Commenting on today's Labour Market Statistics (for the period January- March 2013) released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), Gerwyn Davies, Labour Market Adviser at the CIPD, comments:
“These labour market figures suggest that the labour market recovery appears to have stalled this quarter. Total hours worked increased marginally in the period January to March but most measures of employment showed falls and pay growth is now well below 1 per cent. Private sector firms are not currently taking on enough staff to offset the contraction in the number of self-employed and public sector workers and the continuing expansion of the UK workforce”.
“The labour market remains a battleground for jobseekers. With 5 unemployed people for every vacancy registered with Jobcentre Plus, there are twice as many unemployed people chasing vacancies as before the recession. Employers need to be aware of the particular impact this has on younger jobseekers. Although youth unemployment has fallen slightly – the one bright spot in today's figures – CIPD figures still show more than forty applicants typically chasing every low-skilled job. That's why we're working with employers to take steps to ensure the labour market doesn't become a “no-go area” for younger job seekers”. The CIPD's recent report 'Employers are from Mars, young people are from Venus: Addressing the young people/jobs mismatch' explored employers' recruitment practices and highlights the importance of employers ensuring that they don't inadvertently screen out candidates of different ages or backgrounds for the wrong reasons, for example, by requiring degrees for roles where they are not needed. The report warned that such an approach would marginalise young people most and add to the pool of wasted young talent.
The report also highlighted poor careers advice and guidance in schools as one of core problems. Currently many young people have little understanding of the world of work and don't know how to improve their chances of finding a job. In order to help overcome this the CIPD is working with the Education and Employers Taskforce on 'Inspiring the Future' – an initiative to get HR professionals to volunteer to go into schools to help young people to become more work ready, by offering CV and interview workshops.
Gerwyn Davies added: “Employers may feel like they're spoilt for choice with so many candidates for every vacancy at the moment. But if this leads them to always go for the safe option of recruiting people like the ones they already have, they risk leaving a demographic hole in their organisation where young people should go. This doesn't only store up problems for the future, it also can contribute to groupthink organisations where new ideas and new ways of doing things are less likely to thrive, stunting agility and competitiveness”.
A new global research report[1] from leading recruitment specialist Robert Half Financial Services, shows that more than nine in 10 (94 percent) Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and Chief Operating Officers (COOs) within UK financial services businesses find the regulatory regime either ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ challenging to manage. Compared to 88 percent of firms globally, only Hong Kong executives (96 percent) find regulatory change more taxing than the UK financial services sector. The report is based on a survey developed by Robert Half Financial Services, the world’s first and largest specialised recruitment consultancy and includes videos and an infographic on the report landing page. It is based on responses from 1,100 CFOs and COOs from the major global financial centres including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong.
More than half of UK respondents (54 percent) report that their budget for managing regulatory change will remain the same in the next 12 months, underlining the challenge that firms face in balancing expenditure and profitability. Only 26 percent of companies predict that their budget will rise, compared to 49 percent of industry leaders in Singapore and 46 percent in Hong Kong – and suggesting that investment over the past two years has already addressed many of the structural changes that needed to be made in the UK.
Despite that, regulation has increased the day-to-day financial workload for UK financial services companies. More than six in 10 (61 percent) report that financial workload has ‘somewhat’ or ‘significantly' increased. To manage, one in three (33 percent) global firms will hire contract or interim staff and one in four (23 percent) will increase their permanent headcount to accommodate the additional regulatory workload. When asked which department is leading their response to regulatory change, a quarter of UK firms (24 percent) said finance, 19 percent said risk and 17 percent said compliance. A further 11 percent respectively said their in-house legal team or technology department was leading the charge while audit was named by 10 percent of organisations. The majority (91 percent) of UK financial services organisations say they have now adopted an Integrated Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Programme with the primary benefits including reduced compliance costs (46 percent), improved business performance (29 percent), optimised risk-return outcomes (25 percent) and increased shareholder value (25 percent).
The extra work created by regulation is having an additional effect on the availability of relevant skills for financial services companies. More than nine in 10 (91 percent) UK CFOs/COOs report that they find it ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ challenging to find the right skilled professionals. The same percentage of companies (91 percent) in Germany finds it difficult to source skilled professionals, but the figure rises to 95 percent in Hong Kong and 93 percent in Singapore. Companies in the US find it slightly easier to source the right people (84 percent).
Neil Owen, Global Practice Director, Robert Half Financial Services said: “The global financial crisis of 2007 – 2009 marked the beginning of an era of significant change for the financial services industry. The crisis forced organisations to focus on corporate restructuring, cost-cutting and managing institutional risk, all under the watchful eye of regulatory bodies and general public scrutiny. Our research shows that even though UK financial services have done much of the ‘heavy lifting’ when implementing new processes and cost-cutting, the regulatory environment continues to create day-to-day challenges, including finding and retaining professionals with the right skills to cope with the extra workload.”
UK financial services companies are broadly positive about their own outlook for the future with three in four (75 percent) confident in their firm’s business outlook compared to 80 percent globally. Top internal concerns include business costs (36 percent), profitability (34 percent) and increasing regulatory issues (22 percent). Top external concerns include the national economy (54 percent), the global economy (50 percent) and the competitive environment (22 percent)[2].
The areas of regulation that have had the most impact on UK financial services companies include anti-money laundering, identified by a third of companies (33 percent), disclosure or reporting requirements (31 percent) and privacy requirements (23 percent)[3]. Owen continues, “Today’s financial services executives are facing unprecedented challenges including emerging regulatory issues, business threats and talent shortages. Firms that proactively address these issues and develop a long-term strategy are best positioned to succeed in the future.”
