The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a sudden and severe economic shock to the global economy, and the UK staffing industry has been acutely impacted. Staffing Industry Analysts’ recently published “Coronavirus Playbook for UK Staffing Firms” report can help staffing providers assess the altered landscape and make critical strategic and tactical decisions to protect their workers and grow their businesses.

The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown that began in March precipitated a steep decline in permanent placements across the UK. The rate of contraction was by far the steepest in the last 22-years according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). Temporary company closures, social distancing and uncertainty around the outlook led to widespread recruitment freezes and delayed hiring decisions.

In April both permanent placements and temp billings fell at rates far exceeding those seen at the height of the global financial crisis. Business confidence in hiring has improved compared to early April. However, confidence levels remain negative overall in May.The UK Coronavirus Playbook details actions staffing firms can take to survive, navigate and thrive during the Covid-19 global pandemic, which are organized into three key themes — protecting your workers, protecting your business and growing your business. The focus areas range from health and safety practices to financial management techniques to strategic positioning for the future.

Protecting workers: Monitor evolving federal and state health guidelines, as well as leverage the growing body of private-sector knowledge and best practices for reducing virus spread in various industry and workplace settings.

Protecting your business: Prioritize the liquidity and solvency of a business via disciplined financial management, cost control, collections and taking advantage of government aid.

Growing your business: Investigate how to pivot operations to serve new clients or deliver new services to existing clients. Staffing firms should also consider making technology investments to further adapt their businesses.

The report also features benchmarks from 14 UK publicly held staffing firms, targeted data and additional insights into how firms have navigated past recessions and recoveries.

Some staffing industry executives have pointed out that times of disruption can be among the best times to roll out new technology, new processes and new business models. “The reason is that because the status quo has been disrupted, people are having to innovate on a daily basis and rebuild their routines, making them much more open to change,” the report states. “Put another way, there is less resistance from organizational inertia and the incentives have flipped for key stakeholders.”

SIA corporate members can access the full report online.