Business

50.9 per cent of businesses in Ireland will take on new staff this year, according to a survey conducted by IT services company Origina.

89 per cent of those surveyed believed that finding skilled employees was extremely important or important (56.4 per cent and 32.7 per cent respectively).

Over 55 per cent state that training will increase in their companies this year - the biggest barriers to training being a lack of time (57.1 per cent) and a lack of resources (53.1 per cent).

“According to the survey, 75 per cent of respondents said that training was either important or very important to their organisations,” said Hilary O’Sullivan, head of training and renewals in Origina.

“This is a positive outlook. Irish organisations are beginning to realise the importance of training to help their growth. It is terrific to see companies investing in people.

“Lack of time for businesses to complete training is a common problem in Ireland as our work lives get busier.

“We have identified this as an issue and now we work with our clients to create bespoke courses which are customised around the clients’ available time, and providing trainers’ onsite to reduce travel time, helping to reduce overall course times.”