New York: At least 72 percent companies worldwide have admitted that finding skilled workers is a major problem, a new survey has found.

In a survey of 1,605 companies worldwide, including 278 in the United States, 72 percent companies said they have a hard time attracting workers who have the required critical skills to fill their job openings.

Companies also face a challenge in attracting high potential and top-performing workers, the survey led by WorldatWork, an association of human resources professionals found.

Sixty percent of employers said that they had problems attracting high potential employees while 59 percent said they had problems attracting top-performing employees, the BusinessNewsDaily reported.

Attracting skilled workers is not the only challenge but companies are also facing problems retaining their employees.

More than half of the respondents from companies around the world said that retaining workers was a challenge for their business.

Stress appears to be a large factor in preventing employers from retaining their employees. Forty-eight percent of workers said that they experience excessive pressures at their job while 53 percent of workers said that they worked more hours than usual over the past three years.

Employers admitted that they struggled in some areas that have the potential to keep workers happy.

Almost 62 percent of global companies said they were able to effectively link salary increases to individual performance and 65 percent of global firms said they effectively linked bonus payment to individual performance.