The campaign provides an ‘aspirational’ charter for employers with nine principles. This covers areas including ethical resource planning and recruitment procedures; good recruitment practice for all types of contracts, such as temporary and zero hours; candidate experience; and flexible working arrangements.
The campaign has been developed with input from organisations including Santander, Royal Mail, Penguin Random House, NHS Employers and The HR Society. It was also devised in conjunction with professional and business bodies such as CIPD, the CBI and the Institute of Leadership Management.
REC chief executive Kevin Green described the campaign as the “most important the REC had ever devised”.
“It’s a simple campaign,” Green said at the launch event in London this morning. “What is good recruitment practice; let’s promote it to businesses; let’s give them a tool and a charter to judge themselves against; and let’s share best practice by creating a community of people that are talking about what best practice looks like.”
Green said now was the right time to launch the campaign for several reasons:
- there are 2.5 million unemployed people;
- yet 40% of employers struggle to find the right talent;
- the UK economy has moved from 14 areas of skills shortage a year ago to 47 today; and,
- 25% of employers say poor recruitment for one role had cost more than £40,000.
Another concern for employers was retention. According to a Careerbuilder.com study, 74% of workers are either actively searching for a new job or open to opportunities and a worrying 35% are preparing for their next job within weeks of starting a new one.
To find out more, visit the Good Recruitment Campaign website.
