Nedbank’s message to South Africa

South African companies are facing worsening skills shortages, driven by global competition, a scarcity of digital and financial expertise, and shifting workforce expectations.

The 2025 Xpatweb Critical Skills Survey Report, which is based on responses from 381 verified employers across multiple sectors, revealed that 84% of companies struggle to recruit the skilled professionals they need.

This is an increase from the 79% reported in 2024. Notably, this increase comes despite recent immigration reforms, which have eased some visa and work permit hurdles for foreign hires.

Xpatweb managing director Marisa Jacobs explained that companies continue to face intense competition in attracting highly skilled talent.

Talent searches are also intensifying, and it is further evident that both experience and formal qualifications remain decisive in securing professionals for roles.

Even in this challenging environment, some companies have managed to attract and retain skilled professionals in South Africa.

Moorepay, the United Kingdom’s largest payroll company, sourced median employee tenures from LinkedIn company profiles of over 3,100 major companies worldwide to determine which have the highest retention rates.

They considered companies in every country with the highest market caps and any other notable brands, and then mapped the top company for employee retention in every country.

Nedbank emerged as the company with the longest employee retention rate, with a median tenure of 11.7 years as of October 2025.

Nedbank group executive of human resources Deb Fuller told Daily Investor that there are several talent attraction and retention challenges the bank sees in South Africa.

First is the scarcity of skills in digital, technology, and specialist financial areas. Another challenge is evolving workforce expectations. For many workers, Fuller said, Flexibility, wellbeing, and meaningful work are now non-negotiables.

Global competition for talent has also intensified, with international companies employing skilled professionals remotely from South Africa.

This means that South Africa’s own talent pool is shrinking, making it increasingly difficult for South African companies to find skilled professionals.

Fuller said that macroeconomic and social trends, such as digital transformation, rising costs, socioeconomic challenges, ESG imperatives, slower economic growth, and geopolitical tensions, also impact talent availability.

“Understanding these challenges helps us shape a culture and environment where people want to stay, even in a competitive market,” Fuller said.

How to solve the talent crisis

To ensure that Nedbank attracts skilled workers, Fuller explained that the bank has identified several key talent attraction focus areas. These include –

• Enhancing its candidate-first approach for a smooth, responsive, and transparent hiring journey
• Building insight-led capability in its talent acquisition team to deepen its understanding of talent availability in the market and shape more informed hiring strategies
• Leveraging its employer brand through refreshed LinkedIn Life content and consistent storytelling around purpose and impact to attract talent that wants to make a difference and grow with Nedbank

“These approaches ensure that the people we attract are the people who stay – because they find what they’re looking for at Nedbank,” Fuller said.

On a broader level, Fuller explained that there are also changes which can be made to attract and retain more talent in South Africa. This includes accelerating digital-skills development through public-private partnerships.

Streamlining critical-skills visa processes to relieve shortages and build local pipelines, as well as promoting well-being-centred, inclusive workplaces that reflect the future of work, would also attract more talent.

Finally, she said celebrating employers that invest in purpose, community, and continuous learning as global differentiators would enable South Africa to attract and retain top talent.

“These changes would help more people find reasons to stay and build their careers in South Africa,” Fuller explained.

Xpatweb’s Critical Skills Survey Report also made recommendations about how South Africa can attract more skilled professionals.

It recommended that South Africa build on recent progress by further streamlining visa and work-permit processes, scaling up the Trusted Employer Scheme, and accelerating digitisation at the Department of Home Affairs to reduce delays.

It also urged the country to align its immigration policies with international best practice to improve global competitiveness, including measures such as granting work rights to spouses of expatriates.

Additionally, South Africa should actively promote itself as an attractive and opportunity-rich destination for skilled professionals.

Finally, Xpatweb stressed the importance of investing in evidence-based, data-driven policymaking to guide labour-market strategies and support businesses in attracting and retaining highly skilled foreign talent.