Migrant, graduate, green: today’s workforce | Recruiters Weekly News

It’s not just jobs and businesses that are changing: workers are changing, too. Although we often hear when opportunities are scarce, or rights are eroded, we know less about the ways recruits are reshaping the workplace to fit their own attitudes and objectives.

This week we look at some of the methods that recruiters and employers are implementing to meet the values, ethics, and expectations of the modern workforce.

New drive for equal rights

Rights for workers are an ongoing source of debate: the gig economy and the ”Uberfication” of employment are often criticised as failing to address the needs of employees. Now, some recruiters are addressing the issue by creating new allowances for candidates in unsecured roles.

The recruitment agency C&D Group this week unveiled a set of entitlements for its workforce, including free insurance, health consultation, and discounted dentistry, physiotherapy and eye treatments. The cost of healthcare – both in terms of treatment, and the time away from work – is one of the top concerns of workers in unsecured roles.

Graduates planning against uncertainty

Recruiters and employers must do more to understand the aspirations of new graduates if they are to attract talent to key roles, a leading consultancy firm has said.

Management experts Korn Ferry Hay Group has produced a report entitled Graduates, Brexit and Beyond, which looks at the effects of political uncertainty and how graduates plan for the future.

In a poll of 500 graduates across the EU, Korn Ferry Hay detected an immediate reaction to the referendum vote last June. Almost one quarter (24%) of UK graduates having changed their career plans as a result of the vote, and 44% of respondants in mainland Europe have chosen new career paths thanks to the result. More worryingly for recruiters, 31% of UK graduates now say they would like to leave Britain to work overseas.

Skills retention has also become an area in need of improvement. Although it costs businesses £1,700 on average to fill a graduate vacancy, five per cent of appointees remain in their position for less than a year.

Recruiters favour an agile immigration system

A second report out this week has indicated that EU citizens may already be turning their backs on the UK employment market.

The Markit Report on Jobs for Scotland recorded an overall picture of health north of the border, yet its findings highlighted the extent of a potential shortage in Britain’s labour market. A panel of experts has called for leniency in post-Brexit migration policy, in response.

Recruitment into permanent positions grew for the third consecutive month in Scotland, and temporary positions enjoyed their sharpest increase since August of 2014. Yet the overall number of available workers fell dramatically within the same period. There are now fewer candidates available for each position than at any time in the last two years in Scotland and, across Britain as a whole, the recruitment market is experiencing a nine month low in applicant numbers.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) responded to the data by calling on the next government to safeguard rights of overseas jobseekers, and to protect recruiters’ access to candidates across the EU. It would seem to us at eBoss that, while a job for life may not be the priority it once was for today’s workforce, stability remains an important contributor to workers’ overall quality of life.

The green economy pays its way

Professions which promote and develop ecologically sustainability – the so-called ”green economy” – are beating national averages by paying workers more, independent research claims.

In a survey by online jobs site Indeed, three of the top five most in-demand professions paid above the national average salary of £28,000 per annum.

Recycling workers topped the poll as the most needed recuits within the green economy, with Environmental managers (2nd place, £37,055), and environmental consultants (5th, £31,695) among the higher paid vacancies within the sector. The data can be seen as a positive step towards attracting candidates of all experience levels to this growing area of the economy.