Eloise’s June 2021 News – Recruitment Demand, HR Matters, Diversity, Menopause

Hello and welcome to June

We all know the weather has been rubbish for this time of year but actually writing ‘welcome to June’ whilst sat typing wrapped in a jumper, next to a window covered in rain, really highlights it. What’s going on? There is apparently sun on the way, so it might even be shining on you whilst you’re reading this – fingers crossed! (UPDATE: from the time of writing to the actual upload of the blog post the sun has made an appearance in a spectacular fashion! It’s almost been too hot. Ha!)

The end of restrictions

The final month of quarter 2 is upon us. The UK is returning to the life we remember from 2019. We’ll hear in a week or so if we’re still on track for the next step of the government plan on 21st June. This is the big one, the complete end of restrictions. I wonder if we’ll get a new step added in and the 21st will be pushed back slightly though – we’ll find out soon.

Last month I said about checking in on your team members because some will be finding the easing of restrictions hard. For those who are, it is a good plan to encourage them to try things outside of normal times.

For example, if someone is anxious about returning to the office, allow them to pop in when it would usually be closed. Let them get reacquainted with their journey, parking and the office environment when there are less people around. 15 months is a long time to have been away from something. And remember, people might not offer the information to you that they are concerned about returning to the office or the future.

Recruitment market

The overwhelming outlook from the monthly KPMG UK Report on Jobs, is that we’re seeing a 23 year high in demand. This is great news and shows the confidence UK business have in the market again.

Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the REC, said:

“The jobs market is improving at one of the fastest rates we have ever seen, and that’s great news. We are bouncing back from a record low – and many people are still struggling – but the data shows that job creation is firing up again. This month’s numbers for permanent hiring are the best we’ve seen since the survey started in 1997. Temporary hiring has chalked up its ninth straight month of growth, demonstrating again how important temporary agency work is to get families and businesses back on their feet.”

Candidate supply however, isn’t as fruitful. Reduced available candidates in the market have been attributed to previous uncertainty preventing people from seeking new roles. Good news for talent retention but tricky if you’re recruiting.

The knock-on effect of this is a rise in starting salaries across permanent and temporary roles. This is something to consider when recruiting. Any roles you are trying to fill need to be highly attractive from lots of different angles to get people interested. There are some tips for this in my post from last month.

HR matters

There is a huge amount of pressure on HR teams and lots of focus on employee engagement right now as the UK transitions from predominantly home working.

I ran a single question survey with my two Facebook business groups last month (HRHuddle and Business Growth Community) to find out what the main issues facing HR professionals are at the moment.

The question was ‘what is the single biggest HR challenge your business is facing right now?’.

The highest-ranking answer was ‘being overworked and under-resourced’.

And it’s no surprise to hear. After a whirlwind 2020 and into 2021, there has been incredible pressure on HR professionals. From managing remote employee engagement and facilitating home working, to furlough, redundancies, complicated payroll changes, and introducing new technology. It has been relentless.

All of this, whilst managing their own mental health, homeschooling, remote working, and morale.

The joint second most popular responses were:

  • People not wanting to come back into the office to work
  • Recruitment / recruiting the right people

With the first of these, people not wanting to go back into offices, I think it’s important for any business to be getting feedback from their teams. What are people thinking, what’s working for them, what’s not? This is an opportunity for all of us to shape the workplaces and businesses of the future. And this might not be working from an office Monday to Friday 9-5 pm.

And with recruitment, let me and Vanilla help you.

It takes time to headhunt, find new candidates and get in touch with past contacts and candidates. It takes time to qualify applicants, do telephone interviews and shortlist. This is time HR professionals are telling us they don’t have. Me and my team do. We are here to support you with this. We are here to make recruiting easier for you and get you a better result.

The time you can save by getting us involved in your recruitment means you can focus on the other challenges you are facing. And its risk-free – if you don’t take on one of our candidates you don’t owe us a penny. So, it’s well worth giving us a try.

Diversity in the workplace

Last month’s HRHuddle, welcomed guest speaker Dana James-Edwards. She was amazing; so upbeat, so engaging, so interesting. It really was a fantastic session.

Dana is a diversity, inclusion & belonging specialist. She is often known as ‘Diversity Dana’. And this is actually the name of her training and consultancy business (https://www.linkedin.com/in/diversitydana).

She works with businesses to help them be inclusive and diverse. To help them understand what this really means and the benefits.

In our session she spoke about her personal journey working in the UK having moved here as a graduate from the Caribbean. Hearing her experiences and how she has used those to shape her own business I believe is a must-listen.

There are things in there that you won’t have thought about as being non-inclusive. Things that can be easily adapted.

She then introduced us to her ‘secret sauce’. The ingredients that all go into creating an inclusive and diverse workforce. It’s not just one or two things and it’s not a box-ticking exercise. It’s about creating an environment where people can bring their true selves to work, knowing they are valued for being them. Feeling like they belong.

This is so important. And it’s not just about gender or race. It’s also about disabilities, neurodiversity, sexuality, age, background, education and much more.

I encourage all of you to take the time to watch this session with Dana.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmPG6gJSgA0

We’re welcoming an apprentice

As a recruiter, I am very keen and get a lot of joy from helping start the careers of young people. Helping to nurture someone with very little work experience and see them blossom is a fantastic thing.

Pre Covid, I’d been looking at taking on an apprentice, but I had to put those plans on hold for a while. It was a shame to have to do so because young people have really taken an employment hit during the pandemic. So many have been made redundant, long term furloughed or have simply not had available opportunities to apply for.

Roughly 8 weeks ago I decided the time was right to kick my plan off again. Working with a specialist apprenticeship recruiter, Salad Skills, we have advertised, shortlisted, held an assessment centre and have now made a job offer.

If you are thinking about taking on an apprentice, it is a great time to because there are also some increased government incentives available for businesses until the end of September 2021.

I’m looking forward to introducing our new starter over the coming months.

Menopause and the workplace

I know some of you will have just seen ‘that’ word and decided this bit isn’t for you. But this is a hot topic (excuse the pun) right now and one that everyone needs to understand and have an awareness of.

All women will go through this. That’s 50% of the population. Most of those women will be in employment when it happens. The symptoms can impact heavily on how a woman functions day to day.

So, like the session from Dana, I would also encourage you all; men and women of all ages, to watch Davina McCall: Sex, Myths and the Menopause. It’s enough of an introduction to highlight some of the challenges facing women as they go through this stage in their lives. The next HR Huddle webinar will be on this topic and supporting businesses on how they can enhance their organisations performance alongside their employee’s wellbeing.

There are also some fantastic resources online to help you as a business support those women. This is a great place to start – CIPD: The menopause at work: guidance for people professionals.

That’s it for another month

Please do take the time the time to watch Dana and Davina. I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

Have a great month

Eloise

PS If you’ve not already done so check out the ‘The State Of Recruitment Report 2021’ to see what impact has COVID-19 had on the recruitment market in the East Midlands?

We recruit throughout the East Midlands covering Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Rutland and the surrounding areas, especially Market Harborough, Lutterworth, Leicester, Corby and Kettering. We help people find their perfect job and match suitable jobseekers with businesses looking to hire the best candidates across our five specialisms – Sales, Marketing, Accountancy & Finance, HR and Office

Please find below some helpful links:

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