Market Insights 2019 | Change & Transformation, London

Financial Services

Last year was challenging for the interim financial services change and transformation market, with clients implementing new restrictions on contract tenure and showing caution around non regulator-driven spending. As a result, we saw a significant amount of contractors flooding the market, and far fewer opportunities available for them to transition into. Clients became more and more specific around skill set requirements and less flexible with their expectations, due to the surge in available talent. This also meant we found ourselves dealing with longer processes and more interview stages than previous years.

Commerce & Industry

The rise of GDPR related initiatives dominated Q1 last year, with clients desperately trying to be compliant for the May 25th deadline. Project/programme managers were in high demand, which was reflected in premium rates and increased levels of interest among contractors in these specialist roles. On average, GDPR change professionals were earning 15-20% more than professionals with similar experience working outside of GDPR programmes. It was also noticeable that many non-GDPR roles in Q1 2018 were short term − other projects and programmes seemingly took a back seat while programme teams focused on the GDPR deadline.

GUEST AUTHOR: Seddons Solicitors

If we are to believe the statistics, flexible working is the winning ticket. For employees, it is often now a key consideration in any job move that agile working will be part of the package. It may also be a factor in why they are seeking a new role in the first place. Most businesses too are keen to fl y the flag of flexible working, recognising the allure it has for potential new recruits and the positive, forward-thinking message it can send out about their business. While it may be secondary to the impact it can have to a businesses’ bottom line, if office space can be forfeited or used more resourcefully, flexible working at face value seems a wholly positive initiative. Read more on this guest author piece here.

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