Jobcentre Plus; helping businesses and long term unemployed
September 14, 2009
With the grim news today that unemployment could continue to increase, and potentially not recover to pre-recession levels until 2015, there are millions of people relying on the services of Jobcentre Plus to help them return to employment. The numbers of people who are classed as long term unemployed is increasing as the time to find new work gets longer in the limited employment market, but at the same time many companies are still recruiting and potentially struggling to find candidates that meet their needs through their existing recruitment methods.
One effective way of tackling this dual problem is with a Local Employment Partnership (LEP). This is a scheme where the Job Centre helps to source candidates through the pool that is classed as long term unemployed, and if required may carry out pre-interview training or assessments to ensure that candidates with the right capability and skills are being put before employers. One employer that has recently found success with this scheme is John Lewis, where recent recruitment drives for new store openings have involved many LEP candidates, and the success rate for these applicants has been high. In addition to this, it has been found that those employees that were sourced through the LEP have been retained at 90%, which shows the benefits in terms of loyalty and commitment that can be found through this route. As Suzy Welby, manager of government initiatives at John Lewis highlights, the labour pool of long term unemployed people is growing and could be a great source of untapped talent:
“There might soon be three million unemployed, many of whom will have the skills we want, and that is not a group you can ignore.”
For more information on this subject visit the jobcentreplus website
Staff retention is not any easier during recession
July 27, 2009
Due to the uncertainty surrounding the economy, and therefore job security and the labour market, it is likely that employees are not as mobile as usual in most organisations. Some employers may be thinking that they don’t have to worry about staff retention at the moment because there aren’t as many opportunities out in the wider world to entice their employees away, and the relative security they can offer their employees versus another job they may move on to will help to keep people at the company whilst the uncertainty over the economic stability of the country continues.
However, whilst the flow of employees into and out of the company may be slower than usual just now, employers need to be warned that if they do not keep their eye on employee retention issues, the outward flow may suddenly turn into a torrent once the economy improves and the labour market frees up again. When this will happen, nobody knows for sure, but what is certain that it will eventually take place and the last thing companies need when they are emerging from economic instability and getting ready to take advantage of improved market conditions, is a mass exodus of their most talented staff. This is certain to happen if employers become too complacent with their approach to staff retention. On top of this, despite the labour market being slow at the moment, there are still jobs available, and if your employees really want to move on now, the really talented ones; the ones you really want to retain; will be able to find a new position even in the recession.
Recent CIPD research, carried out on 3,000 employees found that 34% of respondents would ideally like to change jobs, although most were planning to stay put for the near future due to difficulties in the labour market. Many people involved in the survey, which was carried out by YouGov, were actually planning to change sector or career altogether once the economic crisis ends. An advisor from the CIPD said:
“the poor state of the labour market is acting like a dam holding back the normal flow of talent”
Employers that wish to keep their staff during and after the recession must continue to listen to the needs, ideas and concerns of their workforce through formal and informal consultation methods, and line management has a massive role in maintaining the loyalty, commitment and enthusiasm of their teams through assisting them in working towards career goals and development needs. Loyalty is a two-way street and employees need to know that they have a bright future with the company, otherwise they will pursue other avenues to achieve their aspirations and find job satisfaction.
Hiring office cleaners for your company
July 13, 2009
As an HR professional, you may at some point be called upon to hire office cleaners for the building in which you work. While cleaners are unlikely to be direct employees of the business, it still pays to treat this as you would the recruitment of any other individuals.
So how would you go about this, considering the fact that you are unlikely to wield as much influence over the specific individuals who will be carrying out the work? All you can do is ensure that you make use of a professional and reliable cleaning company and from that point you’ll have to leave it in their hands.
It may be tempting to employ someone directly or give the work to a friend of a friend, but the advantage of using a cleaning company is that you won’t need to recruit again if a cleaner leaves. The agency should have a roster of cleaners on their books, all of whom should meet qualification criteria. Pick the right cleaning agency and you won’t have to worry about a thing.
A good cleaning company will ensure that their employees have the expertise to do their job. For example, professionals will have received carpet cleaning training, as different carpets require different cleaning approaches and the wrong one could lead to damage.
Office chairs – make sure they’re fit for purpose
May 6, 2009
Back problems are one of the biggest causes of sickness absence in UK workplaces, and an awful lot of these problems are actually caused by the workplace. In offices, this can be related to the office chairs provided for staff that sit at desks all day.
The set up of the desk space is very important in ensuring workers avoid any strains due to sitting uncomfortably or having to reach unnecessarily for long periods of time. Chairs need to be height adjustable so that the arms rest comfortably on the desk and the worker does not need to ‘shrug’ their shoulders to keep their arms on the desk.
Also, the worker needs to be sat back in the chair so that their back is supported – which is something I have a habit of not doing, as I tend to lean forward in my chair and sort of perch on the end of the seat – and hence I often have a sore lower back at the end of the day. If the worker is sat back in the chair, the seat should fit underneath the desk so that the elbows are comfortably resting on the desk. If the chairs have arm rests, this may be a problem for taller people as they will have the seat higher and therefore the arms will cause a barrier to putting the seat under the desk. Chairs should therefore have height adjustable arms – or no arms at all, because if the worker can rest their arms on the desk they should not need chair arms.
The worker needs to be able to plant their feet on the floor when the chair is at the correct height. If, like me they have short legs they may have difficulty reaching the floor, which can be resolved with a foot rest.
Checking that office chairs are fit for purpose is an important part of a Display Screen Equipment (DSE) assessment, which should be carried out by a trained professional in an office environment.
The Equality Bill: more legislation and box-ticking or real change?
April 27, 2009
I’ve just read about the Equality Bill, which has been unveiled today by Minister for Equality Harriet Harman. The aim of the bill is to tackle workplace discrimination, particularly in relation to women, older workers and people from the working classes.
In order to expose the gender pay gap, the bill will require employers of over 250 staff to publish average ay rates for men and women within the organisation. This will take effect in 2013, but companies can voluntarily do this before this date. It will also become illegal to put clauses in contracts banning staff from discussing their salaries. Harman has said:
“Unless we can see [discrimination] workplace by workplace it stays swept under the carpet – that unfairness stays hidden, and we can’t tackle it if it’s hidden.”
However lots of business groups, including the Institute of Directors and the Chambers of Commerce have said that the bill will just add more pressure to companies already struggling to get through the recession, and have called for a moratorium on more legislation to enable the country to recover.
The CIPD has also given a ‘thumbs down’ to the idea that the bill will magically solve the gender pay gap. Charles Cotton, a spokesman for the Institute said that:
it was dishonest of policy makers to suggest that gender pay reporting is a “magic bullet” on the inequality issue.
This is because the problem with the gap in pay for men and women has been caused by many different factors, and discrimination in the workplace – whilst still an issue – is not the biggest cause. Therefore this bill will add a lot of pressure to organisations without solving some of the more deep-rooted problems such as cultural/societal norms (e.g. the assumption that women leave work to look after their children).
I can see where the business groups and CIPD are coming from on this one. Whilst discrimination in the workplace needs to be eradicated, there is a danger that yet another piece of legislation will cause more difficulties for organisations and Employment Tribunals that are already overloaded with claims. It is highly likely that the new requirements will just lead to more box-ticking and poor recruitment and selection decisions in order to fill quotas or avoid litigation, when we should be addressing the actual problem – i.e. why are women paid less?, and coming up with ways to tackle the root of the problem – such as speeding up the introduction of legislation allowing men to take on some of the maternity leave from their partners.
What’s your opinion on this subject?
Interview bugbears
February 12, 2009
This week I spent the whole of one day interviewing candidates for a new position. The structured interview is still one of the most common methods used by organisations in recruitment and selection, and having experienced a range of different responses from interviewees, I thought I would put together my top three interview bugbears:
- When the candidate hasn’t bothered to do any research at all on the company. My first question is usually ‘what do you know about the company?’ and one of the candidates this week said that she had not been able to find out anything because the link to our website that was sent in her invitation email did not work. She had apparently not thought to find another way to get onto the site such as typing the url into the address bar, or Googling the company name. After the interview myself and the other panel members all agreed that it was pretty much game over at that point, but of course we gave the candidate a full and proper interview, which felt like a waste of time!
- When the candidate cannot answer succinctly. Have you ever been in an interview where the candidate tells gives you a sufficient, and sometimes event brilliant answer to a question in a few minutes, yet they continue to ramble on and on for a long time, with no additional benefit to the interview. I know it’s easy to ramble when you’re nervous, but it’s good skill to be able to give a full and relevant answer without having to talk for ten minutes, and it puts me off if the candidate cannot realise when they have talked too much. Also, I feel that the best interviews are more like two way conversations, so it’s good for the interviewer to be able to speak occasionally, but with ramblers you can’t often get a word in edgeways.
- When a candidate is late but doesn’t apologise. There’s nothing worse than rudeness, and whilst I understand that there are sometimes uncontrollable circumstances that lead to lateness, if you don’t even acknowledge this then you’re on a path to rejection with immediate effect. If a candidate is going to be late then they should call and ensure the interviewer is aware of this and the reason as soon as possible. If the role is a client facing job, then this is especially important because their behaviour in attending the interview is indicative of their potential behaviour with a client.
So if you’re going to an interview in the near future, the above points are general no-no’s if you want to have a chance at getting the job. If you’ve recently been interviewing, let me know what your biggest bugbears are.
Supermarkets lead the way in new job opportunities
January 28, 2009
Supermarket giant Asda has announced that 7,000 jobs are to be created as part of plans to extend a number of existing outlets and the opening of several new stores. The supermarket sector is one which appears to have fought off the recession better than other industries such as retail and car manufacturing, and recently other supermarket chains have announced growth and new jobs to be created, including Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons.
Many of the new jobs at Asda will be aimed at people who have been unemployed for a long time, presumably as part of local employment partnerships in conjunction with the Job Centre. The chain is also intending work with Remploy, which is a government agency that provides:
“employment services and employment to people experiencing complex barriers to work” (www.remploy.co.uk)
Another company that has announced new jobs to be created is BSkyB, with 1,000 new vacancies to be made available due to the continuing growth in demand for services.
This is excellent news after weeks and weeks of announcements of redundancies in many industries including retailers such as M&S and car manufacturers such as Nissan. Recently Business Secretary Peter Mandelson announced a £2.5billion ‘lifeline’ package for the struggling car industry, a lot of which is to guarantee loans taken for lower carbon initiatives, and some of which is to provide funding for training and support for workers in the industry.
The jobs crisis is not just in the UK - the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said that the global economic crisis could lead to the loss of 51million jobs worldwide this year, and the worst affected places will not be developed countries such as the UK but those who are still developing, such as countries in North Africa and the Middle East.
The security monster strikes again
January 27, 2009
Another day, another major loss of data for thousands, if not millions of people. One of the UK’s biggest recruitment and job search websites, Monster, has had a major breach of security after hackers have carried out what has been described as
“the biggest data theft in the UK since the details of 25 million child benefit claimants went missing last year” (BBC news).
4.5 million people in the UK use the site to directly find jobs or speculatively browse the market. Many users post their CV to the site just to keep their hand in the job market and are offered interviews and positions from recruiters and companies that search the CV database for candidates matching their needs.
The main danger from this breach is from potential ‘phishing attacks’ – this is where a user is sent an email ‘phishing’ for information, e.g. to confirm their username and password (the type of thing we are often warned about in relation to our bank accounts). Another possibility is emails that fool readers into installing malware (software that is designed to damage a computer) by clicking on links in emails.
The hackers have stolen phone number and emails, as well as usernames and passwords. Many people use the same passwords for more than one of their online accounts, so if you have a monster account it is a good idea to check what other sites you have used the same password for and change them.
Recruitment is taking on a different dimension
January 9, 2009
In the organisation I work for, we are lucky enough to still be growing even in the face of a national recession, and when the news brings stories of thousands of job cuts each day from the likes of Marks and Spencer and Nissan, we are still sourcing candidates for a number of positions on a daily basis. However as with the learning and development budgets as discussed in my last couple of articles, recruitment budgets have been squeezed so that per candidate, only half the budget that was available last year is available again now.
These changes mean that the method of recruiting candidates is taking on a different dimension, and this is also affected by the external labour market and the wider effects of the economic downturn. Just one year ago, the highly competitive labour market meant that it was very difficult to source candidates without the assistance of a recruitment consultant. Our online advertisements were lost in the massive databases on the likes of Monster and Total jobs, because recruiters seemed to have the monopoly over this medium with their larger budgets and multiple adverts which knocked our ads out of search lists. Most candidates in the market for this industry at that time searched for jobs through recruitment agencies, so we didn’t have much choice but to use them, which meant the costs for recruitment were astronomical.
Now, it is becoming easier to source candidates through alternative methods than the recruitment consultant, because there are so many more people in the labour market that are looking for work. Low cost and free websites (such as jobcentreplus) have proved quite successful in delivering good quality candidates. There are more people searching themselves for jobs instead of using recruitment consultants, this may be because fewer jobs are being given to agencies to source. This has been found by many of the major agencies, as:
“Hays said its UK business had collapsed by 22% in the three months to the end of the year. Michael Page said the Christmas quarter had brought a dive of 20% across its UK offices” (thisismoney.co.uk).
We are also looking at exhibitions and shows that will take place throughout the year, particularly in the graduate area. This can be a low cost way of generating a large pool of candidates, but don’t forget to factor in costs such as any display equipment such as posters or stands, travel and transport costs, and any corporate gifts you may wish to give out such as pens, keyrings etc.
The difference in the way we are now recruiting has been quite dramatic and surprising, however I imagine that it is reflective of many organisations across the country that are recruiting at the moment. How has the changing job market affected the way you are recruiting candidates?
Unemployment statistics show bleak state of the economy
December 17, 2008
The Office for National Statistics has released new figures which show that in the three months to October this year, unemployment rose by 137,000 people. The total figure of 1.86million is the highest level of unemployment for 11 years. As the recession has hit many industries, the number of people claiming jobseekers allowance has steadily increased month on month for the last ten months. The rapidly increasing numbers of people out of work is said to be worrying financial experts, because the unemployment figure is normally a ‘lagging indicator’ in a recession as it takes a while for the effects of a downturn to make an impact on employment. However the fact that the effect seems to have been immediate causes concern for many people, as described by en economist at Deutsche Bank who said “to see so many job losses this early in the cycle is extremely worrying”.
I have noticed changes within my work as a result of the increasing numbers of people losing their employment. In my organisation we are fortunate enough to still be recruiting where others are having to make many redundancies, and in recent months the number of candidates we are gaining from online advertising on sites such as the job centre website has increased massively, when earlier in the year we were much more reliant on recruitment consultancies to find suitable candidates for our roles. Even for quite specialised roles we are seeing an increase in direct applications as there are so many more people competing for fewer jobs. Whilst this may be a good result for companies’ recruitment budgets, it shows a very sad state for the country and the millions of people now struggling to find work. And it seems that younger workers are suffering more than most, as according to The Prince’s Trust, two fifths of people who became unemployed in the last three months were under 25 years old.
The Government is looking to implement a training scheme for unemployed people, allocating £158million in funding to help people who have lost their job to re-train and hopefully find alternative career and employment options.