Hudson Update Brochure Q3 2011

the hudson updateeMpLoYee tRends – england’s north, Midlands, home Counties & south West

Q3 - 2011

Contents

intRoduCtion

aBout hudson

hiRinG tRends in the MidLands & noRth oF enGLand

hiRinG tRends in the hoMe Counties & south West oF enGLand

hiRinG tRends BY industRY

eMpLoYee tRends

the hudson ReCoMMendation

ContaCt us

2

4

6

8

10

16

19

21

intRoduCtion

Welcome to the hudson

update. in this edition, for the

second time, we include hiring

expectations and employee

trends in england’s home

Counties and south West

alongside the Midlands and

the north. the findings in this

report relate to expectations

for Q3 2011 and are based on

in-depth research of the region,

conducted by interviewing

clients across a broad spectrum

of industries and job sectors.

the hudson update is issued

quarterly and provides periodic

research and analysis employer

expectations. References to

historical data will be made so

that comparisons, trends and

predictions may be identified

across the industry.

the survey was completed

2

by nearly 500 employers. the

top three highest respondent

groups were Financial

Services/Insurance (16.4%),

Manufacturing (9.8%) and

FMCG (8.5%). there was also

significant representation from

IT, Professional Services, the

Public Sector and Retail with

an even spread amongst the

remainder. the vast majority of

respondents (71.1%) were from

companies with 250 people

or more.

the industry sectors surveyed

across the north, Midlands,

home Counties and south

West of england were:

∟ advertising/Marketing/

Media

∟ Construction/property/

engineering

∟ education

∟ energy & Resources

∟ Financial services/

insurance

∟ FMCG

∟ healthcare (public sector)

∟ information technology

∟ Manufacturing

∟ non-profit

∟ pharmaceutical

∟ professional services

∟ public sector

∟ Retail

∟ telecommunications

∟ tourism & hospitality

∟ transport

∟ utilities

∟ Wholesale/distribution

3

hudson is one of the

world’s leading providers of

permanent recruitment,

contract professionals,

outsourced solutions and

talent management services.

With over 2,000 employees in

approximately 20 countries, we

help our clients achieve greater

organisational performance

by assessing, recruiting,

developing and engaging the

best and brightest people for

their businesses.

From single placements to

outsourced solutions, we

translate human capital

strategies into practical actions

and measurable results.

Beyond placing candidates into

contract, interim, and permanent

roles, we help clients implement

effective long-term recruiting

and retention strategies. Our

underlying goal is to improve

performance at every level.

aBout hudson

4

hudson uK & ireland operates

across 11 offices, all providing

localised specialist services to

each market.

in the english Regions,

we specialise in the

following functions;

Accounting & Finance,

HR, IT, Legal, Marketing &

Communications, Public

Sector, Sales and Supply

Chain & Procurement.

our client list is varied,

ranging from privately

owned businesses and

sMes through to Ftse 100

and household Blue Chip

companies.

5

hiRinG tRends in the MidLands & noRth oF enGLand

the hudson update for this

region is now into its sixth

quarter. as reported in Q2

2011, while expectations have

somewhat eased this year, the

findings for Q3 2011 still

represent strong growth

when comparing data to

2010 – particularly in the

permanent hiring sector. the

first edition of the hudson

update in 2010 recorded

a net increase of only 11%

(permanent) and a net decrease

of 6% (contract/temporary) in

hiring expectations. although

growth has slowed on last

quarter, it is evident that the

positive market upturn has by

no means come to a standstill.

the increase in both permanent

and contract requirements is

indeed further testament to a

continuing confidence in the

market.

the spike in Q2 coincided with

the new financial year for many

organisations. a subsequent

increase of 16.2% and 11.1%

for Q3 is extremely positive.

There is also continuous

pressure to hire ‘the best’

talent in the market and many

companies are competing for

the same highly skilled people

to join their organisation.

net InCReASe oF 16.2% in PeRMAnenT hiRinG expeCtations FoR Q3 2011.

net InCReASe oF 11.1% in COnTRACT/TeMPORARy hiRes expeCted.

6

does YouR teaM/Business unit expeCt to InCReASe/deCReASe its PeRMAnenT STAFF LeveLs duRinG the JuLY to septeMBeR 2011 peRiod?

no change

decrease

increase

62.4%

10.7%26.9%

does YouR teaM/Business unit expeCt to InCReASe/deCReASe its COnTRACTInG/TeMPORARy wORkFORCe oveR the JuLY to septeMBeR 2011 peRiod?

no change

decrease

increase

64.6%

23.2%12.2%

7

hiRinG tRends in the hoMe Counties & south West oF enGLand

this is the second appearance

in the hudson update for this

region, so there is a limited

amount of historical data for

comparative purposes. earlier

this year we saw an expected

net increase of 24.4% in

permanent hiring, and we are

now seeing further growth

in this region with employers

predicting a net increase of

27.9% in permanent hiring for

Q3.

In contrast however, a net

increase of only 2.0% in

contract/temporary hires is

expected, this has somewhat

dropped for Q3 2011 from

Q2 expectations (7.7%). Last

quarter employers in the south

were focusing heavily on

stop-gap hiring solutions in

comparison to their northern

and Midlands counterparts.

A shift has occurred as

they now appear to be

more confident in taking

on permanent headcount,

suggesting there is increased

certainty about the employment

market.

net InCReASe oF 27.9% in PeRMAnenT hiRinG expeCtations FoR Q3 2011. net InCReASe oF 2.0% in COnTRACT/TeMPORARy hiRes expeCted.

8

does YouR teaM/Business unit expeCt to InCReASe/deCReASe its PeRMAnenT STAFF LeveLS duRinG the JuLY to septeMBeR 2011 peRiod?

no change

decrease

increase

55.4%

8.4%

36.2%

does YouR teaM/Business unit expeCt to inCReASe/deCReASe its COnTRACTInG/TeMPORARy WoRKFoRCe oveR the JuLY to septeMBeR 2011 peRiod?

no change

decrease

increase

61.2%

20.4%18.4%

9

it was unsurprising to find

that there was diverse hiring

trends across industries –

particularly when contrasting

those organisations in the

private and public sectors.

in the permanent market,

all private sector industries

demonstrated that at the very

least they expected some

growth. Yet almost the opposite

could be said of public sector

organisations.

In the private sector, utilities

by far demonstrated the

strongest level of expected

hiring for Q3, with 66.7% of

employers surveyed expecting

to grow their permanent

headcount over the coming

quarter. Robust industries such

as information technology

(43.8%) and professional

services (40.7%) also

showed strong signs of

expected permanent hiring

trends.

on the temp/interim side,

tourism/hospitality showed

the strongest signs of

growth, though not to the same

levels as the lead permanent

hiring trend – with 35.3% of

employers in this area indicating

they will expand their temp/

interim base over the next three

months. these were followed

by FMCG (22.5%) and

manufacturing (17.1%).

industRies expeCtinG a net InCReASe in hiRinG.

hiRinG tRends BY industRY

10

As non-private organisations

now endure the fall out from

the recession, those industries

with the greatest expected

net decrease in hiring for Q3

predominantly fell within the

government and not-for-profit

arena. Whereby nearly all of the

surveyed industries said they

were either growing or keeping

their permanent headcount, the

only two that did not, were not-

for-profit and public sector

organisations, expecting a

net decrease of 15.4% and

3% respectively.

industRies expeCtinG a net deCReASe in hiRinG.

Information technology

was the only private

sector industry expecting

a decrease in temporary

hiring (25%) – and this can

most likely be attributed to

the upswing in their expected

additions to permanent

headcount during Q3, thus

alleviating their need for

interims. Public sector health

care (23.1%) and education

(30%) were also expecting

significant reductions in

temporary/interim numbers for

their organisations.

Construction/property/

engineering was the only

collective industry expecting

literally no net change in

permanent headcount for

the next quarter. on the

temporary/interim front, it was

interesting to see that 100% of

advertising/media/marketing

employers envisaged

industRies expeCtinG no net CHAnGe in hiRinG.

absolutely no change in

the number of temporary/

interim staff their organisations

engaged. Transport

organisations also expected

no net change in temporary/

interim numbers, suggesting

that these industries felt they

had reached some level of

stabilisation.

11

ContRaCt/teMpoRaRY hiRinG expeCtations BY industRY

peRManent hiRinG expeCtations BY industRY

100%90%80%70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%

-10%-20%

100%90%80%70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%

-10%-20%-30%

adve

rtisi

ng/M

edia

/Mar

ketin

gad

verti

sing

/Med

ia/M

arke

ting

Con

stru

ctio

n/pr

oper

ty/e

ngin

eerin

gC

onst

ruct

ion/

prop

erty

/eng

inee

ring

educ

atio

ned

ucat

ion

Fina

ncia

l ser

vices

/ins

uran

ceFi

nanc

ial s

ervic

es/i

nsur

ance

FMC

GFM

CG

hea

thca

re p

ublic

sec

tor

hea

thca

re p

ublic

sec

tor

Man

ufac

turin

gM

anuf

actu

ring

non

-pro

fitn

on-p

rofit

phar

mac

eutic

alph

arm

aceu

tical

prof

essi

onal

ser

vices

prof

essi

onal

ser

vices

publ

ic s

ecto

rpu

blic

sec

tor

Reta

ilRe

tail

tele

com

mun

icat

ions

tele

com

mun

icat

ions

tour

ism

/hos

pita

lity

tour

ism

/hos

pita

lity

tran

spor

ttr

ansp

ort

util

ities

util

ities

Who

lesa

le/d

istri

butio

nW

hole

sale

/dis

tribu

tion

info

rmat

ion

tech

nolo

gyin

form

atio

n te

chno

logy

12

13

eMpLoYee tRends

employers are showing a

reasonably strong degree

of confidence in the post-

recession market, - 22.5%

would go as far as to say

their outlook is ‘upbeat and

optimistic’ and 51.8% are

‘cautiously optimistic’.

however, whilst nearly three

quarters of respondees fall

into these ‘glass is half full’

categories, not all employers

are completely confident that

their markets are back on track.

as many as 16.3% of employers

were ‘neither optimistic

nor pessimistic’ and 7.7%

would describe their level of

confidence about their market

as ‘pessimistic’. it may be that

for some individuals the market

is seen to be moving very slowly

and as such the thought of a

double dip recession just can’t

be shaken.

in post-ReCession MaRKets, COnFIdenCe IS SLOwLy ReTuRnInG as the MaJoRitY oF eMpLoYeRs in the enGLish ReGions aRe FeeLinG ‘CAuTIOuSLy OPTIMISTIC’ (51.8%) aBout theiR RespeCtive MaRKet.

14

WhiCh oF the FoLLoWinG beST deSCRIbeS yOuR CuRRenT COnFIdenCe LeveL in ReLation to YouR RespeCtive MaRKet:

Cautiously optimistic

pessimistic

neither optimistic nor pessimistic

other (please specify)

upbeat and opportunistic

51.8%

16.3%

7.7%

1.8%

22.4%

15

(respondents could select more

than one option).

nearly a quarter of employers

(24.7%) said they had made

it more formalised, and as

much as 23.8% confided

that they had become

more focused on matching

the candidate to the role,

demonstrating a shift on focus

away from ‘filling seats’ which

was often the fastest but not

necessarily the best recruitment

approach taken by many

organisations.

it would appear however,

that not all organisations

have changed their hiring

neARLy THRee QuARTeRS OF eMPLOyeRS have Made ChanGes to theiR hiRinG pRoCesses post-ReCession.

hoW WouLd You deSCRIbe Any CHAnGeS TO yOuR HIRInG PROCeSS post-ReCession (You MaY seLeCt MoRe than one):

45%40%35%30%25%20%15%10%5%0%

Mor

e fo

rmal

ised

Mor

e st

ream

lined

/im

prov

ed

Mor

e co

st e

ffect

ive

Mor

e fo

cuse

d on

mat

chin

g

cand

idat

es to

role

it’s n

ot c

hang

ed

oth

er

process. Over one quarter of

employers (27.3%) had made

no changes. perhaps this can

be attributed to companies

believing they already have

robust and cost effective

recruitment processes, or

prioritising their process and

cost improvements in other

parts of their business.When asked to describe any

changes made to their hiring

processes post recession,

38.1% of employers

confidently stated that

they had made it more

cost effective, and 28.6%

said they had improved it/

made it more streamlined

16

A negative impact on

teamwork was the most

commonly stated effect

(78.4%) employers thought

a bad hire could have on

their organisation. this

was followed by a loss of

productivity (72%) and impact

on morale (70.4%). over half

the respondents (51%) felt

that a bad hire could impact

customer service, 48.8% saw

potential for a direct impact

on the bottom line and 44.8%

felt that cost would come

from lost opportunities

(opportunity cost).

With employers so aware of

the impact a bad hire can have

on their organisation, it was

extremely interesting to note

that nearly three quarters –

73.4% - of respondees said

that they thought they had

made a bad hire at some

as ManY as 48.8% OF eMPLOyeRS beLIeve A bAd HIRe wOuLd HAve A dIReCT IMPACT On THe bOTTOM LIne. Yet, neaRLY thRee QuaRteRs (73.4%) oF Respondees adMitted that theY have Made a ‘Bad hiRe’ at soMe staGe in theiR CaReeR.

stage in their career. only

19.2% of employers were

confident that they had not

made a bad hire, and 7.4%

were unsure.

When looking at the percentage

of hires individual employers

had made throughout their

career, only 10.7% felt that

all their hires had met or

exceeded their expectations.

the majority (54.5%) fell into

the category of having 10-20%

of their hires not meeting initial

expectations, suggesting that

over half of employers are

potentially unhappy with up

to one in five of their hires.

do You thinK You have Made a ‘Bad hiRe’ at anY staGe in YouR CaReeR?

no

unsure

Yes

19.2%

7.4%

73.4%

What eFFeCT dO yOu beLIeve A bAd HIRe COuLd HAve On yOuR ORGAnISATIOn? (You Can seLeCt MoRe than one)

90%80%70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%

neg

ative

impa

ct o

n

team

wor

k

Loss

of p

rodu

ctivi

ty

impa

ct o

n m

oral

e

neg

ative

opp

ortu

nity

cost

neg

ative

impa

ct o

n

cust

omer

ser

vice

impa

ct o

n th

e bo

ttom

line

oth

er

17

neaRLY thRee QuaRteRs (72.5%) OF eMPLOyeRS beLIeve THAT A HIGHeR QuALITy OF wORk IS wHAT dIFFeRenTIATeS HIGH PeRFORMInG eMPLOyeeS FRoM aveRaGe eMpLoYees.

When asked what differentiates

a high performing employee

from an average employee,

72.5% of respondees stated

that a higher quality of work

was a key attribute.

Higher productivity was also

seen by 60.8% of employers

in the english Regions to be a

differentiator, followed by the

type of experience (39.6%)

and ability to boost team

morale at 29.3%. interestingly,

not even a fifth (19.6%) of

employers thought that

years of experience was a

differentiator, and only 17.2%

wHAT dO yOu beLIeve dIFFeRenTIATeS A HIGH PeRFORMInG eMPLOyee FRoM an aveRaGe eMpLoYee (You Can seLeCt MoRe than one):

80%70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%

hig

her p

rodu

ctivi

ty

hig

her q

ualit

y of

wor

k

Leve

l/ty

pe o

f edu

catio

n

prev

ious

wor

kpla

ce

Year

s of

exp

erie

nce

type

of e

xper

ienc

e

abilit

y to

boo

st te

am m

oral

e

oth

er

felt that previous workplaces

would impact an employees

superiority. however, only

12.8% thought level or type

of education would impact

an employee’s performance.

Whilst this is often a key

criteria set by employers for

candidates when applying for

a role, overall employers do

not see a strong correlation

between education and

actual performance. this may

be attributed to education now

being perceived as a hygiene

factor - employers expect

recruits to have certain types

and levels of education.

18

just a good hire, but the best

hire, is vital in this increasingly

competitive environment. as we

are not yet ‘completely out of

the woods’ and with employers

still cautiously optimistic about

their markets, focus will be

on the longer term value

that employees can bring to

organisations.

as such, employers need

to create a multi-faceted

recruitment process that is

strategically devised and

aligned with their business

or corporate plans. An

organisation can not achieve

its long-term objectives,

without the right human

resources.

people are key to gaining

and maintaining competitive

the hudson ReCoMMendation

advantage, and there are a

number of techniques and

factors that organisations

should consider and incorporate

into their recruitment processes.

This ensures that the

future of an organisation is

maximised through its HR

strategy.

stRateGiC WoRKFoRCe

pLanninG

strategic workforce planning

is the process that allows an

organisation to anticipate

human resource needs

for today and the future, to

support and enhance strategic

plans. it creates the right

framework to develop business

progression and growth, and

is comprised of a process

RoBust ReCRuitMent: the onLY SuRe-FIRe to avoid MISS-HIRe

Research from harvard

Business school has shown

that the cost of a bad hire

is three to five times an

annual salary package. Yet,

with nearly three quarters

of employers in the english

Regions saying that they have

made a bad hire in their career,

local employers are enduring

excessive and avoidable costs.

ultimately every staff

member will contribute

to – or deduct from – an

organisation’s performance,

and making every hire not 19

that assists in identifying and

assessing, acquiring, developing

and retaining employees that

have the highest potential and

can bring the most value to an

organisation.

Whilst the process itself will vary

between organisations, typically

workforce planning assists in

the identification of the best

staff, the necessary attributes

and key competencies required

to support future organisational

direction, and analysis of

current staff levels to identify

gaps or surpluses in workforce.

Regular evaluations to ensure

the workforce plan is maximise

the success of and remains

aligned to key corporate

objectives are also critical.

the strategic workforce plan

can help build information

for both short and long term

decision making, therefore

providing the flexibility to

adapt quickly and effectively

to changing market

conditions.

eMpLoYee vaLue pRoposition

it is near impossible to attract

and retain the best people

needed to deliver strategic

workforce plans when an

organisation is not considered

to be a highly desirable place

of work. organisations must

develop a clear employee

value proposition (evp)

which supports their strategic

workforce planning.

To build a strong evP,

essentially employers should

consider what it is that

makes their organisation

unique and highly sought

as an employer brand of

choice. it acts as an attraction

and retention tool, and

serves the purpose of clearly

demonstrating the benefits of

working for one organisation

over another to candidates and

employees.

this ensures the best attraction

and retention of the right

employees – competitive

advantage can not be

obtained and maintained if

the talent required to help

an organisation achieve its

strategic goals is lost to the

competition.

of course, there is no value

in creating the proposition,

if it’s not communicated and

executed effectively.

RiGoRous ReCRuitMent pRoCeduRes

once employers have laid

the foundations of workforce

planning and have built a strong

evp, they must then ensure that

their recruitment procedures

are rigorous and fit for the

purpose of identifying the

best performers to bring into

their teams.

though our research indicates

that there has been some

movement towards placing

greater focus on better

matching candidates to roles,

there is still more that can be

done on this front.

A robust hiring process

includes sophisticated

measures to identify those

who have the potential to

be high performers and help

employers get the right person

into the role. Without this, in

this competitive environment,

organisations will lose the

chance of competitive edge, as

the consequences of getting

hires wrong are much further

reaching than the visible direct

costs.

It is a combination of

strategic workforce planning,

a strong evP and rigorous

recruitment processes that

will minimise and eliminate

the chance of miss-hires

and maximise an organisation’s

ability to reach its corporate

objectives and gain competitive

advantage.

20

ContaCt us

We hope you found this report

interesting and informative.

to discuss this the hudson

update in more detail, or for a

confidential discussion about

any of your recruitment needs,

please get in touch with your

local hudson contact:

JAMIE WILLS Birmingham t: 0121 600 7739 e: [email protected]

steven undeRWood Bristol t: 01173 330 000 e: [email protected]

LEE BhAndAL Leeds t: 0113 297 9545 e: [email protected]

FrAnk WAdSWorth Manchestert: 0161 819 7541 e: [email protected]

GaRY FaY Milton Keynes t: 01908 547 817 e: [email protected]

JeMMa RaWLins Reading t: 01189 522 466 e: [email protected]

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