As the recruitment process becomes increasingly demanding, growing businesses will need to put more effort into staff selection and find new ways of managing their current employees, according to a trio of HR-focused surveys.

Firstly, with a study that found four-fifths of employers experienced difficulties with recruitment in the last year, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) advises organisations to invest more time and energy into their recruitment and selection process if they are to identify the most suitable person for the job.

The CIPD’s research reveals that one in eight employees leaves within the first six months of employment. ‘Recruitment and selection is the foundation of all other HR activity,’ warns the survey’s author Gareth Roberts. ‘Get it wrong and, no matter how good other HR practice is, you are always making up for that one bad decision.’

Growth businesses are also finding it hard to cope with existing employees, according to the Institute of Directors (IoD) and recruitment company Adecco. Working together, the two groups found that HR accounts for approximately half of UK SME expenditure. The survey also found that owner/managers are managing the process directly in 55 per cent of businesses, spending up to one day a week resolving HR issues.

Among other findings of this survey were that:

• Although most companies believe their HR policies are clear, 41 per cent admit they do not have a formal recruitment policy.
• 67 per cent cite ‘keeping staff happy’ as their number one HR priority, with 53 per cent finding this the hardest part of the job.
• Even though 88 per cent of smaller businesses see recruitment as a major challenge, 64 per cent prefer to keep HR and recruitment in-house.

Finally, results of a new survey from employment law firm Peninsula show how devious jobseekers have become.

Over a third of employees questioned admitted to fabricating skills and qualifications on their CVs. Less than 40 per cent of the polled employees believed it is ‘dishonest’ to include lies in their CV – this marks a sharp fall on the 62 per cent who held the same view ten years ago. Furthermore, almost 80 per cent of respondents admitted to having lied in their CVs.

Peter Done, managing director of Peninsula, blames the increase on ‘potential employees eager to gain the upper hand in an increasingly competitive jobs market’, noting that ’employers have recognised this trend but seldom take the necessary measures and procedures to eradicate this issue.’