Jobs Outlook 2016 – Trends, Hiring Intentions & Predictions

JOBS OUTLOOK 2O16

With employer confidence definitely ‘up’ it’s estimated that over three quarters (76%) of employers are planning to increase their number of permanent workers in the next 12 months*

With 73.9% of 16-64 year olds in work, a rise of 505K this year, the outlook is most certainly encouraging for the UK workforce.

However, there is always a ‘BUT’ – the pace of growth has also brought with it certain challenges such as severe skill shortages in an increasing number of sectors, difficulty in attracting the right skills and gaps between hiring volume vs budgets.

*Following the latest Recruitment Industry Survey from the REC (Nov 2015) & ONS employment figures Nov 2015

HIRING INTENTIONS

What changes have you made to your workforce in the past year?

The proportion of employers that either increased pay or headcount in the previous year increased in October – up by 5 percentage points to 72%. Whilst reductions in pay and/or hours continue not to register amongst even 1% of UK employers, headcount freezes and redundancies do.

One in twenty-five employers actioned a headcount freeze whilst one in twenty made redundancies in the year to October.

In the next 3 months, do you think that your workforce will increase or decrease?

Whilst the number of employers suggesting that they will increase numbers rose by 5 percentage points, those planning a slight decrease reduced in number (from 10% in September to 5% in October).

The combined effect created a notable rise in the net balance of hiring intention – and a healthy 84% of employers plan to increase headcount over the next quarter.

In the next 4–12 months, do you think your permanent workforce will increase or decrease?

The hiring outlook for February to October 2016 remains encouraging, with over three quarters (76%) of employers planning to add to permanent worker numbers.

With just 1% of employers planning to release workers to any great extent – and just 5% planning to decrease numbers slightly – robust retention strategies will become critical as activities will intensify to encourage existing workers to move.

*Following the latest Recruitment Industry Survey from the REC (November 2015)

TRENDS

“Relationships are at the core” according to Linkedin Global Recruiting Trends 2016* Key Takeaways from the survey:

39% agree quality of hire is the most valuable metric for performance
26% consider employee referral programs to be a long-lasting trend
32% say employee retention is a top priority over the next 12 months
59% are investing more in their employer brand compared to last year

For more information on Linkedin Global Recruiting Trends 2016

BIGGEST CHALLENGES

The gap between hiring volume and budget is a continuous struggle, and their aligned movement indicates that this trend isn’t going away anytime soon.
Recruiting key talent for growing businesses in 2016 will be one of the major challenges faced by hiring teams and SME’s.
This imbalance prevents organizations from overcoming obstacles or transforming their talent strategies
With high employment and severe skill shortages in certain sectors, companies will need to define bespoke talent attraction and selection strategies to address demand. Skills Shortages include: Information Technology; Digital; Construction; Engineering; Health & Medical; Teaching; Accountancy & Finance

PREDICTIONS

Recruiting talented workers will be the biggest challenge for HR in 2016, according to a new report. The report, conducted by telecommunications company Powwownow, interviewed over 500 UK professionals.

The survey looked at the past few months as well as questioning them about the upcoming year, asking the people polled to make some educated business predictions.

The report found that a shocking 36% of respondents believe that sourcing and hiring skilled employees will pose the biggest challenge in 2016.

A further 44.5% claimed that they would be investing more in graduate schemes in an attempt to plug the burgeoning skills gap

Another 38.8% admitted that they planned on adapting remote working schemes for employees in the future.

The use of Social Media to recruit and equally to search for jobs will almost certainly be increasingly popular in 2016. That’s great if you have the knowhow and resource.

With an increase of 9.7% of permanent and temporary workers being placed by recruitment agencies in the UK 2014/15, recruiters are now more internet savvy than ever and have the advanced level skills to recruit in a challenging market. And more now than ever, companies will need to pull on this extra knowhow to keep ahead of their competitors.

For value-driven recruitment advice contact King Recruit.

Web: www.kingrecruit.com

Email: enquiries@kingrecruit.com

Telephone: 01392 877891

Management & Executive Recruitment Specialists in the South West.