Companies ‘could be repeating mistakes of the last recession’

Companies are putting their long-term future at risk by repeating short-term cost-cutting measures in the last recession that were subsequently regretted, according to a report.

The report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the European Association for People Management (EAPM) says that employers cutting experienced staff and new trainees risked creating skill shortages in five to 10 years – as happened as a result of the last recession. A third (34 per cent) of companies are planning to cut full-time roles, having already cut back on recruitment (69 per cent) and shed temporary workers (43 per cent), according to the survey of 883 executives across Europe.