ofsted
ofsted

June Labour Market Information Bulletin

Your monthly update for labour market information with local and national news.

Don’t forget – you can see local job vacancies our own Online Jobs Board.

John Lewis to hire delivery drivers and tech staff following major online growth

John Lewis Partnership – which includes Waitrose stores – is hiring more than 150 tech specialists and delivery driving staff as part of its shift to online retail. The tech vacancies, which will be based at the company’s head office in London, include software, cloud platform, and data engineers.

With its online sales now representing 70% of its total sales, it is not surprising that the retailer is looking to fill 70 additional driver roles across the UK to meet the high demand for home deliveries.

However, these developments come after thousands of job cuts across its high street stores. In other words, although delivery drivers and couriers have been reaping the benefits of retail’s digitalisation, for many of those working in the high street, the new trend poses a threat to their jobs.

Work starts on Portsmouth International Port’s carbon neutral terminal extension

Knights Brown contractors have started the development of Portsmouth International Port’s terminal extension, which will bring thousands of jobs to the region, including 550 in the city.

The new carbon neutral facilities are one of the UK’s first Levelling Up projects and are anticipated to boost the local economy by attracting more visitors, as well as further investment.

Three Choirs Vineyard in Southampton becomes Wickham Estate after buyout

The Southampton site which will be renamed to Wickham Estate is expected to create new jobs as its new owners are planning to expand the venue by building more facilities in the coming months and years.

Activate Learning provide enhanced education and job opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers

The group has created a range of courses for asylum seekers and refugees who want to improve their English skills in order to live and work in the UK.

The group is working with local authorities and charities to support these individuals by offering a variety of primary need courses, including ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) courses.

These are offered across the group’s sites in Berkshire (Reading, Bracknell and Wokingham), Oxfordshire (Oxford, Banbury and Bicester) and Surrey (Guildford).

Zoom and Indeed reveal the UK’s top 25 hiring hotspots for remote workers

The growing demand for flexible working opportunities, such as remote and hybrid working is currently one of the most prominent trends. Employers are responding to preferences and expectations by offering more remote and hybrid roles to attract and retain their workforce.

Recent data from Indeed in collaboration with Zoom provides some evidence of the locations with the highest growth in remote and hybrid job opportunities since the early days of the pandemic. According to the findings, job adverts for remote roles have more than tripled and grown at a faster pace than the local jobs market overall.

The top 5 locations in England with the highest growth in job postings offering remote working between February 2020 and March 2022 are:
• Worthing (650% growth)
• Burnley (391%)
• Stoke (323%)
• Southend (320%)
• Plymouth (308%)

We have to be careful of percentages as they can be misleading i.e. from 1 to 2 is an increase of 100%. However the point is that in a buyers’ market employers/recruiters are having to be more responsive to the job seekers requirements and we are experiencing more customers asking for remote or hybrid or flexible working opportunities.

You can see the full list from the report here: https://hrnews.co.uk/zoom-and-indeedreveal-the-uks-top-25-hiring-hotspots-for-remote-workers/

Is hybrid working here to stay?

Hybrid and remote working trends have also been explored by ONS, through the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) which reveals which ways of working employees are planning to embrace following the lifting of the restrictions.

According to the findings, overall, most people (8 in 10) who took up homeworking during the pandemic plan to both work from home and in the workplace in the future.

More specifically, the most common hybrid working pattern which employees planned to use in February 2022, was working mostly from home, and sometimes from their usual place of work, with more people reporting that compared to the previous year. At the same time, fewer people planned to split their time between home and the office, or work mainly from the office, compared to April 2021.

During 2022, the proportion of people hybrid working has been rising, while the proportion of those working fully remotely has dropped. Nonetheless, travelling to work exclusively currently represents the most common working pattern, with 46% of workers doing this.

The data identified a correlation between hybrid/remote working and employees’ income, revealing that high earners are more likely to hybrid work, or work from home.

In contrast, those who work in lower paid jobs (earning up to £40,000 annually) tend to exclusively travel to work, with this working pattern being the most common among the lowest paid individuals.

Another factor that determines the working patterns is age with workers aged 30 to 49 representing the group which is most likely to hybrid work, followed by those aged 16-29.

In terms of working exclusively from home, the differences among the age groups are minimal, with the younger people (aged 16 to 29 representing the highest numbers). On the other hand, travelling to work was most common for older workers (aged 50 to 69), followed closely by the youngest employees.

The survey also explores how the different sectors approach hybrid and remote work, revealing that businesses operating in information and communication are most likely to permanently adopt homeworking, with over half of them (53%) planning to do so. This is followed by companies operating in professional, scientific and technical activities (43%), education (37%) and real estate firms (32%).

The top three reasons that employers mentioned behind their decisions to embrace homeworking as a permanent business model were:
• Improved staff well-being (60%)
• reduced overheads (43%)
• increased productivity (41%)

Travelodge is looking to fill 700 positions in readiness for the summer season

The UK’s second largest hotel chain is recruiting for 700 permanent roles across the UK. The positions include:
• Hotel Manager
• Assistant Hotel Manager
• Bar Café Team Member
• Reception Team Member
• Housekeeping Supervisor
• Housekeeping Team Member

As part of the recruitment drive, Travelodge is also looking to fill 20 full-time maintenance engineers, as well as 40 roles at its head office in Thame in the below
areas:
• Customer Services
• Finance
• HR
• IT
• Marketing
• Property
• Revenue
• Sales
• UK Operations

Additionally, 60 of the new roles will be based at the three new Travelodge hotels in London which are scheduled to open this summer.

The Skills Imperative 2035: The essential skills most needed for work

The National Foundation for Educational Research has published a report which explores the employment skills in highest demand, as well as the key current and emerging socioeconomic trends that shape the UK’s labour market.

According to the research, the top five skills most needed for work are:
• Problem solving/decision making
• Critical thinking/analysis
• Communication
• Collaboration/cooperation
• Creativity/innovation

The research also identified health, social and personal care as the key growing sectors that will drive future job growth. On the other hand, jobs in administration, manufacturing/production and retail (such as cashier roles) were found to be declining.

Other areas of job growth were:
• data and artificial intelligence (AI)
• engineering and cloud computing
• people and culture
• product development
• sales, marketing and content
• care
• green economy

Overall, the main current trends which are transforming the world of employment, giving rise to the new skills needs are the increasing digitalisation – including the shift to hybrid and remote working – the ageing population, which is growing the demand for roles in care, as well as the environmental changes which speed up the shift to a green economy.

The best companies to work for in the UK named for 2022

An employee survey carried out by workplace culture organisation Great Place to Work UK reveals the small, medium, large and super large businesses in the UK which are perceived to be the best places to work, based on employee feedback.

Among the top 20 large businesses (those employing over 1,000 people) are some well-known companies included were Hilton hotels, Home Group, DHL and more.

You can see the full list for each type of business here: https://tinyurl.com/yyejph4u The results reflect aspects such as equity and transparency, work benefits such as flexibility, as well as having a purpose in work, which are all increasingly valued by employees.

The happiest jobs with the highest salaries revealed

A Career Welfare Index that was recently published by Phoenix Health & Safety provides interesting insights on the industries with the highest levels of health & safety, mental health, and overall quality of life, based on the responses of 116,000 employees in the UK.

The results shed light on how people across different industries feel about the quality of their work environment, how much they enjoy their job, as well as the average annual earnings by industry and the number of non-fatal injuries.

In terms of career welfare, those who work in media/marketing, PR & sales were found to have the highest score over any other industry, with just under a third (27%) of people in those jobs reporting that they love their job.

It is also worth mentioning that people working in these areas also earn an average of £41,552 per year, which is 33% higher than the national average.

Together with the IT & telecoms and legal sectors who follow closely behind with the same score, they represent the three industries with the best career welfare in the country. Below are

The UK’s most loved jobs
• Legal (28%)
• Media, marketing, PR& sales (27%)
• IT & Telecoms (24%)
• Education (23%)

The riskiest jobs in the UK*
• Transportation and distribution (457.5)
• Retail (395.5)
• Manufacturing (322)
• Medical and health services (255)
*These figures are based on the number of non-fatal injuries per 100,000 people in
the industry

The jobs with the highest average annual salary
• Legal – £43,508
• Accountancy – £43,508
• Financial insurance services – £43,508
• Media, marketing, PR & sales – £41,552
In terms of those who earn the most and also love their job, office-related jobs came
out on top, and below is the full list:

The happiest and highest earners
• Legal
• Financial Insurance Services
• Accountancy
• Media/marketing/advertising/ PR & sales

Nonetheless, although the awareness around well-being at the workplace has increased in the post-covid era, the index serves as a reminder that there is more that can be done to improve the working environment across the different industries.

FUTURE EVENTS

• 20th July – Reading Jobs Fair – Madejski Stadium – 10.00am – 1.00pm

www.thejobfairs.co.uk/network/jobseeker/event-guides/jobs-in-reading-selectcar-leasing-stadium

• 27th July – Plymouth Jobs Fair – Home Park Stadium – 10.00am – 2.00pm

www.thejobfairs.co.uk/network/jobseeker/event-guides/job-fairs-in-plymouth

• 5th August – Crawley Jobs Fair – Arora Hotel, Gatwick – 10.00am – 1.00pm

www.thejobfairs.co.uk/network/jobseeker/event-guides/job-fairs-in-crawley

• 24th August – Exeter Jobs Fair – Exeter Corn Exchange – 10.00am – 1.00pm

www.thejobfairs.co.uk/network/jobseeker/event-guides/job-fairs-in-exe

• 26th August – Portsmouth Careers Fair – Fratton Park, Portsmouth – 10.00am – 2.00pm

www.ukcareersfair.com/event/portsmouth-careers-fair

• 7th September- Brighton Jobs Fair – Jury’s Inn, – 10.00am – 1.00pm

www.thejobfairs.co.uk/network/jobseeker/event-guides/job-fairs-in-brighton

• 9th September – Plymouth Jobs Fair – 10.00am – 1.00pm

www.thejobfairs.co.uk/network/jobseeker/event-guides/job-fairs-in-plymouth

• 9th September – Croydon Jobs Fair – Selhurst Park Stadium – 10.00am – 1pm

www.thejobfairs.co.uk/network/jobseeker/event-guides/job-fairs-in-londoncroydon

• 28th October – Reading Jobs Fair – Reading Town Hall – 10.00am – 1.00pm

www.thejobfairs.co.uk/network/jobseeker/event-guides/jobs-in-reading-selectcar-leasing-stadium

• 23rd November – Southampton Jobs Fair – St Mary’s Stadium – 10.00am – 1.00pm

www.thejobfairs.co.uk/network/jobseeker/event-guides/job-fairs-insouthampton

• 30th November – London Twickenham Jobs Fair – Twickenham Stadium – 10.00am – 1.00pm

www.thejobfairs.co.uk/network/jobseeker/eventguides/job-fairs-in-london-twickenham

Thank you to the Education Development Trust for providing the information for this bulletin.

Skip to content