Daily News

View All News

UK – Tough competition for agency workers in Q1 2015

28 January 2015

Fewer than half (43%) of employers plan to take on more temporary workers in the next three months, and 46% plan to increase temporary staff in the next 4-12 months, according to the latest JobsOutlook survey by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

Nearly all of the employers surveyed (97%) plan to either retain (54%) or increase (43%) their levels of agency workers usage in Q1 2015, suggesting tough competition to hire agency workers in the immediate future.

In the medium term, nearly all hirers (96%) plan to maintain (50%) or increase (46%) agency worker levels in the next year.

The top reason 71% of respondents gave for using agency workers was to respond to growth. Other reasons include a source of short-term access to key strategic skills (69%), and to cover peaks in demand (69%).

In comparison, the majority of employers (80%) plan to take on permanent staff within the next three months, with only 7% intending to reduce their numbers. While employers’ hiring intentions remain remarkably strong, they have moderated slightly this month from 84% in December’s report, and 87% in November.

In the medium term (4-12 months), three in four (76%) employers plan to recruit permanent staff, with only 1% signalling intentions to reduce their permanent workforce. This correlates with a high level (93%) of employers reporting to have “no” or “only a little” spare capacity to increase business.

A rise in demand for permanent staff is especially notable amongst microbusinesses, with a net balance of 74% intending to take on staff in the next three months, compared to 29% who signalled this intent 12 months ago.

December’s survey respondents were also asked about ways to encourage applications from older workers, with issues such as the language used in job adverts highlighted as an area for improvement.  

Kevin Green, Chief Executive of the REC, said:  “Businesses are increasingly thinking about expanding their numbers and many are telling us that they can’t take on more work without more staff. At the same time, the UK is suffering from skills shortages across the economy and it’s getting harder for hirers to attract and retain the talent they need.”

“Employers should seek to improve recruitment practices and tap into talent pools that might have been overlooked. For example, we have 1 million 50-64 year olds who have been made redundant in the UK, and that’s a huge amount of skill and experience that businesses could benefit from to help meet demand.”