In association with The Core Partnership, this month’s Quick Question looks at possible recruitment challenges and managing an increasing governance workload.
A recent article in the Guardian highlighted that 50% of professional workers are looking to move jobs, but 80% of businesses will be hiring over the next 12 months. Is this going to put more pressure on a niche market such as governance when there is already a war for talent? This month, The Core Partnership have surveyed their community to find out what your thoughts are on the market and the future of employment.
When asked “In the past 12 months, how did your Company Secretarial/Governance department change?” Almost half (47.75%) of participants said they had an increase in workload but not size, and a quarter (26.13%) said they had an increase in both workload and size. Only 6.31% said they had a decrease in size but not workload and 1.8% said they had both a decrease in workload and size. 18.02% said the workload and size was similar.
Looking forward we then asked, “In the coming 12 months, how do you believe your Company Secretarial/Governance department will change?” 27.93% suggested an increase in workload and size, 36.04% said an increase in workload but not size, and 31.53% answered a similar workload and size. Only 3.6% responded that they expect a decrease in size but not workload and 0.9% a decrease in workload and size.
We then asked, “At what level/s are vacancies most likely to arise in your Company Secretarial/Governance department in 2022?” with responses being:
Group Company Secretary/Director of Governance – 4.85%
Deputy Company Secretary/ Head of Secretariat/ Head of Governance – 16.50%
Senior Assistant Company Secretary/Senior Governance Manager – 27.18%
Assistant Company Secretary/Governance Manager – 33.98%
Senior Company Secretarial Assistant/Senior Governance Officer – 8.74%
Company Secretarial Assistant/Governance Officer – 34.95%
Company Secretarial Administrator/Governance Administrator – 22.33%
This feedback all shows how much the governance function has not only been relied on but also grown and the need for additional support is required, especially at mid/junior level. We also saw a big push for interim support at the start of 2021. We were curious to see “How likely is it that you will need interim support in the coming 12 months? (With 10 being most likely)” and received an average response of 4.97 out of 10.
Many employees returned to the office this year, albeit not full time. We wanted to know “Are you likely to hire for fully remote positions in the coming 12 months?” An overwhelming majority (62.5%) replied No, with only 12.5% replying Yes and 25% Unsure.
We asked “In the past 12 months, how did you fill vacancies in your Company Secretarial/Governance department?” Our audience responded that 56.57% used an external recruitment agency, 33.33% used their in-house recruitment team/direct sourcing, and 10.10% were by referral.
The work-from-home situation resulted in many employees realising the working environment does not have to be so rigid, and companies can do a lot more to attract talent than just offer a salary. How will you be preparing for the year ahead and will you be boosting your governance function?
If you are a company secretary or governance professional at a leading UK business and you would like to take part in or comment on future surveys email team@core-partnership.co.uk.
