Recruitment and Labour – what to expect

July 25th, 2024 | Industry News

The new Labour government has made a number of pledges that will change the shape of recruitment in the UK. Recruitment software UK based will need to take account of legislative changes, such as the ‘day one’ statutory sick pay that will feature in the Employment Rights Bill and there are also going to be challenges around zero hours contracts that related to what is classed as ‘exploitative’ and which may impact a number of recruiting software features especially automated features that may now need to be recalibrated.

Oddly, recruitment may benefit from the Labour reforms, including the ‘Fair Work Agency’ that is designed to offer swifter and cheaper resolutions to employment concerns that currently get caught in slow-moving Industrial Tribunal processes. There will be concerns about the effects of a labour government on supply chain costs, and this is where recruiters, especially those using online recruitment software, can demonstrate that technology can help the hiring process by increasing efficiency without increasing costs.

Skills England and recruitment consultancies

Skills England may also offer huge benefits to the recruitment sector. It’s a £7 million project designed to interface with the Home Office and the Department for Employment to provide a national overview on accountability for skills spending, in line with economic priorities. It will also work with devolved authority, such as regions and city Mayors, to ensure that skills training, outside apprenticeships is meeting projected needs. Recruitment management software may be able to draw on Skills England data to recognise local demand and meet shortfalls and also to engage candidates in the process of becoming more valuable in their local communities through the Skills England framework.

Labour, recruiters and incentives

A final place where a Labour government might impact the recruitment sector – although this is likely to be an unintended consequence – is in the commission structure. Whilst commission based pay-scales have always been the industry norm, clients can now find it unattractive to know that their consultant is also a salesperson, getting a reward for filling a position fast, rather than spending time to look for the right candidate. It can also work against skills development. Some recruiters are combining a focus on outcomes (such as candidate retention and client satisfaction surveys) with the flat approach to ‘bonus per vacancy filled’. Recruitment agency software might have a role to play here, in aggregating a range of factors to create more sophisticated reward structures for recruiters that are also transparent to the whole recruitment team. This approach fits well with Labour priorities to ensure stable employment and value workers and may become a feature of recruitment consultant life in the near future.