As 2021 draws to a close and most people look forward to an enjoyable #Christmas break I think we are all reflecting on what has been an unusual year for so many reasons.
The UK labour market recovered remarkably from the carnage of 2020. Demand for staff returned to #pre-pandemic levels, unfortunately #candidate availability did not, which led to staffing issues across many sectors – particularly retail, hospitality and distribution. Some of our Clients had upwards of 50 live vacancies at any one time and it was very frustrating not being able to source good quality candidates; this coupled with increased demands from candidates in terms of flexibility and #home-working made #recruitment quite a tough year.

Fortunately for us, it led to Companies turning to recruitment agencies in an attempt to source staff,whereas previously in-house recruitment teams had at times managed to source candidates directly.At Heyland we enjoyed a very good year, we retained all our staff through the pandemic, in part thanks to the furlough scheme, and this year saw job flow return to 2019 levels.

The new hybrid working arrangements we implemented were very well received and we did not experience any drop off in activity levels,  so we feel like many businesses hybrid working is probably here to stay.

We are also pleased to announce that we have taken on two new members of staff to join our HR/Business Support team in Chester & Warrington, we look forward to them supporting our Clients in 2022. We wanted to wish all our Clients a very enjoyable Christmas and a Happy New Year.  We look forward to working with you again next year and hope the economy and everyone’s general well-being will continue on its upward trajectory.

Warm Regards

Andy Heyland