In a 'Slowcession' it's time to reinvent your role

Welcome to my latest LinkedIn newsletter! In each issue, I will be sharing Employment Law insights on important topics with my connections and followers.

It has recently been confirmed that we entered into a recession towards the end of 2023 and it looks like we will continue to be under threat of a recession for some time to come. Boardrooms across the UK are in session 'agreeing' FY24/25 budgets. While recession fears remain, employees are bracing for bad news in 2024 as budgets get 'cut', 'curtailed' and 'redirected'.

Many will be unable to avoid the rushed and hushed manoeuvring into a meeting room (real or virtual) and always without warning, only to be told the business is ‘restructuring’ and their role is ’at risk’.?

As The Times reported last week, ‘Investment banks have slashed their UK job vacancies by as much as 75 per cent over the past year as a dearth of corporate deals forces the City to scale back recruitment. Openings at the banking giants Citigroup, Barclays, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and HSBC have fallen by an average of 50 per cent, according to the recruiter Morgan McKinley and website Vacancysoft.

The Times article continued, ‘It is not just banks suffering from the downturn in deals. Vacancysoft data also shows that the big four accounting firms, which have been cutting hundreds of jobs over the past few months, have scaled back their UK vacancies. PwC has led the pack, reducing its vacancies in 2023 to 786, down nearly 60 per cent on the 1,949 the year before. It was followed by EY, which reduced its vacancies by 55 per cent — from 1,699 in 2022 to 766 last year. Deloitte posted 721 vacancies, just under half of what they were in 2022, while KPMG, the smallest of the cohort, shrunk its vacancies by about 15 per cent — from 2,111 to 1,800.’

Source:?https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bonfire-of-the-banking-vacancies-as-deals-dry-up-gx7bpg7wz ?

Is there a silver lining?

Business gurus are advising employers against making short-sighted decisions when cutting costs, and are advising businesses to focus more on the future and create enough capacity to take on growth and innovation to support their long-term aspirations.

Businesses will need to do a deep dive into the different types of jobs in their organisations, understand the matrix of skills within their organisations and plan for, and map, the skills required going forward. In the age of AI those who ignore the opportunities and threats AI brings, do so at their peril.

For some, therefore, downturns and talks of a deep, long-lasting recession might open up opportunities they otherwise may not have had access to internally or may have had to look externally for. As businesses tighten the purse strings employers are making do with who they have, to save costs and reconfigure roles, rather than hire in.

So now might be the time to consider an internal move to a new area of the business, or to re-skill or up-skill to access new emerging roles (AI, ESG, Climate?). You may even bag a promotion, early bird and all that!

What that means for astute employees?

Future proof your career internally for now, yes, but be ready to jump ship when the market improves. In this new age of AI if you don't adopt and adapt, your career may very well die. It is therefore your responsibility to take control of your professional development and steer your career towards longevity.

Understanding the potential of AI in your industry and learning to work with AI will help you to avoid being left behind or training for obsolete skills. AI won’t take everyone’s job but those who are using AI might well take your job. AI certainly has the potential to completely replace us in the workplace, but it also has the potential to augment human capabilities, in there lies the opportunities. Expect massive changes in your organisation in the next 3-5 years, think ahead and be flexible. Get into AI and get trained on anything AI-related.?

What to consider?

What areas of the business are dying a slow death, and what are thriving? What skill gaps are currently being filled, notwithstanding the ‘recruitment freeze’? What’s the latest ‘big thing’ in your industry? ?

So, what now? ?My advice would be to reinvent your role, get your personal capacity statement finely tuned and get your self-promotion pitch deck primed and ready to go and get a 1-2-1 booked in with your manager.

I read recently that some employers would seriously consider moving an employee internally to upskill if they just asked. It is suggested that more than a third (37%) of UK employees would reconsider a job change if their current employer offered them improved financial benefits and incentives. What ‘improved’ means in practice is not defined; however, I expect a lot less cost to the business than making someone redundant and hiring a replacement in 6-12 months.

I have said it before and i'll say it again - if you don’t ask, you won’t get.

At the very least, you’ll have a head start when preparing for an external role if you do get that tap on the shoulder and are hustled into a corner meeting room with only your line manager and HR for company.

Oh and please, people, if you are successful in securing a new role whether that's internally or externally, take the opportunity to get your contracts reviewed, I promise you won't regret it, especially if stage 2 is to move to a competitor! This is important, so much so I wrote an article about it! https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/should-lawyer-review-my-offer-employment-contract-ruby-dinsmore-/

Feel free to Get In Touch even if your are not expecting a tap on the shoulder, I will be happy to assist you.

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You can also find more information on the advice we at Penningtons provide for senior executives here: https://bit.ly/Senior-Executive-Employment

Ruby Dinsmore Employment Lawyer (UK)

#employmentlaw #employeebenefits #recessionrisk #contractlaw #newjob #careerdevelopment