REC: The Recruitment and Employment Confederation has commissioned a piece of research looking at the economic and social impact of recruitment.

Earlier this year REC: The Recruitment and Employment Confederation commissioned a piece of research looking at the economic and social impact of recruitment. 

The Research methodology was as follows:

Public First, a member of the British Polling Council and Market Research Society, were commissioned by REC to run new surveys of workers, business and the industry to understand better their experience with recruitment:

1. Consumer Poll. An in-depth nationally representative poll of 2,000 adults in Britain, weighted by interlocking age and gender, region and social grade.
2. Business Poll. An in-depth economically representative poll of 500 businesses, weighted by business size, sector and region.
3. Industry Survey. A short survey of 114 REC members, looking at their financial performance over the last two years.
4. In addition, to help further calibrate the modelling, Public First ran two follow-up short polls:
   1. A short nationally representative poll of 4,000 adults in Britain, weighted by interlocking age and gender, region and social grade.
   2. A short nationally representative poll of 1,000 businesses, weighted by business size, sector and region. 

The findings were that getting recruitment right boosts UK productivity by £7.7bn each year.

This report also uncovers how:

• A more productive and inclusive labour market works for everyone through good recruitment.
• The industry will have a vital role to play in accelerating the recovery from COVID-19.
• Businesses say that recruitment and the quality of their staff is the second most important driver of success, but only half of Britons think that companies in the UK do a good job of recruiting effectively

The REC’s study into the economic and social impact of recruitment also found that one in four (28%) large businesses would consider hiring people who do not live close to the office reflecting the shift toward a more flexible labour market as a result of COVID-19.

This approach could benefit large numbers of workers and result in a further boost to the UK’s productivity as employers open themselves up to a wider pool of talent.

Other findings from REC’s Recruitment and recovery study include:

• The work of professional recruitment firms supports £86 billion in gross value added across the economy, the equivalent of 4.3% of GDP, larger than either the accounting or legal industries.
• Four in five (78%) people who found a job through a recruiter said it was a good match for them.
• Each year, over 300,000 unemployed people use the recruitment industry to secure a permanent role, more than twice as many as those who go through the Job Centre.
• Two in three businesses (63%) said that working with a recruitment agency had helped them increase the diversity of new recruits.
• Jobs the recruitment industry matches support £29 billion in annual tax revenues, double the government’s R&D (research and development) budget.
• Someone finds a new permanent job through a recruiter every 21 seconds.

 You can see the full report here, we hope you will find it useful. Click here for the report.