The COVID-19 pandemic was a major challenge for our country, having a seismic impact on businesses and their staff in all industries. Despite this disruption, our ‘state of the industry’ report last year showed the remarkable resilience of the recruitment industry in the face of an unprecedented time.
This year’s report focuses on how the industry has supported the UK economy during the recovery, showing a bounce back for the recruitment industry and their partner organisations. Recruitment businesses tell us of increasing placement numbers, volumes of clients and therefore revenues in 2021. Any decline during the pandemic has been more than reversed, and we have come out of the crisis stronger than ever.
We have performed better than comparable service sectors, which shows the important role we have played now the pandemic is in the rear-view mirror. We have helped place workers in a radically changing economy at a time when people are looking for better and more flexible work opportunities.
As a testament to the sector’s adaptability and resilience, recruiters are now offering a wide array of services, in addition to traditional recruitment. This includes business advice and consultancy services for clients, as well as interview coaching and careers development support for candidates. We are proactive in driving the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda, and placing candidates into roles across the country, including in more deprived regions.
Despite these successes, this report has shown that many businesses in the industry are facing potential future financial difficulties due to higher business costs, and it underlines why it is so important to keep a close eye on cash flow. Interest rates are rising as inflation soars. And there is no apparent end to the ongoing labour and skills shortages. Many businesses haven taken financial management actions to adapt, whether it be in reducing operating costs or borrowing money.
Policymakers have a role to play in helping good, sustainable businesses through this time. In the short term, they can do this through measures that provide clarity and certainty, for instance by looking beyond and explaining what happens when the six-month energy price cap ends in April 2023. But in the medium to long term, government needs to be working with our industry to address skills and labour shortages once and for all, to enhance productivity and ensure future economic growth. This report proves once again that recruiters are an integral part of the UK professional services sector and to every business’ ambition for growth. The REC will continue to champion and speak up for great recruiters - as together, we make great work happen.