Taking stock of a challenging year

December is upon us and many businesses will be taking stock of a challenging year. Coronavirus has completely transformed the way we work – and HR and recruitment are no exception.

Many businesses were initially concerned that lockdown and homeworking would impact productivity, but workers have proved to be remarkably adaptable.

Meanwhile, the pandemic has caused enormous shifts in the workforce, with millions of people moving jobs this year due to redundancies.

As a result, and somewhat perhaps a little surprisingly, we have found recruitment in our niche remains buoyant as we head towards the end of the year.

Norfolk Businesses Show Strong Productivity and Growth

When the country went into lockdown at the end of March, many companies feared that homeworking would prove disruptive. However, most office workers are now accustomed to telecommuting.

In fact, the majority of businesses and workers have embraced working from home with open arms. With fewer meetings and distractions than the office, homeworking allows employees to get on with important tasks with improved focus and efficiency.

Furthermore, with the pandemic requiring people to fit work around childcare and other commitments, flexible working patterns have resulted in many of us getting more done in the hours we do work.

The vast majority of businesses have also adopted new productivity-boosting tech such as Zoom, Teams and Slack during the pandemic, resulting in better workflows.

With plenty of companies ending the year on an unexpected productivity high, you may be wondering whether now is the time to expand and recruit.

December Recruitment Rush

In fact, that’s exactly what lots of businesses are doing. While this time of year is normally packed with Christmas parties and other festive activities, managers across the country are busy conducting interviews and onboarding new hires.

This may sound like madness, but in actual fact December is the perfect time to hire. While January is normally seen as a prime time for recruitment, the pre-Christmas period is often a quiet time for businesses, making it the ideal moment to dedicate attention to growing your team.

Recruiting before Christmas lets you hire, train and settle in your new hire so they can hit the ground running in January.

If your business is ending the year on surprisingly good footing, now is the time to capitalise on that success by growing your team.

To find out more about the jobs market under lockdown, and the services we’re offering while restrictions are in place