Since the global economy began to lose the enthusiasm it briefly demonstrated in the first half of 2011, the prognosis, particularly in the light of an imploding Eurozone couldn’t, apparently, be more bleak. And given such an outlook, I wonder what sort of behaviours this might be exercising in many employers? Recruitment freeze? Check. Redundancies? Highly likely? A brake on all employer branding investment? Very probably.
However, flying in the face of an apparently inevitable double dip recession are a number of fascinating economic indicators. First, growth in the UK’s third quarter of 0.5% GDP was not, as widely predicted, revised down, instead it edged up to 0.6%. An aberration? Possibly not. Data from Markit’s PMI study showed that activity in the all-important UK services sector in December expanded healthily from 52.1 to 54. Pattern emerging? Maybe too early to say.
What about jobs? The most recent Reed Job Index suggests that job opportunities were 17% higher in December 2011 than twelve months previously. Sectors such as IT, telecoms and tourism were particularly prominent. Perhaps even stronger news from the hugely influential US market, whose private sector added no less than 325,000 new jobs in 2011’s final month, its sixth successive month of gains. Unemployment is now down to 8.5%, its lowest level for close on three years.
While it would be monumentally naive to suggest that the worst is over and that growth, employment and inflation were all heading in their respective right directions, 2012 might not turn out to be quite so grim as many suspect. And, indeed, if the next couple of quarters produce similarly cheering economic sentiment as the last few weeks, then the employment outlook suddenly occupies a different space.
A different space which threatens to come back and bite any employers who see troubling economic times as an opportunity for scaling back on employer branding initiatives, neglecting engagement and taking attraction largely for granted. If employees and candidates alike are beginning to pick up on a different economic climate, their propensity to stick with an employer they have had to endure over the last few years may weaken significantly. And the likelihood of them opting for a new employer who appears to be making little or no effort with their value proposition appears distant.
2012, now it gets interesting.
Getting to the heart of your employee mindset 