UK Labour Market changes and their effect on Recruitment

Our award-winning ethical and inclusive recruitment agency understands that employers are facing a recruitment challenge through a series of social and pollical events. From Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic to more recently the war in Ukraine and the wider humanitarian crisis conflicts bring, we asked some of our key employers across Greater Manchester about how these are impacting their business and more specifically, the recruitment challenges these bring.

In an independent poll, we posed the question:

Do you think the UK labour market has changed significantly due to factors such as Brexit, Covid and the Conflict in Ukraine?

Our poll results skewed 95% Yes to 5% No, with 40 people in total taking part.

A Candidate’s Market

Due to both Brexit and Covid, we found that a lot of people left the UK. There are more jobs than candidates now, and companies are increasing their pay rates to attract talent, which is in effect, making it harder for smaller businesses to recruit staff.

In the UK there are skills shortages across all roles, whether an employer is seeking a cleaner or a senior manager. Aspire Recruitment plans to be creative on how we engage with applicants who might not currently be in the labour market. The challenges UK employers face over the next 2-3 years will mean higher attrition, higher wages and employers will have to spend more on recruiting the right talent at the right time.

Home Working and its Impact

We have all seen both the advantages and disadvantages working from home has had. It’s better for the environment, provides a better work/life balance in many cases, and can save people money on costly commutes. However, with less people travelling into towns and city centres five days a week, many businesses are feeling the impact of this shift.

As a result, we have seen a surge in candidates seeking home working or hybrid roles, and although there are employers who are open minded to this, we have found there are applicants who are qualifying themselves out of job roles as they are not flexible on location, salary or whether they can work from home. Although it is a candidate-driven market, there is still a huge level of competition when applying for job roles and having unrealistic expectations can be a massive reservation for an employer.

What do employers want?

Employers are eager to secure and retain talent. However, having the confidence to push back on salary, terms or location can at times be challenging. When working with us at Aspire Recruitment, we would manage this process to ensure all applicants have a level playing field, we negotiate on behalf of candidates and work hard to ensure employers get the best talent from the market, and in turn, candidates will secure a role which meets their needs at a competitive rate.

The question which most employers are facing is “how can we get the best talent for the best price?” We asked Frank Kinrade, Recruitment and Placement Consultant, for his take on the changes to the UK Labour Market:

“Across my seventeen years of working in recruitment, I have faced staffing and industry challenges, from the financial crash in 2008, Brexit, Covid and now the war in Ukraine, the world is facing unprecedented challenges in meeting service demands, cutting costs, and delivering services. We are all going to face higher costs over the coming years, and with a looming recession, there has never been a better time to secure the right talent to ensure your service delivery expectations and targets are met.”

If you are looking to recruit to your business, contact our team who will work with you to identify the best talent and how to recruit them.