Tag Archives: hiring

HR, HR News, News

Over half of UK employees consider quitting over poor pay, as cost-of-living shows no sign of slowing down

Over half (54%) of UK employees would consider quitting a poor paying job to pursue a pay rise, with just under a quarter (21%) planning to leave within the next six months. This is according to HireVue’s latest Candidate Experience Report – the global leader in video interviewing, assessments and AI recruiting tools.

Millions of people across the UK are reconsidering career opportunities to offset struggles with the cost-of-living crisis. Wages are not meeting rising inflation and just a quarter of companies are willing to increase pay as a result of soaring living costs. 

HireVue’s annual ‘Candidate Experience Report’ surveyed more than 1,000 UK workers, exploring current attitudes to work and the workplace.

Lack of benefits, progression and flexible working are also driving resignations

In addition to pay, almost a third (31%) of employees stated poor benefits would be a reason to leave. Many businesses are looking to improve workplace benefits to help ease struggles, and also improve employee retention. Yet, as the smaller figure – in comparison to pay – businesses would be better off increasing pay brackets. 

Almost a quarter (24%) of employees also suggested a lack of flexible working would play a part in choosing to leave their current employer. Over a quarter (26%) also referenced lack of progression as a reason to quit.

 

Richard Matthews, Head of Talent, Resourcing & Employee Relations, The Co-operative Bank comments: “The UK labour market has been in a huge state of flux over the last few years when you factor in the impacts of IR35 tax legislation, Brexit, Covid and the ‘Great Resignation’. Candidates have a huge amount of choice so if you don’t have a compelling employer brand, diverse attraction methods, the latest market insight and a seamless assessment and onboarding experience you will get left behind. Ensuring your hiring process is authentic and consistent with the reality of your organisation is key, otherwise you will see attrition increase.”

 

Darren Jaffrey, General Manager of EMEA & APAC at HireVue, comments, “The combination of pay, progression, benefits and flexible working all play a part in helping businesses retain and recruit top talent. And for candidates, it’s clear they view these key areas as the main drivers to stay in roles. And rightly so. 

“What’s interesting is that despite pay coming out on top as the leading factor for employees to quit, we’re still seeing businesses put more effort into other factors of the business. For example, ignoring soaring inflation and what truly matters – recognising their employees’ struggles and paying them fairly in this time of need.”

 

Demographic differences are also determining workplace satisfaction

The data revealed younger groups are more likely to change jobs based on company experience, with a fifth (20%) saying they would due to burnout, just 16% if they didn’t agree with the company vision, and over a tenth (14%) based on diversity and inclusion. 

 

News

Students across UK pursue digital skills to land better, more diverse careers

KX reveals the UK’s digital skills hotspots, areas across the nation where students are embracing digital skills including coding and data analytics to enhance their careers prospects and help to futureproof the UK’s economy.

The findings form part of a nationwide piece of research which interviewed 1,000 students across all areas of the UK.

 

Country-level breakdown

Standout findings include that two fifths (41%) of students in England can currently code or are learning to, and almost a third (27%) can do so in more than one language.

The figures for learning to code across Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland were 38%, 32% and 25% respectively.

 

The importance of data

The findings also reveal that nationwide digital learning is high on the agenda. 84% of students have now taken courses in either statistics (31%), data analytics (29%), or computational intelligence (24%). When it comes to data analytics the North is leading the way with 35% in the North West and 41% of students in Yorkshire & Humber having prioritized learning in this field.

And the reasoning for learning new skills may surprise. While roles in IT & Telecoms are a focus for just 5% of nationwide respondents, over 21% of students stated their primary reason for learning a digital skill was for a future role in healthcare. 12% reported their reasoning as an opportunity to move into education and 10% the arts.

 

Michaela Woods, a Technical Evangelist at KX, who learnt to code when studying at University and has seven years of experience working as a kdb+ developer said: “Learning to code is not only a one-time learning opportunity that ends when you enter the workforce. Technology is changing at a rapid rate, so digital skills and capabilities need to grow with the changing environment and circumstances.

“The exciting thing about learning to code early on in your education is that you will have a solid technical basis to start from, and the confidence to continually upskill and re-skill as your career progresses.”

 

Regional outliers

Split via region the research presented some significant outliers, with 38% of those interviewed in the East Midlands looking to move into healthcare and 15% of those in the East of England using digital skills as a way to move into the arts. Perhaps also surprising was that just 11% of London students looked to digital skills as a route into a career in Finance. A figure beaten by the East Midlands & Wales which saw respondents report 12% and 16% respectively.

The research also looked at UK students’ keenness for learning new languages, revealing how students compare the importance of linguistic skills against learning to code. While 29% reported they were of equal importance, speaking a new language did slightly outrank having computer programming skills (34% vs 29%). While this was mirrored across all regional data, it was closest in the East of England with a split of 25% for language learning and 23% for coding.

 

Daniel Baker, Head of Evangelism at KX, speaking on the findings said: ‘It’s fascinating to look at how much emphasis UK students are now putting towards digital skills. Traditionally coding has sat outside the general curriculum, with students turning to external providers to source materials to help with these skills. Hopefully these findings will emphasize the importance of providing our young people with access to the tools to help them enhance their digital capabilities.

“Regionally we are seeing the Midlands and North, as well as the East of England and Wales lead the way in many categories when it comes to enhancing their digital skill set. This may be surprising, with many expecting London to feature more prominently, but it shows how keen students outside of the South of the UK are to progress their careers.”

News

Hubilo’s new marketing leadership team set to strengthen the brand in the virtual and hybrid event sector

Hubilo Technologies Inc, the virtual and hybrid events platform disruptor, has announced the formation of a new marketing leadership team, which feature three new members Liesl Leary-Perez, now Vice President of Corporate Marketing: Carin Chan, appointed as Senior Director, Global Product Marketing and Adam Wooley, hired as Senior Director of Global Growth and Marketing Operations. All three will report to Cathy Song Novelli, Senior Vice President (SVP) Marketing and Communications

The new leadership team is focusing on tackling the continued challenges of the different variants of COVID-19 by helping shape the new normal in events. However, providing a space to hold virtual events isn’t where Hubilo’s work stops. The new team is creating an inclusive space far beyond addressing demographic and geographic regions and the opportunity for continuous growth in the virtual and hybrid sectors.

“Hubilo is committed to fostering human connections through reimagined events. With the addition of these brilliantly creative, growth-minded marketing leaders, we are fast-tracking Hubilo’s ability to meet that commitment,” said Cathy Song Novelli, SVP of Marketing + Communications. “We intend to continue on our mission of offering Hubilo’s clients a deeper understanding of what drives engagement among their audiences and help create event excellence to yield better business results for their virtual and hybrid events.”

Hubilo’s newest marketing leadership members consist of:

​Liesl Leary-Perez, Vice President of Corporate Marketing:

With nearly 25 years of knowledge across the complete spectrum of marketing, Liesl’s core expertise lies in brand building and leading content, creative, and global communications organisations. Before joining Hubilo, she worked as the global head of corporate marketing at TTEC, global head of content marketing at SDL plc, and spent 20 years in international business strategy working for leading translation organizations. She is also an active corporate philanthropist, raising money for causes that promote sustainable economic development and diversity initiatives.

Carin Chan, Senior Director, Global Product Marketing:

Carin has over 15+ years of experience in B2B product marketing primarily focused on go-to-market strategy, competitive intelligence, marketing analysis, and customer marketing. Before joining Hubilo she launched many new products and drove growth on established product lines at leading B2B/SaaS organisations including Oracle, IBM, SurveyMonkey, SDL, and Rakuten. She holds a BS in Information and Computer Science from UC Irvine, an MS in Engineering Systems from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an MBA from MIT Sloan.

Adam Wooley, Senior Director of Global Growth and Marketing Operations:

Adam’s robust growth marketing background in SaaS B2B and B2C businesses includes over 15 years of global experience in scaling hyper-growth companies through demand generation and lifecycle marketing. Before joining Hubilo, he worked in product marketing at both Google and Microsoft/Yammer, as director of demand generation and customer marketing at Prezi, and was the senior director of lifecycle and marketing operations at Housecall Pro.

Aside from strengthening the marketing leadership team, Hubilo continues to look ahead by implementing new go-to-market teams created to exceed client demands. In a year, Hubilo’s customers have enabled over 10 million interactions through 50,000 plus virtual sessions. These numbers are expected to increase exponentially through the next year, with Hubilo being utilized throughout the world.

About Hubilo Technologies Inc

Hubilo is the virtual + hybrid event platform built for engagement and event excellence. Hubilo’s mission is to drive engagement – first and foremost – yielding greater business results. With a 24/7 fully dedicated customer success team, the industry’s largest suite of engagement and gamification features, and robust branding capabilities, Hubilo is the architect of the new reality for future events. Led by Founders Vaibhav Jain and Mayank Agarwal, the company is headquartered out of San Francisco, with a base office in Bengaluru in India. Hubilo’s clients include names like Walmart, United Nations, AB InBev, Roche Pharma, Echo, GITEX, and several others across the United States, Europe, APAC, Middle East, and Africa. In less than a year, Hubilo has raised a Seed round of $4.5 million, a Series ‘A’ round of $23.5 million, and Series ‘B’ round of $125 million from leading Venture Capital firms like Alkeon Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Balderton Capital, and Lightspeed India Partners, and several strategic angel investors.

News

Fuse expands senior leadership team to support culture and commercial growth

Fuse, the learning and knowledge platform for enterprise, has today announced the continued expansion of its senior leadership team with two key appointments.

Experienced People Director, Florence Carter, who previously held senior HR roles at technology scaleups, Busuu and Patsnap, joins Fuse as VP of People and assumes responsibility for HR strategy and talent development across the company’s global regions.

Sarah Beech, who joins as Finance Director, has extensive experience in finance management for both blue chip and start-up companies in the telecommunications and retail sectors.

Commenting on the company’s latest senior leadership hires, Fuse CEO, Luke Oubridge, said: “We’re incredibly excited to welcome Florence and Sarah to the Fuse team, at the same time adding to our women in tech leadership roles. Both bring a huge amount of knowledge and industry experience with them, and their combined talent will be key in helping us to further embed our people-centric culture, as well as our readiness for Fuse’s next stage of commercial growth.”

Florence Carter – who assumed her role as VP of People in September this year, commented: “I’m thrilled to be heading up the people function at Fuse – a company that’s leading the way in L&D innovation, and which shares my own passion for enabling people to access learning and continual development. As a remote-first company, building culture and community will be top of my agenda and that’s a challenge I’m very much looking forward to.”

Adding to Carter’s comments, newly appointed Finance Director, Sarah Beech, said: “Fuse is a company at the cutting edge of learning technology. That creates huge potential for growth, and from a finance point of view, a real opportunity to help steer the company’s commercial growth, ensuring that we stay on track to achieving our ambitious growth plans. That’s an exciting opportunity and I’m very pleased to be joining at a pivotal stage in that journey.”

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

The SEO Works launches digital academy for the next generation of digital experts

‘SEO Agency of the Year’, The SEO Works, are investing in the future – as they launch a digital academy with spaces for ten apprentices before the end of the year. The Sheffield-based agency intends to build a foundation for the next generation of digital marketers, invest in the agency’s culture, and lift the bar for digital in Sheffield.

This comes as they move into a brand new HQ in the heart of the city centre, complete with a £250,000 fit-out, creating state-of-the-art workspaces for the growing team.

Recent research showed that over half of UK businesses are concerned about missing out on key strategic deliverables as a result of digital skills shortages. The pandemic has also accelerated the use of digital marketing, and the lack of future digital talent could have a large impact on business success.

Managing Director, Ben Foster, said – “Here at The SEO Works, we’ve always put people at the heart of what we do. For us, there’s no better way to develop future digital talent than through apprenticeship programmes – being able to experience that professional and personal development within the agency is amazing.

As well as this, the ability it gives us to contribute to the future of Sheffield’s digital economy is fundamental. Part of our decision to move into a new HQ was a vote of confidence in our city, and this is an extension of that.”

The SEO Works have been supporters of apprenticeship schemes for many years with Senior Business Development Manager Ryan Fox beginning his career on one of their schemes. In the years since he has developed from Apprentice Sales Coordinator through 4 further roles, up to Senior Business Development Manager.

He said – “I think that having progressed through almost every position in my department gives me a unique perspective on what it’s like to be in each role, allowing me to empathise with and help guide others. To me, this has been far more advantageous than coming in at a senior level and having to learn what each function does. The apprenticeship was the perfect way to kick off the journey.”

The academy already has its first pupils – with three people currently on the course and more new starters due over the coming weeks.

Jack Downs is a few months into the scheme and said “the main thing I like about The SEO Works’ apprenticeship scheme is the opportunity I have to learn from their digital marketing professionals. Working within the team, I have been able to take part in projects that I am immensely proud of.”

The SEO Works specialises in SEO, PPC, Web and Paid Social advertising and has many clients within the B2B and eCommerce sector, including Decathlon, TJ Hughes, Denby, Rab, Towsure and many others.

Appointments, News

Fuse expands leadership team to support scaling growth

Fuse, the learning and knowledge platform for enterprise that ignites people and business performance, today announces the expansion of its senior leadership team with two significant new hires – a move that will help prepare the learning tech scaleup for its next phase of growth.

Learning industry veteran, Roberta Gogos, who previously held senior marketing roles at Docebo, Looop, and The Starr Conspiracy, joins Fuse as VP of Marketing and takes responsibility for leading the company’s strategic marketing at a global level.

Tom Ridley, who joins as VP of Sales EMEA, is equally ingrained in the learning tech industry having formerly held senior sales and customer success roles at Valamis and Skillsoft.

Commenting on the two new hires, Fuse CEO, Luke Oubridge, said: “Both Roberta and Tom bring with them a wealth of industry and functional expertise and their respective appointments will play a key part in supporting the business as we continue to grow and expand into new markets.”

Luke continued: “We have developed a product that is second to none and we have very ambitious plans for taking that to market over the coming months and beyond. Roberta and Tom – along with the rest of the fantastic talent we have at Fuse – will be pivotal to that and we’re delighted to have them onboard.”

Roberta Gogos – who first joined Fuse in the capacity of senior marketing consultant before assuming her new role last month, commented: “As an industry, we need to move beyond the course mindset and start facilitating human connection and knowledge sharing at scale. These are the learning experiences that drive people and business performance – and it’s very much the Fuse way. This is really what inspired me to join the team at this very exciting juncture.”

Echoing Roberta’s comments, Tom Ridley – who officially joined the Fuse team in June this year, said: “Fuse is on a mission to forever change enterprise L&D. The platform is highly innovative in the truest sense of the word and it’s set to transform not only how people learn at work, but how well they perform as a result. That’s incredibly exciting and I’m delighted to be leading the EMEA sales effort as Fuse continues to scale upwards and outwards.”

News

The Hybrid Hiring Era: New research shows how important it is to get the balance right between technology and the human touch

New research into the job-seeking landscape in 2021 has revealed how, as hiring was digitised across all organisations in the UK due to the pandemic, the candidate experience has changed for the better.

Two-thirds of respondents (64%) believe video interviews have had a positive impact on the interview and hiring experience and two fifths (41%) think that companies who use automation in the recruitment process are making getting a job easier. Nearly half (48%) say video interviews and applications make them feel more confident and that they can present a better version of themselves. 

The research was commissioned by leading HR-tech company Tribepad and is based on the opinions of 1,000 job-seekers as part of its Navigating the Hybrid Hiring Era report.

Growing understanding and positive experiences with HR-tech by candidates will come as welcome news for hiring teams and businesses, as industries witnessed a huge uptick in application volume as unemployment increased. Tribepad’s own data showed that overall annual application volume increased in sectors such as outsourcing, by 110%, public sector (93%) and property (63%). As a result, many organisations have implemented additional screening measures to cope with the additional work aided by automation.

The research revealed that many job-seekers can see the benefits of technology and automation, with half (49%) saying they experience a quicker application process, 43% noticing a quicker response time, and a third (35%) saying they value the more regular updates on the progress of their application. 

Only 24% of respondents applied for jobs directly through a recruiter, showing how the role of the recruitment agency diminished. But recruitment teams can’t leave everything up to technology – while a third (32%) of candidates prefer to search for jobs online, without human interaction, 50% of job seekers still prefer human interaction when looking for a job, rather than doing it all online. Many of those said the process felt dehumanised (45%). The main barrier for this group was that automation bases its criteria on past facts, not future potential (49%).

Applicants also favoured contact with people, whether recruiters or hiring teams in-house, in face-to-face interviews (71%), on the phone (68%) or on a video (65%). At the other end of the scale, they were less important to the screening stage of the application experience. Automation was preferred in online tests (44%) and for right to work and criminal record checks, the preference between humans (43%) vs automation (33%) was much closer. (full details can be seen in attached graph)

Commenting on the report, Dean Sadler, founder and CEO of Tribepad said: “The world has shifted in the last year, accelerating trends that were already on their way in. What’s clear is that recruitment can’t go back to the analogue era. Not now that applicants are used to practices that help them feel more confident, prepared and save them time. 

“But it can’t be fully digital either. Job seekers still depend on human interaction to determine a lot about a company. For example, a company’s culture can give them a better sense of how comfortable they’d feel in that environment – something that can only fully be experienced in person. In-house recruiters and hiring teams benefit from these connections too, picking up on nuances like a candidate’s potential, presence and ambition. 

“As we emerge into a post-pandemic world, hiring is on the increase. And recruitment teams need to be ready for the hybrid hiring environment; that means ensuring you have the right mix of tech and human input, so that you can create a candidate hiring experience that’s easy to use and hire the best people out there.”

Simon Pollen, Strategic Resourcing and Talent Acquisition Manager from Richmond and Wandsworth Council adds: “While our onboarding is now automated via Tribepad and other innovations – like using video to market a vacancy – the human touch still remains key in establishing the sense of inclusivity for our organisation. It’s through this mix that the feedback we receive from every hire is hugely positive, with the biggest stand out being the personal attention and service received throughout the entire recruitment process. From guiding candidates through the anonymised application process right up to the point of checks and references.”

The full findings from the Navigating the Hybrid Hiring Era report can be accessed and downloaded here

News

The SEO Works signals Digital Growth with 12 new hires

Award-winning digital agency, The SEO Works, have recruited 12 new team members in recent weeks. The decision to take on new staff comes as a result of continued client wins and a view of increased market demand, signalling the agency’s commitment to rapid growth over the next 12 months.

The new starters join different service teams across the agency, including SEO, PPC, Digital PR and Web Project Management, and bring a combined 48 years of digital experience to the established team.

Ben Foster, Managing Director said: “We’re delighted to welcome our new recruits to the team and are excited about what they will bring. We’ve experienced a strong start to the year, winning new flagship clients, after overcoming many challenges and supporting clients last year. We believe that the demand for digital will increase further in 2021, and have geared up to meet the exciting opportunities that lie ahead.”

Graham Jones joins as Web Team Lead with over 7 years of Web and IT experience at another tech agency. He said of the move: “I’m excited to be joining The SEO Works at such a pivotal time in their growth. The company culture and people were what really stood out to me and I look forward to being part of their dynamic and creative team.”

It’s going to be a huge year for The SEO Works, with a move to bigger and better offices planned to support the continued growth and development of the team. Further recruitment is also planned and The SEO Works are still hiring.

For talented digital marketers looking to step up to their next challenge, take a look at their careers pages: https://www.seoworks.co.uk/careers/

Apprenticeships, Construction, News

National Apprenticeship Week: A Quarter of Trade Companies Looking to Hire in 2021

A third of companies and tradespeople (31%)1 who regularly hire apprentices feel that the program has been made harder due to the pandemic, as new ONS figures2 show a 30% drop in new construction apprentices between August and October 2020, compared to the same period the previous year.

Demonstrating the effect of Covid-19 on the scheme, more than one in five (22%) companies that usually hire apprentices took on fewer in 2020, despite a fifth (19%) of tradespeople believing that the program is more important now than ever.

Commissioned by IronmongeryDirect, the UK’s largest supplier of specialist ironmongery, in the run up to National Apprenticeship Week (8th to 14th February), the study also reveals that one in 12 tradespeople (8%) believe that the government has not done enough to support apprentices throughout the pandemic.

Looking at the year ahead, the positive news is that a quarter (23%) of businesses and tradespeople plan to bring on apprentices in 2021. Building surveyors (34%) and electricians (28%) are the most likely trades to be looking for apprentices this year, while painter/decorators and landscapers are least likely (15% and 5%, respectively).

Men in the industry are more likely than women to think that an apprenticeship is a great way for people to learn skills (31% vs 23%). Contrastingly however, it is tradeswomen and female-led companies that are most likely to be looking for an apprentice in the year ahead, with a quarter of women (25%) planning to hire a trainee compared to only one in five tradesmen (20%).

According to the Office of National Statistics, female apprentices in construction are also on the rise, increasing by 19% in the 2019/20 academic year compared to the previous 12 months. This represents a much larger trend in growth as there are a huge 333% more female construction trainees than in 2014/2015. So far in the 2020/2021 academic year, the percentage of female new starters has increased to 9%, suggesting that this growth is set to continue.

The statistics also reveal a changing story for apprentices of colour. While BAME apprentices made up only 6% of new construction apprentices in 2019/2020, this represents a 16% increase to the previous year and an 82% rise since 2014/2015. What’s more, despite the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic, the proportion of BAME trainees continues to grow as they make up 8% of new starters so far this academic year.

The proportion of new apprentices with learning difficulties is also on the increase, making up 14% of the 2019/2020 intake. This is a 53% increase from 2014/15. This trend seems set to continue as 16% of the 2020/2021 year’s new starters so far have learning difficulties.

Commenting on the research, Marco Verdonkschot, Managing Director at IronmongeryDirect, said: “It’s great to see many tradespeople and companies are still looking to make use of the apprenticeship program, despite the difficulty of the past year.

“We think the apprenticeship scheme is an amazing way to help shape the next generation of tradespeople. That’s why we’ve launched a competition for a UK based tradesperson or company to win £5,000 towards funding an apprentice.”

“There are so many people who do amazing work in the industry today who started out as apprentices, so it’s important that the program continues to be well-funded. More needs to be done to support apprentices throughout this pandemic to ensure that we continue to have great talent in the future, and we wanted to do our bit to help!”

To enter the competition or learn more about this research, visit: https://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/blog/apprenticeships-and-covid-19-looking-ahead-to-2021

Brexit, News

Limitations to EU visa options could impact staffing levels in health and social care

With the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealing that approximately 192,000 EU workers are employed in health and social care, the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) has warned that the sector could face a significant skills shortage when the Brexit transition stage ends.

Data published by the ONS revealed that 6% of the UK’s health and social care workers employed between 2017 and 2019 were EU nationals, while 6% of all key workers in the country were from Europe. With the Migration Advisory Committee recommending that social care workers are added to the Shortage Occupation List in September and a number of healthcare roles already identified as in short supply, the UK could face a shortfall of staff if employment routes aren’t suitable for relevant European workers.

As Tania Bowers, Legal Counsel and Head of Public Policy at APSCo, explains, the limitations of the post-transition visa options for EU nationals has the potential to impact skills availability for those on the Shortage Occupation List, including health and social care:

“For those sectors that rely on EU talent due to a short supply of in-country resources, the changes to how you can hire from across Europe post-transition present a real challenge, particularly for those recruiting flexible workers. The details published so far on the points-based immigration system provide a disappointing lack of detail around the movement of and access to highly skilled independent professionals across Europe.

“Under the Skilled Worker route an individual has to have a job offer and be sponsored by a licensed sponsor to gain access to this – an option that isn’t viable for independent professionals seeking to work on multiple projects. The Tier 1 Global Talent visa is also very limited in scope and, as a result is not suitable for independent professionals. While the document recently shared by the Government references a broader unsponsored route within the points-based system which will allow a smaller number of the most highly skilled workers to come to the UK without a job offer, the Home Office has made clear that this will not open from January 1st 2021.”

“Without a visa route that is geared to attract highly skilled contractors into the UK and, with lucrative opportunities available to these individuals in other countries, few are likely to willingly tackle the UK’s immigration system post-transition. Given the sheer number of EU workers employed in roles that are on the Shortage Occupation List, this potential drop in numbers is concerning to say the least.”