Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
CEOs are weighing buying other companies to solve their hiring woes.
Driving the news: A third of executives surveyed in a new KPMG report say they want to use mergers and acquisitions to acquire talent in 2022.
The big picture: As we've reported, 2021 was a record-breaking year for M&A — and 2022 could top even that. And M&A can be a quick way to bring in new talent as companies navigate the Great Resignation.
What they're saying: "We’re all experiencing this shortage of job seekers," Philip J. Isom, global head of M&A at KPMG, tells Axios. Companies that might have tried to grow organically in different times are instead looking into acquiring other firms as a quicker solution to their recruitment problems, he says.
- KPMG added the question about using M&A to obtain talent to its annual survey just this year — as recruiting is a particularly salient problem.
But, but, but: It's not always easy to retain employees after a merger or acquisition.
- Firms may have to offer incentive packages to hang onto top talent post-M&A, per McKinsey.
- And it's not just about higher pay. Employees are focused on health care, flexibility in our new age of hybrid work, and benefits. "Child care especially has become a sticking point for working parents," Isom says.