Following Boris Johnson’s unveiling of the UK’s roadmap out of COVID-19 enforced restrictions, REC are reporting that creating a more productive and inclusive labour market will be key to a return to normality under what they call #RecruitmentForRecovery.
The report goes on to detail the role that recruiting plays in accelerating the UK’s productivity. The report includes specifics of how businesses can leverage this momentum of an inclusive labour market, specifically through utilising the trend of temporary recruitment to create an agile workforce.
In the report, REC detail:
One of the clearest trends of the last 40 years has been the rise of flexible and temporary work. Long predating technological changes such as the gig economy, the UK economy has increasingly embraced a wider variety of types of work, making it easier for everyone to find a role that fits them.
Since 1980, the number of the self-employed has more than doubled in absolute terms, and increased its share of the total workforce by around a half.
Similarly in the mid-1980s, there were only around 50,000 workers employed on a temporary basis through an agency. Today, on an average day, there are over one million.
Temporary staffing has been an invaluable tool for hiring managers we’ve worked with over the years, and with the COVID-19 lens adding an extra layer of complexity to building and maintaining a productive workforce, that tool became especially vital over the past 12 months.
Now the Government’s roadmap gives businesses a light at the end of the tunnel in terms of specific dates to aim for, the trend of temp recruiting looks set to continue as business owners and the economy also aim for their state of ‘agility’.