How to stay ahead of the constantly changing HR industry

The HR industry is forever changing. There’s a steady stream of new employment laws to consider and updates on best practice to be kept on top of. As a recruitment agency we make it our mission to stay abreast of changes in employment, as we know it’s what affects our clients on a day-to-day basis. Of course, it also ensures that we do our job well too.

The past few months have been no exception to rule that HR is a constantly fluctuating industry. We’ve seen flexible working laws undergo huge changes and debates over zero hour contracts have received a lot of media attention.

In the last week alone there has been talk about employers discriminating against tattooed employees: the BBC covered a magazine story asking, Should tattoo discrimination be made illegal? The article mentions several cases in which employees claim to have been denied a job or dismissed from a current position because of their body art.

Although this is just one example in the press, we’ve seen many different case studies crop up recently with regards to employment law. The Recruitment & Employment Confederation recently featured several court cases that may affect the law with regards to holiday pay.

Evidently, there are always cases that spark debate over employment law. As hirers and HR professionals you will want to find out more about the stand out cases, which may effect how you employ staff in the future.

Similarly, new trends in work culture or the hiring process crop up all the time – and as a consequence they bring questions about whether these trends are compliant with the law. Again, it’s a process that the hirers and HR professionals need to stay ahead of: for example, one of our recent Lunch & Learn sessions focussed on the rising trend for using social media in the hiring process. We covered topics on whether it was ethical, within the law and how it can be done effectively.

Aside from keeping up with employment law case studies and changes to work cultures, there are a few other simple steps you can make that can help you stay ahead:

-       Network: Speaking to other professionals in the same field as you will help you to pick up on what the industry is talking about. Ask what other hirers have found challenging in the last six months: has auto-enrollment been a difficulty? Have they used social media when hiring? Have they seen an increase in flexible working requests?

-       Research: There are plenty of resources online, which will help HR professionals pick up on the latest ‘buzz’ surrounding recruitment. The REC blog is a fantastic place to start, with topics from recruiting women in senior leadership roles right through to the nitty-gritty subjects such as, “should commission payments be taken into consideration when calculating holiday pay?”. Other blogs that are worth a read include: UndercoverRecruiter, for something a little more light-hearted, and the LinkedInTalent Blog.

-       Speak with your recruitment agency: A good recruitment agency will be dedicated to staying in touch with their clients, and willing to help when they can with questions regarding employment. When you’re looking for a new recruit, speak to your agency about any concerns you may have and ask their advice on hiring issues you’ve had in the past.

-       Keep on top of your sector’s news: This is especially important for HR professionals in specialist industries. There will be different recruitment concerns depending on what industry you’re working in. Look in trade magazines and online for specific advice like this article in the Morning Advertiser, targeted at hiring in the hospitality sector: “Holiday entitlement - a pub employersguide”.

-       Make the most of industry events: Attending industry events can be a huge help to hirers. Not only do they provide you with an ideal networking opportunity, they will also provide you with the opportunity to take part in discussions and listen to presentations from industry-leaders. In fact, our Employment Law Seminar, in partnership with Hegarty LLP Solicitors, is a great example of such an event. This year’s Employment Law Seminar’s agenda is as follows:

o   Martin Bloom, partner at Hegarty’s LLP Solicitors, will tackle the employment law issues surrounding open plan working.

o   Emma Carter, solicitor, will be looking into some case studies from the past 12 months and reviewing the implications these case studies may have for your business.

o   Tim Thompson, partner, will be explaining the intricacies of flexible working and zero hour contracts.

Why not make it your goal to stay well ahead of the changing industry? Hopefully these tips will give you a great starting point. If you would like to attend the Breakfast Employment Law Seminar on the 9^th September, we would be delighted to have you. Simply email us on info@annecorder.co.uk or call 01733 235298 to register your interest.

WHY THE ‘JOB FOR LIFE’ CONCEPT IS FADING FAST

Our last blog focused on the right to request flexible working and the impact this was likely to have on both employers and employees. Inextricably linked with any discussion on this new piece of legislation is a wider comment on our ever-evolving workforce and its changing attitude and behaviours towards traditional employment processes.

Not only are we seeing an increasing number of employees and jobseekers looking for variability in roles, but also in employers themselves. Studies have shown that people new to the job market are rarely looking to find a ‘job for life’, favouring instead jobs that suit their lifestyle at the time. And with skill shortages becoming a major problem for employers in certain industries, there are a selection of jobseekers out there whose attributes are so in demand that they can afford to be picky about where they choose to work.

So the first important message for employers here is: make yourself an employer of choice. We shared our ideas on how to best do this back in 2013 for our regular business surgery column contribution and much of what we covered still stands true. What the past 12 months has taught us instead is how the modern employee approaches the ‘work-life balance’ quest, and how much more they now expect from an employer.

Allegis Global Solutions wrote a fascinating blog on this very topic, hitting the nail on the head with the following statement:

“The modern candidate wants an organisation to serve as a talent platform that allows them to fulfil their potential and are happy to move on to a different employer once they feel they have achieved this. You only have to look at the growing prominence of the contingent workforce for evidence of this change.”

Some see this is as a fickle attitude to have, but it is one that unfortunately has been borne out of the impact of the recession, with the millennial generation of workers having entered the job market at a time of instability and uncertainty. Now, as employer confidence grows, businesses must acknowledge that the ‘job for life’ mentality is no longer adopted by the majority of jobseekers, and so must adapt their offering to give and get the most out of employees within a more realistic timeframe.

With research from the New College of Humanities revealing that a staggering 19 out of 20 graduates now change jobs at least once in the first three years after graduating from university, it certainly gives weight to what has been discussed so far. The NCH research is the most recent in statistical reports on this topic, and it shows that career changing goes well beyond the first job. With a third blaming financial reasons for such rapid job-hopping and two fifths looking to gain new skills and experience from different positions, it reinforces the attitudinal change hinted at earlier in on this post.

Also testament to this is the advice that is being given to ‘modern’ jobseekers. Gone are the days where CVs are strictly templated with the main focus on a person’s qualifications. Our latest candidate newsletter tells jobseekers not to hide their personality, focus less on their educational background and more on ‘telling their story’ i.e giving greater prominence to personal achievements and examples of use of skills in real life circumstances. A good personality fit is now much higher up an employer’s tick list when recruiting for new staff, and has become an increasingly important part of the client briefs the team have been dealing with recently.

The decline of the ‘job for life’ is another intriguing and unpredictable way in which our industry continues to surprise and challenge us  - our job is to learn to adapt and move forward accordingly to make life for our clients and candidates as easy as possible.

RIGHT TO REQUEST FLEXIBLE WORKING

There was much media buzz surrounding the new rules concerning flexible working that came into place on June 30^th 2014. Questions were raised, predictions made and debates ensued. Understandably so, of course, given the rather large leap this piece of legislation has made as opposed to a slow burn of gradual change typical of so many other aspects of employment law.

What I mean by this, is rather than steadily increasing the minority of people who could request flexible work group by group, the government has decided that it will be a universal right for all workers, and in so doing completely eliminating the strict criteria that controlled this area previously. While on the surface this will be seen as a coup for employees, it is also a shrewd move for employers, as a rule for all reduces the risk of discrimination claims that could potentially be brought against them.

Nonetheless, there is a set of legal requirements that both employees and employers must follow under the new ruling. ACAS, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service has helpfully issued a code outlining what ‘must’ lawfully be done, and what steps ‘should’ be taken in order to maintain best practice at all times during the request process.

The rules for employees are as follows:

Any employee with 26 weeks or more continuous service has the statutory right to ask to work flexibly. This type of request can only be made once within any 12-month period and must state if and when they have made a previous application for flexible working. The request must be in writing, dated appropriately, and should outline the change to working conditions the employee is seeking, including the date they would the proposed new working pattern to begin.

In making their request, the employee must also consider how the employer will be affected with regards to the role itself, the impact on other team members as well as the wider department/organisation. The employee should also present thoughts on how this could be addressed by the employer.

The rules for employers are as follows:

All written requests must be carefully considered, and meetings should be set up to discuss the request with the employee further if necessary. If a meeting does take place, good employment practice would recommend that you allow the employee to be accompanied by a work colleague for this and any subsequent appeal discussion. The discussion should enable you to get a better idea of exactly what changes they are looking for and consider how this might mutually benefit your business and the employee.

During the deliberation period, employers should carefully weigh up the pros and cons for both parties, but particularly focusing on the likely impact, consequences and repercussions the requested change would have on the business in general.

If you reject the request it must be for one of the business reasons set out in the legislation, as below:

-       the burden of additional costs

-       an inability to reorganise work amongst existing staff

-       an inability to recruit additional staff

-       detrimental impact on quality

-       detrimental impact on performance

-       detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand

-       insufficient work for the periods the employee proposes to work

-       a planned structural change to your business

Employees can appeal rejections, and it remains within the employer’s duty to allow and enable this to happen. Furthermore, all requests and their appeals have to be considered and a decision made within the first three months of receipt.

Hegarty LLP Solicitors’ Partner Martin Bloom wrote a business surgery column on this topic from a legal perspective, which can be read here on the Peterborough Telegraph website. Fellow Partner Tim Thompson will be discussing the theme of flexible working at our upcoming Employment Law Seminar, which is taking place at Peterborough Arena on Tuesday 9^th September.

For more information about any of the above, feel free to drop us an email at info@annecorder.co.uk

QUEEN’S SPEECH IS ‘REASSURING’ FOR THE RECRUITMENT INDUSTRY

Leading industry bodies have breathed a collective sigh of relief in response to the last Queen’s Speech ahead of next year’s general election. Matters discussed in the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday were as expected, revealing some positive news for recruiters and UK businesses.

Plans outlined by the Government on pensions, zero hours and National Insurance contributions all demonstrated a step in the right direction and have been welcomed by professional bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill proposes to make life easier for small business starts ups, giving them fairer access to financial support as well as a share of the money spent on public procurement contracts. Measures to reduce bureaucracy will also be taken, and transparency around business ownership will be strengthened through the introduction of a public register of beneficial shareholders.

This corporate ownership bill should help to crack down on rogue traders, by increasing the fines on employers who abuse national minimum wage, and lengthening the time period for which they can be disqualified.

Exclusivity clauses are to be banned in order to make zero hours contracts much clearer for the employee. Such a ban has been declared as the most appropriate solution to the concerns raised, as it focuses specifically on poor practise as opposed to discrediting flexible work altogether.

It is nevertheless necessary, with a recent CIPD survey showing that nearly half of zero hours workers have had scheduled work cancelled without any forewarning, while a quarter say that even when their primary employer doesn’t have hours available, they are prohibited from finding work elsewhere.

Conversely, levels of job satisfaction amongst zero hours workers are comparable to that of the average UK employee – a stat that is regularly used in defence of the contracts. We blogged about this back when the debate at its peak, you can find it here.

The Modern Slavery Bill aims to help businesses be aware of and report on activities across their whole supply chain by insisting on a top down management process. This will work in cohesion with a wider, simplified criminal system in order to secure more convictions and make the protection of victims a main focus.

The National Insurance Contributions Bill will focus on the self-employed in particular by simplifying the collection of class 2 NICs. Powers will be given to Revenue and Customs to enforce payments in cases of tax avoidance, along with the introduction of rules to ascertain which arrangements are designed to avoid, and which are to minimise payments.

Terry Scuoler, chief executive of EEF, the manufacturers' organisation, welcomed the policies what he said were "a number of pro-growth and pro-work policies".

He said: "The government must now keep momentum going for the next 11 months and not stall just as the economy is beginning to motor.

"It is also essential that the legislation proposed does not load any extra burdens on to employers, or remove their ability to recruit and employ in a flexible way to suit their business."

NEW CHALLENGE FOR EMPLOYERS IN IMPROVING JOBS MARKET

There is some really positive news on the jobs front.

A monthly survey that tracks employment trends suggests that eight out of ten employers are planning to hire more people in the next three months.

The JobsOutlook survey, carried out by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) suggested that demand is increasing from a quarter or employers at the turn of the year to a third of employers surveyed last month.

Employers nationally are also expressing concern over skills shortages with one in five predicting a problem finding the right people to fill technical and engineering roles.

This national trend is mirrored locally.  The recently published Greater Peterborough Business Survey of 200 companies revealed that a third of businesses expected to recruit in the next 12 months.  And 21% of respondents to the local survey expressed concern that there was a shortage of specialist skilled staff in their sector.

The REC describe their latest survey results as the most promising since 2009 and advise companies to ensure their hiring processes are right to ensure they attract the right quality of candidates.

There is little doubt that employers need to plan ahead and act quickly and decisively when looking to recruit as candidate shortages will increase in the coming months.  All companies and organisations will need to work harder to win over and retain talented people.

We would suggest that companies need to:

• assess their business plans for the coming months in order to plan ahead
• allow ample lead time for a comprehensive recruitment campaign with realistic timescales when hiring
• improve the candidate experience
• review their recruitment processes to ensure they are fit for purpose
• review salary and benefits packages to ensure they are competitive to tempt talent – by using the ACR salary survey
• position themselves as employers of choice
• sell their own business to would-be employees

It is really important to remember that recruitment is a two-way process.  You may be choosing a candidate but the candidate is also making a decision about the employer.  Do you value well-being? Do you have a gym? Do you offer flexible working? Do you support a good work/life balance? It’s not just about the salary package.

Flexible benefits packages are also becoming increasingly popular, where candidates can pick and choose the package elements that suits them best.

Many companies are looking to use the increasing flow of graduates.  High Fliers Research suggests that some of the country’s biggest employers like Google, British Airways, John Lewis, the police and civil service alone expect to hire around 19,000 graduates in 2014 – an increase of nearly nine percent compared to 2012.

Here at Anne Corder Recruitment we recognise the importance of attracting the best talent – including graduates - and have specialist ‘talent spotters’ who are constantly trawling the market to ensure we can offer clients pre-qualified candidates of the highest quality.

The very fact that we are now talking about significant recruitment activity is hugely positive news and the fact that national and local surveys are coming up with the same conclusions, seems to validate this news.

LinkedIn member count reaches 300 million

You can’t knock LinkedIn’s ambition. In a recent press release announcing its 300 million member milestone, the social network site stated that it won’t be resting on its laurels yet, instead it hopes to “create economic opportunity for every one of the 3.3 billion people in the global workforce.”

When put like that, this latest achievement is really only a scratch on the surface of LinkedIn’s self-proclaimed potential, but certainly one to celebrate and appreciate. Most applaudable is how far the online platform has come in the past five years and how instrumental it has been in changing recruitment methods on a global level in particular.

The huge growth in membership is testament to its reputation as a reliable business platform for recruiters and jobseekers alike. Since 2008, membership has diversified to welcome more countries and more sectors to the site, resulting in measurable increases in job vacancies and applications towards record levels.

Unsurprisingly, the main focus of the five year review was the network’s mobile offering, which is expected to account for 50% of views by the end of 2014. And with five apps currently in use, we can only expect that figure to keep increasing.

Without doubt, LinkedIn will continue to play a major part in the ongoing departure from traditional forms of recruitment in favour of innovative digital methods and processes.

Check out the ACR Linked In page for our thoughts and musings on this exciting industry in which we work and share your ideas with us – we’d love to hear them.

Budget 2014: More investment for apprenticeships pledged

An energy sector jobs boost, recruitment help for SMEs and Apprenticeship Grants for Employers (AGE) success rates were the main headlines concerning our industry from yesterday’s 2014 Budget.

And luckily for the Chancellor, predictions made last year about the growth of the economy and relief for the jobs market have been backed up by figures released by the Office of National Statistics yesterday also.

The report showed that between November 2013 and January 2014, unemployment fell by 63,000, with almost half of that figure accounting for 16-24 year olds. Average earnings also increased by 1.4%, with a rise in the number of self-employed also recorded.

The positive news for these two groups of people was the focus at least of the recruitment side of this year’s Budget, with the government pledging continued support of Enterprise Zones to help entrepreneurs and start-ups hire staff and grow their business through private investment.

Mr Osborne also revealed that the AGE scheme will continue to be a key focus in 2014, with an extra £85 million being invested to provide more than 100,000 grants over the next two years.

This in particular has been received well by leading HR and recruitment bodies and industry leaders, who keenly recognise the critical link between investment in young people and future growth.

British Chambers of Commerce director general John Longworth said: "With a huge confidence gap still separating employers from young job-seekers, we are very pleased to see the Chancellor heed our call to help firms take on and train tomorrow's workforce.”

On a less positive note, many were left disappointed to discover that the plans to remove under 25s from employers National Insurance Contributions did not form part of this year’s Budget as expected. Had it been included, the cost of hiring would have been dramatically reduced for many companies through lifting 1.5 million young workers out of the jobs tax. Allusions were made, however, to this forming part of next year’s reform plans – a pledge that campaigners will no doubt continue to keenly push for.

As ever, I welcome and applaud any initiative that serves to create jobs and strengthen our industry. Support must therefore also be pledged on a local as well as national level in order to keep this slow ascent towards recovery going.

Job vacancies rising at fastest pace since 1998

Despite its positive headline, the latest jobs report released on Friday (7th Feb) has been met with mixed reactions from industry professionals. Produced by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) in conjunction with KPMG LLP, the survey revealed that job vacancy numbers are rising at a 15 year high, with notable peaks in performance across a range of sectors.

Yet with many good news pieces, there is a downside, with declining availability of candidates and skills shortages becoming problematic for a number of industries. This subsequently raises concern for economic growth on the whole as businesses struggle to find and maintain the right workforce to make a meaningful contribution to recovery.

Interestingly, statements are now being made surrounding careers guidance - in particular, what sort of advice is currently being given versus what advice should be readily available.

Tom Hadley, director of policy at the REC, said: “Part of the solution is to develop a careers guidance network that is fit for purpose. People need to be made aware of the growing sectors and what skills will be needed in the future, they also need to be taught the mechanics of finding work.”

He added that job centres across the country needed support from local businesses and recruiters in order to equip their jobseekers with regionally relevant information and advice about what sort of jobs and careers there are in their area.

In the spirit of optimism, the team and I are focusing on the positives from the report, including the news that unemployment levels have fallen to their lowest in just under five years.

We will however heed the advice given by REC and its policymakers by continuing to actively support Peterborough’s economy and equipping our clients and candidates with expert, local knowledge. Our salary survey is one way in which we do this, providing local employers with incredibly useful data about pay and remuneration packages in their area.

Recent salary survey publications have demonstrated an upward trend in employer confidence, which is tentatively reflected in this newest report on jobs. Particularly pleasing are the further sharp rises in temporary billings –and with truly genuine benefits for both employer and employee we can see why.

All in all, a promising first report for 2014. Watch this space for further comments and updates…

The skills vs experience debate

Ask any recruitment consultant to tell you what common conflicts exist in the industry, and finding a balance between skills and experience is a likely answer. Google the two words and you’ll find a wealth of articles and blogs asking the same question, which is more valuable to a recruiter?

According to a recent survey by XpertHR, experience wins out in the HR world, with close to 90% of respondents claiming it was experience that helped to advance their career. General business knowledge was also listed as an important factor in securing entry-level positions, over and above that of academic qualifications.

Professional qualifications however were heavily championed, with 75% of polled HR professionals feeling that a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) qualification was a prerequisite for promotion. Associated membership and fellowship status was equally encouraged, with only 15% saying they were not associated with any professional bodies.

Here at ACR we are firmly committed the continuous professional development of all our team members. We understand the value in equipping staff with the right knowledge and skills to progress within our ever-evolving industry, working closely with clients to promote and implement the same principles within their organisations.