During Prime Minister’s Questions last Wednesday, it was announced that Plan B restrictions are going to be lifted. With supply chain delays in construction, and hospitality being hit the hardest by the pandemic, we caught up with our MD of Paramount Personnel, Dean to see what he thinks the future holds for these two important industries.
Q: With Plan B Covid measures going to be lifted, what do you think this will mean for the construction and hospitality industries?
DC: For hospitality I think this will send out the message that maybe the Omicron variant might not be as bad as we first thought and therefore could give customers the confidence to start eating out and staying in hotels again. We will, I imagine, have to live with the Corona Virus for many years to come yet and it could become part of our everyday life. We of course await to see what the government announcement actually is.
Q: From talking to your various clients in the past few days, how are they feeling about the future of their businesses?
DC: Clients are worried. The last two years have been very hard for everyone, the hospitality business has been particularly hard hit. For a brief spell last year, the staycation certainly helped most establishments put something back in the pot, and then they were smashed back again into uncertainty.
Q: From Paramount Personnel’s point of view, how does the lifting of Covid measures affect recruitment?
DC: Covid is still very much out there. The easing of restrictions is of course welcomed, but it will take time for confidence to return for everybody, and we still have to use common sense. The labour market has certainly changed and peoples ideas of what is and isn’t important after the last two years has also changed. The major adjustment I guess in recruitment, is the amount of online applications these days coupled with online interviews. Job seekers have more choice and therefore career changes have happened so much quicker. Wages are also slowly moving upwards as employers have to offer more to attract the right new staff.
We remain cautiously optimistic about the next few months. With growth slowing in construction, it ended on a positive note in 2021 as supply chains improved. After a rough second Christmas for hospitality, there are good signs here too. We await to see what the next few months bring.
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