Some Facts and Figures!
Throughout November we have been speaking to clients across East Anglia seeing how they have coped with the 2nd Lockdown.
We have found out some interesting facts and figures that we wanted to share.
Of the clients we have spoken to:
- 77% have all employees back at work and are no longer using the furlough scheme which is amazing news demonstrating the robustness of the East Anglian economy
- Of those businesses 15% have cut staff hours
- 17% have staff still working from home 100% of the time usually because social distancing measures cannot be enforced due to space
- 33% are back fully office based with all relevant measures in place to ensure everyone is safe
- 50% have a mix of working from home and being in the office with rotas in place to ensure social distancing on the days people are in the office
- Of the 17% who are fully working from home, none of those businesses currently have plans to return to the office
- 100% are already, or are looking to, work more flexibly in the future
- 44% have not recruited this year, and of those businesses only 25% have made redundancies
All the companies we spoke to have at least one team member who has struggled with their mental health throughout this time. Interestingly, these issues were more prevalent in the companies where all staff are still working from home.
This research was the deciding factor in Compass Point Recruitment choosing not to send Christmas Cards this year and instead donate the money to Suffolk Mind https://www.suffolkmind.org.uk/
As a business, whilst we have remained open throughout 2020, and were working from home, we have also utilised the furlough and flexi-furlough schemes at different points. We have really noticed the impact of working from home in an isolated environment and of being furloughed and having a complete lack of normal routine! Consequently, we can completely resonate with those mixed emotions and confusion so many are feeling. It has however made us a lot closer as a team and meant that we have learnt to adapt our communication styles from shouting across the office to a team zoom meeting instead!
We are pleased to say that our full team are back in the office and busy working on exciting opportunities. Whilst we are certainly in a job led market at the moment, we are not short of roles to work on which is fantastic. Through challenges we come back stronger, more resilient, less adverse to change and with more empathy for everyone around us. “The struggles we feel today are developing the strength we need for tomorrow!”