Driven initially by the global pandemic, nearly half of recruiters have reduced their office space as a result.

Released yesterday exclusively to Recruiter, the UK Recruitment Index 2021 by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies and Saffery Champness also found that 30% of firms are now happy to allow staff to work five days out of the office, while most businesses are allowing staff to work two to three days out of the office.

Overall, the Index showed that recruitment firms were able to adapt their strategy quickly to cope with the impact of the pandemic. “Organisational resilience is looking more promising than last year and firms appear to feel more financially stable at the moment,” said APSCo CEO Ann Swain and Jamie Cassell, head of the recruitment sector group at Saffery Champness, in their opening comment.

Pre-pandemic, the report went on to say, 57% of firms said that all staff were expected to be in the office for the whole week or at minimum, four days a week. “The pandemic forced firms to quickly look at their remote working capabilities and, as shown throughout the Index, the impact of people working from home was not significant,” the report said. “New technology allows them to monitor staff performance and reduce some of their fixed costs via home working. For staff, greater flexibility in working practices helps their wellness and motivation.”

A vast majority (93%) said they would not change the remuneration of consultants that want to work from home in the future. Only 4% said they “would consider” reducing remuneration to take into account lower travel costs.

However, the report warned: “It is important that any change in policy considers the morale of the workforce and its impact on the performance of the firm.”

While cyber threats have increased, 91% of Index respondents felt their systems were sufficient to handle the risks. The report said: “However, regularly reviewing these processes is very important… We have seen more organisations bringing on board dedicated compliance staff or nominating someone internally to take that role, whether that is the finance director or the HR director.”

In other highlights:

• A significant number of respondents do not feel their IR35 processes are “sufficiently robust”.
• Attracting and retaining good consultants remains a key business issue for firms, closely followed by candidate shortage.
• Over 75% of respondents in all company size categories believe they have sufficient funds and borrowing facilities in place to fund future growth plans.

See also today's story on flexible working and one recruiter having no permanent, physical office.

• For more on the UK Recruitment Index, see the Nov-Dec 2021 issue of Recruiter.

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