State of the Market

[SussexSeagull]

I’ve heard a number of stories about agencies baulking at the cost of temporary workers post April 1st / 6th.

the combination of minimum wage increases attached to the employer NI changes have added a significant increase in prices - as the old trade off of employer NI allowance offsetting the umbrella /PEO margin no longer works

If anyone is complaining about paying their staff a sensible minimum wage then they have completely lost my sympathy.

[eek]

If anyone is complaining about paying their staff a sensible minimum wage then they have completely lost my sympathy.

That was posted in the context of the KPMG report and my comment was based on the bottom of the market where things work very differently to the more rarified IT contractor market..

[SussexSeagull]

That was posted in the context of the KPMG report and my comment was based on the bottom of the market where things work very differently to the more rarified IT contractor market..

I know what you meant but if a company can't afford to pay someone an extra £6.16 for an eight hour day then your business model isn't sustainable.

[eek]

I know what you meant but if a company can't afford to pay someone an extra £6.16 for an eight hour day then your business model isn't sustainable.

Earlier today that £6.16 is being used to explain an estimated 600,000 less retail / hospitality jobs. Some staff are just extra staff there to make everyone's life easier but aren't essential - it's those jobs that are going.

On Saturday night I was in an (possibly) overstaffed restaurant which meant the service was great and often staff were waiting around for the next piece of work (deliver food, remove plates, ask about drinks) was required. They had 6 staff but you could have ran the place on 4 - the 4 workers would have just had to work harder without the pauses..

Now I suspect the extra £40 in costs will be easily affordable but equally I can see a reason to not found a replacement if one left...

[SussexSeagull]

Earlier today that £6.16 is being used to explain an estimated 600,000 less retail / hospitality jobs. Some staff are just extra staff there to make everyone's life easier but aren't essential - it's those jobs that are going.

On Saturday night I was in an (possibly) overstaffed restaurant which meant the service was great and often staff were waiting around for the next piece of work (deliver food, remove plates, ask about drinks) was required. They had 6 staff but you could have ran the place on 4 - the 4 workers would have just had to work harder without the pauses..

Now I suspect the extra £40 in costs will be easily affordable but equally I can see a reason to not found a replacement if one left...

I do have an element of sympathy for small business. I have no sympathy for Sainsbury who make hundreds of millions and response to the rise in NI contributions was to threaten to get rid of staff and not just reduce profits.

Plus about half of all people on benefits are working so business not paying their staff properly ends up being picked up by the tax payer anyway.

[dsc]

That was posted in the context of the KPMG report and my comment was based on the bottom of the market where things work very differently to the more rarified IT contractor market..

I've seen similar "bare bones" approach done in the IT market as well, seems that companies are very very slow to replace people that leave, tryin to see if those who are still there can do the extra work.

From the KPMG report:

"[...]Last week's move on interest rates was timely as a way of boosting confidence.[...]

it's time for greater clarity on how the Government will use its industrial strategy to drive the growth of the whole economy."

The cut was a mere 0.25% and the economy is predicted to grow a whooping 0.75% this year. Not sure where "boosting", "confidence" and "growth" are coming from in the fragment above, seems like 2025 will be another year of "lets see if we can survive this".

[SussexSeagull]

The other side of little or no recruiting going on is that people in jobs are being worked harder.

[SchumiStars]

The other side of little or no recruiting going on is that people in jobs are being worked harder.

Or they are not as busy as they used to be?

Think I said previously, that talking to a restruamt owner, he said that his place is 40% down from before COVID.

Restraunts
Hotels
Events

Have less customers, so require less staff to run.

[hungry_hog]

Citi is letting go of 1000 people in the UK, almost 10% of their UK workforce (mostly London), so those folks will be joining the queue. That doesn't include non-renewed or terminated contractors, which will be another few hundred.
Their ex-McKinsey CEO doing McKinsey things.

[SchumiStars]

Citi is letting go of 1000 people in the UK, almost 10% of their UK workforce (mostly London), so those folks will be joining the queue. That doesn't include non-renewed or terminated contractors, which will be another few hundred.
Their ex-McKinsey CEO doing McKinsey things.

I guess it's still getting worse then. FFS....another 12mths of me posting on here then

I have seriously started looking into running a coffee van, which seems to have more regulation than I would have thought.

Can't just rock up, needs a license, which from the looks of things are like gold dust.