Rural Scotland Business Panel Survey February 2023

8. Ownership and recruitment

Key findings

Among employers, over four-fifths (84%) described themselves as family-owned, while 11% were employee-owned. More than one-in-ten (13%) businesses were women-led.

A quarter (24%) of businesses had recruited staff at some point in the past six months. Among those that had, 21% had recruited from further afield in the UK, while 6% had recruited from international markets. Just under one in five (18%) had helped with childcare requirements, 14% had either provided or helped source accommodation, 9% had supported employment for partners and 7% supported relocation costs.

Most (72%) businesses that had hired staff in the past six months said that word of mouth or personal recommendations was the most effective method of recruitment. Around half (47%) said that social media adverts were most effective, followed by paid-for recruitment services (25%) or advertising jobs on their own website (23%).

Profile of business ownership

Among employers, over four-fifths (84%) described themselves as family-owned, while 11% were employee-owned (with employees owning a majority of the shares). More than one-in-ten (13%) businesses were women-led. (Figure 8.1).

Variation in business ownership

Business more likely than average to be family-owned were:

• food and drink (95%),
• those with 1-4 staff (84%) and
• those in South of Scotland (88%) and accessible rural locations (87%) (which may reflect the higher proportion of accessible rural businesses in the South of Scotland).

Sectors with higher proportions of both women-led and employee-owned businesses were:

• Creative industries (22% and 25% respectively), and
• Financial and business services (18% and 29%).

Recruitment

A quarter (24%) of businesses had recruited staff at some point in the past six months. This rose to 32% of businesses in the Highlands and Islands (compared with 21% in the South of Scotland and 22% in rest of rural Scotland).

Among those that had recruited staff, 21% had done so by looking further afield in the UK, while 6% had recruited from international markets. Just under one in five (18%) had helped with childcare requirements, 14% had either provided or helped source accommodation, 9% had supported employment for partners and 7% supported relocation costs (Figure 8.2).

Variation in level and approaches to recruitment

Recruitment was more common among larger businesses (e.g. 70% of those with 11-24 and 93% of those with 25+ staff), tourism businesses (42%) and those that had performed well in the past six months (35%).

In terms of specific methods, businesses in the Highlands and Islands were more likely than average to have helped source staff accommodation (27%), supported relocation costs (13%) and recruited from international markets (11%).

Remote rural businesses were more likely to have recruited from further afield in the UK (28%), sourced or provided accommodation (32%) and supported partner employment (16%) and relocation costs (13%).

The following sectors were also more likely to have used certain approaches:

• Tourism – helped source of provide accommodation (30%), support employment for partners (23%) and support relocation costs (13%).
• Food and drink - helped source of provide accommodation (32%) and support relocation costs (13%).
• Financial and business services - recruited from international markets (12%).

Effectiveness of recruitment channels

Most (72%) businesses that had recruited in the past six months said that word of mouth or personal recommendations was the most effective method. Around half (47%) said that social media ads were most effective, followed by paid-for recruitment services (25%) and advertising jobs on their own website (23%) (Figure 8.3).

Variation in perceived efficacy of recruitment channels

Larger businesses (25+ staff) were more likely to say that social media ads (65%),

paid-for recruitment services (43%) and advertising on their own website (42%) were the most effective recruitment channels.

Other variation included:

• Remote rural businesses - word of mouth or personal recommendations (80%).
• Tourism and employee-owned businesses – adverts on their own website (31% and 39%)
• Women-led businesses - social media advertising (65%).