• Amidst global shortages of skilled workers and war for talent, business leaders must now find the optimal working from home policy to retain staff, providing flexibility while maintaining company culture
• Borderless jobs may play a key role in resolving current skills shortages, by providing access to a wider talent pool

Hays, the world’s leading recruiting experts in qualified, professional and skilled people, today publishes a report that analysed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global skilled labour market and sets out its potential longer-term effects on the skilled labour markets, globally.

Potential long-term impacts on a post-pandemic labour market

Hays’ analysis found employers should expect certain long-term changes in the way the global labour market operates, suggesting employers and skilled workers alike will need to adapt to the longer-term implications of these structural shifts.

• The pandemic has unlocked a new talent pool
  • The pandemic has acted as a catalyst for remote working, with borderless jobs and the ‘telemigration phenomenon’ offering the potential to unlock additional skilled workers for employers who are facing skills shortages. The global technology sector, which is experiencing significant skills shortages, is a likely beneficiary

• Employees will expect some form of hybrid working
  • A high proportion of workers have become accustomed to working from home and will expect some form of hybrid working going forward
  • That said, 30% of the UK workforce would actually prefer to spend more time in the office than at home
  • Of 1,000 company directors surveyed, 74% of respondents plan to keep increased working from home

How the skilled labour market was impacted during the pandemic

The survey synthesised research from the global market and identified the following key trends that emerged throughout the pandemic.

• Demand for skilled labour was significantly impacted           
  • Social policies attempting to contain the spread of Covid-19 and changing consumer spending habits had a big impact
  • Across the markets in which Hays operates, employment fell by 3.8% between 2019Q4 and 2020Q4[1]

• Across the 34 markets Hays operates, the unemployment rate rose throughout 2020
  • Across all markets, unemployment rose from 4.3% in 2019Q4 to 5.5% in 2020Q4

• Younger people (aged 15-24) experienced unemployment at a higher rate than older generations
  • Across all regions, the unemployment rate rose by more than the rest of the labour force
  • For the 26 Hays markets where data are available, employment among those aged 15 to 24 years old fell by 17.4% between Q4 2019 and Q2 2020, although this recovered by 5% by the end of 2020[2]

• Female employment fell by a higher percentage point than for males
  • Women were more significantly negatively impacted by the crisis
  • Between 2019Q4 and 2020Q4 female employment declined by a greater percentage across the markets in which Hays operates
  • Across 24 of the 34 markets for which data are available, female employment fell by 3.4% between 2019Q4 and 2020Q4 – a 0.4 percentage point larger decline than the fall in male employment[3]

Focus areas for business and policy leaders emerging looking forward

Hays’ research found that the skilled labour market has now further evolved with workers displaying an appetite to ‘work from anywhere’ as opposed to simply working from home or the office. We would encourage business and policy leaders to consider whether borderless jobs and Telemigration can provide a long-term solution to address the global skilled labour shortages.

Commenting on the report, Hays CEO Alistair Cox stated: “The world is struggling with acute skills shortages, which presents organisations with a challenge as to how they compete for the skills they desperately need in order to operate. If organisations are unable to source these skills locally, one potential solution is for businesses to tap into labour forces further away from home, giving them access to a larger global talent pool.”

He added: “Remote working is here to stay and it will likely accelerate as businesses become more comfortable hiring people from further afield and their structures and technology allow it. There are potential barriers to this that organisations will need to overcome, such as cyber security, embedding their culture remotely, and ensuring they comply with local labour laws. But if these can be navigated, then the potential for accessing talent pools that encompass the globe is huge.”

Download the report here

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About Hays Malaysia

Agensi Pekerjaan Hays (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd ("Hays Malaysia") is one of the leading specialist recruitment companies in Malaysia in recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people across a wide range of industries and professions. We provide mid to senior level recruitment services across both finance and commerce industries. We have become known as the experts in sourcing regional and global candidates, as well as returning Malaysians.

Hays has been in Malaysia since 2012 and boasts a track record of success and growth, with two operating offices located in KLCC and Sunway. At Hays in Malaysia, we operate across the private and public sector, dealing in permanent positions in the following specialisms: Accountancy & Finance, Banking & Financial Services, Construction, Digital Technology, Engineering, Finance Technology, Human Resources, Information Technology, Insurance, Legal, Life Sciences, Manufacturing & Operations, Marketing & Digital, Procurement, Supply Chain and Sales.

About Hays

Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Australia and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe, Latin America and Asia. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 31 December 2020 the Group employed c.10,000 staff operating from 257 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2020:

• the Group reported net fees of £996.2 million and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £135.0 million;
• the Group placed around 66,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 235,000 people into temporary roles;
• 17% of Group net fees were generated in Australia & New Zealand, 26% in Germany, 23% in United Kingdom & Ireland and 34% in Rest of World (RoW);
• the temporary placement business represented 59% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 41% of net fees;
• IT is the Group’s largest specialism, with 25% of net fees, while Accountancy & Finance (15%) and Construction & Property (12%), are the next largest
• Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA