Predictions for the future: 5 employment trends to be aware of in 2019

As 2018 draws to a close, it’s time to consider what’s on the horizon for the year ahead.

Many different factors will impact the employment market in 2019. From a political point of view, the past 12 months have been dominated by the Government’s Brexit negotiations. A key element to emerge from this will be access to talent while the UK grapples with its current skills shortage.

Businesses need to prepare their organisations for the impact a final deal will have on their long-term plans, but securing the right talent to support those plans is a more burning issue and needs to be addressed.

Webinar: 5 strategies to combat the UK’s hiring challenges in 2019

[Music] thank you for joining us for today's rate which entrepreneur Awards and Robert Half webinar five strategies to combat the UK's hiring challenges in 2019 with Matt Weston for those who aren't familiar with the NatWest great british entrepreneur awards the awards are now in their 6th year and continues to acknowledge the hard work and inspiring stories of entrepreneurs in the UK the awards are built upon the notion that successful entrepreneurship is about the story and not the balance sheet now I would like to present to you Matt Weston UK managing director of Robert Half haven't worked for Robert Hart for nearly 20 years and started his career as a recruitment consultant for finance and accountant in 1999 matt is the epitome of a leadership by example Matt's dedication to excellence for clients candidates and employees sees him lead an executive team with an openness to solutions that are always grounded in this founding principle of ethics first with extensive experience in recruitment matt is a figure and is often called on by the media to discuss the current trends impact in the world of work recruitment trends and advice today Matt will share with you what key trends are affecting hiring in not in 2019 those those that you hire crucial to the success of your entrepreneurial endeavor but recruiting the right talent can be challenging so without further ado I'll pass on to Matt who will give you further insight into its expertise if you have any questions please feel free to put them in the comment comment box below and we'll ask these to Matt at the end of the presentation over to you Matt thanks Chloe and good afternoon everyone and I'm excited to welcome everyone to the Robert Half webinar where I will provide our best strategies to fighting the skill shortage and the current hiring challenges the businesses are facing in the UK at the moment as Chloe mentioned I'm at Western I'm the managing director for Robert Half I've been here almost 20 years and I originally started in Bristol but now I reside in London and oversee our UK operations so this afternoon I'll be walking through some notable hiring trends we're seeing in the UK but before I get underway I wanted to share a little story about Rob arf and who we are Robert Half is the first and largest specialized recruitment consultancy we were founded in 1948 by Bob Huff and now have over 300 offices worldwide we've been operating in the UK for over 40 years and have a branch network of 23 locations and a deep knowledge of the market in the UK we focus on temporary interim and permanent recruitment solutions in five key sectors accounting and finance financial services technology marketing human resources and business and officer form so today's agenda we're going to talk through a key trends affecting hiring the digital revolution the war for talent skills in demand recruitment solutions and five-year four strategies and then we're conclude with our surmise our discretion and then we have some questions I would say this is a huge topic so to cover in 30 minutes is a challenge but I'll do my best so for the next 30 minutes or so I'm going to run through the trends we're seeing in the UK across the UK that affecting hiring patterns highlighting the skills that are in demand and five useful stretches that will compete successfully in the ongoing war for talent and believe me it is a challenge to find the best people at the moment you will hear me talk a lot about the digital revolution which is seeing organizations harnessing the power of AI robotics and automation alongside their digital transformation programs again that's a huge service subject in itself as well as understanding the power of AI to ramp transform processes organisations have to consider which skills they need to attract to take full advantage of the exciting capabilities from the technology technology revolution that is coming part of this is part of this planning activity includes working out which chart tasks should be automated and we should be retained by humans a I expect cells are automating any tasks that requires rote learning simple decision making and problem solving but business success is not just about automation and ultimately comes down to process policy and passion we can rely on automation for the process most of the time but luckily we humans are still needed for the policy our more importantly the passion now throughout this presentation if you have any questions as we go through it please free feel free to send them across in the chat window and at the end of the presentation I'll run through all the questions we've received so moving on to the key trends affecting hiring in 2019 while the British Chamber of Commerce has benchmarked the UK economic growth at one point one percent for 2018 it predicts an increase to 1.3 in 2019 the overall UK unemployment rate sits at an all-time low of 4 percent and that's the lowest we've had in 75 years when you talk to the majority of UK CFOs and see sweet we predict growth for the coming year they all will talk about you know the the centre the growing sentiment in the UK economy a survey by PwC showed 89% were confident in their company's prospects for revenue growth over the next 12 months economic forecasts support their view with experts predicting that employment rate will increase by 1.1 1.1 8 percent between 2009 and 2020 UK employees have also stated they plan to raise salaries in the coming year and according to the CIPD please plan to raise the basic base pay by 2.1 percent compared to 1.8 percent three months ago although most employees would enjoy a pay increase the most competitive salary offers are be awarded to key skilled professionals in the bid to get the war on talent or beat the war on talent so in summary well the UK economy might bill it's slowing in the in the years ahead demand for skilled professionals in finance technology Marting and business support will only continue to grow in line with a focus on productivity digitalization and automation which is the next topic on our agenda today the digital revolution we all hear a lot about this demand for skilled professionals will be fuelled by the fact that the robots are coming despite earlier predictions that artificial intelligence and robotics will still jobs the latest reports show otherwise and that will actually have the opposite effect you know research company Gartner recently said that AI actually increase jobs by two point three million by 2020 which is only 18 months away our own research with UK CIOs found that 51% agreed saying that AI will enable more jobs for humans not less the impact on the world of work will be significant with 38 percent of UK businesses believing that digitalization is the biggest factor set to influence the future of the workplace World Economic Forum's study published in September and AUSA's is view revealing that 86 percent of enterprises that are looking to hire new permanent staff with technology expertise and 84 percent intend to automate work first because emerging technologies such as robotic process automation has the power and functionality to improve productivity by removing repetitive manual work and helping to build out more collaborative procedures a research with CFO's in particular and over the last 12 months revealed that two-thirds believe automation and digitalization has improved collaboration within departments however with everyone now focus on these benefits Devon for people who have the vision to work out how to apply new technologies to business processes as well as those who can build and implement it it's growing fast competition for the most talented technology professionals is ramping up significantly and is having an effect on salaries and hiring strategies so now moving on to the war for talent the digitalization agenda is one reason why UK businesses are finding it difficult to find attract secure and retain the right staff at the right time while there might be plenty of job seekers out there there's a significant knowledge gap that is fueling a war for talent and the experience needed to take businesses forward it's absolutely critical indeed the you the UK's talent market already has a distinct lack of digital skills needed to help businesses adapt to digitalization artificial intelligence and automation and it's a concern for 53 percent of CEOs currently more than half of the business we surveyed said it said it's more challenging to find qualified professionals now than it was five years ago or 51% said it's more difficult to secure the preferred candidate they want I'll share some insights on which are the most in-demand roles next but before moving on I want to discuss the five stretches that we have been seeing working to good effect recently so everyone can see the slide there of all the most roles into mind across the UK that you can see them by accounting and finance financial services technology business support and creative or marketing so experience and know-how are in demand across all five categories of roles that we recruit to film as I said accounting financial services technology business support marketing and creative our clients tell us that they need people can who can hit the ground running but who also can work with an environment that's in the midst of huge changes so adaptability is absolutely key as well in the first category of accounting of Finance interest in finance business partners is participative is significant the change the changing nature of finance professional roles mean that people need to work collaboratively with the rest of the business to affect change or in particular demand gone of the day so the classic bean counter this is operational business partnering stakeholder management is absolutely critical and the sheer pace of regulation currently be introduced into financial services sectors creates huge appetite those with experience of ensuring organizations are complying regulatory reform at the moment is very very high on our agenda and that's what a lot of the clients are calling us with at the moment given the digitalization agenda I've talked about it's easy to see why developers project managers and analysts are difficult to secure in the technology category but this trend doesn't begin an end in IT but it eats right through to marketing and creative where there's a strong demand for e-commerce and digital specialists when you have the technology world and the creative world there is a significant convergence through things like Europe URI urx so we're seeing particularly interest increase in that interestingly we're predicting that HR and administering brute roles are set to become even more integral to business outcomes in the next year focus here remain the engagement and training of employees are finding a resolution to the global productivity crisis so let's move on to these solutions or tactics let's starting with number one attraction you have to become an employer of choice finding candidates is the first step in winning Wolf's talent but for fate but persuading in-demand professionals to join your firm over other is definitely just as much of a challenge of course every company's reputation is already out there for all to see and social media such as glass store served to provide feedback from current and past employees to how prospective plan to do their homework before and even before an interview is even in the diary so you know everyone's increased focus on social media activity is absolutely critical we now recognize that it's increasingly important for candidates to look for roles with organizations that provide a collaborative flexible work in place that makes them feel invested in the success of their team almost half of UK businesses are turning to the promotion of company culture as the main selling point for potential employees either culture is everything everyone talks culture eats strategy for breakfast we hear that a lot from our clients and we're seeing that in the marketplace at the moment 42 percent say that they could they communicate their organization's brand values and mission statements when persuading perceptive prospective employees to join them or 38 percent demonstrate their working environment 36 percent highlight career development opportunities and 33 outlined their company's rewards and benefits system the lessons to learn from this well well pay is important it's not everything and it's in vital to become an employer of choice when competing for top candidates and as we you know we interact with many many clients on a daily basis and we're seeing more creative things obviously money is important but little things don't mean a lot much for people means everything you know so we've seen nine day working weeks flexi hours pay sabbatical we've even bought some companies that are implementing no holiday you know you can take as much holidays you want but as long as you get the work done and we're seeing that it's a big driver so the lesson there is it's it's not all about pounds of pence it's a lot there's things are played so moving on to solution to securing Tallinn fast are hiring time to hire is another important elements bear in mind in our research with job seekers we found almost a quarter plane to receive more than one job offer while 57% have accepted a second choice role when their preferred employer took too long to contact them we have some candidates that are actively engaging in over 10 interviews per week when they're active in the market the reason why employers drag the feature in the hiring process are many varied but can include the need for multiple interviews over several weeks with different stakeholders this brings pressure to bear on the team waiting for a new colleague to fill a vacant job role but also introduces the risk of damaging their reputation as an employee that can't make timely decisions timely decisions are critical in the recruitment process it's worth noting that hiring space play an important role in how successful businesses are securing their first choice HR administrative professionals in particular qualified candidates receive multiple offers and competitive remuneration packages and businesses that fail to make an offer within the first week or two may lose out we people have companies are offering within two days and focusing on service for a moment of every 10 candidates interview eight were offered sir is higher than the advertised amount by a quarter of the companies in most cases our top three factors to implement the starting pay boosts were can this experience of 53% technical skills at 49% and industry experience at 47% so move not to solution 3 the right skills at the right time flexible recruiting strategies very very critical so having identified and communicated the unique selling point of your business as well as addressing the lags in your hiring process it's worth thinking about flexible recruitment strategies what we're calling the professional gig economy is well underway with over 50% of the UK workforce now classified as self-employed as it gains momentum this trend opens up a wealth of new strategic staffing possibilities for businesses organizations are beginning to rely more heavily on flexible recruitment weather as a means of balancing economic uncertainty and lack of available talent our research shows that employees believe that our there are multiple benefits of hiring temporary and interim professionals notably to support long-term staff absence provide staffing flexibility and act as a stopgap between permanent hires it's interesting to know that flexible working is very appealing and it can give can give you access to a variety of individuals and whatever that reasoning more and more employees are swapping permanent positions for contracts and temporary roles we're also seeing a number of people using interim resources to extinguish the need to rush the permanent process so again making sure that people don't come into backlogs of work so though the use of interims is increasing significantly in this marketplace solution fall retention offer the benefits people want so having attracted and secured the right people the next challenge is ensure they stay according to research almost one in four people would consider leaving their current job if an equivalent job with a better remuneration package came along so it's worth consulting our salary guide to check you're still offering competitive rates of pay again very very critical it's also important to offer the benefits that employees want including increasingly this involves a flexible and remote working smart technologies and enables people to work from a location that suits them and their family while still being able to collaborate fully with colleagues based in the office although greater emphasis has been placed on benefits these are not typically the factors that cause a point dis faction dis is fact dissatisfaction for new employees poor management was the main reason they considered leaving whereas higher salary and desire greater responsibilities were the biggest factors for the senior staff retention strategies for the coming year should aim to focus more on the human first approach beginning with leadership techniques and research found that employees were most happy when they found the scent of appreciation and pride in the organization and when they were treated with fairness solution fine longer term retention another reason for candidates to leave their roles is that an employee's unable to provide a clear development path including training a research found that three-quarters of candidates are more likely to quit their jobs if this is it can pace if this is a case compared with three years ago well 47% of employees say they offer career development opportunities today we have seen significant growth in companies that are using training and upskilling to address skill gaps this is particularly true of organizations in search of IT and digital skills who are now looking across the business for people who may want to migrate from their current roles to take up new challenges well over 1/3 at 38% in fact you can employers have introduced training programs to keep retention levels high while also addressing skills gaps in house businesses have started adding more benefits to their remuneration packages to maintain their actual attractiveness to current employees it's a popular tactic used by 43 percent of UK businesses at present finally it'd be worth considering an employee wellness program over 4 in 10 companies provide one citing employee engagement and productivity as their reasons for doing so so where to go from here so in conclusion then we are seeing levels of uncertainty ahead for all sorts of reasons but the digitalization agenda in particular means employers have no choice but to hire the right people at the right time to transform and automate business processes this is happening everywhere in the world and the UK is no exception more than half 53% of CEOs have concerns regarding the level of skill available in the UK these concerns are amplified as brexit approaches threatening restricting access to EU talent market attracting and retaining the best people is key to success there is no longer an option to sit back and operate in the way businesses has always operated in the past the good news is that there is there is already tried and tested ways of ensuring that you've both attract and retain the people you need to recap it starts with ensuring that you're telling the right story about your brand offering competitive salaries and benefits moving decisively to secure the chosen felon and providing training and work styles that people want in short select attentively invest in your people passionately the even better news is that the team at Robert Half is standing by to help whether that's a more efficient recruitment process or insights we provide through our annual salary guide and half through our branch network and we have over 350 consultants within our specialisms we are here to help we like to see ourselves just more than a business partner so we're very keen to support you give advice and counsel for any clients out there who work closely with us so in the meantime if anyone has any questions about today's presentation or services we provide I'd be more than happy to answer them now and we do have your questions for you so the first question is from Victoria Peak Victoria said do you think there's still value in spending money on employee perks or is it all about company culture I think there is a it's great to receive perks and that's nice and that's as I talked about the appreciation and and and feeling valued and being that but I think ultimately creating a culture and value system that people want to be a part of is absolutely critical so while spokes have their place nothing beats culture and a brand and people want to work for something that has true purpose and I think you know we talked about and I think I said it start you know strategies breaker culture eats strategy for breakfast it's really people want to be part of something and that's as we talk to people leaving businesses that lack of connection is that lack of culture that pretty much sits at the heart of every reason why someone wants to leave the next question is from Leanne Spencer Leanne said what part do you think well-being will play in employee engagement and I think employee well-being is absolutely critical I I think when people you know when people feel better and and they employee their well-being is in a great place you get a more productive and more engaged workforce and I think that just makes for a massive retention as I talked about you know the amount companies that are working on their wellness program in fact run hard working very heavily on it at the moment you know it was something that was ham with a lot of feedback but you know the best companies aren't working with all the best companies that have retention have the best wellness programs fact [Music] within sometimes the right hire now might not be the right person in a few years time how do you recruit effectively with that in mind well I think you know that's a great question Gary um so I think I'm the best people hire you don't have for them that hire them to do the job they're doing it's where they can go in the future so I think you know that people are going to have to develop and move forward I think it's it's as much hiring the ability and the enthusiasm and then you can train this skill so I think you've always got a higher with the knowing that they're gonna they're gonna have to evolve through the role and be trained up to do different things now that's absolutely critical that you bring them in with a view that you they're gonna go on and have a bigger career I think people want to know that they're being sold a career not just a job that's it the next question is from clay Allen player asked how do you calculate how much a person is worth inside in terms of their salary well that is you know obviously you can there's there's ways and means you can benchmark through our salary guide but I think it distills down to three really important factors what could the person get elsewhere what would you pay for a replacement for this person um what would you pay to keep this person I think those are the three points you've always got to ask yourself and if you ask those cell and if you're a kilter for any of those then you know you're not Romina Romina rating him in the right way the next question is from Richard Knight Richard asked do you think that the timing of 2020 for AI impact in the market is realistic um you know it's not far away you know when you look at 18 months I I think it is relatively realistic you know we're dealing with a number of clients technology-based clients and we're starting to see the AI automation through our technology businesses now having impacts on our finance and accounting and our other lines of business digitization our creative departments so we are starting to see the impact now we really are so when it's not far away and next question is from Robert James Robert asked Millennials are known for jumping from job to job after a few years is it worth spending money on training and upskilling if they're going to leave you know there is the notion that you know the the average length of role now is shortening I think there is no substitute for training you know there's the old adage of what if we train them and they go what if we don't train them and they stay I think it's absolutely critical you have to have a commitment to training and developing young people that is your commitment and as I've talked about it's the Selective select attentively invest passionately and you need to be upskilling these people I bear in mind we hear a lot of term now which is growing called the boomerang employee and we've seen that on behalf and we see a number of companies you know people maybe leave and then come back and realize that maybe the grass wasn't greener or maybe they needed to go away to come back so I think if you've invested in people you'll always have goodwill we talk a lot about onboarding you know hiring retaining I think off-boarding is really important leaving on a good note investing in your people that things might come down for the line they might come back referrals and recommendations it's a very very very dangerous strategy not investing in your people and the next question is from Ronnie Jones Ronnie asked an employee perspective how do you approach an employer about a pay rise how do you okay I think I'm what you've got to do is obviously highly depending on how long you've been in the role but I would sit down and you know you need to monetize your contribution well not monetize it you know talk about the areas where you've added tremendous value you've also got to maybe just look at areas where you've taken on more responsibility you've added more value to the business and it might not be from a monetary perspective it might be from an automation perspective from a cultural perspective and I think if you present what you've done and how you've added value to an employee and talk to them and communicate to them I think you're more likely to get a more favorable response I think if you use I could get more money down houseware or I want more money I think you've got to engage in it some that's an ongoing process and hopefully always encourage to have regular reviews with your manager if that weekly monthly quarterly and I think that's where you need to present to them where you feel you can justify added value to the organization and again it's communication always communicate I think everyone worries that it's hard to have a tough conversation I think tough conversations with your employer is really really critical if you communicate it and do it in the right way when it's just you talk to them and you talk about how you feel no people do not want to lose good employees and you never want to get to the situation where you have the counteroffer because that's when lack of trust is broken so I would say be brave do your homework if you have to talk to other people in the organization so maybe you know some eyes some of the value that you've added into it but just just call the meeting do it in a professional way and present what you've done but my advice is never never back away from those conversations I think you'll develop in your build relationships for me next question is from Steve Davis stever's asked how my group might have a positive impact on boost in the UK oh yeah I firmly agree that I think I'm what we do is we place great candidates with great clients and we stimulate businesses to grow we've moved talent around we develop talent I think you know what we do is we work we're great we're a great middle person we put great kindness in front of great clients and I think then that develops companies and we enjoy what we do so I would say you know qualifications for certain roles you know if it's a prerequisite if it's a highly technical role maybe in in in accounting there often can be a demand for having the qualification but I think like personality enthusiasm experience is also critical fantastic I don't think there's any further questions and so we'll finish up on the last question and a big thank you to Matt for sharing your insights I'm sure our audience will agree it was a hugely valuable session and this webinar will be available to download in the next few days tonight on our social media and channels and for the slides as well every year up half reduces salary guide that examines trends in UK employment and provides benchmarks employees can use when reviewing salaries for current for current and prospective employees in the upcoming year you can find a copy of this salary and as you'll be redirected to the page after this webinar is finished and you have any last comments Matt no I just say you know I really appreciate the opportunity to present today it is a very very big subject and you know I could probably speak for hours on every single aspect of that you know if anyone does if anyone wants to reach out to me personally for any questions that they didn't want to you know do within the webinar then you can contact me on Matthew Weston at Robert Half doc Codel UK so more than happy to help out but I've really enjoyed in and really appreciate the opportunity so thanks for that Chloe with the webinar so thank you very much and good bye everyone thank you for joining us [Music]

The digitisation effect

Despite earlier predictions that artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will steal our jobs, the latest reports show that they will have the opposite effect.

PwC has reported that AI will be all about displacement, not replacement, of traditional jobs. It predicted that around seven million UK jobs in sectors such as manufacturing and transport could be displaced by AI between 2017 and 2037. But it also said that about 7.2 million new jobs could be created, notably in sectors like health and science - meaning a net growth in jobs of about 200,000. The one thing that is clear is that the evolution of the workplace is here.

However, the UK talent market is already experiencing a lack of digital skills needed to help businesses adapt to digitisation, AI and automation. All the indicators show that demand for skilled professionals in finance, technology, marketing and business support will continue to grow in line with the sharpening focus on productivity, digitisation and automation.

The impact of your employer brand

Finding candidates is the first step in winning the war for talent. But persuading in-demand professionals to join your firm over another is just as much of a challenge.

Every company’s reputation is already out there for all to see, and social media sites such as Glassdoor serve to provide feedback from current and past employees to help prospective clients to do their homework before an interview is even in their diary.

It is increasingly important to candidates that they find roles with organisations that provide a collaborative, flexible workplace that also makes them feel invested in the success of their team. Recently, the British Chamber of Commerce has cited a link between flexibility and increased productivity levels which can only be a good thing for business.

Streamlining your time to hire

Demand for the best professionals with the most relevant skills will continue to grow in the year ahead - and acting more quickly to secure chosen candidates must be high on businesses’ agendas.
In our research with jobseekers, we found almost a quarter claim to receive more than one job offer, while 57% have accepted a second-choice role when their preferred employer took too long to contact them.

Calling on the professional gig economy

Having identified and communicated the unique selling points of your business, as well as addressing the lags in your hiring process, it’s worth thinking about flexible recruitment strategies. What we’re calling the professional gig economy is well underway, with over 15% of the UK workforce now classed as self-employed.

As it gains momentum, this trend opens a wealth of new strategic stafﬁng possibilities for businesses. Organisations are beginning to rely more heavily on ﬂexible recruitment models as a means of balancing economic uncertainty and lack of available talent.

Focus on retention

Once you have attracted and secured the right people, the next challenge is to ensure they stay. According to our research, almost one in four people would consider leaving their current job if an equivalent job with a better remuneration package came along, so it’s worth consulting our Salary Guide to check you’re still offering competitive rates of pay.

Retention strategies for the coming year should aim to focus more on the human-ﬁrst approach, beginning with leadership techniques. Our research found that employees were most happy at work when they felt a sense of appreciation, pride in their organisation and when they were treated with fairness and respect.

Another reason for candidates to leave their roles is that an employer is unable to provide a clear development path, including training. Our research found that three-quarters of candidates are more likely to quit their jobs if this is the case compared with three years ago.

Time for change

It’s difficult to know exactly how political and economic events will play out in 2019. But whatever happens, the digitisation agenda means employers have no choice but to hire the right people at the right time to transform and automate business processes.

The good news is that there are already tried and tested ways of ensuring that you both attract and retain the people you need.

Submit your vacancy

UK economic update: John Ashcroft forecasts challenges for Q4 and early 2023

How to attract and retain the best marketing (& creative) talent

What are the latest tech hiring trends in 2022?