The growth of the gig economy has made it more appealing for skilled people to reject permanent roles

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has released its latest Report on Jobs, revealing that while job vacancies have grown at their fastest rate since November 2017, the number of placements in permanent positions have hit a nine-month low.

Jan Mueller, Global Vice President of Marquee Accounts at Korn Ferry, comments on some of the potential causes of this phenomenon and what businesses can do to overcome it: 

“Low unemployment is coinciding with accelerating growth in job vacancies, making it increasingly challenging for businesses to find skilled people to drive their business forward. Several factors are at play here, from digital disruption to the gig economy.

“The age of digital disruption is seeing business models, industries and working practices transform, with jobs that didn’t exist a few years ago being created. What this means is there are increasing demands for new skill sets in virtually every job and profession. As a result, hiring and retaining workers who are agile and who can adapt to the fast pace of change is vital, and this is driving demand.

“Meanwhile, the growth of the gig economy has made it easier and more appealing for skilled people to reject permanent roles in favour of a more flexible and varied working scenario, which is eroding the supply of skilled workers willing to take a permanent role.

“To overcome these challenges, organisations need to develop a compelling proposition to potential employees. Pay is not the only factor here – employee expectations have begun to shift, and their aspirations for their working lives have also changed. Flexible working, robust career development programmes, a creative working environment – these will all be ways to compete in a tight labour market without necessarily offering higher wages. Moreover, these elements can help ensure that the organisation retains its best staff.

“For some organisations, it will also be vital to shift to a workforce where the gig economy plays a greater role, and they will need to adapt their recruitment and talent management strategies to this distinct approach and use tools to help them finding the right fit for their organisation and culture.”