Statistics

Tangible Hiring Goals For Your Business

Overview: Where Both Parties Stand!

In our recent survey it is clear the gap between job seekers and employers is heightened due to financial constraints for both parties. According to the CSO, “in September 2022, the volume of Retail Sales fell by 3.1% during the month and decreased by 7.0% in the year.” In addition to this drop in sales there has also been a fall in advertising spends as 66.667% of industries have decreased their media investment throughout 2022.

According to October 2022 CSO statistics the unemployment rate in Ireland has risen to 4.4%. This is an increase of 0.1% from September figures as the percentage of unemployed males has increased by 0.1% as well as persons aged 25-74 years. This number is expected to increase this month following the latest layoffs by tech giants, Twitter, Meta, Stripe and Microsoft.

Job seekers are demanding more flexibility from their employers. In order to accommodate the rise in cost of living, 60% of our surveyed working professionals moved out of the city during the pandemic. These individuals are looking for opportunities to reduce their commuting costs by seeking hybrid or remote working positions.

Of the remaining 40% of our surveyed working professionals, those based in Dublin County have been affected by increased rent, increased mortgage rates, or forced relocation as landlords move to sell their rental properties. Those dealing with forced relocation are struggling because of the Dublin housing crisis and are being forced to either pay higher rent or move further from the city.

These challenges faced by workers are being thrust upon employers. A recent survey by The Economist shows that the cost of living in Dublin is among the highest in Europe. The Independent.ie confirms that rising inflation and higher taxes hit consumers on the double. Businesses are being forced to pay higher wages for office workers and/or make concessions by offering hybrid or remote working positions.

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How Businesses Are Managing With This Situation

Role Merging

Definition: As companies restructure to adapt to financial constraints, there has been an increase in role merging, where employers are combining multiple positions into the role and responsibility of one worker.

Benefits:

1. It can be an effective way to save costs.
2. It is an effective way to increase productivity with individual workers

Negatives:

1. Creating new opportunities by merging roles requires highly skilled candidates, which limits your options of available workers.
2. By make the role more complicated it can be more expensive to hire the right person
3. It will also take longer to fill the position and may require you to hire a non-EU applicant. This will involve providing sponsorship, which is costly, time-consuming, and expensive.
4. Typically existing staff are more likely to take on the responsibility of a merged role. In our survey 1 in 2 employees will leave their current employer within 1 year of working of being asked to take on the responsibility of a merged role.

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Graduate Programmes:

Definition: Some employers are investing in graduate programmes to provide newly educated professionals with the opportunity to learn and further develop their key skills needed to work in their organisations.

Benefits:

1. A graduate training programme is a way to bridge the gap between university and work.
2. Graduate programs can be an affordable hiring option.
3. Gives you first access to talent identification.
4. Fresh perspectives and innovation.
5. A way to diversify your workforce.  

Negatives:

1. Typically, only larger companies can afford to offer graduate programmes.
2. You need to invest time in training.
3. If a graduate can’t see a career path, they may move on from the role quickly.
4. A more experienced professional often has plenty of experience in working in your industry, that specific role and as part of a team, compared to recent graduates.

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Outside The Box Thinking!

Renting Office Spaces Closer To Home

According to Forbes 54% of employers believe that they will have a full return of their workforce to the office by January 2023. However, 87% of working professionals have listed hybrid work environments as their most desirable requirement for new career opportunities. The fiscal reasons, previously explained above, for workers to favour a blended work environment are understandable and reasonable.

When we posed the following question in our survey to employed professionals who commuted from outside of Dublin County:

“If your employer rented a workspace (e.g. WeWork) for you and your colleagues which was closer to your residence, as an alternative to working from home how would you feel?”

• 81% would be happier to not have to travel into the Dublin City for work.
• 90% agreed they would prefer to not be working alone.

In a follow-up question, we asked:

“How far would you be willing to travel for you to consider this as an alternative to working-from-home?”

• 90% feel it should be less than 20% of their current commute
• 10% feel it should be less than 50% of their current commute.

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Latest Hiring Opportunities:

Tech giants like Twitter have recently laid off a number of their employees, from departments including ethical AI, marketing and communication, search, public policy, wellness and other departments. This is an incredible opportunity for your business to hire some exceptional candidates, who can add value to your business. As a number of these employees were initially hired through third party recruitment agencies, you may already have a lead.

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Conclusion:

At Hall Recruitment we listen to our candidates concerns in order to advice our clients effectively regarding the latest employment trends, so you always attract the most qualified applicants.
If you need help finding the right candidate let us help you below…