With June’s employment figures from the Office of National Statistics forthcoming, a report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG compiled data from 400 UK recruitment and employment consultancies and brought up some curious findings.



The report revealed:

A ‘rise in permanent placements in May, but at the slowest growth rate of the last five months.’ There were 29.23 million people in employment aged 16 and over, up 105,000 on the quarter - though this was entirely due to more part-time workers. There were 8.2 per cent of the economically active population (2.63 million) unemployed people, down 45,000 on the quarter.

In an interview with the BBC, REC chief executive Kevin Green said: "This month's data shows employers are becoming more cautious about hiring and while there is still growth in permanent placements, the figures have been getting weaker over the last two months. Clearly the economic backdrop and the Eurozone crisis are making some employers think twice before taking on new staff."

Similarly, Manpower UK polled 2,100 employers, with their results reflecting the part-time or even job-sharing nature of current employment.

Mark Cahill, Manpower UK's managing director, said: "When you're going head-to-head with a return to recession at home and a burgeoning Eurozone crisis, by rights the jobs market should be in free-fall, but that's not what we're seeing. Firms are still looking to hire albeit at a weaker pace than before."

So, companies are still hiring, but those looking for jobs must learn (or remember) flexibility.


Recessions and economic downturns hurt employment, but adjustments can be made. With a steep rise in part-time positions with companies no longer able to offer full-time contracts, recruiters must understand and preach then benefits of part-time hours.
Part-time hours can benefit new mothers or those recently returning from maternity leave; allow older people to keep their jobs and still be as effective as ever; and job-sharing between several candidates can be a great way to increase productivity and get people employed.

About 8 million people work part-time in the UK, and the number is growing. This Joseph Rowntree Foundation study highlighted these key attributes:

"Recruiting skilled part-time staff can help growing businesses to:

acquire experienced talent at an affordable cost;

recruit for hard to fill/niche roles;

realise cost efficiencies by more precisely matching tasks to appropriate skills/salary levels."

But part-time roles aren't restricted to certain sectors, such as retail or, on a broader scale, the public sector. High-profile positions can also adjust to a part-time scale, as one in 10 of the UK's part-time workforce is employed in a job paying a full-time salary of at least £40,000.
In an interview in the Metro newspaper, Charlie Ryan, managing director of The Recruitment Queen, said top level roles can suit part-time working hours.

‘Companies at the senior level are becoming more flexible and they’ve also started to appreciate that maybe you don’t need someone full-time in those roles to achieve the output,’ she said.

‘It’s not so much now about the input of 37, 45, 50 hours a week – it’s more about the return on investment on an individual. We are, as a nation starting to appreciate that quality of life, for us to succeed; it’s not just about the money, the job, the career. I think there’s been a real backlash.’

Ryan believes that employers need to adjust, adapting to the current climate of flexible hours at high-levels – to retain their quality staff and keep productivity and effectiveness at a high-standard.

Regarding employers she views as draconian, she shrugged: ‘They want to see someone at their desk. It’s a very old-school way of thinking and employers really need to change.’