Press Release

08/02/2012

EARLY SIGNS OF SPRING?

“ New hope springs for the UK employment market, as permanent placements rise for the first time in over four months. The start of 2012 welcomed the increase, albeit modest, in the number of permanent placements made during the month of January. Results from the "Report on Jobs", collected by Markit, KPMG and the REC, also show that the IT sector remains one of the strongest industry sectors for candidates. Regrettably, the number of candidates hoping to fill that increased number of vacancies has also risen, and continues to do so. The number of contract placements overall fell slightly, with agencies commenting that they felt it was due to the knock on effect of the Agency Workers Regulations. On a positive note, there was a slight increase in contractor demand within the IT sector from the previous month. With the permanent placements starting to blossom, could this signal early signs of Spring?

27/01/2012

PHASE 1 COMPLETE – LAUNCH OF NEW REFLEX WEBSITE

Today is an auspicious day for Reflex Computer Recruitment, as we launch Phase 1 of our new website. We have aimed to make the site more user friendly, while providing more useful information for both Clients and Candidates alike. While our website may look different, rest assured that you will still receive the same personal and professional style for all of our recruitment services. There is still work to do on the site however, with Phase 2 hailing our launch into the Social Media side. Reflex is branching out into various social media stratospheres in order to increase our profile, and thus our effectiveness for your business. We have already received some positive feedback about our new site, and hope that Phase 2 will also be received with equal enthusiasm.

06/01/2012

THE IMPORTANCE OF IT

"IT Matters Again" is the fitting title of a report published at the end of December by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) . The report sums up our own findings in that " whether it is to promote growth, be closer to customers or to control costs, IT has a key role to play. There is a renewed focus on using business transformation projects – underpinned by IT – to outperform the competition through more efficient innovative new business models. Simply put, there are aspects of technology today that matter more than ever before." The report goes on to mention that Boards and Leadership teams are challenged to secure and advance their businesses. We wonder if this message should be also be passed to the public sector also, to see if ways can be made to improve IT within the public sector for the benefit of us all. We agree with the sentiment that the IT Department should champion and exploit information, and not just focus on technology.Confederation and KPMG LLP.

14 November 2011

EURO UNEMPLOYMENT SET TO RISE BUT DEMAND IN THE UK STILL RISING

The November edition of the ECB (European Central Bank) monthly report indicates that the improvements in labour market conditions that took place in the first half of the year appear to have come to a halt. This in contrast to developments earlier in the recovery, when hours worked grew more quickly than headcount employment. The report went on to say that expectations for the euro area is for the unemployment rate to increase for the rest of 2011 and 2012. The upward revision in unemployment expectations is mainly due to the current slowdown in economic activity and the cost-cutting that is currently taking place. The highlighted main upside risk to this outlook is a sudden worsening of the on-going crisis that would lead to a further deterioration of economic activity. Downside risks quoted are mostly associated with the success of on-going labour market reforms, which would lead to higher labour market flexibility.

Recent news in the UK is more positive, in that although Permanent placements in the UK fell last month for the first time in over two months demand for Permanent IT staff was growing and by the strongest rate across a basket of 8 business sectors. This was reported in the November monthly Report of Jobs published by Markit and sponsored by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG LLP.

30 September 2011

REFLEX READY FOR AWR

Reflex is all prepared for AWR (Agency Workers Regulations) which come into force this Saturday, 1 October. A lot of miss information has been bounded about by commentators ranging from there will be no change through to Armageddon. However Reflex it is right to point out that a Government who came to power pledging less red tape for business; this is somewhat an own goal! From the 1st October all contract agency staff will be entitled to the same pay and benefits as permanent staff undertaking the same role, after 12 weeks of employment. Reflex has been working during the months up to today to ensure that it is fully up and running to embrace AWR. In particular we have worked to ensure that engaging contract staff will be no more expensive nor involve further bureaucracy. Reflex's staff have been trained to preempt many of the problems that AWR may arise and have various information leaflets for candidates and Clients a like. We have also and have been in touch with to ensure a smooth operation moving forward. .

25 May 2011

MIXED NEWS ON THE JOB FRONT

The Report of Jobs the monthly report published by Markit and sponsored by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG LLP announced that during last month that permanent placements rose at faster pace in April, but growth of temp and contractors eased. It recorded that across all business sectors surveyed that the strongest demand was for IT & Computer Workers. Correspondingly that although the growth in the use of contractors was easing as a whole, again the strongest group surveyed was again for those in the IT & Computer Business sector.

01 April 2011

TIER 1 VISA ABOLISHED FOR NEW APPLICANTS

From today the UK Border Agency have confirmed that the Tier 1 General visa category (which in turn replaced the HSMP visa) has been abolished. This will apply to new first-time applicants both in the UK and applying from overseas. However this will NOT affect those who have already secured a Tier 1 General visa and wish to apply for an extension in the UK. This will still be possible, as normal. The Government has retained the Tier 2 points scheme for those workers who have a Certificate of Sponsorship from an organisation that is a licensed sponsor in the United Kingdom. The change in regulations will impact on the supply of IT Contractors as many Highly Skilled Migrants use the Tier 1 scheme to work in the UK. However a number of business commentators feel that in the short term the IT sector will not be detrimentally affected. This is because most Permanent roles have in the past have not been filled by candidates holding Tier 1 visas and because there is a large pool of IT professionals currently seeking new contracts.

16 February 2011

DEMAND FOR IT STAFF REMAINS STRONG

Reflex reports that the demand for the 1st quarter 2011 for IT professionals (both Contract and Permanent) in the UK sector remains strong, despite mixed economic news. Commenting after the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to keep interest rates on hold for another month regardless of rising inflation, Reflex foresees a constant demand for IT staff for the first half of 2011 as those sectors not affected by the Government budget cuts are taking on new staff to drive their businesses forward.

There are some clouds on the horizon with the strong possibility of interest rate increases and redundancies following both national and local Government budget cuts. These cutbacks may partly explain why UK unemployment rose 44,000 to almost 2.5 million in the three months to the end of December 2010 which was reported today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Reflex feels that if interest rates remain low then with UK business in good shape, and many organisations will continue to invest in new technology in order to expand and innovate for the future. This increase in demand for staff is supported by the February 2011 "Report on Jobs" published by KPMG / REC whose headline was "Permanent placements rose at faster rate for the six months in January".

13 January 2011

REFLEX WILL CONTINUE TO ENFORCE HIGHER STANDARDS DESPITE CHANGES TO STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS

Last October saw amendments to the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations. The changes resulted in agencies that place permanent candidates being relieved of some of their statutory obligations in terms of obtaining a client's and candidate’s agreement to terms.

However, Reflex has confirmed that it will continue to ensure that agencies do obtain agreement as part of the good practice enshrined in the REC industry Code of Professional Practice.

Reflex, like all REC members, are signed up to the Code which includes specific provisions on transparency and clear communication. The decision to continue driving best practice in this area despite the legislative change was confirmed by the REC’s Professional Standards Committee, which is made up from recruitment industry peers as well as representatives from the CBI and TUC.

01 April 2011

TIER 1 VISA ABOLISHED FOR NEW APPLICANTS

01 June 2010

REC TECHNOLOGY NOW DOMINANT VOICE IN IT & COMMS

The REC Technology sector group is now the dominant force in IT & Telecoms recruitment with over 400 recruitment firms in membership. Reflex understands that following a successful renewals period, REC Technology saw its membership grow from 160 to 406 members, a testament to a successful 2009 which saw the group deliver for its members during the downturn. It is also the only group dedicated to representing IT & Comms recruiters in the UK.

26 January 2010

END OF RECESSION WILL BOOST JOBS MARKET

Figures released today show that the UK economy has come out of recession with a reported growth of 0.1 per cent in the last quarter of 2009. This slight recovery could further boost employer confidence and accelerate the already increasing demand for both permanent and temporary staff, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

The latest REC JobsOutlook showed that employer confidence was already starting to rise with one in five businesses planning to increase their permanent workforce over the coming year and a huge majority (over 90 per cent) not intending to carry out any more job cuts. This followed the latest REC/KPMG Report on Jobs which showed permanent staff placements growing at their fastest rate for 18 months and temporary staff assignments rising at their sharpest rate for 30 months.