WAUKESHA COUNTY BUSINESS ALLIANCE, INC. 18 As 2024 gets underway, the Waukesha County business community remains optimistic about the coming year. A 2023 survey of Waukesha County businesses, conducted in partnership with Carroll University, shows that 80 percent of businesses plan to expand their Waukesha County workforce in the next two years. Do you plan to expand your workforce in Waukesha County in the next two years? • Yes – 80% • No – 20% And, 83.48 percent of businesses report that sales have grown in the past year, up from 73 percent of respondents who reported that sales had grown during a 2021 survey, coming out of the pandemic. Among the top talent needs for employers in the next two years, the top need is for industry-specific skilled labor requiring some certifications, followed by sales & business development, administrative, and then industryspecific skilled labor requiring a four-year degree. While hiring has been top of mind for several years with business owners, and will likely continue, given demographic challenges, the issue of retaining employees seems to be improving, as 63% of employers said they have not experienced difficulty in retaining new employees. Have you experienced difficulty in retaining new employees? • Yes – 30% • No – 62% • Other – 6% When looking at employee attraction, Waukesha County employers are focused on local recruitment: only 22.48 percent say they recruit from outside of Wisconsin. For several years, the Alliance has pushed for a statewide talent recruitment and attraction initiative, recognizing that the vast majority of employers, particularly small to midsize businesses, are not recruiting from around the country. However, employers are continuing the trend of looking at innovative hiring and retention offers, including tuition reimbursement, which is currently offered by 54.10 percent of Waukesha County employers – up from 49.15 percent in 2021. The trend toward investment in automation continues in 2024. Among those employers planning to invest in automation or robotics, the highest percentage is for industry-specific manufacturing processes. AMANDA PAYNE Senior Vice President of Public Policy, Waukesha County Business Alliance PROJECTING BUSINESS GROWTH IN 2024
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