Economic Uncertainty and Recruiting Talent - Industry Insight

Amelia Bampton - Managing Consultant

When reflecting on the tech market in light of everything going on in the economy, the analogy that sprung to mind was that of surfing! Don’t get me wrong, I’m no proficient surfer, writing this from my secret Bondi getaway (it’s written from the very dark and autumnal Northwest, nothing exotic around here). But it’s fair to say that after 20 years working in tech, I’ve seen the industry ride the highs and lows. After such an immense high of the last few years, the immensely in-demand tech skills required for booming tech companies during and post the pandemic, I believe that with the hindsight of knowing (and experiencing) that what goes up, must come down, preparing, and stabilising ourselves for what is to come after that high that has been in tech for the last few years, was inevitable. The extent of which will only be known in time, but the companies planning for the change in pace and learning to navigate the crashing waves around them are those that will succeed.

So, what does this actually mean? I feel companies that have looked ahead and sought out variations of business models that provide diversification in their products or services to spread risk are a step in the right direction. There are different industries that will start to thrive in a changing economic climate, as consumer behaviour changes. As we have learnt from the last few years, pretty much all innovation across industries encompasses tech in some form nowadays, so the tech market will continue! The need for exceptional talent across all tech roles will be needed, but now more than ever, it will be the best talent that is sought, more quality over quantity than we saw in the past few years. Salaries will hopefully stabilise, as we balance out some of the impacts that large London based companies had on the Northwest. When local talent got paid over and above the regional norm for remote only working, pricing local companies out of the game.

I anticipate the speed of attrition across companies may reduce slightly as people look for more job security in a less secure economic climate. But as we have seen across many experiences of riding this economic wave, we experience the ups and downs but with these changing and sometimes challenging times always comes great innovation. Personally, I’m excited to see what inspiring start-ups spring up as a result of some of the challenges we face and help us all to tackle the cost of living in new ways we previously didn’t imagine!

David Twigg – Head of Digital Marketing

The winners at the end of this period of economic uncertainty will be the businesses who are looking at the long term. If you can take managed risks to grow your brand, organic presence and audience loyalty then once the economic environment picks up you'll be in a much better place to drive growth. Right now, you want talented colleagues who are committed to the business. Colleagues who can think outside of the box to make things happen when marketing budgets are reduced, and targets begin to look more challenging than before. 

Darryl Hall - Head of Marketing

This year recruitment has gone from ‘challenged’ to ‘crisis’ for many. For marketing, the lack of candidates for key hires has been a challenge throughout the pandemic. Less people and higher costs for hiring businesses.

With the economy tanking, I have seen a totally new shift that is worth taking note.

More and more, especially within retail having revenue and sales pressures, are cutting back not just on head count. Some are taking the opportunity to trim salaries back to pre-pandemic levels and even further in some cases with new hires. Whilst still contending with a lower candidate count in-market. It’s a wonder why so many are having trouble recruiting. Some businesses will take the conscious path of not having people in position for the sake of saving a little on their marketing budgets short term.

We live in uncertain times economically. Are these short-term pressures we face with increased costs and low demand here to stay? I would say we should likely get used to this being a negative bounce back due to a lot of volatility after Brexit, 2 years of COVID and changes in globalization and current conflicts. i.e., cost pressures will not go away for consumers. Expect higher cost of living but stabilisation over the next 12 months (in YoY % terms).

With this much increase in sustained costs, it’ll take another 5-10 years for wages to get to a place they were before. Meaning consumer demand will be subdued in many sectors for years to come. It’s probably right businesses take a longer term view on demand now with their recruitment needs. This may balance the market out with enough supply as demand. So could improve recruitment in the future with the balance of power less one sided. So long ‘power to the people’.

Kelly Byrne - Co-CEO

Financial planning underpins recruitment, and it’s so turbulent at the moment. We started 2022 expecting 100% year on year growth as we have done in previous years, and every month that’s gone up and down – 40% growth, then 200% growth etc. From an employee and recruitment point of view, this is very difficult to get a grasp on when it comes to planning. Because of this, we’re bunkering down and trying to make it work with what we’ve got, as well as reaching out for external support to bridge gaps where we can. We don’t want to over egg things and get ourselves in a situation where, positively or negatively, we’re having to make massive changes to the status of our employees.

Bethany Bolton – Head of Marketing

Everyone knows when there’s a recession the marketing budget is the first to be cut, right?  Well, not this time. Covid did us a favour with this one, as there’s a realisation that businesses need to grow and push through and they need a marketing team to deliver the commercials. I am sure we’ll see some redistribution of marketing channel spend to the cheaper channels as some budgets tighten. The bonus for marketing teams and agencies is that we have to get creative and smarter with our spend – this always leads to incredible campaigns that just wouldn’t have been thought up in different circumstances.  

To balance the uncertainty in the economy with the need for talent, we’ve decided to replace two permanent full time employees with fixed term contractors – definitely not an approach I’ve ever seen before!