A report from Monster has suggested that the hiring outlook in the UK for the remainder of 2022 is positive, with 90 per cent of UK employers planning to recruit this year, up from 66 per cent in 2021. However challenges, including skills shortages, threaten to disrupt the future of work. Monster believes that this reflects an adjustment to a country no longer bound by Covid regulations and growing optimism in the economy, despite current uncertainties.
Monster’s annual Future of Work survey, undertaken in conjunction with independent research firm Dynata, is this year split into three volumes. This first report, “Flexible Future: UK Hiring Outlook 2022” focuses on the hiring outlook and the return to work in the UK in 2022. The survey of over 400 UK recruitment, talent acquisition, and HR professionals aims to understand their current situation and their plans for the future across a range of sectors and shows that almost half of medium size businesses are planning to hire. The survey covers every generation of workers, decision makers and users.
“The survey highlights some important lessons for recruiters,” said Claire Barnes, Monster’s chief human capital officer. “The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed how, where and when we work, and recruiters need to catch up.”
Flexible Future: UK Hiring Outlook 2022 lays bare the reality that flexible work is here to stay. Regardless of sector or specialty, the survey shows that there are five things every recruiter needs to put into practice to succeed:
• Employers are having to change how and where they advertise, interview and recruit to attract new talent. Increasing workplace flexibility, upping wages and expanding location searches are all strategies they anticipate will help them secure the staff they need
• Improve recruitment offers by providing flexible working options where possible
• Increase the attractiveness of roles by adding extras, including training and development, bonuses and benefits
• Embrace the opportunities provided by flexible working and cast your net wider by opening up opportunities to those outside your immediate area
• Highlight willingness to consider transferable skills in job adverts, and develop mechanisms to assess them
Recruiters need to accept that recruitment will take longer and cost more, but should be assured that the talent is out there.”
The new jobs will be split fairly evenly between those replacing staff (47 per cent) and those hiring for new roles (43 per cent).
One hundred per cent of company decision-makers are very confident (60 per cent) or somewhat confident (40 per cent) that they will secure the talent they are searching for. Unfortunately, that optimism isn’t shared by those who post the positions, with only 43 per cent very confident – interestingly, there is a disconnect between the attitude of actual users of recruitment services – those who post the jobs and search the CVs – compared to that of the company decision makers.
“It could be that decision makers have a more strategic and longer-term view, or, on the other hand, it may be that the end users are at the coalface and are ahead of the curve in understanding the market,” commented Barnes.
2021’s top hiring challenge “finding candidates with the skills that I need” remains, but has risen significantly from 34 per cent of employers in 2021 to a majority (51 per cent) in 2022. This is closely followed by the challenge of meeting candidates’ work-life balance expectations increasing from 28 per cent to 50 per cent between last year and this year. However, both have been overtaken by recruiters finding it difficult to get people to work in-person and on-site, suggesting candidate demand for remote work may outstrip supply. Those planning to offer fully remote work (76 per cent) have the greatest confidence, while those hiring for onsite work are only “somewhat confident” (63 per cent).
Claire Barnes explained, “This may reflect the fact that companies offering remote work have a much bigger talent pool to draw from, both nationally and internationally, but may also reflect an increased preference by employees for remote work.”
The Future is Hybrid
Monster UK’s research shows that 68 per cent of candidates want to work flexibly, with 43 per cent wanting hybrid work and 25 per cent wanting fully remote working. In response, 76 per cent of companies are offering hybrid or remote positions. Across all those questioned, some 60 per cent will continue with hybrid working this year, while 16 per cent will be fully virtual and just 21 per cent will require their employees to be fully on-site. The survey found that 76 per cent of recruiters advertising for fully remote roles are confident of hiring the right talent, while 63 per cent of recruiters are “somewhat confident” of filling full-time on-site roles.
57 per cent of employers surveyed say working some days from home is negotiable, rising to 70 per cent in the technology sector. 48 per cent of employers believe that flexible work options help them to retain talent and that allowing employees flexible working schedules has worked well. 47 per cent of companies hiring in the UK believe that offering flexible work options gives them a recruiting advantage.
More details of Monster’s research can be downloaded here https://bit.ly/FlexibleFuture22
