In April, the CBI’s sexual misconduct scandal broke, candidate availability rose for the first time in two years and a quarter of organisations predicted redundancies.
CBI sexual misconduct scandal comes as no surprise to HR professionals
Employment professionals said widespread sexual misconduct claims against the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) were unsurprising despite the increased number of diversity policies in UK workplaces.
The CBI faced widespread claims of sexual misconduct and a toxic culture, including one employee who claimed she was raped at a staff party on a boat on the river Thames.
An independent investigation is now being carried out at the business lobbying organisation.
More than a dozen women told the Guardian the CBI had a toxic culture.
Candidate availability rises for first time in two years
The Report on Jobs from KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) found candidate availability, for both permanent and temporary roles, had risen for the first time since February 2021.
The increase was due to relative improvement in confidence among job seekers and redundancies.
Starting pay increased for both permanent and temporary workers, which was frequently linked to skill shortages and cost of living pressures.
While temporary roles grew, permanent placements continued to decrease. However, the rate of this decline has slowed slightly.
Total vacancies increased in March, although the rate of growth was lower than in February.
A quarter of UK organisations to make redundancies in 2023
A quarter (26%) of UK organisations said they were likely to make redundancies in 2023, according to new research from HR consultancy Ayming UK.
Half (49%) also said they were expecting to cut costs this year and 37% of organisations were reducing recruitment.
Scott Ward, people, performance and development partner at Ayming UK, said the hiring market had reached a crossroads.
Speaking to HR magazine, he said: “Organisations are having to make high levels of redundancies as the economy bites back. The findings reflect the fact that organisations hired to meet capacity as opposed to hiring for the long term and to meet their own skill gap needs.”
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