Furlough has made people 'lose their desire to work' says Derbyshire recruitment boss

David Torrington runs Sky Recruitment Solutions, a company with offices in Ripley, Derby and Mansfield. He believes that the current difficulties in recruiting suitable candidates across many industries will get much worse unless drastic action is taken.

Although he recognises that Brexit may have partially caused the current record 1.2m job vacancies in the UK, David has concerns that the furlough system may have inadvertently helped create skills shortages as well as causing some, particularly the younger generation, to become disenchanted with the workplace.

He believes the furlough system, which allowed people to be paid for not working during the Covid-19 pandemic, was an essential lifeline for millions, but has resulted in many people effectively losing their desire to work. Many younger people have delayed their career ambitions and, at the other end of the age spectrum, more over-50s than normal have opted to leave the job market altogether after emerging from furlough.

David said that this has led to a ‘skills pandemic’ - a huge skills gap that the UK may struggle to address unless other avenues are explored to help employers fill roles.

“Furlough was a great concession by the Government at the time, but recruiters are now paying a very heavy price. Through no fault of its own, the system has created problems, leading to the current shortage of workers, particularly skilled workers.

“Across the board, the furlough system has turned the tables on the job market. Instead of it helping to retain workers with skills and potential, it has created a skills pandemic.

“Flexible working and working from home used to be a privilege, but now it is expected and often demanded. If employers refuse to bow to these new demands, people are quite simply choosing not to work at all, or are remaining in roles that they may not be entirely happy with, but which offer more flexibillity.

“This is the worst crisis in recruitment I have ever seen, and the Government urgently needs to wake up to the problem and take some meaningful action.”

David said the idea of educating through mentoring was needed on a wide scale, not only to equip young people with workplace skills, but to also convince their parents and families that gaining skills was a good idea.

“I frequently go into schools and colleges to support their careers programmes, but my influence stops the moment I’ve left the building. Input from industry leaders like me needs further reinforcement outside of these institutions with a dedicated mentorship drive by the Government.

“The alternative is what we are seeing now: young people without skills, a mass exit from the workplace by older, skilled workers and a growing sense of entitlement from many who remain in jobs.”

Sky Recruitment Solutions, and its Nottingham-based sister company Capella Professional, have nevertheless experienced record growth and turnover since the pandemic started.

The business has grown from three offices and eight staff in 2020 to eight offices and 35 staff today. David expects this to rise to 10 offices and 50 staff before the end of the year.