The survey by Hays asked respondents about their workforce plans in light of the changes to the employment market over the past two years. Skills respondents said they would need most over the coming year included management and leadership skills (69%) and communication skills (53%).
More than a third (34%) of respondents have succession plans in place to develop management and leadership skills but only 22% think it will be easy to access what will be needed over the next year.
Furthermore 78% believed they have retained required skill sets when reducing staffing levels although 44% believed the greatest impact of a reduced headcount is extra workload.
Nine out of 10 respondents believe they have a strong understanding of the skills in their organisation.
Julie Waddicor, director at Hays Human Resources, said: "Over the past two years many employers have had to slash, or cut completely, their training budgets. Redundancies and restructures have been commonplace and for many organisations this means that skills have been lost. Employers are beginning to recognise that training needs its place once again; the economy is showing signs of improvement and HR will need to react to this with the development of their staff and services."
