LEEDS, England, December 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Staff morale is certainly lower in the UK now than it has been for many years. The great unknown of the British jobs market looms, with heightened competition for every position at every company first in everyone's minds should they be forced to enter it; and along with the general despondency brought about by the double dip recession, employers are ironically finding it much harder to retain staff.

Two-thirds of companies now report that they found it harder to retain staff last year than they had previously. Retention has become significantly more difficult for most companies since 2009 - and this continues to make working environments less productive. The time that goes into training new staff is essentially wasted.

According to recruitment experts it's possible to buck this trend by trying to make employees feel better about the company. Yorkshire based digital recruitment specialist Online Resourcing has retained 96% of its staff over the past two years, proving that a better retention rate can be achieved by investing in staff and their personal development.

Jonathan Fieldhouse has been with the company since 2008; now Sales Director, he's seen an increase in the positivity of the workforce due to internal development, and says: "Internal investment and belief in staff has been the key to our success. It is true that a positive environment allows for personal development. I was brought on to develop sales and with the support of management team I grew accounts like Nestlé, Mars and Persimmon Homes, honed my skills and now set the sales strategy for future growth as the company Sales Director."

According to Online Resourcing, the key issues to be addressed are openness to employees; development of their skills; and most importantly, acknowledging their strengths. Managing Director Oliver Adderley commented: "Managing your staff is like managing a football team; it is all about putting key players in their strongest position."