With the right people strategies, businesses can still thrive amidst challenges
The fall in the net employment balance signals employers' growing caution. With hiring slowing, people professionals have a real opportunity to show their value – by taking a longer-term view and aligning people practices with business strategy.
As a minimum, people teams should be monitoring workloads, developing skills and supporting flexibility – to empower their existing workforces to do their best work and drive business outcomes. And the CIPD’s practical tools, research and guidance are here to help people professionals to find solutions that work for both people and business during tough times.
Vacancies remain hard to fill, but inclusive hiring strategies could help
Although fewer employers plan to recruit, hard-to-fill vacancies remain widespread. Overall, 33% of employers report difficulties, rising to 44% in the public sector.
To address these challenges, organisations should reassess their employee value proposition and adopt inclusive, flexible hiring practices that widen access to talent.
Short-term cuts and knee-jerk reactions could risk long-term setbacks
One in four employers expect to make redundancies in the next three months. Growing concerns around the Employment Rights Bill are understandably adding to this cautious outlook, but we recommend avoiding short-term cuts where possible.