Thirty-two percent of East Midlands businesses see recruiting new people as key to driving their growth over the coming 12-months, according to recent research by business and financial adviser Grant Thornton UK LLP.
But the survey of the East Midlands’ most profitable businesses reveals that more than half (56%) of them believe the region’s talent pool is lacking, with a short supply of individuals with the skills and qualifications they need, and that this is likely to hamper their growth plans.
Attracting talent into the region is crucial to driving growth and creating a vibrant regional and local economy, and to achieve this, 37% of businesses say the wider East Midlands, and specifically Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, must do more to promote themselves as a ‘desirable place to live and work’.
Richard Blackmore, CBI East Midlands Director, commented: “People and their skills are one of the biggest drivers of growth for our country and these figures go to show how important they are to businesses in the East Midlands.
“Companies are committed to attracting and developing people, and here in East Midlands, work closely with schools and colleges to inspire young people about future options.
“What’s vital for addressing skills gaps is getting technical education right – which is why business is positive about the new T-Levels and working closely with the Government to help design these.”
Improvements to local and regional transport and infrastructure are also important, particularly in Lincolnshire, where 39% of businesses voted it the most important factor in the county for driving future growth, compared to 15% in Leicestershire and just 11% in Nottinghamshire.
Advances in innovation and collaboration amongst the region’s technology sector businesses, and stronger links between education and business communities, are also seen as potentially strong contributors to growth by 16% of East Midlands businesses.
Whilst 36% of East Midlands’ businesses said that Brexit and the General Election have had no effect at all on their future strategy planning, 14% believe they have in fact had a significant impact on how they are planning for the next 12 months, with almost half (49%) feeling some impact.
Grant Thornton carried out the survey at a series of events across the region last month, hosted to launch the findings of the firm’s East Midlands Top 200 Report 2017, produced in partnership with the CBI.
The survey also found that opening up new markets for existing products and/or services will feature in driving growth for 38% of East Midlands’ businesses, whilst 19% believe developing a new product or service will be critical.
Commenting, Mark Pashley, Director at Grant Thornton’s East Midlands office in Leicester, said: “In our survey, we asked the East Midlands’ top performing and most profitable businesses how they are finding business conditions today compared to 12 months ago, and the vast majority said they are finding things more difficult.
“65% of Leicestershire businesses, 46% of Nottinghamshire businesses and 74% of Lincolnshire businesses are finding business conditions slightly tougher than this time last year.
“On average, almost a third (32%) of businesses across the region told us that recruiting the right people for their business is also a big barrier to growth,” he explains. “Encouragingly, 76% report a ‘significant increase’ in the availability of finance during the last 12-months.”
The East Midlands Top 200 Report is now in its fifth year, and analyses the financial performance of the 200 businesses in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire that have delivered the greatest, sustained profit growth between 2013 and 2016. It provides the region’s only in-depth study into the East Midlands’ fastest growing companies by key sector and performance indicators, to deliver a barometer of overall economic performance.
