According to a recent survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and Maximus UK, many small to medium sized business in the UK believe that the recruitment of new employees is too costly and time consuming.
The survey was commissioned to determine what barriers existed in the UK that prevent firms from recruiting skilled workers. On announcing its results, the British Chambers of Commerce claimed that: “the survey results point to general dissatisfaction with recruitment services in the UK.” They went on to say that recruitment is: “particularly difficult for smaller companies because recruitment places extra demands on limited resources in an already challenging economic climate.”
One of the most noticeable assertions of the survey was that only 3% of businesses use a recruitment agency on a regular basis, roughly half use agencies sometimes, while 46% of businesses surveyed said that they would never use a recruitment agency.
REC disputes survey findings
The BCC claims that this indicates dissatisfaction with the standard of recruitment services and cites high costs as a major reason. However, in a response to the survey the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), which represents the UK’s recruitment industry, took a different view.
“The BCC survey shows that around 50% of SME’s already use external agencies,” said the REC’s Director of Policy and Professional Services, Tom Hadley. “The real conclusion to be drawn is that more employers should be encouraged to use agencies as a means of solving their recruitment challenges.” He also pointed out that in a recent survey by JobsOutlook, nine out of ten employers said that they were satisfied with their recruitment agencies.
According to the BCC survey, one of the major challenges cited by business owners in recruiting new staff is the cost. It found that 40% of respondents estimated that the overall cost of recruiting a new employee is over £2000. Time was another common factor that was cited as a reason, and less than 25% of small to medium businesses surveyed had dedicated personnel departments to deal with recruitment.
These findings do seem to suggest that many such businesses could benefit greatly by using recruitment agencies. The REC criticised the report for: “[failing] to recognise the role that agencies can play.”
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