THE VIEW AND THE INTELLIGENC E
The expertise behind good recruitment P2 BIG TALKING PO INT
Mental health in the recruitment sector P4 LEGAL UPDATE
RECRUITMENT MATTERS
Calculating holiday pay P6 Issue 76 August 2019
TR AINING
How training can help transform your business P8
AG E N C Y STAFF
REC challenges perceptions of agency staff within the NHS T
he NHS employs tens of thousands of ‘back office’ staff who perform vital functions such as cleaning, catering and administrative tasks. And more senior roles in finance, legal, management, HR and IT are essential to ensure the efficient and safe operation of a hospital trust. But earlier this year NHS Improvement (NHSI) launched a consultation into reducing reliance on agencies to fill these positions. The REC was already working hard to counter NHSI’s anti-agency stance for clinical roles, but this latest consultation could have a much broader impact across the recruitment industry. As part of its campaign to create an environment for brilliant recruiters to thrive, ensuring there is a level playing field in which they can compete fairly, the REC responded strongly to the consultation. In particular, it highlighted that restricting the use of agency staff has
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“With over 100,000 unfilled vacancies in the NHS, agency workers are a vital part of the staffing of the NHS” the potential to impact on patient safety. And when SMEs are often excluded from staffing frameworks, it also raised member concerns that the NHS could lose some of its longest running and most trusted staffing suppliers – particularly in specialist fields.
So the REC welcomes the inclusion of a ‘break-glass’ clause to the proposed rules to allow NHS trusts to use agency workers “where there is an exceptional and direct risk to patient safety”. It has also exempted agency staff working on highly important projects, as well as IT staff, and delayed the introduction of the rules to 16 September. But Sophie Wingfield, the REC’s head of policy and public affairs, added: “This is really just a silver lining. With over 100,000 unfilled vacancies in the NHS, agency workers are a vital part of the staffing of the NHS, and are essential for maintaining patient safety during the critical staff shortages we currently have. What we also need is a change of attitude towards agency workers in the health and social care service, and an acknowledgement of the experience and expertise that they bring to NHS trusts up and down the country.” Neal Suchak, policy adviser, REC
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L E A D I N G T H E I N D U S T RY
the view... Focus on optimism for our industry, says NEIL CARBERRY, REC chief executive
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have taken to talking about the potential effects of Brexit on the jobs market as being a bit like the Night King from Game of Thrones. Everyone talks about it coming up – but no one quite knows how much to worry and what will happen. The same might be said about other fast-moving changes we’ll have to deal with too – including technology changes and the climate crisis. As recruiters, all we can do is be ready for the market as it changes – as it undoubtedly will. It is doing so already in many sectors. That’s why the REC has been all over the country during the first part of this year helping firms with the strategies they can take to ensure their businesses are robust in changing times. We’re here to help – reach out when you need us. But we also need to be careful of only seeing challenges. When I opened our fantastic TREC conference in June, I asked delegates to focus on optimism for our industry – because what we do is getting more important to clients, as long as we do it well. All our speakers at the event emphasised that getting the right people and bringing them into companies in the right way was crucial to performance – from bestselling author and Twitter executive Bruce Daisley on the need to build a sense of belonging in work, to Tony Danker, CEO of the Be the Business movement, identifying that people performance is the real differentiator between the businesses that succeed and those that don’t. All of this was brought home to me by one comment made by Jayne Haynes, SVP of talent at GSK. She said that “increasingly we need sourcing advisers, rather than recruiters”. That’s the key – wherever Brexit, new technology or other changes lead us, the firms who can align what they do to changing client business plans and then help them access new and different pools of talent are the ones who will succeed. Recruiters are well placed to do this – entrepreneurship and adaptability are in our blood. So let’s head into the summer optimistic about the future. Not without challenges – but we have the answers! If you want to keep up to speed with all things recruitment, then follow me on Twitter @RECNeil
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Change at the top will create new opportunities for recruiters, says TOM HADLEY, REC director of policy and campaigns HADLEY ’ S C O MMENT
Leadership 2025 We are seeing the biggest shift in leadership and management needs for a generation. Addressing this is not only key to UK productivity and growth, it is also key to changing business culture in a way that drives good work, inclusion and employee wellbeing. Not only was this a core message from TREC 2019, it’s also at the heart of our latest Future of Jobs whitepaper – ‘Leadership 2025’ – developed in collaboration with the Association of Project Management (APM). What is fuelling this leadership revolution? Here are three of the drivers we identified: • Intensifying workforce challenges – Candidate availability has been declining since 2013, according to Report on Jobs and skills needs are evolving at pace. For example, 40% of employers responding to a recent APM/PwC survey predict an increase in the need for specialist project managers. The need to embed employee wellbeing within corporate culture, and nurture a more diverse and multi-generational workforce are further priorities. This is creating the need for ‘people-focused’ leaders and managers. • A volatile external environment – Regulatory and societal changes are driving disruption across all sectors. Brexit has created one of the greatest ever challenges for business leaders. Preparing for different scenarios, reassuring EU workers, keeping up to speed with political developments and spreading business risk (for example, by looking at overseas markets) were identified as the main Brexit-related priorities by industry leaders. • The speed of technological change – The 4th industrial revolution is creating its own leadership and management revolution; 73% of leaders expect their business to face significant disruption, according to a report by Mercer. Future business leaders will operate in an increasingly changeable and high-pressured environment and harness new technology to drive productivity. How do we make change happen? Government must boost business support and ensure education policy is nurturing a new generation of leaders and managers. For the business community, reviewing hiring procedures is key to building a dynamic and diverse leadership pipeline; facilitating this review process is at the heart of the REC Good Recruitment Campaign. The ‘Leadership 2025’ whitepaper also identifies specific opportunities for the UK’s £35.7bn recruitment sector. Over 80% of employers cite the provision of ‘expertise’ as the determining factor when choosing a recruitment partner to work with. Helping clients meet future leadership needs is an example of this. You can follow Tom on Twitter @hadleyscomment
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16%
the intelligence... Good recruitment is a key driver of productivity
If the pre-2007 trend had continued, productivity would now be 16% higher than it actually is. Wages and living standards would also be higher.
BY THALIA IOANNIDOU, RESEARCH MANAGER AT THE REC roductivity is a priority for both businesses and governments. And that’s because increasing it is the only sustainable way to deliver better jobs and increase living standards; productive businesses pay higher wages and are more competitive. But while the UK has a strong labour market, with record high rates of employment and the lowest unemployment rates since the mid-1970s, its productivity growth has remained below long-term trends since the financial crisis. So much so that, if the pre-2007 trend had continued, productivity would now be 16% higher than it actually is. Wages and living standards would also be higher. The labour force is the greatest asset of any organisation and a key driver of productivity. With demand for skills mounting and fierce competition for talent, hiring the best person for every job is crucial to the success of a business. Yet picking talent remains the most pressing challenge for employers. Poor hiring decisions are not only common, but the resulting lost productivity is substantial – though often overlooked. Good recruitment is vital in sourcing the talent needed for a business to thrive and creating a more diverse, agile and better-performing workforce. From flexible working practices and diversity & inclusion, to investing in skills and innovation, recruiters are ideally placed to advise businesses on how to provide an enabling environment in
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which their people can perform at their best. There is increasing recognition that diverse organisations, in terms of gender, age and ethnicity, perform better than competitors with homogenous teams. A diverse team means a more extensive range of backgrounds and experiences, leading to more innovative solutions and better quality decision making. Recruiters can take a lead on inclusive growth and deliver recruitment practices that promote diversity, resulting in better performance and sustainable growth. According to JobsOutlook, nine in 10 employers cite the importance of an agency’s expertise in terms of regions, sectors and skills covered. By providing this strategic support, recruiters can help employers identify and meet future staffing needs, which in turn will drive future growth. Good recruitment is also about understanding and addressing the
PERMANENT BILLINGS REMAIN SUBDUED
The latest information from Recruitment Industry Benchmarking’s RIB Index shows that in Q1 2019, perm billings for the median RIB recruiter were 1.5% higher than in the same period last year. This followed a calendar year (2018) in which perm billings remained subdued –
4.6%
5% 4% 3% 2%
1.5%
1.3%
1% 0%
-1.2%
evolving business needs, especially when striving to harness AI and technology-driven productivity gains. Recruiters can help businesses fill those skills gaps, which would allow them to maximise the technological benefits. Looking at the longer term, recruiters can identify and inspire the potential managers and leaders of tomorrow. Just under 200 REC members are already registered as Future of Jobs Ambassadors, and working with local schools and colleges to build better bridges between education and work. Every day, good recruitment professionals are fuelling the UK’s business engine. They advise employers on how to invest in people and skills, plan their workforce and adopt innovations that will help boost productivity and unlock future growth. To find out more about the link between good recruitment and productivity, visit www.rec.uk.com/ good-recruitment-campaign
an average, across the year, of 1.3% higher than in 2017. Set into historical context, perm billings across 2017 were an average of 4.6% higher than in the prior year. The median RIB recruiter fared less well across 2016, however – the year of the EU referendum – when perm billings
were an average of 1.2% lower than in 2015. Of additional note, the average permanent placement fee in Q1 2019 was notably lower than in Q1 2018. As such, the median RIB recruiter had to work increasingly hard to maintain its permanent billing levels.
-1% -2% 2016
2017
2018
Q1 2019
Perm billings versus last year (%) for the Median RIB Recruiter
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BELINDA JOHNSON runs employment research consultancy, Worklab, and is Associate Knowledge & Insight Director of Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (RIB). The RIB Index provides bespoke confidential reports on industry benchmarks and trends. See www.ribindex.com; info@ribindex.com: 020 8544 9807. The RIB is a strategic partner of the REC.
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M E N TA L H E A LT H I N T H E W O R K P L A C E
big talking point
Mental health: do you know how to support it in your business? s many as 1 in 4 of us will experience a mental health problem this year, according to mental health charity Mind. Recruiters working long hours in high pressure sales environments are likely to rank in this number, and whether they realise it or not, they’ll also come across candidates who are suffering too. So what needs to be done to better support mental health in the recruitment sector? This important topic was discussed at the REC’s recent TREC conference. And one thing everyone agreed on was that working environment is crucial. Workload, management and culture can all contribute to stress and mental health issues, which is why firms need to embed good mental health and wellbeing into their business. There is also a clear business case for doing so – even if some managers might take convincing. According to the CBI, UK businesses spent an average of £720 for every person in their organisation due to time taken off work last year – whether for physical or mental health – and this cost rises by 9% for SMEs. Taken on its own, the
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government’s Thriving at Work report suggests poor mental health costs the economy up to £99bn a year. But stepping back from the figures, few could argue that companies perform better when their staff are happier, healthier and more engaged. Just think what can be achieved by a room full of recruiters firing on all cylinders, working with contagious positivity. And UK firms that have invested in longterm health and wellbeing strategies have been rewarded with lower absence rates, higher productivity, and are better able to attract the people and skills their business needs.
Small steps that can make a big difference There was lots of practical advice about what good mental health practice looks like at TREC. Leading a group discussion, Abigail Hirshman, senior adviser at Acas, said mental health and wellbeing support should be a 3-way model, actively involving employers, individuals and managers. Measures people talked about putting in place included appointing and training mental health first aiders, peerto-peer support networks, stress awareness workshops and activities such as yoga. Some ideas were as simple as recognising a job well done, or weekly 1-to-1 sessions with team members to catch up on their deliverables and KPIs, but also their workload and how they are coping. Buy-in from managers and leaders is crucial in order to drive awareness and foster a culture of openness, people agreed. So is taking the time to understand your workforce and what they want or need, and tailoring the support you offer accordingly. In a male-dominated environment, for example, there can be low uptake of stress-lowering sessions, while a particularly young workforce may be facing issues around adapting to working life or a new city. And although offering flexible working can be a useful tool in restoring work-life balance, several conference participants sounded a note of caution: it can have downsides if not supported properly, including loneliness and less of a sense of being part of the team.
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M E N TA L H E A LT H I N T H E W O R K P L A C E
TOP TIPS FOR EMPLOYERS Addressing mental health issues in their early stages is best way of preventing them escalating. That means having a long-term strategy in place for recognising the signs and providing services to help. Make use of free services, such as the government’s Fit for Work service, or those offered by your critical illness or group income protection policies. And if you’ve already got an Employee Assistance Programme, which offers services such as telephone or face-to-face counselling, make sure people are aware it exists. Consider offering flexible working – it can be useful in assisting employees manage their work life balance and wellbeing. Invest in training – especially for line managers and HR personnel. It can assist in tackling some of the ongoing stigma around mental health. Improve staff satisfaction and culture – it has an impact on employees’ wellbeing and helps management understand some of the issues a workforce faces.
HOW YOU CAN BEAT THE STRESS Make time to talk – talking about your feelings can help you stay in good mental health and deal with times when you feel troubled. It isn’t a sign of weakness. Get moving – exercise releases chemicals in your brain that make you feel good and regular exercise can boost your self-esteem and help you concentrate, sleep, look and feel better.
The responsibility to share best practice Recruiters have another reason to embrace best practice on health and wellbeing: candidates are increasingly interested in what policies prospective employers have. According to Hays’ What Workers Want 2018 report, 73% of candidates will only consider applying to organisations that have a public commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (and policies are expected to include mental health). Similarly, research from recruiter Robert Walters suggests 63% of professionals would be more likely to recommend their employer to their contacts if that employer had positive mental health and wellbeing policies – and employers typically underestimate the importance of them. With the continued hunt for talent, being able to advise on best practice on mental health – and lead by example – is another important tool in the good recruiters’ box.
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Take a break – a few minutes can be enough to destress you. Give yourself some ‘me time’. Why not give yoga or meditation a try? Eat well – there are strong links between what we eat and how we feel. For example, caffeine and sugar can have an immediate effect. A diet that’s good for your physical health is also good for your mental health. Ask for help – none of us are superhuman. We all sometimes get tired or overwhelmed by how we feel. If things are getting too much for you and you feel you can’t cope, ask for help. For more detail on these and other practical ways to support mental health in the workplace, the REC has worked with Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing (formerly Punter Southall Health & Protection) to create a free guide which you can find on the REC website.
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H O L I D AY PAY
legal update
Overtime and holiday pay By BUNMI ADEFUYE – senior solicitor at the REC
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oliday pay continues to be a subject that is constantly debated. The payments that need to be factored into the calculation of holiday pay depends on whether or not an individual has normal working hours fixed in their contract. A number of cases in
ELEVATING YOUR RECRUITMENT CAREER WITH PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP
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the last few years have considered and changed how additional payments such as overtime or commission are dealt with when calculating holiday pay. Sections 221-224 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 sets out the calculation, where a week’s pay will be either: • what a worker would earn in a normal working week if s/he works fixed hours each week; • if a worker’s hours vary from week-to-week, the average hourly rate of pay over the previous 12 weeks; or • if a worker has no fixed working hours, it will be the average total remuneration received over 12 weeks. Temporary workers ordinarily don’t have fixed working hours in their contracts, because of the nature of temporary work which requires a substantial amount of flexibility. Therefore, holiday pay for temporary workers would be calculated
Recruitment as a career choice is exciting – it varies from using social media and digital channels to seek out talent, coaching candidates, to knowing employment law, and understanding government policy on safeguarding and much more. Technology can be seen as challenging the professional recruiter however clients and candidates are now demanding more value, more care and ethical value driven recruitment. In a people-based industry, recruiters need a source
by taking an average of the total remuneration received over a 12 week reference period, this will include any payments for all hours worked including overtime. For workers that have fixed hours in the contract who are typically employees, holiday pay was previously calculated to exclude overtime in some circumstances. However, as a result of the Bear Scotland Ltd v Fulton; Hertel (UK) Ltd and others 2014 case, the EAT ruled that non-guaranteed overtime (i.e. overtime that is irregular but when offered the employee must do the work) should be included when calculating holiday pay. This position has been extended even further under the recent ruling in Flowers v East of England Ambulance Trust 2019 where the Court of Appeal ruled that even voluntary overtime (overtime that is irregular and optional) should be taken into account when calculating holiday pay. This is because the pattern of ambulance workers’ overtime was settled and reoccurring. It is clear that the courts are being consistent with their approach where individuals should not be deterred from taking holiday for fear of being paid less. The above rulings should be considered by employers with salaried staff and recruiters that engage temporary workers should already be including overtime in all hours worked when calculating holiday pay.
of empathetic advice and development, someone they can trust, and someone like-minded, who understands their needs. Keeping pace with changes in the workplace isn’t easy and your Institute of Recruitment Professionals (IRP) membership can provide that support to enable people to continually adapt and be supported to learn new skills and progress up the career ladder. Individual recruiters (both in-house and agency) can join membership. The Institute also runs a corporate purchase scheme
(Advocacy) as part of supporting your recruitment team in their professional development. At the IRP, our members are responsible for getting the right people into the right jobs in the right organisations. We know recruiters are hugely time poor which is why it will help to put your career and future development in the hands of a professional body that can guide you. Find out more at: www.rec-irp.uk.com
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I N S P I R AT I O N To keep up to date with everything the Institute of Recruitment Professionals is doing, please visit www.rec-irp.uk.com
SIMON GIRLING, director at Girling
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Q&A
What I know
BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE INSTITUTE OF RECRUITMENT PROFESSIONALS
RICHARD FROST, director, Genesis
Jones, on ‘going green’
Employment Services, on winning business as a small business
There’s a huge amount a small business can do to improve their sustainability.
products we buy in. All simple steps that make a difference.
With so much attention around climate change at the moment, we knew we wanted to do something “supergreen”. As an office of 20 people, I wasn’t sure how much impact we could have. Based in Devon, we called on local experts Riverford Organic and ODE True Food (Sustainable Restaurant of the Year 2018) to find out what best practice looks like. I think we’ll be the first recruitment company in the UK to be carbon negative, hitting our annual green targets by changing what and how much we consume, and doubling our off-setting of emissions. It’s meant changing suppliers, from web hosting to our energy and waste management and even our business insurance. We’ve also changed our lighting and the paper and cleaning
It’s easy to put a green policy in place.
What are the biggest challenges you face as a small agency, staffing industrial warehouses?
You can turn things around in a month – it’s just about knowing what you can do. So we want to spread the word to our clients and other agencies.
People get excited, when they know they can do their bit. It helps with employee engagement – we’re incentivising ours to take the changes home with them. There are also plenty of positives we can see for client/candidate relationships. But most importantly, we’re doing this because we want to see everyone doing it. What’s stopping you?
Since the Brexit vote, the number of Eastern Europeans in the UK has declined making it harder to meet current demand. We compete against national agencies who have the resources to attract greater numbers, so our margins are being squeezed by the extra advertising costs.
So how do you compete? It’s less about sales activity, more about client retention. That means customer focus, a personal approach and not simply throwing people at jobs. We take more time to sit with candidates, talk them through the role and make sure they’re the right fit. We’re members of the REC and the Association of Labour Providers, which means we have
the knowledge to create recruitment strategies for our clients, particularly when the likes of Amazon dominate the local supply of staff in the months leading up to Christmas. Clients will pay for a personal service – we have a fantastic client base that has supported us as a small business for many years.
How do you keep staff motivated? By talking, listening, and developing them to share our passion for the industry. The business opened in 2006 and we are proud of our family culture which gives stability – one of our family has over 13 years’ service so we’re obviously doing something right! We’ve got the mentality to get the job done, and behind every client is a team effort. We also like to have fun as a business – the industry used to be a lot more like that.
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TRAINING
Training for the future Training can support your business transformation. We asked Graeme Doyle, managing director at The Logistics Partnership, exactly how. What’s the background to your recent business transformation? In 2011, the Logistics Partnership was formed after a management buy-out. It was made up of four businesses – Forward Prospects, MVP Search & Selection, DriveLink Network and More Driving, all covering different sectors of supply chain recruitment. We made things less hierarchical, more agile and more collaborative. But with five brands (including the parent company), all separate businesses in their own right, we never quite got them working together in the way we wanted. Worse than that, gaps were emerging in our offering we couldn’t quite solve. And our more entrepreneurial-minded managers were limited by the specialisms the businesses dictated. Our structure was stifling creativity at a time when there are big changes going on in the industry and around the future of jobs. So we consulted everyone in the business – starting off with a positioning paper highlighting the danger if we didn’t broaden our horizons. We got everyone’s views and the upshot was to turn four brands into two. In 2018, we merged Forward Prospects, DriveLink Network
RECRUITMENT MATTERS
of training out there and you’re never quite sure what you were going to get. As a member of the Why did you choose to focus on REC, and knowing our challenge was exactly the sort of thing you’d training as part of the process? expect them to help with, we felt Training was a huge part of it. I confident about the quality they was very conscious we were changing a lot within the business. would deliver. I was upfront that I didn’t There was nervousness about how jobs would change and how people want something off the shelf, and I didn’t want something too would be judged. theoretical. So I spent some time Most importantly, when we with our account manager, and changed the orientation of the business and expanded the services Victoria, the head of training at the we were offering, we needed to be IRP, and talked a lot about what it able to do that credibly, coherently was we were trying to achieve – from a cultural, not just a training and from a place of knowledge. perspective. And while our people had the Prior to the course we spent supply chain experience and time looking at individuals’ profiles knowledge already, they needed and experience to work out to feel confident and comfortable what areas would be useful. We to be able to effectively sell and wanted to make sure everyone got deliver these services. something from what turned into a 2-day course, covering the new Why approach the REC? elements of their roles, the process There’s a real value in having behind the consultative sell, as well external support – it provides as the softer behavioural aspects. a confidence that is difficult to The IRP did the majority of the replicate if you’re sharing internal legwork putting it together. expertise. But there’s an awful lot
The official magazine of The Recruitment & Employment Confederation Dorset House, 1st Floor, 27-45 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NT Tel: 020 7009 2100 www.rec.uk.com
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and More Driving to become TLP Recruitment, focusing on juniormid level recruitment – permanent as well as temporary. And a few months ago, we rebranded MVP, keeping the focus on mid-senior level recruitment, and adding some new consultative services to expand and strengthen our offering.
How did it go? From a team building and confidence perspective, it went brilliantly. It calmed any apprehensions; it filled in knowledge gaps and even strengthened our existing offering through new information and a different perspective. How has it contributed to your business transformation? We felt it was absolutely crucial for our business transformation – and it happened at exactly the right time. The final furlong of the process is the hardest part. You need everyone on board. It’s difficult to judge the impact if we’d done something differently. At best, we wouldn’t have made the progress we have done; at worst, we’d have done damage to our brand. Without question, I’d do the same again. The Institute of Recruitment Professionals represents, educates, qualifies and supports the careers of individual recruitment professionals throughout the UK. Becoming a member of the IRP demonstrates your commitment to professionalism and best practice in recruitment and is signified by letters attached to your title. www.rec-irp.com/
Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2100, Customer Services: 020 7009 2100 Publishers: Redactive Publishing Ltd, Level 5, 78 Chamber Street, London E1 8BL Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redactive.co.uk Editorial: Editor Pip Brooking Pip.Brooking@rec.uk.com. Production Editor: Vanessa Townsend Production: Production Executive: Rachel Young rachel.young@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6209 Printing: Printed by Precision Colour Printing © 2019 Recruitment Matters. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, neither REC, Redactive Publishing Ltd nor the authors can accept liability for errors or omissions. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the REC or Redactive Publishing Ltd. No responsibility can be accepted for unsolicited manuscripts or transparencies. No reproduction in whole or part without written permission.
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