The labour market is still significantly impacted by the virus, both supply and demand, despite there being over 1 million job vacancies in September 2021, almost 80,000 above its pre pandemic level from January to March last year.
Why is this happening? There is a massive mismatch happening in the job market, with companies not offering employer value propositions at a sufficient level to attract the right candidates.
Employer Value proposition is taken by many to be wages and benefits, however in a modern context can be so much more encompassing areas such as:
- Environment
- Culture
- Working conditions
- Wages, Bonus and Benefits
- Progression
- Values
On salaries, it’s no surprise companies are concerned that the economy could take a hit, therefore they want to preserve financial resources by not paying too much for new employee’s, however the impact of Brexit and the pandemic has meant a significant shortage of candidates across many industries leading to increased wage growth of up to 20-30% in lots of areas. This is when the market becomes unbalanced – the candidate remains in their current job role, whilst the vacancy remains unfilled.
Disruption caused by the pandemic required businesses to operate remotely where possible, leading to an acceleration in home working; which is now set to be a mainstay option. For employee’s looking to change careers or move jobs, home working is a top priority with candidates twice as likely to apply for the job. However, the percentage of jobs advertising hybrid working has decreased from 9.2% in January to 5.6% in July, it poses the question whether companies are really embracing the change, or whether they don’t see it as a sustainable option.
Although these are new challenges presented in 2021, don’t be put off by them, these changes should inspire your business to think of innovative ways to meet the emerging market challenges.
What can companies do to remain competitive outside salary within the current hiring market?
- Review your Employee Value Proposition – Benchmarking and ensuring you are competitive.
- Look at how you might offer flexible working – try to keep up with workplace trends, depending on the industry, remote working may not always be possible, consider offering more flexibility for your workers.
- Provide career opportunities – opportunity for growth is highly attractive to candidates i.e. implementing a mentoring programme or funding for qualifications
- Spend time working ensuring you are actively promoting the story behind your company.
- Use Social effectively to demonstrate why working for you is better than your competition as candidates have multiple opportunities.
If you would like to chat about remaining competitive within the hiring environment, please get in touch with us on 0330 133 2097 or email enquiries@thetalenthackers.com
