Recruitment 2.0

The nursing recruitment crisis facing the NHS has been brought into sharp focus this week. For the first time, the number of people joining the Nursing and Midwifery Council is lower than the number of those leaving it.

Just two weeks after the election result left the country in a state of uncertainty, yesterday’s Queen’s Speech outlined the Government’s plans for key areas. What is the impact for HR?

In the face of uncertainty over the skills shortage and the election result, our series of sector focus whitepapers provides insight and advice into how to overcome the issues facing your industry. Sectors covered to date include the public sector, healthcare, engineering, retail, banking and finance and tech. 

The UK woke up to an election result that nobody anticipated a few weeks ago. Called on the premise that it would give the government a greater mandate for Brexit negotiations, the UK now faces a hung parliament. Whatever shape the new government takes over the next few days and weeks, these are the considerations for HR:-

Deloitte’s Human Capital Trends survey identified culture, or the ‘employee experience’ as one of the top priorities for HR in 2017. 80% ranked it as ‘important’ or ‘very important’ but only one fifth rated themselves as excellent at building that experience.

Has the obliteration of jobs by automation been over-exaggerated? At the end of last year Bank of England Governor Mark Carney warned that up to 50% of UK jobs could be wiped out by automation. A recent report suggests that so far the AI-jobs apocalypse has yet to materialise.

The impact of Brexit on candidate availability was raised again this week in a new survey from REC which found that the number of temporary and permanent job seekers are falling. Numerous warnings about skills shortages have been issued across a variety of sectors.

As a potential NHS nursing crisis was averted at short notice last week, the lack of a comprehensive long-term workforce planning strategy was identified as a serious threat to the NHS’s sustainability by the Lord’s Select Committee.

Today sees the historic triggering of Article 50 by the Prime Minster and the start of two years of Brexit negotiations. If all goes to plan, the UK will no longer be a member of the European Union by April 2019.

The recruitment issues facing the NHS continue to mount.  Imminent changes to the IR35 tax system will affect its ability to attract and retain talent, as well as increasing its financial burden.