HR market revealed: 13 recruitment stats grabbing HR and media attention

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Working in the HR niche requires you to have a good contextual understanding of the ins and outs of what the HR media is concerned with. With articles coming out rapid-fire every day it can be difficult to consume them at a fast enough pace, so we have compiled a list of key stories from the past month that HR brands need to take note of.

The HR media loves a good statistic - any kind of data they can really sink their teeth into and use to educate HR audiences. So, here are 13 recruitment and labour market statistics grabbing HR and media attention.

13 Recruitment statistics impacting HR

1. September 2022 saw a dramatic increase in job vacancies to ‘Work from Anywhere’, rising 48% from 699 just a year ago to 1034, predominantly in the IT, PR and Sales sectors. Employers are also offering sabbatical programmes (1,988), 551 of which are paid.

2. Inflation will cause the graduate job market to decrease by 2% next year according to the Institute of Student Employers (ISE). According to HR Magazine’s article, the rate of growth has fallen from 17% in 2021/22, and 9% in 2020/21, coinciding with the rate of inflation reaching 10.1% in October 2022. Forty percent of employers have expressed difficulty when filling graduate jobs.

3. Concerns around labour shortages continue with 92% of HR professionals agreeing, with 49% believing employees will be overloaded, 44% believing there will be a reduction in morale and 44% expecting a drop in revenue. 55% believe this shortage started during Covid-19, while 20% thought it began beforehand. Regardless, the effects of labour shortages are most strongly felt by HR departments according to 45% of recruiters, with IT and Sales departments also feeling the pinch (16%).

4. Public sector workers are considering changing careers, with 32% claiming they’ve already taken proactive steps towards it. Forty-five percent stated this was linked to the government’s approach to pay.

5. 9 in 10 organisations believe there is a developing skills crisis, yet a third of candidates reject job offers based on poor interview experiences. Forty-one percent claimed a lack of transparency, 40% called the hiring process too complicated and another 40% stated issues with the lengthiness of the hiring process.

6. According to 36% of potential employees, a lack of salary transparency is one of the reasons why they may reject job offers after completing the interview process. Thirteen percent claimed they have wasted time applying to positions only to find an incorrect salary was listed and 46% stated they would forgo interviews in the future unless they knew the intended salary beforehand. This issue seems to affect 33% of women in comparison to 21% of men, suggesting a connection to the gender pay gap issue.

7. A majority of UK businesses are unable to sponsor EU and non-EU workers to help talent shortages, as only 3.5% of them hold the necessary licence - this equates to just about 50,000 businesses.

8. Employers are gambling with employee resignations over their weak approaches to sustainability. A survey found that 20% of employees are currently unhappy with their company’s climate initiatives and 32% will feel uncomfortable should their company reduce sustainability support to save money during a recession. Fifty-four percent state they consider the employer’s sustainability programmes when applying for a role and 60% claim they would choose a company with a clear plan to tackle their carbon footprint.

9. An increasing number of HR professionals battle with mental health problems with 31% claiming their work negatively impacted their mental health. Only half (51%) of newer HR professionals say they have good mental health, rising slightly to 59% for those that have been working for more than five years.

10. 55% of managers fear a major industrial disaster could take place in five years because of decreasing safety in the workplace, impacted by the loss of older and experienced workers. Thirty-seven percent of workers believe skills and experience aren’t sufficiently handed down to new generations of workers. Sixty-seven percent of employees claim their employers are now taking this issue seriously.

11. With an increase in remote working, employers are now seeing some negative effects of hybrid meetings as 43% of remote workers don’t feel included. On top of this, 95% claim they have experienced fatigue during meetings. Currently, only 27% of employers have implemented steps such as hybrid meeting etiquette to rectify issues.

12. As the practice of remote working and the need for technology grows in the workplace, so does business dependency on digital skills, as stated by 61% of businesses. On top of this, 81% of managing directors reveal that lack of skills is having a negative impact on their business already. Despite this, 58% of workers say their employers haven’t made efforts to upskill their digital literacy.

13. British workers are being tempted away from traditional work structures. According to a survey, 68% would leave their current role if offered a four-day week, 64% would leave for flexible hours and 63% for overtime pay. Thirteen percent would rather receive food and energy bill vouchers over traditional benefits, while 11% do not currently have any employee benefits.