Insights

Max and John recognise that, although they have a lot in common, their generations have been brought up with very different assumptions. They look to the future, and the discussion ends in a thoughtful and hopeful place.

In the final quarter of 2020 employers were feeling more confident about hiring, despite being increasingly worried about the state of the UK economy. Read more within.

Thewlis Graham Associates are very pleased to be working with the RCVS with their new role: Lay Person for the Audit and Risk Committee. Full details within

What can we learn from Handforth Parish Council? How can you stop your board meeting from descending into chaos? Ian White, Governance & Board Consultant & Evaluator, uses the viral example of Handforth Parish Council to share his tips for running board meetings and maintaining control.

Employers’ confidence in their ability to hire new staff rose to net: +7 in November 2020-January 2021, an increase of two percentage points on the previous rolling quarter, according to new REC data. The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC)’s latest JobsOutlook survey also found that employers’ intentions to hire permanent staff in the short term rose in the three months to January 2021, to net: +25. This came despite some signs of the January lockdown slowing hiring. It shows the underlying demand that exists in the labour market – businesses will be looking to hire in the coming months, and even more so now that the Prime Minister’s lockdown exit plan has been announced.

Permanent staff appointments fell sharply in January, after a mild upturn in December, according to the latest KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs survey. The reduction was driven by the reintroduction of national lockdown measures amid a rise in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. At the same time, greater uncertainty over the outlook drove a further marked increase in temp billings. The resurgence of the virus also led to a renewed fall in demand for permanent staff, while growth in short-term vacancies moderated. Pay trends meanwhile weakened, with recruiters registering mild reductions in starting salaries and temp wages. Reports of redundancies related to COVID-19 led to a sustained increase in staff availability. However, the upturn was the softest seen for ten months, with recruiters indicating that a number of workers were reluctant to move roles in the current economic climate.