These are uncertain times and recent events are not something most businesses can legislate for. Although most industries (unless you sell toilet paper and hand sanitiser) seem to be taking a cautious approach and seeing how things develop in the coming months, it may well be the opportune time to future-proof your business and hire now. There seem to be two main trends developing at the moment which we look at below.
Taking a Cautionary Approach
Although for the time being sales or incoming projects seem to be fairly steady there seems to be a foreboding sense that this may well change in the short term and organisations don’t want to necessarily make new hires in case of a sudden change. Naturally, some sectors have been hit harder than others, for example, leisure & tourism, hospitality and retail. Although financial analysts seem to be backing stocks in businesses like Netflix, Facebook, Peloton and Zoom. Zoom has seen their stock values double in February as working patterns shift and more people spend time at home.
I have had many conversations this past week and read articles where my colleagues in the recruitment industry are being impacted and buckling down for uncertain times ahead as a result of their clients pausing searches whilst we wait with bated breath as events unfold in the coming weeks or perhaps months. There is a strong case here to take this cautious route. It all seems very sensible and thoughtful ensuring your business is responsible by acting in the best interests of all your stakeholders including staff that may be worried about their job security.
However, the consensus seems to be this is merely a blip rather than indicative of a longer-term trend or impact on the economy and the medium-term outlook and beyond is rather positive.
New opportunities in a competitive job market
After the General Election and entering the new year we saw a recruitment spike as the industry felt confident about hiring needs and seemed to have a positive outlook overall in 2020. Budgets and hiring that perhaps should have taken place late last year were green-lit again once certainty around the UK’s political position and next steps on Brexit became somewhat clearer…but let’s not talk about Brexit. Let’s just ignore that topic for the moment!
The current events will pass, as they have before, but business needs will remain and requiring top talent will be a priority again to get an edge on competitors. For some of those forward-thinking businesses, it still is a priority and they are keen to hoover up talent where normally they would face much more competition for the best people in a job surplus market. These events present an opportunity where whilst some may be hesitant, others can be assertive and steal a march on rivals, acquiring key hires they’ve been planning for several months prior. Indeed a significant number of our recruitment partners are undertaking this very strategy.
Conclusions
Overall, there are of course risks, but also ample opportunities in moments of crisis. Covid-19 will pass just as has every other previous crisis event in the industry. The opportunities will outweigh the risks and those that are proceeding now with hiring plans are sending a clear message that we are confident, robust and doing well. Also, they are ensuring the hires they make now are future-proofing their business and putting them in a position to take advantage of the market long term. With technological investment and innovation, the longer-term legacy of Covid-19 on the job market, if there is one, may well ultimately be to make a permanent shift for some towards working more remotely more accessible and normalised.
