Business survey snapshot
 Overview of our recent survey
We recently conducted our annual business survey, designed to assess the current business landscape locally and how it has changed since the previous survey in Spring 2021.
To help us understand the challenges businesses are currently facing we asked questions around business engagement and support, skills and employment, travel and the climate emergency. These are all areas the council has focused on supporting in the last 12 months.
The update on current business interests, strengthened by increased participation, means future programmes of support and campaigns can better target interested businesses. This means initiatives can be more focused to provide the right help to the right people at the right time.
We’ve summarised the key areas of the survey for you, highlighting some of the main findings and insights.
Topline findings
- The largest sector represented in the survey was professional services at 32 per cent, with construction at 19 per cent and hospitality at 17 per cent. The remainder included healthcare, transport and logistics and manufacturing among others
- The majority of respondents were small businesses with just four per cent having more than 21 employees
- 65 per cent had received support from the council, with the most popular support being financial at 77 per cent
What the business community wants to know
One key area of insight was finding out what you're interested in as businesses in the borough. This is to help us shape future support initiatives and ensure we can present relevant opportunities to you as businesses:
- 55 per cent of businesses are interested in finding out more about business support
- 51 per cent of businesses interested in networking and events, such as council-hosted events, partner events and more
- 36 per cent of businesses are interested in skills and development such as apprenticeships, traineeships and work experience placements
Sustainability and the climate emergency
Sustainability and the climate emergency is one of the key areas we are supporting businesses in at the moment through education, awareness and accessing funding:
- 44 per cent of businesses have asked for more information on climate emergency including information on sustainability policies, net zero targets and how to record emissions
Skills and employment
The impact from Covid has seen more businesses adopting a hybrid system of working, with 30 per cent working from home part time or permanently.
Other interesting results included:
- 23 per cent were in need of support regarding digital skills
- 85 respondents said they would like to have a further conversation regarding digital skill
- 37 per cent of businesses have had staffing issues due to illness or isolation
- 25 per cent have had a lack of applications for positions, with 19 per cent saying applicants were not qualified enough for the positions being offered
Thank you
We really appreciate you taking the time to fill our business survey, and we hope this snapshot provides an insight into some of the key results.
Your responses will be followed up with a phone call from one of our business engagement officers over the coming weeks. Any questions or concerns please email economicdevelopment@wokingham.gov.uk
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