Would you retrain to boost your value at work? The reskilling phenomenon.

A new report into the future of work by accountancy giant PwC has identified a flourishing trend for independent upskilling amongst the British work force – in order to boost their personal value with their employers.

The report – Workforce of the future: the competing forces shaping 2030 – found that nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of British workers were willing to learn new skills or completely re-train, to maintain their employment status, or to improve their personal worth in the jobs market.

Significantly, it is individuals who are seizing the initiative to improve their future prospects, rather than workplace programmes influencing the numbers. 56 per cent of those polled saw it as their own responsibility to gain new skills, and not their current employer’s. Last week’s news round-up appeared to identify similar sentiments amongst IT professionals working in Australia, (“Australia prepares for digital future”): 45 per cent of those questioned who were already engaged in upskilling were doing so on their own time and budget.

Having covered the changing jobs market in some depth recently, eBoss would be interested to learn whether the current wave of re-skilling is helping to address skills shortages in emerging industries such as edtech and automation – or whether it represents the labour force concentrating into those areas of the jobs market that have so far been less effected by the digital revolution.

CFA Before GDPR, expert warns

Over the past year, eBoss has worked to highlight the responsibilities of GDPR for our clients, and we have previously described the impact that the new data legislation may have on recruitment businesses.

But this week, one body has suggested that the scramble for GDPR compliance is acting as an unhelpful distraction for recruitment companies: because they face a much more pressing deadline in regards to changes to financial compliance.

The UK-based tax compliance specialists, 6CATS International, has suggested that numerous recruitment companies within the United Kingdom could be exposed to investigation and prosecution for violation of the Criminal Finances Act (CFA), if they do not implement urgent policy changes before the September deadline.

CFA is intended to eradicate tax evasion among businesses, their employees, and agents, but 6CATS International believes that many organisations remain unaware of their compliance responsibilities, and may face conviction and unlimited penalties if their regulatory processes are not updated before the September 30 cut-off date.

GDPR comes into effect in May 2018.

Rising costs shape the way we recruit

The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) has identified some of the ways in which the rising cost of recruitment is changing how businesses are making their hires.

The 2017 Workforce Survey, published by the BCC last week, found that trends and attitudes have adjusted to discover greater value for money in every appointment, targeting long term contracts and experience,among other factors.

The combined costs of pension auto-enrolment, the apprenticeships levy, and the national living wage have all contributed to the changing attitudes. Significantly, the BCC survey saw that one in five businesses (20 per cent) intended to scale back their recruitment plans, while 11 per cent were focusing their attention on non-apprenticed staff drawn from the under 25 age range.

The greatest year on year swing, however saw a movement in favour of short term and flexible employment agreements over long term appointments. 16 per cent of employers stated that they were focusing on flexible contracts for new recruits in 2017: representing a nine per cent rise on 2016 figures.