THE VIEW AND THE INTELLIGENCE
How to help people back to work p2 BI G TALKI NG POI NT
Stories from the Covid frontline p4
Recruitment Issue 87 Ma ers Aug-Sept 2020
LEGAL U PDATE
Managing the end of furlough p6 DI VE RSI TY AND I NCLU SI ON
Black Lives Ma er: answer the call p8
Job support
Recruiters central to Chancellor’s Plan for Jobs 2020
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he Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced a range of measures designed to support businesses, create jobs and help people back into work. The plans include a £1,000 employer bonus for each furloughed employee retained beyond January next year, as well as the £2 billion Kickstart Scheme to fund high quality six-month work placements for 16-24-yearolds. The REC welcomed the measures as the jobs-focused response it had been calling for on behalf of the industry. But the headline announcement for recruiters came in the form of the Job Finding Support Scheme – a £40 million fund for the delivery of employment support services through the private sector. The scheme is the result of months of collaboraঞon between the REC, its members, and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
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Under the plans, job seekers who have been unemployed for less than three months will be able to access online, one-to-one advice to help them find jobs, write CVs, prepare for interviews, and explore opঞons for building skills. “As the country faces a jobs crisis, it’s great to see the government is listening to our advice and turning to the recruitment industry as jobs experts who can help people back into work,” said Neil Carberry, Chief Execuঞve of the REC. “There are two clear benefits to this – immediate professional support for the unemployed from recruiters who are ready
Rishi Sunak
to go. Secondly, it will mean a more robust recruitment industry, be er able to do what it does best and help drive unemployment down over the long term.” John-Paul Marks, Director General Work and Health Services at the DWP said: “Our conঞnued partnership with REC members in communiঞes across the UK has never been more important as we support every jobseeker to find quality work and get back on their feet. We look forward to working closely with the REC as we take the next important steps forward and deliver more together.”
REC2020: REC’s flagship conference goes virtual on 8 September The annual gathering includes an exciঞng line-up of prominent leaders from across the business world and content aimed at providing “real world” soluঞons, for all recruiters and in-house specialists. Book your spot now!
Making great work happen
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Leading the industry
the view... As businesses reopen, let’s build back be er, says Neil Carberry, REC Chief Execuঞve
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s summer gets into full swing, there’s finally room to feel op mism once more. Of course, we’re not in the clear yet. The recovery will be slow. Young people and poorer families will be hit hardest. As recruiters, we can make a difference and seize the opportunity to build back be er. Clients will be experimen ng with new ways of working. We can help them change, and develop ourselves in doing so. To thrive, not just survive, we should work from the ques on of how we solve a client’s business problem – not only fill the next job. These are problems like bringing back furloughed workers and accessing specialist skills, how to demonstrate ethics, and build on employer brand while you get inundated with CVs (see p5). On the REC Podcast a hiring manager told me that what gets through her door is the right ideas – not just the right CV. Now is the me to demonstrate recruitment as the professional service it is and the value it can add. Black lives ma er. We should shout that from the roo ops (see p8). Our black and other minority ethnic colleagues face systemic disadvantage which can be amplified by recession. Equal opportunity and fairness are not nice-to-haves for be er mes. They are essen al to business and economic success. Building back be er means taking the lead in making our jobs market truly inclusive – an area where we can set ourselves apart as the problem solvers of the labour market. This is a message we at the REC hear loud and clear. We are changing our governance model to boost diversity and have kicked off a wider programme of ac ons to support the industry to make a difference. If you want to find our more, get in touch.
“Now is the ঞme to demonstrate recruitment as the professional service it is.”
If you want to keep up to speed with all things recruitment then follow me on Twi er @RECNeil
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POLICY
Protecঞng our exports Sophie Wingfield, REC Director of Policy
and Campaigns, outlines the importance of current trade talks to recruiters
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hile Covid-19 dominates the headlines, we shouldn’t lose sight of the big changes just around the corner. Nego a ons are underway to determine our future rela onship with the EU, and we're in trade talks with countries including the US, Japan and Australia. Recruitment industry growth abroad has provided UK businesses with huge opportuni es and is an important UK export. Ge ng a good deal for services is vital for our economy. The REC was asked to join the Trade Technical Group and will be feeding directly into government departments on Interna onal Trade and Business on behalf of our members. What are the prioriঞes? 1. Reducing unnecessary trade barriers is essen al. This includes minimising restric ons to accessing markets and securing future access to keep business costs and risks down. 2. Professional Qualificaঞons – We welcome the UK government's ambi on to reach an agreement on Mutual Recogni on of Professional Qualifica on (MRPQ) with the EU. 3. Mobility – Ensuring UK professionals can s ll easily travel within the EU for business is crucial. Trade deals can help mi gate what will be a more restric ve future immigra on policy. 4. Data – Ensuring data flows between the UK and EU will be important for our ability to conduct business abroad. Time is cking for the government to get deals in place and we’ll be doing our utmost to ensure we raise the issues key for the recruitment industry. As REC member Simon Conington told a House of Lords select commi ee, not reaching an agreement could mean the UK being a small piece of the recruitment pie.
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Leading the industry
the intelligence...
42%
We’ve started down the road to recovery By Josh Pren ce, REC Research Officer As I write this in late June, there are signs that the recovery has started. But there’s a long road ahead. Every week throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the REC has been polling members about how confident they are that the UK’s economy and their business will bounce back from the crisis. In late March, just a er the lockdown was enforced, around a third said they were very confident that they would bounce back, while around 60% said that they were a li le confident, but it would take some me. This soon deteriorated. Throughout May and early June, on average 80% of recruiters surveyed believed it would be some me before they recovered. ONS figures show the scale of the impact on the jobs market: the number of vacancies in the UK fell from 818,000 in the three months to February to 476,000 in the three months to May, a drop of 42%. And between the months of February and May, the number of ac ve job pos ngs in the UK fell by 32%, from around 1.87 million to 1.27 million. Employer confidence is looking up But as public health measures are eased and the economy is opened up, there are signs that employer sen ment is on the turn. The REC’s JobsOutlook survey conducted during the first half of June found that business confidence in the UK economy was at a net level of -46, s ll strongly nega ve, but an improvement of 17 percentage points from early May.
17%
Business confidence has improved by 17 percentage points from early May, although s ll strongly nega ve
Employers’ hiring inten ons had also improved, and an increasing propor on expected to be able to take on new staff in both the short term and medium term. During this me there were also signs that the number of job pos ngs ac ve in the UK was on the rise. Cauঞous opঞmism All this is good news, but we should also be cau ous. The Coronavirus Job Reten on Scheme (CJRS) has been vital in keeping as many people in work as possible, but we have already seen many businesses announce ra s of job cuts. Between March and May, the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits rose by 1.6 million (126%) to over 2.8 million. And with the
drop Number of vacancies in the UK fell from 818,000 in the three months to February to 476,000
CJRS ending in October, there are likely to be further waves of redundancies in the final quarter of the year. As the country’s jobs experts, the recruitment industry has already been playing its part in staving off this rise in unemployment and will con nue to do so in the months ahead. The REC has been working in close partnership with government during the crisis, and it is vital that the spirit of collabora on between poli cians, employers and recruiters con nues. The road to recovery will not be an easy one to travel – but the best way forward is together.
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Responding to Covid-19
big talking point
The everyday heroes
How recruiters have helped in the pandemic – and how they will help in the recovery too
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hether on the frontline or on furlough, stories have emerged of recruiters rolling up their sleeves to help in the na onal effort to beat Covid-19. And as recruiters start helping people back into work, it’s important to take stock of the posi ve stories and the best prac ce in ac on, and remind ourselves how the industry plays a vital role in the economy – and in local communi es – through the bad mes as well as the good. Manning the frontline In the spotlight for obvious reasons are those agencies that have helped staff up the NHS. Take TFS Healthcare in London, for example, where consultants worked 24/7, including the Easter weekend, to provide support for NHS Trusts – and, importantly, for the people they were placing too. Before the lockdown, TFS Director Roland Sheehan visited the agency’s nurses in the workplace to make sure they felt supported. He quickly realised a lack of communica on was causing anxiety. So TFS launched a Covid support line to answer ques ons, daily email updates to share the latest informa on and WhatsApp groups for those within individual Trusts. In response to now familiar tales of PPE shortages, TFS staff personally delivered masks and sani ser to some of the smaller Trusts. And when dealing with hires for more remote loca ons, they found 4
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themselves responsible not just for finding the right candidates, but also for booking accommoda on and sor ng out food deliveries. All this while adap ng to new ways of working themselves. TFS also partnered with another agency, ID Medical, in Kent to meet demand in the shortest possible meframe – something rela vely unheard of in pre-Covid mes. “We worked together on everything to do what was right for the pa ents,” said Sheehan.
Filling the gaps Before coronavirus struck, Somerset-based One Step Recruitment placed permanent care staff, but hadn’t yet moved into temporary roles. Seeing the needs of the care sector were being overlooked in the crisis, the firm kickstarted a new part of its business to support care homes with temporary staff – as so much of the local community depended on them. “At one me we only had two candidates to fill three temporary vacancies at a care home,” says Commercial Manager James Tucke . “One of our team is a qualified care consultant and stepped up to help by covering some of the shi s they needed.” Agencies outside the medical sector have also found ways to help, despite their businesses taking a massive hit. At Welsh agency NuStaff, as much as 80% of its business is “on hold” and 10 out of 13 consultants were placed on furlough. But the management realised they had the opportunity to “do their bit” when responding to a regular logis cs client’s call for an HGV driver to make several journeys to the Nigh ngale Hospital in London with medical equipment. NuStaff waived the www.rec.uk.com
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placement fee and covered the driver’s wages for the week. “It started us thinking how else we could help,” says Opera ons Director Lisa Redmore – and that led to staff doing community drops of masks for the elderly and food parcels for a local nursing home and hospital. While paying for the HGV driver had the added benefit of deligh ng a longstanding client, Clarke Transport, the other ini a ves have gone a long way to cemen ng the agency’s place at the heart of the community in which it works. Experts in their field These stories are just the p of the iceberg. For every NHS and care worker placed, many more were hired for supermarkets, manufacturers, farms and logis cs firms to keep the na on provided for in lockdown. Agencies have stepped up to support clients and candidates through changing job requirements, the switch to online interviews, and how to manage star ng a new job remotely. Many have hosted webinars to support clients and jobseekers, or taken to social media to offer hints and ps for working at home or managing remote teams. Despite recruiters being faced www.rec.uk.com
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with the biggest crash in demand for staff in the 22-year history of the REC’s Report on Jobs, they’ve con nued to support the economy – and that role will become even more crucial as more work opens up. One Step Recruitment, and other firms like it, are now offering free CV and careers guidance to anyone that needs it. And, beyond that, Gordon Yates is just one business looking back over work it did as a partner to the government’s Job Search scheme – set up in response to unemployment in the wake of the financial crisis – to help prepare for what they could do again. Tony Wilson from the Ins tute of Employment Studies talks more about the role recruiters will play
in the recovery on p7, but when demand for jobs will massively outstrip supply, the recruitment industry is well placed to manage the return to work and provide a good candidate experience even when clients are faced with the challenges of ge ng back on their feet. When Richard Colwell, Managing Director of NAS Recruitment Services in Scotland, was charged with crea ng a pool of 120 people to cover expected staff ill-health at a supermarket chain, he was swamped with respondents from those who had recently lost their jobs. Each one of them s ll received a text to acknowledge their applica on and thank them for their interest, even though his own staff furloughs meant responses couldn’t be more personal. “Best prac ce becomes even more important in this kind of situa on,” he explains. One Step’s Tucke agrees: “Clients need to understand that ensuring good candidate experience will be really important for their brand. Engaging a recruitment partner who can manage the process from end to end will help deliver the best experience to applicants while finding the best staff to support the businesses. These are conversa ons recruiters should be having with clients and poten al clients now.” And as furloughed consultants return to aid the fight back, Colwell makes another relevant point: “They made a very important contribu on too – helping keep many recruitment companies stay with their heads above water.” Team spirit and resilience are words that crop up me and again as recruiters have faced the challenges of Covid-19 head on. Those quali es will see recruiters help the economy bounce back too. August-September 2020 Recruitment Ma ers
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Coronavirus Job Retenঞon Scheme
legal update Furlough scheme winds down By Bunmi Adefuye, Solicitor at REC
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er a high uptake of the Coronavirus Job Reten on Scheme (CJRS), Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed that the scheme will end in October. However there will be some changes before then: • Government contribu ons will gradually taper off • Employers will contribute to furloughed salaries from August • There will be improved flexibility to bring furloughed employees back part me, but the employer must pay for the hours worked and HMRC will meet the costs of the furloughed hours. Even though the final date for a new employee to be added to the CJRS was 10 June, this cutoff date will not apply if before this date the employee was on maternity, shared parental, adop on, paternity or parental
bereavement leave. The employer must have made a claim for that employee who was on their payroll on or before 19 March. Due to the large number of employees on furlough, the government held a consulta on in June on whether to allow HMRC to tax payments made under the CJRS and clawback monies paid: • to a non-eligible employer – even where an innocent mistake has been made • where the business is no longer en tled to make a claim
Your secret weapon
Are you wondering how to maximise the success of your recruitment business as the market recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic? Just harness your secret weapon – your personal impact. Impact is the contribu on you make towards the achievement of business outcomes, and it can be a powerful package based around five roles: The Game Changer – Crea ng original ideas The Strategist – Making sense of ideas The Implementer – Ge ng things done The Polisher – Making things brilliant The Play Maker – Bringing people together
The REC is helping members to understand the impact they make in partnership with The GC Index. To discover your impact, go to franklinhacke .co.uk/ recmembers 6
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• where the money was not used to pay furlough costs. The proposals also allow a penalty to be charged for deliberate misuse of the scheme or where the monies were not used for furlough. REC’s response highlights that imposing a penalty for a genuine mistake is unfair and the lack of clarity on guidance and other issues may result in employers inadvertently falling foul of the clawback mechanisms. The CJRS has helped a lot of businesses find their feet, minimise closures and keep people in jobs. However, it remains to be seen what will happen to businesses when the government’s rescue efforts through the CJRS ends in October. Keep an eye on the REC’s Covid-19 hub for the latest developments.
This table sets out the changes to government and business’ contribuঞons July August September Government contribu on: employer’s Yes No No NI and pension Government contribu on: monthly 80% up to 80% up to 70% up to wages £2,500 £2,500 £2,187.50 Employer contribu on: employer’s NI No Yes Yes and pension Employer contribu on: wages NA NA 10% up to £312.50 Employee receives monthly 80% up to 80% up to 80% up to £2,500 £2,500 £2,500
October No 60% up to £1,875 Yes 20% up to £625 80% up to £2,500
Understanding your impact will give you insight into how you make a difference beyond your skills, experience and professional style. It’s the things you have the most energy for which define how you contribute to the success of your business. At a me like this, recognising your impact allows you to focus on doing these things, so that you stay mo vated and produc ve. It also allows you to recognise what’s going on in those moments when you feel de-energised, unproduc ve and unfulfilled, so you can reach out to colleagues who can make a contribu on to complement yours.
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Inspiraঞon
Q&A
Behind the scenes with recruiters on the front line
Tony Wilson, Director of the Insঞtute of Employment Studies, on geমng to grips with the jobs crisis You’ve worked with the REC on a policy paper around what’s needed from government to get Britain back to work, but what is the scale of the employment challenge facing recruiters in the months ahead? We’ve already seen the largest rise in unemployment claimants in history – and changes in a couple of months that have taken a year or more in previous recessions. We’ve also got a huge number on furlough, and a high propor on of those include hospitality, retail, construc on and manufacturing workers. We can expect further unemployment as the scheme winds down. By the end of the year we could be pushing up to previously unimaginable numbers of 5 million unemployed. Together with the REC, we’ve called for the government to mobilise recruiters and recruitment services to help those out
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of work. What’s required is bread and bu er to recruiters – helping people to recognise their skills, how to look for work in a now predominantly online market, how to apply and prepare for work, and so on. And if we have a decent recovery, recruiters will have a lot of work to do with employers to understand their workforce needs and how to recruit and retain the right people.
What about the longer term? Delivering support services for the unemployed is going to be a massive part of the job – par cularly for the long-term unemployed, as numbers will reach record levels next year. But public employment services have been weak over the last decade in engaging with employers. We’re good at helping people who want jobs; we’re less good at helping jobs that want people. Recruiters can help to address that. Their role as consultants will also come
into play in encouraging employers to recognise the value in taking on young people, parents, those from black or minority ethnic groups, or those with a health condi on or impairment.
What lasঞng changes do you expect to see in pa erns of employment? The nature of this crisis is accelera ng changes in the economy – the use of technology for one. There’s a good chance government will throw a lot at the issue of unemployment, training and skills support and it will want to support job crea on in growth sectors, such as digital or green jobs, as well as social care. Recruiters are in a good place to join up the dots and help both employers and candidates understand the help available.
The REC campaigns on ‘making great work happen’. Is this sঞll relevant given the scale of the crisis and the urgency of geমng
people back to work? It’s more important than ever. In downturns, you always get a lot more temporary employment, low-paid roles, fewer hours. There’s not a lot we can do about pay – employers will have less money. But we can do things about quality and job security. Simple stuff like more no ce on shi cancella ons, guaranteed hours instead of zero hours, opening up company-wide training opportuni es and mentors to temporary workers. We can make work more enjoyable and rewarding. We’ve only just started hearing employers talk about the war on talent a er a long period when employers had the upper hand – and we’re going straight back to that being the case. It remains incumbent on all of us to make work be er. • Listen to more on this topic with Tony Wilson speaking to Neil Carberry as part of the REC’s Coronavirus Podcast Series.
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Diversity and inclusion
Black Lives Ma er The REC’s Stakeholder Engagement Manager, Ornella Nsio, on why the recruitment industry should shout the message from the roo ops The coronavirus pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on business ac vity across the UK. It hit fast, with permanent hiring and placements in temporary markets falling drama cally as soon as lockdown was announced. The next year is likely to be even more turbulent for the jobs market. Businesses will be recovering from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic and we’ll see the introduc on of major legisla ve changes too, from IR35 to the Brexit Immigra on Bill. In a climate with declining vacancies and rising candidate availability, promo ng diversity in recruitment may seem like a non-essen al add on to some, but in mes of crises diversity is a crucial survival tool.
The business case Research from McKinsey suggests that when companies invest in diversity and inclusion, they are in a be er posi on to create more adap ve and effec ve teams. Companies in the top quar le for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respec ve na onal industry medians. Furthermore according to the CBI, UK GDP could be boosted by £24 billion a year if the ethnicity pay gap was bridged. The business case for diversity and inclusion has always been clear and a major driver in companies inves ng in D&I ini a ves. Yet li le a en on has been given to the moral case for diversity, un l now.
The drive for change The re-emergence of the Black Lives Ma er (BLM) movement has sparked dialogue on
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the racial dispari es in the workplace and backlash towards businesses that lack racial diversity. Organisa ons with low numbers of black and ethnic minority employees (par cularly at senior and board level) have experienced social media push-back, boyco ng, and other reputa on-damaging ac vity. Company leaders have carried the weight of the scru ny. Businesses as a result have begun to examine the role that they play in promo ng racial equality in the workplace. This has led to increased inquiries from recruiters asking how they can promote diversity in their own organisa on and support their clients to do so. Good recruitment is the founda on upon which a fair and diverse organisa on can be built. By ge ng the fundamentals of recruitment right real strides can be made in racial equity in the labour market.
The labour market has performed incredibly well over the past few years leading to many businesses and recruiters relying on the same recruitment processes and tac cs. But these prac ces have helped to uphold the status quo and made it difficult for diverse talent to enter the workplace or gain promo ons. The current pause in the labour market has afforded recruiters and businesses the me to re-evaluate their recruitment processes, weeding out unconscious bias. Consumers in this new era have sent a clear message to businesses that diversity ma ers to them. As the market picks up, recruiters who have taken the me to re-evaluate their processes and develop new strategies, will have a compe ve advantage in this new era of social consciousness. Those recruiters who do nothing will struggle to compete.
Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2100, Customer Services: 020 7009 2100 Publishers: Redac ve Publishing Ltd, Level 5, 78 Chamber Street, London E1 8BL Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redac ve.co.uk Editorial: Editor Pip Brooking Pip.Brooking@rec.uk.com. Produc on Editor: Vanessa Townsend Producঞon: Produc on Execu ve: Rachel Young rachel.young@redac ve.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6209 Prinঞng: Printed by Precision Colour Prin ng © 2020 Recruitment Ma ers. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, neither REC, Redac ve 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 Redac ve Publishing Ltd. No responsibility can be accepted for unsolicited manuscripts or transparencies. No reproduc on in whole or part without wri en permission.
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