Productivity across the UK economy rose at its fastest rate in four years in the second quarter according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). However the  news coincided with two surveys showing UK manufacturing struggling to maintain growth.

Productivity is a key indicator for the Bank of England as it considers whether to put up interest rates. Output per hour rose 0.9% between April and June, the biggest quarter-on-quarter rise in four years.

Output per hour expresses the amount produced by a company after all its costs have been stripped out. The more efficient, or productive, the company, the greater its level of output per hour. Since 2009 output per hour has expanded at an average quarterly rate of between 0.2% and 0.3%.

The ONS also said unit labour costs – the cost to companies of employing staff – rose 2.2% in the second quarter versus the same time last year – the fastest rate since the fourth quarter of 2012.

SOURCE: bbc.co.uk

1. Holiday Entitlement explained…
2. In-House recruitment or outsource…?
3. Rely on us to get your dream job…
4. What’s on the menu this week in Oxford & Abingdon’s Catering & Hospitality sector..?

Almost all UK workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday per year, which is known as statutory leave entitlement or annual leave. There are 8 bank holidays throughout the year and an employer is within their right to include these days as part of the statutory allowance.

The 5.6 weeks is worked on out the basis of the number of hours/day one works in a week. For example, an employee working 5 days a week would be entitled to 28days paid holiday per year. This is calculated by multiplying 5 by the annual entitlement of 5.6 weeks. Similarly, a part-time worker working 3 days per week would be entitled to 18.8 days based on the same calculation.

Individuals who work irregular hours, such as a term-time only or shift workers, need to work out their holiday entitlement via the calculator service available on the Gov.uk website.

Statutory entitlement is limited to 28 days regardless of whether an individual works more than 5 days per week. An employer can decide to honour more holiday if they wish but this is down to their discrepancy.

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Source: https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/entitlement. More in-depth information regarding holiday entitlement can be found here.

The success of your business ultimately falls upon the employees who work for you. But how do you get the recruitment process right?

The two recruitment options available to you when looking for new people to fill vacant positions are to keep it in-house or outsource the task of finding the perfect candidate to an external recruitment consultancy. While there are benefits to keeping recruitment in-house, including consistency throughout the process, there are also many challenges to choosing this form of recruitment.

As a reputable recruitment agency in Oxford & Abingdon, we would always suggest outsourcing the job to experts such as ourselves as we have a dedicated team who specialise in sourcing the perfect candidates for our clients. However, there are benefits to keeping the recruitment process in-house but it doesn’t come without its challenges.

Here are some important factors that you should consider before making the decision;

• Cost – The main reason for not using a recruitment agency usually boils down to cost. However is it really cheaper to employ someone whose full-time job role is then to employ others? You won’t always be recruiting but you will still have the overhead of paying that member of staff. By opting for an external recruitment agency you will only be paying them when you actually require their services.

• Resources – Specialist agencies have a catalogue of individuals on file looking for work as well as access to a number of online portals that they can utilise meaning they are more likely to find quality candidates in a shorter space of time. Investing in these resources would be costly to a business and one that they are unlikely to opt for meaning that the organisation in question will be relying heavily on potential candidates falling upon their website, seeing the job vacancy and sending in their CV’s. Another short-cut that many companies also adopt is it use their current staff to manage the recruitment process, rather than employ a full-time recruiter. This option is likely to affect their productivity as their time is taken away from the job that they are actually employed to do.

• Expertise – Identifying the best talent is a skill in itself, as is reading a CV and then conducting an interview. You could end up calling someone in for an interview who on paper looks great but in reality is all hot air. A recruitment agency will ensure that you only get to see the cream of the crop so time won’t be wasted on interviews with candidates that really aren’t right for the role.

Are you looking for your perfect role within the thriving but highly competitive hospitality sector but feel like you have bitten off more than you can chew? Then look no further than our Job Board.

As one of the top recruitment consultants in Oxford & Abingdon, we have a vast list of openings in hotels, pubs, club’s, corporate hospitality and other positions in reputable companies within the catering and hospitality industry.

Utilising our unrivalled local knowledge and market expertise we are confident that we have the perfect role to suit your needs. In order to make the entire recruitment process transparent, we hire specialists who are experts in their particular field.

Besides offering catering & hospitality jobs, we also offer a wide range of job roles in a variety of sectors including, industrial & driving, sales & marketing, HR and more.

Our focus is on people and personalities, rather than the more usual, numbers-driven approach. So get in touch today and start walking down your dream career path.

As the business market is thriving, the need for recruitment consultants has increased. Not only companies, but even individuals are knocking on our doors, in order to attain new heights in their career.

As a reputable recruitment consultancy in Abingdon and Oxford, we are renowned for providing a vast selection of job opportunities to our candidates. Our core markets in which we recruit candidates include Industrial, Catering, Driving and Commercial & Engineering. Operating across 3 locations, we have a team of 30 dedicated and qualified consultants with over 100 years of combined recruitment experience, who combine their industry knowledge with specialist recruitment expertise to provide suitable job opportunities to job seekers.

By devising innovative approaches, our experts aim to select candidates that have the right experience and ability to help drive their career in the right direction.

To search our extensive Job Board, click here, and take your first step along the path of finding your perfect career.