This is according to the ‘UK Recruitment Industry Status Report 2020-2021’ by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), which has found recruiters are joining professional colleagues in industries such as life sciences, pharma and tech in looking for new roles that fit in with their choice of working conditions.

Released in December, the report says that the annual churn rate among recruiters working in the UK and profiled on LinkedIn was 27% in the three months to November 2021. 

The annual review revealed that the recruitment industry contributed £35.9bn to the UK economy between January and December 2020, falling 11.5% on 2019. However, using additional data up to summer 2021, the REC also provided an indicative forecast that from 2020 to 2021, there will be a 1.2% increase in the direct Gross Value Add of the recruitment industry.

Also included in the status report was a look at important lessons learned during the coronavirus crisis. The top lesson cited by 60% of respondents was to build close relationships with clients and candidates. Other popular lessons mentioned by respondents were having cash reserves to cover expenses for more than six months, reducing office costs and embracing new ways of working (eg. homeworking) and investing in technology.

And nearly two years after the UK first experienced the workplace shake-up brought on by the pandemic, more than a third (36%) of recruitment businesses have continued working fully or partially remote, the research found. Nearly the same percentage (35%) have introduced a hybrid model of work allowing staff to work from home for up to three days a week, with 11% having migrated to a fully remote working pattern. Only 6% have asked all staff to be in the office for five days a week, the report said.

The report’s industry-wide figures were drawn from a survey of 211 REC members and other data sources.

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