50% Recruitment Agencies Have Already Furloughed Staff

There’s no doubt about it, the coronavirus outbreak is hitting recruitment in the UK hard. Most recruitment agencies are having to fight against a huge reduction in roles, as well as dealing with hard to reach clients and delayed candidate start dates (and therefore delayed placement fees).

New data from the Recruitment Pulse Survey in partnership with Talent Nexus and UK Recruiter revealed the toll these tough operating conditions are already having on recruitment businesses.

Furloughing employees 

The survey found that 50% of recruitment agencies who responded to the survey have already made the decision to furlough some of their staff through the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme.

And only 21% of recruitment agencies stated that they had ruled-out move to furlough employees in the future, suggesting that there may be more to come.

The government scheme covers 80% of staff wages up to £2,500 per month and will last until at least the end of May.

Redundancies 

The same survey revealed that 28% of recruitment agencies have also already made staff redundancies separate to the job retention scheme, with a further 27% still considering the move.

Full results

If you want to take a look at the full results of the Recruitment Pulse Survey in partnership with Talent Nexus and UK Recruiter, register at: www.talentnexus.com/pulse

• Find out what other agencies are doing right now to cope with the crisis
• Understand the impact coronavirus is having on the recruitment industry
• See what employers top priorities are and how you can respond

The urgent survey was conducted on 2^nd April and collected responses from over 300 organisations.

This was originally posted on the UKRecruiter website.