72% of telecoms firms set to create new roles in 2015

The Barclays Employers’ Survey 2015, which questioned 666 UK businesses on a range of employment-related topics, has revealed that 72% of telecoms companies surveyed will be creating new roles (2014: 77%). While this is a slight dip in hiring intention compared to last year, the telecoms industry remains one of the leading sectors for job creation, second only to the facilities management sector.

The sector’s intention to create new jobs is considerably further ahead of the national cross-sector average, which revealed 50% of all companies plan to create new jobs this year.  In further good news, none of the telecoms firms surveyed are planning to reduce headcount this year.

Despite almost half (47%) of firms in the sector claiming that wage pressure isn’t an issue, 62% will be increasing wages for their staff in the year ahead.

Of those telecoms firms which are hiring, there are opportunities for new staff at every level, with 26% planning to create senior management positions (2014: 47%). 89% will be creating jobs in middle or junior management or skilled positions (2014: 96%) and 54% are likely to create jobs at entry level (2014: 60%).

42% of firms in the industry will also be taking on apprentices this year, a jump up from last year, when 32% were planning to.

When asked whether they were feeling more confident about the UK economy, compared to the same time last year, 55% confirmed they were more confident. Looking further afield at the ongoing events in Europe, 22% said they were concerned about the impact these events could have on their business.

Commenting on these findings, Andrew Skinner, Relationship Director, Barclays’ Technology, Media and Telecoms team, said: “Against a positive backdrop of continued falling unemployment and wage growth outstripping inflation in recent months, it’s heartening to see that a significant number of telecoms firms are planning to create new roles and increase wages for their staff.”

“The uptick in intention to hire apprentices is also great to see, as apprenticeships are extremely important in nurturing and developing the next generation of leaders and can also bring significant commercial benefits. At Barclays we firmly believe that quality apprenticeships are fundamental to our business and we’re keen to support any company that wants to tackle youth unemployment.”

Other national cross sector findings:

• Almost a third (32%) of businesses gearing up to take on apprentices (vs. 29% in 2014)
• 70% of businesses in the West Midlands are expecting to increase staff levels – the highest of all the UK regions surveyed
• 78% of Welsh firms to boost wages in the year ahead , the most of any UK region (up from 57% in 2014)
• 77% of businesses still think that sales lead to job creation – as opposed to job creation leading to sales.
• 78% of vacancies in the last 12 months have been filled from within the UK. A quarter (24%) said they had hired employees from inside the EU (not including the UK) and 7% from outside the EU.

Notes to Editors:

The Barclays Employers’ Survey was undertaken in December 2014-January 2015 by Critical Research. 31 firms from the telecoms industry were included in the sample.

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