Staff retention key to European growth

Attracting and retaining staff will be the key to the success and growth rate of European technology companies, new research has found.

A study from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) discovered that although technology companies in Europe are experiencing phenomenal growth, worsening staff shortages could hamper future success.

The PwC 2000 European Benchmarking Study revealed that the average growth rate of European technology companies was up by 10 per cent from the previous year, and said that rate could grow further if companies looked to new ways of attracting staff.

Kevin Evans, a partner at PwC, said: "Companies wishing to stay in the fast lane of the technology race will need to find innovative ways of rewarding and retaining staff. Fast growth could be even faster with the right people."

Findings from the survey of 289 technology companies across Europe, revealed that 70 per cent of respondents said they had difficulties recruiting skilled staff, especially ones with ebusiness skills. Quality training is seen as an important way of attracting and keeping staff.

Evans said technology companies are also looking to a number of options to retain staff. The past year has seen a huge increase in the number of employee benefits, such as offering stock or share options in the company.

Other flexible benefits could include the offer of a company car, an extended holiday when on business trips or the option to take 'duvet days' off, which, according to Evans, are instances when an employee feels like they can't get out of bed.

But Evans warned that people tempted to join a company by the offer of shares, should try to look realistically at how successful the company is likely to be. "People should look at how good a company's management team is, how good its product or service is, and how good a market position it has," he said.