Business Challenges

Business Challenges

Covid 19 & the ongoing effects of Brexit have created several very challenging years for Kildare Businesses. With this in mind, our survey asked ‘What is the biggest challenge facing your business over the next 12 months?’ 51% of businesses said that staff retention & recruitment is the biggest challenge facing them. Covid 19 has fundamentally changed the rules around employment.

We are living through the age of the Great Resignation. According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, the months of April to June 2021 saw 11.5m employees quit their jobs, and this trend is being replicated around the world including here in Kildare.

We have seen our businesses trying to grapple with this, by introducing a number of measures including flexible working, revised benefits, mental health resources, access to training and development, improved communication and diversity policies.

Given the time this survey is being produced it is no surprise to see reducing costs are the second biggest challenge facing businesses. This accounted for over 23% of businesses.

Rising inflation and the current crisis in Ukraine are two possible reasons for this worry. The Irish Central Bank stating recently there was a “much higher level of uncertainty” surrounding the Irish fiscal outlook than normal, especially surrounding the final cost of pandemic support measures and effect of the Ukraine war.