From a dressing-down to dress-down directors

Jo Faragher

Last weekend, one Labour MP’s comments about migrant workers in a leaked speech made headlines across the board.

According to a draft of a speech to be given by shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant, major employers such as Tesco and Next were “unscrupulous” for undercutting British workers and drafting in foreign staff at a cheaper rate.

After a storm of criticism from both of the retailers, he toned down his comments, but there is a bigger picture here. It is, of course, a perfectly legitimate practice to recruit workers from abroad, and from time to time, spikes in recruitment requirements mean companies cannot realistically fill every role with an indigenous candidate.

With the exception of a minority of exploitative recruiters who bypass immigration rules or fail to pay the going rate, most employment businesses strive to meet their clients’ needs for quality candidates, wherever they’re from. Furthermore, managing migrant workforce levels ultimately requires greater partnership between government, trade bodies and the employers themselves.

In a linked development, unemployment fell by a very small margin during the three months to June, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. Interestingly, a third of that employment increase came from non-UK nationals working in the UK.

There’s greater scrutiny of the umemployment rate at the moment, after new Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, has said that he will not put up interest rates until the unemployment rate falls to 7% of the workforce (it is now 7.8%). Economists have pointed out how, on the one hand, the number in work is at a record high (so the workforce is growing and the economy is creating jobs), yet the rate takes a while to come down. And once interest rates go up – employers may once again become cautious.

Elsewhere in the figures, unemployment in London actually increased, by 9,000 to 376,000. This was mirrored by the findings of Morgan McKinley’s latest London Employment Monitor, which recorded a slight dip in demand for staff. However, Hakan Enver, operations director of Morgan McKinley Financial Services has pointed out that, with increasing regulation in the financial services sector and a need for staff to support that, this momentary dip should recover in the Autumn.

Finally, the Institute of Directors announced this week that it was relaxing its dress code to allow members to wear jeans and T-shirts. For 100 years, it has required them to wear “business attire” when visiting its headquarters, often handing out ties at reception. It said that it acknowledged “that the definition of business idea has changed along with the definition of what a company director might look like”, which had led to the relaxation of its rules.

In some industries, especially tech start-ups, meeting candidates in jeans and trainers is now perfectly acceptable, but most recruiters and hiring managers would agree that when it comes to that all-important interview – first impressions count, so err on the safe (and smart) side.

Let us know what you think at editorial@recruitmentagencynow.com