http://assetresourcing.com/ Welcome to our Summer 2015 newsletter. Although the best of it seems to have passed by already here's hoping we have another heatwave before the end of summer. Read more... 1st Floor, 72a High St, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2SP

1. Summer Newsletter
Welcome to our Summer 2015 newsletter. Although the best of it seems to have passed by
already here's hoping we have another heatwave before the end of summer. While we wait
why not catch up on the latest tech bites, recruitment news and other industry insights
from the Asset Resourcing Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents
Click below to be taken to each section:
What To Wear In Your Office This Summer
Spotlight on the UK Jobs Market
Hey, Business Owner: What Are YOU Doing To
Impress Candidates?
Vox Populi Vox Dei
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What To Wear In Your Office This Summer
First, it’s important to note that this is most certainly NOT a fashion-related article (have
you seen what Ben wears on the weekends?) We won’t be giving you advice on this
season’s ‘must have’ sandals, nor will we be letting you know about hem-lengths not to be
seen dead in. This is about the do’s and don’ts of summer office attire.
As you’ll be all too aware, the British summer is somewhat unpredictable. It can be boiling
hot but it can also be gloomy, overcast and wet. At the time of writing and if the Daily Mail
are to be believed, we are currently in the midst of the most brutal heatwave in a decade

2. where living in London is akin to going self-catering for a fortnight on the Sun. To be fair,
we’re as near as makes no difference at 35°C, or 100°F in old money, and people are
wearing less. That’s fine for the school run or for weekends in the garden, but is it fine for
the office?
Of course it depends on the nature of your business. If you’re lawyers, accountants or any
other professional services firm and your staff come into work as if they were ready for the
beach, they’re sending out the wrong messages to clients. It’s reasonable to expect your
staff to dispense jackets and ties when it’s so hot but Bermuda shorts and flip-flops may
not be the best compromise.
If you’re a creative business, these rules seem to go out the window. Almost anything
goes, all year round so the receptionist rocking gladiator sandals, a Motorhead t-shirt and
orange cargo shorts in mid-summer is probably par for the course.
The point we’re trying to make is that every workplace has different rules about summer
dress codes. Summer, by its very nature has a more relaxed, easy-going feel and that will
always extend to clothing but the general rule of thumb is to dress appropriately for your
career. You can dress down without looking like an uncredited extra from an American teen
surf movie.
In every office there will always be someone who will try and push the boundaries of
what’s acceptable (if you can’t spot who that person is in your office, it’s probably you…)
but if you have a dress code policy that’s easy to follow and not too harsh, you will have an
office full of happy (if slightly warm) employees, and we all know the business benefits of a
contented workforce.

3. In a recent report by Adecco Staffing, the results aren’t surprising at all…!
• 74% of employees believe it’s appropriate for both men and women to dress more
casually during the summer months
• Just over three-quarters of women surveyed said strapless tops/dresses were
inappropriate (not a shock, but this number goes down to 55% when men were
asked the same question)
• Four in five women said miniskirts were a no-go area as opposed to three in five
men
• 71% of all employees were in agreement about one thing – flip-flops are for the
weekend or the beach, just over 50% said shorts were inappropriate and 31%
voiced opposition to open-toed shoes (we don’t know if this was due to odour issues
or the quality of pedicures)
Interestingly, another survey conducted by an employment law firm who
specialise in personnel and HR suggested that a dress down policy
increased flirtatious behaviour to the tune of 30% which in turn
contributed to the proliferation of complaints and even sexual
harassment cases.
If you want to implement a dress code policy, it is naturally wise to

4. speak to a lawyer but in essence, the fundamentals are relatively self-explanatory:
• Make sure that your policy is industry-appropriate
• Client-facing staff may have to conform to slightly stricter rules than back-office
staff
• Balance your business needs with the rights of your workforce
• Ensure your rules are neither discriminatory or arbitrary
• If your staff are expected to abide by a temporary dress code, they need a clear
line of communication as to what, when, why etc.
• Enforce the policy consistently and proportionately
As a sort of aside, The Guardian published a (seemingly genuine) list of the best jobs to
have during a hot spell and it will come as no huge shock that they are largely ridiculous
and classic newspaper ‘filler’ on such a slow news day. They are…
Surfing Instructor • Music Festival Coordinator • Penguin Keeper • Ice Cream Researcher •
Flower Fridge Manager • Daily Mail Journalist (we made that last one up – no-one wants to
be a Daily Mail journalist whether it’s boiling hot or freezing cold).

5. Spotlight on the UK Jobs Market
We haven’t given you an update on the state of the UK jobs market for a while, but since
this is the first newsletter post-election, it’s time to fill you in.
Ben is a contributor to the monthly Recruitment & Employment Confederation/KPMG-
sponsored ‘Report on Jobs’ and the headline facts for the June edition (which gives data
for May) are as follows:
• Perm staff placements rose in May but the rate of expansion was at a four-month
low
• Temp/contract billings went up in May, as did the rate of growth
• Starting salaries increased, although it eased slightly from May’s nine-month high
• Hourly pay rates rose but it was the smallest rise since January
• Candidate availability for both perm and temp/contract roles has diminished
As was expected, May was a strange month in the
recruitment sector, says Bernard Brown, Partner and
Head of Business Services at KPMG.
‘Board members took time to digest the election result
and work out the ramifications for their business. This pause did not dampen temporary
staff placements, and temp billings rose for a twenty-fifth consecutive month.’
He went on to say that while service sector growth (in terms of the appetite for new hires)
continues to outpace heavy industry, these stats aren’t rebalancing the economy and are
‘a worrying reminder of the recovery’s reliance on the performance of the white collar
service sector.
The balance he refers to is the growing chasm between public sector pay growth (0.2% in
Q2 2015) and the pay growth in the private sector (average rises were 2.4% in Q2 2015)
and as the new Cameron government maintains its focus on austerity, it’s unlikely that this
imbalance will rebalance any time soon.
One thing that has slipped under the radar is the fact that the pound rose to a month-high
against the dollar as a reaction to the quicker than expected wage growth but many see
this as a sign that interest rates could soon rise. David Kern, Chief Economist at the British
Chamber of Commerce said ‘the speed in the rise in earnings will embolden a minority on
the Monetary Policy Committee who feel the urge to raise rates, however, until there is
firmer evidence of comparable increases in productivity, such a move would be
premature.’

6. While the economy needs rebalancing (or was that unbalancing, or even plain old
balancing, we lose track), the official ONS stats on unemployment make for slightly more
encouraging reading:
• Unemployment fell by 43,000 between February and April to 1.81m
• The unemployment rate is steady at 5.5%, the lowest level since August 2008
• Wage rises grew at the fastest rate since August 2011 (inc. bonuses)
• The total number of people in work is 31.05m, a rise of 114,000 on the previous 3-
month period
• Employment rate for women is at a record high of 68.6%
• As is always the case, the largest unemployed demographic is the 16-24 age group
at 16.1% between February and April
Justifying these ‘facts’ is naturally very hard to do and interestingly, Anthony Reuben, the
BBC Head of Statistics makes a valid point:
‘It's important to remember that these are not precise figures.’
He continues, ‘The headline unemployment number comes from the Labour Force Survey,
in which the ONS interviews about 40,000 people every quarter. That's a very big survey,
but as with all surveys it means there is a margin of error.
In the case of the number of people unemployed, it means they are 95% sure that the
estimate they have produced is no more than 78,000 out either way. So when they say
their best estimate is of a 43,000 fall in unemployment, they mean that they are 95% sure

7. that the actual figure is between a fall of 121,000 and a rise of 35,000.’
Clear? Thought not. Still, if there’s anything you need to know about these numbers, Carol
Vorderman is available for comment.
Hey, Business Owner: What Are YOU Doing To Impress Candidates?
It may not be George Lucas’s best known work, but The Candidate Strikes Back is taking
the recruitment world by storm. Actually, it’s a piece of research published by the
Recruitment and Employment Federation (REC) looking at the shifting relationship
between candidates and hirers.
It’s fundamentally based on how hirers engage with jobseekers and it turns out, basic
mistakes are being made which means they are potentially losing out on the best talent.

8. The report argues that it’s no longer the domain of the candidate to do all the impressing.
In property parlance, it’s a buyers’ market and the best candidates are in a very strong
position to be able to pick and choose the jobs they want and the companies they want to
work for given the available number of vacancies and the dwindling number of top-notch
candidates.
• 34% of employees say the giving of feedback to unsuccessful candidates is the
most important improvement employers can make
• Over half of candidates who had a bad experience during the interview process
discussed it with friends and family
• 93% of workers who described their last candidate experience as ‘bad’ weren’t
asked for feedback from the employer
These bad experiences can’t be put down to
‘one of those things’ anymore. REC Chief
Executive Kevin Green is rightly concerned;
‘It’s clear that many businesses are making
mistakes which can have implications for an
organisation’s reputation and ultimately for
their bottom line.’
He continues; ‘Employers need to wake up to
the fact that jobseekers communicate their
experiences to others. Businesses are
spending huge amounts of money on their branding and reputation, but at the same time
they are deaf to the conversations that are happening amongst potential employees via
professional networks and social media. Our report found that 80% of candidates were not
asked for feedback on the recruitment process - a huge amount of insight that employers
are missing out on.’
Wilson Cochrane, CEO of research sponsor BigScreen Group was equally concerned
about the lack of feedback from hirers; ‘Negative experiences go beyond the interview
process. Candidates are very vocal about their feelings and will share them with family and
friends within social and professional networks, so it’s vital that they are saying good
things whether or not they get hired. A strong employer brand can halve the cost per hire
and can reduce employee turnover by 30%, which underlines the importance of getting
this right.’
Are you engaging with the people you see, whether they’re the right corporate fit or not? If
not, you should be…

9. Vox Populi Vox Dei
The voice of the people is the voice of God and where recruitment is concerned,
sometimes it’s worth listening to the people who run the biggest companies in the world…
‘Human Resources isn’t a thing we do; it’s the thing
that runs our business’
Steve Wynn, Wynn Las Vegas
‘Never hire someone who knows less than you do
about what he’s hired to do’
Malcolm Forbes, Forbes
Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an
employee who made a mistake that cost the
company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent
$600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody
to hire his experience?’
Thomas John Watson Sr., IBM
‘I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At
the end of the day you bet on people, not on strategies.’
Lawrence Bossidy, General Electric
‘I hire brighter people than me and then I get out of their way’
Lee Iacocca, Ford
‘The key for us, number one, has always been hiring very smart people.’
Bill Gates, Microsoft

10. www.assetresourcing.com