which has made headlines.
"Some of the measures by enterprises in bridging skills gap includes training employees to increase their competence (48%) and employing new staff who are already in the Kenyan job market (27%)," added the report.
The survey further confirmed that 20% of the enterprises had hard to fill vacancies. As such, most of the companies resorted to employing job applicants with qualifications lower than what they were looking for.
The findings revealed that 2% of the positions in the enterprises were hard to fill with most of the positions being in the Manufacturing sector.
"Most hard-to-fill vacancies requiring a TVET skill level are in architecture, building and construction (2.3%), engineering (2.3%) and transportation, distribution and logistics (2.9%) while those that mostly require first level university education are in information & technology (7.1%) and finance and business management (7.3%).
"Most hard-to-fill vacancies requiring a master’s degree qualification are in media, communication and public relations (1%) while those that mostly require a doctorate degree qualification are in science and mathematics (0.4%)," added the report.
The study concluded that the most demanded skills among employers were Engineering skills offered by TVET institutions specifically computer and software engineering, electrical and electronics engineering and mechanical and production engineering.
The hard-to-fill vacancies requiring a university-level education were information & technology and finance and business management.
