Eloise’s December 2022 News – Recruitment, Minimum Wage, Autumn Statement, Top Blog, Top Temps
Hello and welcome to December
December, already. And what a year it’s been. Coming out of covid restrictions. Losing the Queen and gaining a King. Constant changes in government, global issues, and cost of living crisis. We seem to roll from one unprecedented ‘once in a lifetime’ event straight into another.
I think what we’re all craving right now is ‘normal’, ‘boring’ even. A few months of nothing happening. A time when we all take a breath and just exist for a bit. A large-scale tea break.
At this time of year, I always talk about supporting each other. December and January can be difficult months for people. But with everything that’s happened this year and is predicted for 2023, we really need to be looking out for one another.
There has been lots of research done about the deepening mental health crisis. The article I’ll reference in a moment, says that 8 million people in the UK were prescribed antidepressants in 2022. There are 68.7 million people in the UK, 41.5 million of those are over 16. This means nearly 20% of people over 16 have been prescribed antidepressants this year. It’s crazy.
Let’s encourage talking and sharing even more than usual this winter.
Read more here: https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/uk-facing-a-mental-health-recession-5059073/
The recruitment market
The recruitment market is looking how we’d expect for this time of year and with talk of a recession looming. Although the demand for staff continued to increase in November, the rate of growth in vacancy numbers has softened. The numbers were the weakest since February 2021.
Candidate availability has also dropped, with people more reluctant to seek out new roles with the backdrop of economic uncertainty and run up to Christmas.
With this in mind, we do still expect to see the usual increase in activity in January. Businesses have got by with less staff this side of Christmas, but the New Year will see those jobs come to the market. And I expect people will do the usual ‘toe dip’ to see what jobs are available. So, we should see a slight increase in candidate availability.
The key in January is going to be all about timing. Having your jobs already available on the job boards for when people have downtime over Christmas is essential to not miss the surge in people having a look.
Boxing Day sees the most hits on Rightmove of the year and this is because people have been in their houses for a couple of days. They start thinking about a move and what else is out there. This same headspace sparks thoughts of moving jobs. And they’ll be browsing the job boards whilst they have time. I expect Boxing Day, bank holiday Tuesday and the rest of that week will see a surge in hits on jobs boards. So, get your New Year roles ready and advertised in time.
And then when you get applicants coming through, speed will be of the essence. If candidates are nervous about moving, you need to tie them down quickly if you want them. Making them wait and keeping them hanging will almost certainly rule them out.
Ideas to help your recruitment
I’ve written loads about 4-day weeks in the past, so I’m always interested to hear more about trials and outcomes in the UK market. Well… there are now lots of UK businesses moving to a 4-day week. And mainly on the same pay, just fewer hours – not the same hours squeezed into 4 days.
The results are looking in favour of increased productivity, retention, and increased employee happiness.
Could this work for your business? It would certainly be a way of boosting your recruitment outcomes. With a selection of roles in front of someone, which are they going to prioritise?
If you want to read more about this, here are a couple of articles:
Increase to the minimum wage
The minimum wage – known officially as the National Living Wage – will be increasing from 1 April 2023 as part of Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement to help workers cope with rising prices.
The changes are:
- National Living Wage for over-23s: £9.50 to £10.42 an hour
- National Minimum Wage for those aged 21-22: £9.18 to £10.18
- National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20-year-olds: £6.83 to £7.49
- National Minimum Wage for under-18s: £4.81 to £5.28
- The Apprentice rate: £4.81 to £5.28
The apprentice rate applies to people aged under 19 or people over 19 in the first year of their apprenticeship.
The Autumn Statement
Talking about Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement and the changes to the minimum wage, there were a whole host of changes to get our heads around.
Some of the more notable changes are:
National insurance – the three main tax rates remain unchanged until 2028 (20p basic, 40p higher and 45p additional rate – with the first £12,570 of income tax-free and the 40% rate starting at £50,270). However, he did lower the £150,000 threshold at which Britons started paying the top rate of 45%. This moves to £125,140 – which will add 250k additional people into that top bracket, a tax increase for those on high incomes.
The Dividend Allowance has been reduced. Dividend tax rates have stayed the same: 8.75% for basic-rate taxpayers, 33.75% for higher-rate and 39.35% for additional-rate. But the Dividend Allowance has been reduced from £2,000 to £1,000 from April 2023, and to £500 from April 2024.
The changes are arguably needed, however, things like the change in the minimum wage are a double-edged sword. Whilst it will be welcomed by those on the lowest wages, it could provide to be tough for small businesses already struggling with increased energy costs.
Our blog is going places…
A little bit of Vanilla self-love now… I’m very excited that we have been included in the UK ‘Top 20 Recruitment Blogs of 2022’ by Moneyzine.com!!!!
As you hopefully know, I write this post for our Vanilla blog every month. I cover news about the recruitment market and topics like, what’s going on in business, leadership, and HR. Plus, as a team, we also add other blog posts and content related to recruitment.
To have our effort highlighted in this way is just fantastic.
Read about our accolade here: https://www.vanillarecruitment.co.uk/recruitment-news/vanilla-included-in-top-20-recruitment-blogs-of-2022/
When I first started writing my monthly blog, many years ago now, I was very nervous about doing it. I wasn’t sure what to include. I didn’t know if anyone would read it. I was questioning if I would be able to make time for it every month and be consistent. I was coming up with reasons not to take the plunge to just do it. Fortunately, my marketing contact gave me a good talking to.
And now it’s become a great time for both monthly reflection and forward planning. A time when I take myself out of my day-to-day and away from my to-do list and take time to look at the bigger picture and my business. To think about how things are going and what to plan for.
I would recommend writing a monthly blog to anyone now! I’m always looking for feedback and contributors, drop me a line if you’d like to get involved.
If you don’t currently receive our monthly content directly to your inbox, sign up to our ‘client news’ here: https://www.vanillarecruitment.co.uk/vanilla-newsletter/
Temp of the Month
We are relaunching our Temp of the Month Award and I’d like to invite you to get involved.
Our temps do an amazing job for a wide range of clients in the area. They are some of the most flexible and hardworking people and we want to recognise that every month.
So, if you have a Vanilla temporary worker on assignment, or who has just completed an assignment, who you think has gone above and beyond or exceeded expectations in any way. You can nominate them to receive our Temp of the Month Award.
To do this just let Jodie know who you’d like to nominate and why, by the 30th of the month, and they’ll be eligible for the award. Our chosen temp will then receive a prize and a certificate that we will deliver to them on assignment. We’ll then share their success on our socials and blog.
It’s simple to get involved and it could make someone’s day.
And finally, put a face to a name
And finally, we had some new team photos taken the other day. Unfortunately, Sarah Clarke wasn’t able to be in the office that day. But you can put a face to some names. On the website we have our new headshots, and here are the best of our group shots…
Top row – left to right: Sarah Gough, Juliette Cox, Jamini Rainford, me (Eloise Shelton) | On the sofa – left to right: Kate Goodman, Charlene Bennett, Waffles the dog, Jodie Clements
And that’s it for another month
I’d like to personally wish you a calm and happy festive period. It’s not an easy time for everyone. Let’s be mindful and support each other as much as we can.
I hope you have a very happy and relaxed Christmas with the people you love.
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
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