Chris Potter
An Enterprise Recruitment Online Roundtable, 14th December, 10am
As we all know, the coronavirus pandemic had a profound effect on how, and more specifically where, people worked. Working from home, obviously, became the norm for many of us, but the impact since the pandemic subsided has been significant. According to data from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN), hybrid working is consistently growing in popularity.
Earlier this year, workers were asked about their future plans after government guidance to work from home when possible was lifted in England and Scotland. And more than 8 in 10 workers who had to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic said they planned to move to hybrid work. In May 2022, the proportion of workers hybrid working had risen to 24% - almost a quarter of the UK workforce.
In our regular conversations with clients, we have found that many of them are still fine-tuning their hybrid work policies and procedures. In addition, many are facing what can only be described as a backlash from certain team members who either want more flexibility or, at the other end of the scale, a desire to return to full time office work.
As well as this, there is a general concern that some employers are missing out of some key hires because their policy isn’t right or, at the very least, isn’t well defined.
Our Hybrid Working Online Roundtable
Given this state of flux, we are pleased to announce we are hosting a roundtable with HR and Engineering leaders who will be sharing their approaches, as well as discussing what they believe the pros and cons are of different policies. We will also provide some time for general Q&As, as well as the ability to ask follow-up questions.
Date: 14th December
Time: 10am-1030am
If you’d like to join us, then simply click here to sign up via LinkedIn. We very much look forward to seeing you there.
The outlook on jobs and salaries
It’s time to take a look at the latest data on the jobs market in the South of England from the KPMG report on Jobs. All data is up to and including July 2022.
A brief reminder of the key to these graphs. 50 is the baseline number for each of them. If something is at 50 it is neutral, signifying no growth (or decline).
The placements
Permanent placement growth slipped to a 17-month low in July, although still above that neutral threshold of 50. Yet, the rate of growth was the lowest since the current period of expansion began in March 2021. Rising activity levels at clients and strong demand for workers supported the latest rise in placements, but there were reports of weaker confidence towards the outlook weighing on growth.
Staff availability
July saw the softest drop in permanent staff supply for 15 months and has now declined in each of the last 17 months. That being said, the latest reduction was the softest since April 2021 and less than the pretty severe UK average. Reports from recruitment consultants across the South of England highlighted that people were becoming more hesitant to apply for new roles due to the greater economic uncertainty, which has undoubtedly exacerbated ongoing skills shortages.
Pay Pressures
July data revealed the softest rise in permanent starters’ pay for 11 months. Whilst the rise was soft, it is still significant. AS it has been for quite some time, candidate shortages and a string demand for staff continues to push salaries up.
Our thoughts
Commenting on the latest data, Jamie Harris, director at Enterprise Recruitment, said: “The trends we have seen over the last year or so are continuing. It’s basic supply and demand at play, coupled with the wider economic situation the UK finds itself in. A lack of candidates presents issues for employers and, if they do manage to find them, they are having to offer significant starting salaries.
Of course, that is where we come in. We have access to a large pool of talent and we always work with our clients to ensure they get the most value from their appointments. So, if you have roles to fill, we’d be only too happy to help you.
Understanding IR35 and its implications
Over the last couple of months, we have had a number of examples of confusion around IR35 and the best approach to take when deciding whether contractors should sit inside or out. So, we thought it was worth giving an overview and our thoughts. Let’s start with the basics.
What does inside IR35 mean?
HMRC introduced the off-payroll working rules to make sure that contractors would be classed as employees if there was no intermediary pay broadly the same tax as employees. This means that of a contract is inside IR35, that contractors have to pay income tax and National Insurance Contributions just like employees do.
And what does outside IR35 mean?
If a contract is outside IR35 it means that HMRC sees contractors as “genuinely” self-employed and they’re able to pay themselves in a tax-efficient way. The contract is likely to include details of the services a contractor will be providing, as well as when and where they’ll be working. But, crucially, it won’t include demands from an employer on performance monitoring and appraisals.
How do you work out if a contractor is in or out?
The best way is to use HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool. To use the tool, HMRC says you need the following:
· Details of the contract
· The worker’s responsibilities
· Who decides what work needs doing
· Who decides when, where and how the work is done
· How the worker will be paid
· If the engagement includes any corporate benefits or reimbursement for employees.
You can check the tool out here.
Our advice
The issue we have been seeing more and more of is employers are searching for contractors before deciding whether or not the prospective work falls inside or outside IR35. And we don’t think that’s the right way round. Our advice is that when you have the need for a contractor that you use the CEST tool first and make the in or out decision before you go out to find someone. It makes the process easier and both parties understand the potential role up front.
Does CEST give accurate results?
Many of our clients have asked us whether we think CEST gives accurate results. For its part, HMRC says CEST is accurate and it “will stand by the results, provided the information input is accurate and it is used in accordance with our guidance.”
HMRC can open an investigation into an IR35 status if it thinks an outside IR35 determination is wrong, so it’s important to keep accurate financial records.
We encourage our candidates to have IR35 compliance in mind and actively discuss you’re their status with our clients.
Put simply, the off-payroll working rules are complex. If you’re unsure about whether a contract falls inside IR35 or outside IR35, get professional advice.
In a world where good news is an increasingly rare commodity, we have found some. It has been announced that graduates from the world’s top universities will be able to apply to come and work in the UK under a new visa scheme.
The UK government says that the “high-potential individual” route should attract the brightest and best individuals to the UK early in their careers. The scheme is available to alumni of the top international universities who have graduated in the past five years. Graduates will be eligible regardless of where they were born and, crucially, will not need a job offer to apply.
The visa details
Successful applicants will be given a work visa that will last for two years if they hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree. The vias is extended by a year for those who hold a PhD. Upon completion of that visa, they will then be able to switch to a long-term visa if they meet certain requirements.
The qualification details
To qualify, a person must have attended a university which has appeared in the top 50 of at least two of the leading ranking systems: the Times Higher Education World Uiversity Rankings, the Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings, or the Academic Raking of Word Universities in the year in which they graduated.
Here are the eligible universities from 2021. The list features 20 universities from the US and a further 17 qualifying institutes from around the world:
| California Institute of Technology (Caltech) | USA |
| Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) | Hong Kong |
| Columbia University | USA |
| Cornell University | USA |
| Duke University | USA |
| Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL Switzerland) | Switzerland |
| ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) | Switzerland |
| Harvard University | USA |
| Johns Hopkins University | USA |
| Karolinska Institute | Sweden |
| Kyoto University | Japan |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | USA |
| McGill University | Canada |
| Nanyang Technological University (NTU) | Singapore |
| National University of Singapore | Singapore |
| New York University (NYU) | USA |
| Northwestern University | USA |
| Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University | France |
| Peking University | China |
| Princeton University | USA |
| Stanford University | USA |
| Tsinghua University | China |
| University of British Columbia | Canada |
| University of California, Berkeley | USA |
| University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | USA |
| University of California, San Diego | USA |
| University of Chicago US | USA |
| University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| University of Melbourne | Australia |
| University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | USA |
| University of Munich (LMU Munich) | Germany |
| University of Pennsylvania | USA |
| University of Texas at Austin | USA |
| University of Tokyo | Japan |
| University of Toronto | Canada |
| University of Washington | USA |
| Yale University | USA |
But does it miss the mark?
Whilst we’ve said it’s good news, there are some people who are disappointed that it doesn’t go far enough. Literally. Several academics from around the globe have voiced significant concern that no South Asian, Latin American or African universities have been included in the list.
To be fair, they’ve probably got a point, but for now we will just have to take the good news. As the next section of our newsletter will highlight all too obviously, the more graduates we can get in the UK, the better.
Over the last few months, we’ve been working hard to develop a new, free resource for our clients. We’re delighted to be able to launch a white label Digital Employee Engagement Survey that is fully customisable, allowing you to capture data that helps you better understand your people.
Employee surveys are both important and incredibly useful for businesses. They provide employees with the chance to be heard and feel valued. And they provide employers with invaluable feedback and data to use to transform their business for the better.
We’ve designed our template survey with what we believe are 10 key questions that will help you do this. All the questions have five potential answers in a tick box format: strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree or disagree, agree, and strongly agree. So, it’s incredibly quick and east for your employees to fill in. The starter questions are as follows:
1. I feel I make a positive difference to the business.
2. I feel valued.
3. My targets and objectives are realistic.
4. The pressure I am under is reasonable.
5. I know what I need to do to succeed.
6. I am doing what enjoy and am good at.
7. I have the right tools, processes and technology to do a great job.
8. My wellbeing and health matters to the business.
9. The working arrangements (where we work, flexibility etc) work for me.
10. Any other comments.
The good news is that these questions are not set in stone. If you’d like to change them, add to them, or even ask less, then we can help build that for you. All you need to do is get in touch with us and we can do that for you. Speak to Jamie Harris, our senior partner, who will work with you to build and launch the perfect survey.
We hope you agree that this is a fantastic new resource, and we look forward to helping you build your own, unique Digital Employee Engagement Survey.
The many benefits of a more diverse workforce
There are a wide range of reasons why a more diverse workforce can benefit employers. From increased innovation and creativity, due to a bigger range of perspectives; to better decision making; to better company culture; and making yourself a more attractive employer, diversity is a business enabler
Research, common sense and a swathe of academic papers show that those businesses who get their diversity and inclusion strategies right are highly likely to reap rewards. Both in terms of a benefit to their working culture and, crucially, their commercial prospects.
It helps to frame the discussion in some key statistics. In their Diversity Matters report, the global management consultants, McKinsey & Co, analysed 366 companies and found a statistically significant connection between diversity and financial performance. Here’s a few of their key findings:
Of course, there is much more research that highlights the benefits of diversity. Two final statistics to add to that already impressive list is from recent research by Josh Bersin that found that inclusive companies are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in their market and a recent survey by Glassdoor that found 67% of job seekers argued that a more diverse workforce is important when they consider taking a job.
And of course, we are a recruitment consultant, so one of the key aspects from our perspective is the importance of inclusive recruitment. So, why you should be truly inclusive in your recruitment policies?
What does inclusive recruitment mean?
At its heart, inclusive recruitment is about recognising the biases and discrimination candidates can face during the hiring process and designing and implementing solutions to minimise the impact of bias.
Types of bias
Awareness of bias is incredibly important; however, it cannot be trained away, therefore it’s essential to examine every stage of the recruitment process with an inclusive lens and ensure you have removed barriers to underrepresented talent.
Confirmation bias
A type of cognitive bias that involves favouring information that confirms your previously existing beliefs or biases.
Heuristic Bias
This judges someone’s job suitability by superficial factors such as visible tattoos or personal body weight standards.
Affinity Bias
When you unconsciously prefer people who share qualities with you or someone you like.
Conformity Bias
Is the tendency people have to behave like those around them rather than using their own personal judgement.
Intuition
When an interviewer makes a judgement on the basis of his or her “sixth sense”, he is intuitively selecting a candidate or in other words, intuitively rejecting all other candidates.
So, how do you prevent bias?
There are many different ways you use to eliminate boas from your recruitment process. Here are just three of them:
Job Descriptions
Ensuring a job description is in place and that all involved in the hire have agreed to the criteria is one way of avoiding bias as you start the search with a set of skills and competencies in mind rather than the profile of an individual. Additionally, ensure that all language used is gender neutral and reflective of our inclusive culture.
Blind Recruitment
Removing names, gender, age and other types of information such as education and hobbies helps us to focus on skills and prevent biased decisions whether unconscious or conscious.
Job Advertising
Using gender-neutral language in your job advertising is known to fill jobs faster than posts with a masculine or feminine bias and attracts a more diverse mix of people. Additionally, candidates from diverse backgrounds are more likely to apply if our equal opportunities’ statement is visible on your adverts.
The importance of building a Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy
If you don’t have one in place already, we highly recommend you consider building one. We have provided the full research paper from The Recruitment Network below. Within it, you will find more detail on what we have already outlined, as well as an incredibly useful process to create your strategy. To access it, just click here.
It’s a new package that focuses on the candidate journey, ensuring we gain relevant and useful feedback at every step of the process.
Candidates will review us across a range of factors. They’ll look at how we have presented the role, the package, the company background and its culture. They’ll look at how well we have understood what they are looking for. And they’ll rate us on how well we have explained the interview process and timeframes, as well as how we prepared them for their interviews,
At placement stage they provide feedback on whether the job offer was in the expected range, whether the interview process was as described and how well we did on communication and general transparency throughout.
Finally, candidates will review you on how well you were prepared for the interview, whether the duties and responsibilities were clearly articulated, whether the benefits of working for your business were described in detail, and how well the company and team culture was explained.
We can then collate and present this data to you. At the end of the recruitment process, we’ll ask you to score us across a range of factors. And whist we hope we always score well; we understand that we won’t always get it right. But what we will do is act on any feedback you provide.
We think that this will make us a better business, ensuring we remain your recruitment partner of choice for years to come. If you’d like to find out more, then just speak to your usual contact.
Keeping your people happy with effective recognition strategies is more important than ever.
But what to do about them? One of the things we’ve been asked about by a number of our clients recently is around effective recognition and retention strategies. As employees increasingly look around for their best options, how can businesses ensure they keep their people happy, motivated and in the best possible place?
So, we thought we’d share our thoughts and ideas. At the end of this article, you will find a link to our website and a page that lists a huge number of strategies, but we’ll give you a little flavour before that.
Tell the world how good they are
Okay, maybe not the world, but we find that public recognition is increasingly one of the most rewarding things an employee can receive. Whether it’s a testimonial on LinkedIn, a shout out on a work WhatsApp Group, a group email, or pride of place on the company website, there are a number of ways to really show your appreciation.
There’s nothing as precious as time.
Or so they say. These days, it’s more important than ever, or certainly more valued. Good, flexible parental leave, lots of remote working, options to buy more holiday, and the perennially popular duvet day, are just a few things you can offer. And letting people finish early if they’ve had a productive week has always been a good strategy, and it remains one even these days.
More than cash
Of course, people come to work to earn money, but it’s not the only driver. Offering a well th0ught through benefits package works well for many organisations. Healthcare, insurance, childcare cost provision, even pet insurance. All are usually well received. One of our clients specifically made sure every one of their employees had family healthcare during Covid. That’s the type of thing that cements a level of loyalty within an organisation that any business would value. Highly.
Celebrate with them
There’s nothing like making a fuss over someone. Taking people out on their work anniversary is always a nice touch. A birthday brunch maybe. And, if you’re feeling really generous, let them go home after that. A big old cake to celebrate an anniversary or a birthday is always a nice touch. For some people, the traditional stuff works best. Get the awards out and run quarterly competitions. There’s not many of us who don’t like picking up some silverware in front of our colleagues.
Get out of the office, sometimes for a few days!
Whilst there are many new strategies on offer, sometimes the old ones are the best. Offering day trips for individuals, or for them and their family, to show how much you value them are great. Annual trips abroad for top performers are still some of the best motivators and most appreciated things you can do.
Make it personnel
We’ve written about lots of things you could do, and there’s more via the link below, but perhaps one of the best things you can do is ask your people what they’d like. Send a staff survey out asking about what motivates people. What would they like to see on the benefits package? What would make a difference to them? We know some businesses who make a point of asking people about what they like when they join and make a note of it to deliver a few surprises further down the line. That’s often seen as a lovely touch.
To sum up
There’s lots of options available to you. To find out about even more then follow the link below. Or, if you want to talk about it, then just get in touch.
Contractors…………are you compliant?
Self-employed or contracting? With more and more reporting to HMRC required from July 2015 onwards it’s important that everyone concerned understands what is needed. Agencies must now supply information on National Insurance numbers, duration of assignments, how much has been paid to contractors etc so it pays to know what is going to be submitted. If you need further information, or want to know what specifics will be reported about you (if applicable) please call our contract recruiters for more information.
New Website!
We’ve just launched our new website! It’s much more mobile and tablet friendly than our last one, so much easier to use, but still has all the essential job information you need to help you make an informed decision on your next move. Check it out and let us know your thoughts...
