Supporting the steep rise in temporary recruitment

For some organisations, hiring will not be the top priority at this time and managing the challenges of the current market climate will be key. We understand that this period of uncertainty may fundamentally change how you approach recruitment and may reshape your overall strategy. During this time of crisis, our greatest assets remain our people, and continued success and growth are directly linked to their welfare.

The unprecedented impact of Covid-19 is creating significant demand for temporary labour, which may potentially overwhelm the recruitment capacity of your teams. Early research has found that the demand is being driven by three key factors:

• Scale-up of resource in a range of production, logistics, distribution, retail, customer service and care sector roles to meet demand.

• Backfill for staff moving to the frontline to support the efforts in managing the Covid-19 outbreak.

• Sickness cover for critical roles.

We have already worked with a number of our customers across the following key sectors looking for support:

• Retail, FMCG, consumer goods

• Delivery companies and logistics businesses

• Public sector care and care homes and other service providers

• Healthcare manufacturing and distribution

• Local Government and banks

We are set up to help

Some of our customers have expressed concerns surrounding the latest events and news related to Coronavirus. We are working closely with organisations across the UK to maintain business activity at a normal level and support them with their current recruitment needs. To ensure that we can continue partnering with our customers, we have made some key changes to our flexible delivery model.

Implemented homeworking

It is important to note that we are following all local Government advice and taking every precaution to ensure the health and safety of both our people and our customers. Over entire workforce has been moved to homeworking with access to all the tools and systems required to continue resourcing roles for our clients, managing an end to end process for business continuity.

At PageGroup, we pride ourselves on our agile working environment to best support our teams. We have also produced several helpful articles on homeworking, including guides on remaining motivated when working from home and how to manage a team remotely.

Remote recruitment

We are already seeing a huge increase in the use of technology for team meetings, client meetings, interviews, online testing, and vetting. Whether you are using Microsoft Teams, Skype, Hinterview or other video platforms, this technology provides an opportunity for virtual face-to-face meetings, keeping everyone safe and connected, while also ensuring recruitment processes move forward. In addition to this, we have a range of online testing tools and compliance checking processes to ensure we deliver a robust process.

Outplacement services

For some organisations, the economic pressure that Covid-19 has brought has inevitably meant that changes have been necessary and in some cases, this has resulted in downsizing.

We offer a full range of outplacement services to support your staff, from CV writing clinics to interview workshops to make the transition that little bit easier.

Advisory services

Examples of recent projects include:

• IR35 support in preparation for April 2021. While businesses have a reprieve until next year following the Government’s announcement to delay, it is not too soon to start planning if you didn’t quite get everything sorted this time around.

• Workforce planning – scaling up or down.

• Outsourcing under SoW.

• Competitor analysis and salary benchmarking.

• Diversity and inclusion advice on how you can implement a strategy in your organisation and recruitment process.

While we are going through this unusual economic situation, our advice is to keep having open conversations with us about your situation and we can help you plan accordingly.  We are here to help, so please stay safe and do not hesitate to get in touch should you require any support or advice.

Alex Hall
Head of Customer Development, Page Outsourcing