Time to change jobs is overdue for Britain’s office workers
18 July 2014
A wave of skilled UK office workers, who have been locked into outgrown roles for seven years due to the recession, are now finally getting ready to move on, new research has shown.
Fri, 18 Jul 2014 | By Mike Nesbit
A wave of skilled UK office workers, who have outgrown roles they have been locked into for seven years due to the recession, are now finally getting ready to move on, new research has shown.
According to staffing specialist OfficeTeam’s ‘Job Satisfaction Index’ – which looked at work attitudes among full and part-time employees – workers usually stay in their first roles for an average of four years but, because of the global financial crisis that began in 2008, have been unwilling to take a chance of moving on over the past few years.
Since global economies have been showing signs of recovery, it seems that new job hunting is back on the agenda.
“At 6.5%, UK unemployment is the lowest it’s been in six years, echoing what we’ve been seeing in terms of additional job creation and headcount increases across the country,” Rachel Stockell, senior manager at OfficeTeam, told Recruiter.
“Coincidentally, the length of time employees feel they should stay with a company is six years, and with more job opportunities available, businesses are at risk of losing their star employees to other organisations.”
OfficeTeam said almost a quarter of employees said they had stayed in their role longer than they would have done in a better economic climate and less than half (46%) said that they were happy in their current jobs.
“Companies who get ahead of this trend, by bolstering retention efforts, including increasing remuneration and offering flexible working and benefits that employees really want, will be best positioned to stave off threats. Offering career progression and work-life balance opportunities will also be important factors as companies define their employer brand,” she added.
“For recruiters, the challenge will be to minimise the time employers take to hire, emphasising that a delayed or prolonged recruitment process may result in candidates receiving job offers from other companies. Another challenge will be overcoming counteroffers as employers look to retain their staff.”
The data showed that job insecurity appeared to have been worse in London, where 36% of workers stayed in their jobs longer than they would in better economic times, as well as in Northern Ireland (34%).
Workers were least worried about staying put in a job during the recession in the North-East (14%) and North-West (14%).
Michelle Theuma, a director for Onyx, which specialises in executive recruitment, told Recruiter: “We haven’t seen any influx of candidates yet! In fact the quality of candidates coming on the market again is not that good.
“We get more and more roles to fill every day but we haven’t had candidates of the right calibre. Very often they’re asking for more money but they haven’t updated their skills from all that time sitting in their last jobs [during the recession] and they’re at the same level they were at years ago.”
Tracey Lally, director at South Yorkshire and Midlands-based TSL Recruitment, told Recruiter: “You have to remember too that during the recession employers haven’t been investing either so employees have missed out on training over these years.
“And from a candidate perspective, some of them don’t understand what has changed in the recruitment market while the recession was on. The personal touch has gone. Job boards are all over the place these days.
“Recruitment used to be about us getting to knowing candidates inside out. People’s skill sets cannot always be written on a CV. That’s where we come in – the personal touch. We got to know candidates as well as we knew the employers.
“Some recruiters don’t understand candidate shortage because they started as recruitment agents during the recession. They’ve never seen a candidate-led market before. This is when the traditional recruiters – those with more experience – come to the fore.”
According to staffing specialist OfficeTeam’s ‘Job Satisfaction Index’ – which looked at work attitudes among full and part-time employees – workers usually stay in their first roles for an average of four years but, because of the global financial crisis that began in 2008, have been unwilling to take a chance of moving on over the past few years.
Since global economies have been showing signs of recovery, it seems that new job hunting is back on the agenda.
“At 6.5%, UK unemployment is the lowest it’s been in six years, echoing what we’ve been seeing in terms of additional job creation and headcount increases across the country,” Rachel Stockell, senior manager at OfficeTeam, told Recruiter.
“Coincidentally, the length of time employees feel they should stay with a company is six years, and with more job opportunities available, businesses are at risk of losing their star employees to other organisations.”
OfficeTeam said almost a quarter of employees said they had stayed in their role longer than they would have done in a better economic climate and less than half (46%) said that they were happy in their current jobs.
“Companies who get ahead of this trend, by bolstering retention efforts, including increasing remuneration and offering flexible working and benefits that employees really want, will be best positioned to stave off threats. Offering career progression and work-life balance opportunities will also be important factors as companies define their employer brand,” she added.
“For recruiters, the challenge will be to minimise the time employers take to hire, emphasising that a delayed or prolonged recruitment process may result in candidates receiving job offers from other companies. Another challenge will be overcoming counteroffers as employers look to retain their staff.”
The data showed that job insecurity appeared to have been worse in London, where 36% of workers stayed in their jobs longer than they would in better economic times, as well as in Northern Ireland (34%).
Workers were least worried about staying put in a job during the recession in the North-East (14%) and North-West (14%).
Michelle Theuma, a director for Onyx, which specialises in executive recruitment, told Recruiter: “We haven’t seen any influx of candidates yet! In fact the quality of candidates coming on the market again is not that good.
“We get more and more roles to fill every day but we haven’t had candidates of the right calibre. Very often they’re asking for more money but they haven’t updated their skills from all that time sitting in their last jobs [during the recession] and they’re at the same level they were at years ago.”
Tracey Lally, director at South Yorkshire and Midlands-based TSL Recruitment, told Recruiter: “You have to remember too that during the recession employers haven’t been investing either so employees have missed out on training over these years.
“And from a candidate perspective, some of them don’t understand what has changed in the recruitment market while the recession was on. The personal touch has gone. Job boards are all over the place these days.
“Recruitment used to be about us getting to knowing candidates inside out. People’s skill sets cannot always be written on a CV. That’s where we come in – the personal touch. We got to know candidates as well as we knew the employers.
“Some recruiters don’t understand candidate shortage because they started as recruitment agents during the recession. They’ve never seen a candidate-led market before. This is when the traditional recruiters – those with more experience – come to the fore.”
- Are you investing in your own staff’s professional development? Then enter Recruiter’s Investing in Talent Awards 2014. Visit www.investingintalent.co.uk for more information.
