As the UK ends all Covid-related restrictions following two years of chaos, organisations across Britain and beyond continue to battle with chronic skills shortages. The pandemic – which ultimately instigated the largest work ‘experiment’ in modern history – may now ‘technically’ be over in the UK, but it has changed the face of HR and talent acquisition forever.

With the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealing that over half of businesses reported they are unable to meet demand due to worker shortages in 2021, already stretched HR teams – many of which faced cutbacks during the pandemic – are scrambling for skills. And while this trend is evident across the market, the professional sectors, in particular, are struggling to source and secure vital skills.

The latest Trends Snapshot report from The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) reveals that vacancies for permanent white-collar jobs have spike once again, up 28% in January when compared to the same time last year.

The data, provided by the global leader in software for the staffing industry, Bullhorn, also revealed that demand for contractors was also up year-on-year, increasing 38%. Month-on-month figures also showed a spike in jobs, with permanent and contract vacancies increasing an eye-watering 104% and 78% between December and January, which can be attributed to a bounce back following a seasonal lull.

APSCo’s report also reveals a significant increase in placements, with the number of candidates accepting new permanent roles increasing 84% between January 2021 and January 2022. Contract placements were up 12% during the same period. With the ONS reporting a continued decline in unemployment levels, this rise in placements alongside a spike in vacancies will inevitably put increasing pressures on the UK’s recruitment market and already-stretched HR teams.

The past 24 months have brought unprecedented challenges for talent management professionals globally. Senior strategists were forced to implement and manage a large-scale shift to remote working, furlough schemes, new sickness absence policies, and, in some cases, unexpected redundancies – all with close to no notice.

HR stepped up to the plate, and this has resulted in the rise of HR among most organisations’ hierarchies. However, the function now faces a fresh challenge.

In the early months of the pandemic, official figures demonstrated that the number of individuals looking for work across the UK skyrocketed, as many quickly found their services were no longer required in a lockdown situation. However, as many HR leaders will attest, as restrictions began to loosen, the country quickly pivoted from an unemployment crisis to a skills crisis.

When the country was ordered to stay at home, many individuals left the UK, retrained and switched sectors, or simply reconsidered their priorities and what they want from work, which has since been dubbed the ‘great reassessment’.

According to a recent ManpowerGroup report, more than two-thirds (69%) of employers globally — a 15 year high — are unable to find workers with the right set of skills. HR teams now find themselves contending with this challenge – while also finding their own numbers diminished.

Data released last year by Search Consultancy underlined that the HR sector itself is not immune to the talent shortage that is blighting British businesses, with 73% of organisations feeling strained due to a lack of skilled workers. The report found the main contributors towards the skills shortage in HR were a lack of qualified candidates, coupled with retention issues.

The hiring market in the UK is showing no signs of slowing. While this is promising for both jobseekers and staffing firms, skills shortages remain rife across the country which will only be exacerbated if vacancy numbers continue on the same growth trajectory without a sustainable solution to the dearth of talent.

While the release of the Levelling Up Whitepaper does show a promising commitment to increasing the professional skills of the UK market, there’s still more that can be done, including changes to the Apprenticeship Levy to make it more flexible so that the likes of agency workers can carry training over in their roles. APSCo continues to lobby government to ensure the professional recruitment market is able to continue to thrive once the inevitable ‘settling down’ period begins. But what can HR teams do now to help ease the strain?

As Deloitte’s latest Human Capital Trends report highlights, “The Future of Work always needed the HR function to expand its remit and Covid-19 has accelerated this process by opening up a window of opportunity for HR to re-architect work throughout the enterprise.”

The paper goes on to detail how having a functional mindset that focuses on optimising and redesigning HR processes to manage the workforce is key to future success, suggesting that, “HR should move beyond traditional mandates of recruitment and distributing centralised learning curriculums, to leading strategic workforce planning – advising the business on how to best utilise their talent ecosystems, identify the critical skills for the future and continuously revise the current learning offering and curriculum to build strategically critical skills from within”. It seems that HR leaders must reassess current talent management systems if they are to successfully compete for in-demand skills, complementing targeted, strategic recruitment activity with training and development initiatives and policies to redeploy resources when required.

In its Access to Skills and Talent Public Policy plan, APSCo highlighted its government asks in order to create a labour market that is dynamic and flexible to address the skills shortages that are being felt across the UK. This includes the need to reform the Apprenticeship Levy to ensure independent professionals and other members of the self-employed workforce can also access skills training. According to the trade association, flexible, pragmatic, training initiatives must be designed by government to maximise access across the workforce from school leavers to mid-life “lane changers” if it is to equip the UK labour market with the skills, experience, and expertise in demand by employers and business now and in decades to come.

In the meantime, HR strategists must direct their remaining resources towards investment in internal training and development initiatives, effective employee engagement programmes, and innovative recruitment strategies which explore underutilised talent pools to ensure they have access to the skills they need today.