How to improve your company’s productivity in 2021

March 9th, 2021 | Industry News

New research from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation claims that professional recruitment boosts UK productivity by £7.7 billion annually. However, the research also shows that while 52% of those consulted say that businesses are recruiting efficiently that leaves 48% who think more can be done to achieve effective recruitment. Online recruitment software has had a major impact on recruitment since the pandemic hit. By June 2020 37% of employees were working from home full-time and happy about it, and a further 32% hoped that the future would bring a better work-life balance by allowing them to work from home at least part of the time in the future. Happier workers are more productive, so this trend is likely to benefit both employers and employees.

Rapid change in recruitment has led to web based recruitment software being a necessity rather than a luxury and online hiring becoming the norm during the pandemic. A heightened awareness of the need for employee wellbeing has also shaped how recruitment, and retention, are being viewed. In an American Psychological Association survey, 78% of participants said that the pandemic had intensified stress and anxiety levels in employees – which means that HR departments have started to look at training and retention programmes online that can help give people a sense of security and commitment to their employer. The quicker people feel bedded into their new jobs, the more productive they are and the longer they are likely to stay, increasing long-term profits and stabilising the workforce.

In a similar fashion SAAS recruitment agencies have been able to communicate better and more rapidly with potential candidates and with employers to create a more stable online recruitment process that has given new hires a sense of ‘belonging’ even if they have had no physical exposure to their new employer or organisational culture. This trend can only accelerate and the REC survey shows that 28% of large businesses are now prepared to hire people who don’t live close enough to commute – creating a more flexible, and more diverse, labour pool.

Diversity is key to a future where we can expect organisations to have to adapt ever more rapidly to unexpected events. 300,000 unemployed people in the UK every year find a permanent job through the recruitment industry – that’s over twice the number who succeed in finding permanent work through the JobCentre. Recruiting software that can calibrate need and source personnel, automate tasks and track applicants through the hiring process improves productivity and allows organisations to pivot towards productivity, whatever is thrown at them.