German SMEs are suffering a massive skills and workforce shortage – a fact highlighted by a representative survey among SME decision-makers that the F.A.Z. Institute conducted for Heidelberg.

According to this survey, nine out of 10 German SMEs do not have enough staff. Just under half (49%) said they were badly or very badly affected by the skills and workforce shortage. The survey states almost half of SMEs rate their own companies as no better than moderate when it comes to digitalization. At the same time, however, making greater use of technology is a good way for many SMEs to compensate for staff shortages. Three-quarters of respondents (74%) are looking to the digitalization of their work processes as a remedy. Two-thirds (67%) regard the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in software and their own processes as an effective means of minimizing staff shortages at their company.

Germany requires digital and automated processes to remain a successful major industrial location in the future. Some 91% of the SMEs responding to the survey agreed that Germany’s economy is not competitive without digitalization and automation. The issues ranked highest by SMEs when asked about the most pressing problems at the present time were the skills and workforce shortage (50%), high energy and raw material prices (37%), and bureaucracy (31%).