A recent survey conducted by the Australian Institute of Management has shown that 90 percent of businesses are confident about surviving the economic crisis, and see retaining skilled staff as the number one priority for their business during the downturn.
The survey found that not only are businesses positive about their future prospects, but close to 60 percent are willing to retain skilled staff to drive business performance.
AIM executive Susan Heron says this is welcome news for the economy.
“It’s a great tick for the Australian economy and I think the Government should be very heartened in knowing that so much of corporate Australia is optimistic about the future of the economy.”
She highlighted the need for businesses to look at the downturn as an opportunity to address the skills shortage.
“Companies need to have the confidence to invest in their business and recognise that skilled, well trained people ‘drive’ performance.”
Despite this, 55 percent of respondents said the economic crisis has had a negative effect on their business and that they had suffered a loss in revenue, while 20 percent of businesses still expected to sack staff.
The survey interviewed 528 chief executives and senior executives of small to large companies during December and January.
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