LinkedIn have this week announced that confidence among UK workers is on the rise, despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of their fortnightly Workforce Confidence Index, LinkedIn survey over 1800 workers across a range of industries and sectors about their feelings regarding their jobs and financial situations, providing an interesting snapshot of workers according to sector and age.
Rated on a scale of -100 to +100, Workforce Confidence rose fortnight on fortnight from +13 to +17, indicating a positive shift in the mindset of workers.
Those in the construction industry and IT sector seem to feel most confident, scoring +24 on the index, closely followed by healthcare at +21. Staff in the education sector didn’t fare quite as well, scoring just on 9 on the index, with recreation and travel scoring a small +4.
LinkedIn also asked responders about their thoughts on their finances and divided the results by age group.
The report found that few people predicted an increase in their savings over the next fortnight, with only 35% of millennials and 20% of baby boomers expecting their savings to rise. This might indicate that workers are still feeling cautious, which could be a sign of things to come in the wider economy.
And while critics feel that the numbers represent such a small rise as to be inconsequential, the fact that the Confidence Index is showing positive rather than negative numbers under the current circumstances may be something to feel optimistic about.
The differences across sectors and generations clearly reflect the changes to the current working landscape, with many workers still furloughed while others make a cautious return to work, and more still are facing redundancies as further businesses succumb to the impact of the pandemic.
And it’s not just nursing staff that are feeling the pinch. NHS Employers, the company responsible for recruitment in the NHS, have recently warned that the social care system is in danger of total collapse without international recruitment, especially as the new Health and Social Care Visa does not cover workers for social care. This omission has been heavily criticised by the social care sector, who feel that their contribution to the pandemic has not received the same amount of acclaim as the NHS. The social care sector is asking the government to rethink their stance on excluding social care workers from the new visa scheme.
Regardless of the controversy of the new visa, global restrictions are beginning to be lifted and there is hope that the nursing and social care targets will be met, and the NHS can start to recover from the pandemic.
This report shows that one thing remains true across all roles and sectors, despite a small upswing in worker confidence, employers must do more to provide a stable and supportive environment for staff during this uncertain time.
Investing in enhancing staff confidence can help improve productivity, as well as staff morale and engagement, all of which are crucial for organisations to successfully weather the storm.
JMK continue to support hundreds of recruitment agencies and their staff through good times and bad. Providing a range of services including PEO, Back Office Support and Funding, JMK can help ensure that your staff and services don’t suffer because of uncertainty, improving your worker confidence and improving productivity.
Since 2002, JMK have been compliantly consolidating back-office, accountancy and payroll functions.
We have evolved to provide a range of expert services; such as Professional Employer Organisation (PEO), or Back Office Support (BOS) or Funding, becoming a leading provider to the contracting industry.
We know every agency is different in some shape or form, even if only by a little, but important bit. Combining our knowledge and experience of multiple sectors enables JMK to support you all from recruiters and payroll, through to finance, compliance and management.
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Have a look at the wide range of services our Professional Employer Organisation (PEO) or Back Office Support (BOS) can provide to you and your business, it is far more than just payroll and finance.
