February witnessed the fastest growth of both permanent staff placements and vacancies in the UK since mid-2007.
This is one of the major findings of the most recent Report on Jobs, published 3rd March by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and consultancy firm KPMG. Produced monthly and comprising original survey data from employment consultancies and employers, the latest Report on Jobs suggests that the UK job market is enjoying good health, especially with regard to permanent positions. And the positive outlook extends to employees’ pay packets: the rate of inflation of permanent staff salaries accelerated to a twenty-month high in February, although the report notes that this trend was “still moderate relative to the survey’s long-run trend.”
“The UK jobs market is continuing to improve,” comments Kevin Green, Chief Executive, REC. “Increasing employer confidence has resulted in the best performance we’ve seen in permanent employment for two and a half years. High-end sectors such as IT are showing particularly strong growth and we are also seeing significant increases in demand for admin and back-office support.”
Temporary and contract placements and vacancies also continued to grow, but at weaker rate than in recent months. For temporary employees, pay remained largely static.
But the overall positive tone of the report was most tempered by news from the public sector. As Bernard Brown, Partner and Head of Business Services, KPMG says: “This all comes with one big warning: the impact of the inevitable public sector recession on the jobs market has yet to be felt and will be played out over the next six to 12 months.”
Here at 360 Degrees we have definately seen an increase in client activity and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that this continues. Employer Branding and Employee Engagement are all back on the serious agenda as organisations prepare for return of the Talent War.
For the fourth year in a row Argos are continuing with their successful ‘Choosy…’ Graduate Leadership scheme. And for the fourth year in a row 360 has been involved with communicating the ongoing success story of the scheme. This year we have been concentrating on improving the campaign microsite - www.wearechoosy.com has been upgraded to include past and present graduate career journeys and video profiles.
Read a full case study outlining our involvement in marketing the scheme below.
Argos Graduate Case Study
Challenge
360 Degrees Advertising was briefed by it’s client, Argos, to help them develop a campaign to attract a select number of high calibre individuals, who would be offered the opportunity to join a corporate career fast-track scheme to become the Group’s future business leaders. Our challenge was to both intrigue and encourage potential graduates to understand both the size and the variety of the opportunity that was on offer. Our brief emphasised the point that Argos were going to be very selective in deciding who they might bring on to the scheme - indeed, the point was made that they would rather not make an appointment than potentially bring on individuals that would not make the grade. The campaign was targeted to hire six graduates.
Solution
We needed to communicate to our target audience that Argos was being as selective as they were, so we developed a ‘cherry-picking’ concept around a single word - ‘Choosy’, married to a clean, aspirational design style. To further add intrigue, we omitted the Argos logo from most materials - including the front cover and the first few pages of the brochure. Print materials were supported by a microsite - www.wearechoosy.com that further emphasised the exclusivity of the scheme, with a consistent high-end design. The brochures were printed to a very high quality spec and were only ‘presented’ to potential candidates who had already impressed at the initial discussion stages.
Results
Results were impressive - in the first year Argos recruited five exceptional leadership candidates, as well as a healthy talent database for other graduate-level positions throughout the business. ‘Choosy’ has become a staple recruitment tool for the attraction and selection of class leading candidates into the business. The campaign continues and existing recruits have been included into the solution as ‘brand advocates’ for both the business and the scheme.
David
Friends Provident underlines important role HR will play in future war for talent
A leading financial services group has conducted a report that shows that the future of business will be “elite workers”.
Friends Provident along with the Future Foundation conducted the Visions of Britain 2020 report. The survey consisted of 1,000 British opinions from several high profile experts in the employment industry.
The study found that the coupling of an emerging polarised workforce and a decline in foreign workers will result in “elite workers”. These elite workers will be involved in technical, professional and managerial roles. Due to their high skill levels and self-motivation they will be in popular demand and may be integral to the success of businesses of the future.
83% of respondants felt that companies will need to be more tactical in order to attract and retain these increasingly valued workers. Employers therefore will have to meet these new demands and expectations. 48% believed that making the job more fulfilling was more important than a higher salary when trying to retain these elite workers.
Gillian Fox, Human Resources Director, Friends Provident, comments: “By 2020, the balance of power between employees and employers will have shifted in favour of elite workers. This means employers will require more robust and rigorous HR strategies to shape the future success of the business. Only by fostering a culture that truly allows talented employees to prosper will employers be able to attract, recruit and more importantly retain this powerful band of employees.”
This is a recent feed taken from Executive Grapevine. It underlines the importance of developing a strong employer brand to ensure the recruitment and retention of key workers as the war for talent raises its head again. Here at 360 Degrees Advertising we continue to work with clients to ensure their Brand is relevent and “fit for purpose”
Roger
The Y generation has grown up with technology, has no fear of it, and embraces any new developments with a passion not seen before. This has a profound effect on the workplace. Although this has brought opportunities to increase the bottom line it has also brought new risks. If a company does not embrace these new technologies, as Clients/Customers expect, it can look out of touch. However if it goes wrong or is not handled correctly it can be catastrophic, for example, lost discs can bring a company down.
The speed of growth of Facebook in a year, of approximately 230% and Twitter just over 1300%, gives an indication of how quickly a new media can take off.
Employees now expect to use the internet routinely at work. This ranges form social networking; Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn to online banking and shopping. They use information on the go via their phones and are in touch constantly with the world outside. They will often know about new developments as soon as any IT department and before their managers in many medium to small companies.
The line is disappearing between personal and company use of the internet as social networking sites and blogs can be a source of new business contacts, information and innovation. So how do companies obtain the benefits of this new media while protecting the productivity and integrity of the company?
The Benefits
A workforce that can adapt to new technology more quickly than any previous generation. Marketing can be global with the touch of a mouse, information is at your fingertips. Telephone costs can be slashed and communication with offices all over the world via webcams is changing the way companies are run on a global scale. Complexities of foreign customs can be researched before a deal and the world has become a more accessible place. Working from home is becoming acceptable as using the internet to link offices is now commonplace. This saves costs of office space and time in travel. In cases of emergency, this ability has been found invaluable.
The Security Threats
Malicious websites, systems overloaded with spam e-mails, sensitive information sent in error at the push of a button.
Legal
Penalties can be imposed if personal confidential data is leaked accidentally or on purpose.
Unlicensed software can result in large fines and unauthorised downloads can have attached viruses, increasing risk loss of data. Company insurance may also not cover this. If employees download inappropriate or offensive material, this can cause HR problems with other staff who are offended.
Reputation
If staff or ex-staff post messages detrimental to the company, this can affect the Brand. In a recession the image of a Brand is of paramount importance. Those ignoring this do so at their peril. Large companies are now taking a proactive view of protecting their Brand. Medium and small companies can also do this by building on employer/employee relations and making sure communication with their clients or customers is clear and understandable.
Be in Control
It is unrealistic and probably not good business sense in today’s world to ban all internet communication. Most companies have firewalls and anti virus software in place but this can be breached by someone opening a malicious e-mail or downloading non authorised software. A clear and acceptable use policy is needed by all companies. It is a false economy not to use an expert in this as the law is very specific in what you can and can’t do. ACAS www.acas.org.uk has some useful tips and a helpline to assist with the formulation of a document, but it is safer to go to someone like www.peninsula-uk.com or a legal practice conversant with employment law to check any document to be used. Staff need to be consulted and engaged in this process. How this is communicated will often determine the effectiveness of the policy.
Maureen
As you have probably noticed the Argos brand has undergone a refresh in recent weeks. 360 got the go ahead to revamp Argoscareers.com just before Christmas and the new look careers website launched on time on Friday 22 January - the day before the new Argos catalogue launch featuring the new Argos branding for the first time.
We are currently working with the HR team at Argos on a complete overhaul of Argoscareers.com which will rolled out in the next few months.
David
Tough as this recession has been on a lot of small and medium sized businesses, it has also opened a dialogue between business and workforce that can sometimes be very productive.
Some areas of the country are not doing so bad in the unemployment stakes because large numbers of staff are willing to take cuts to enable others to keep their jobs. These are the unsung heroes, and for some companies the difference between survival and collapse. It is a time of reality and communication. Business needs to build on this relationship and make sure it lasts into the upturn. Staff are less likely to leave, and with better communication, offer more commitment. If everyone feels they have a stake in the company’s future, everyone wins.
It is also vital that the business is noticed in the market place it is operating in. The recession can also be an opportunity to re-access the offering and method of operation.
The brand needs to be something everyone is proud of and are willing to promote. Enthusiastic staff bring happy customers/clients = more profit. Staff can be your biggest advocates or detractors. In a recession no company needs the latter.
One mistake that companies big and small often make is to ignore marketing and prominence of their brand when money is tight. It’s time to be noticed. In a shrinking market clever companies can shine.
Maureen
Here’s our worked up political ads as promised.
And here’s the final Independent on Sunday article - four of our ads made the cut, bit of a landslide really.
David and Mark
I'm the PM and £900 tax on families was my idea
Can you afford to be conservative?
In the 12th year of Labour...
Labour government to support
Labour government to support - Ambient campaign
Monster raving Labour party
Black and white and in the red all over
We'll be forever in your debt
Fight the blight
One of our earlier ideas had a good headline but the visual was pretty poor. Today I realised (whilst sitting in my car getting ready to present a new bus pitch) that maybe it doesn’t need a visual after all. In fact the concept was right there in the headline all along.
That's VAT. For now.
As Labour are probably going to attack the tories over their tax plans in the coming months, in fact they’ve already started, this seems to work particularly well.
We’ve opened up the brief to the rest of the agency now so it will be interesting to see what everyone else comes up with…
By the way, check out Benedict’s political advertising blog, I’ve been using it for research all week - it’s a fabulous reference source.
David
As promised here are some (well lots of) initial ideas for the upcoming Independent on Sunday feature. They’re very rough at this stage - we haven’t even coloured them in. We’ll need to wittle them down to six and the final six may look very different from what you see here. Some concepts will evolve as we start to work them up whereas others are pretty much fully formed from the start.
Anyway, have a look and let us know what you think.
David and Mark
Ps. As we type the X-Factor winning song is on the radio and that reminded us that, according to the Evening Standard, Sunday’s X-Factor final achieved more votes than Labour received in the last general election. This got us thinking that it won’t be too long until the political party leaders will be facing a live vote-off hosted by Simon Cowell… Gordon is a moron… Move over Darling… True Blue… Blue Monday… Blue Christmas… Money’s too tight to mention… What’s the story? (Moaning Tory)… Actually, it’s more likely ‘What have you done for me lately’.
Based on Obama's iconic 'Hope' poster of course...
Don't upset them, they could turn ugly
What a rip-off
I remember the 70s...
Kiss me sickly
Bah humbuggers
Based on the Tory blue sky branding - blue sky stinking!
Wow, thanks Darling - you shouldn't have.
The real expense scandal
You're excused - now p**s off
comes from a broken country
We're going backwards
Promises, promises...
Down Brown
Blue blood suckers
Bad old blighty
Politically inCorrect
My MP is not very PC
More Labour costs!
Losing the will to go on now
A pair of stinkers
How the devil are you?
This time last year we were approached by The Independent on Sunday to produce some mock political ads for an article that ran last Christmas. At the time we were feeling very bah humbug about Christmas and maybe this came across in some our ideas.
With the upcoming election next year The Independent are planning to revisit the article and have asked us to have another crack at the politicians. And with the pre-Budget report of yesterday ringing in our wallets we’re more than happy to have a few stabs.
So this time I thought it would be fun to post our ideas and scamps as we go along but seeing as we haven’t even started yet here’s some we thought of last year. You can download a PDF of last year’s article below and remember to check back in the coming days to see our scribbles.
David
Red or brain dead?
Open wide...
We're all doomed I tell you
Naff 'orf Gordon!
Brown underpants for Christmas. Again.
Belt up!