Marketers continue to face recruitment challenges as a fifth of brands expect to make cuts and the majority say staff levels will stay the same.
As brands face prolonged economic headwinds, marketing recruitment continues to take a hit.
After reaching a four-year low in April, employment prospects for marketers in the last three months faced “further deterioration”, according to exclusive IPA Bellwether data for Marketing Week.
As brands face prolonged economic headwinds, marketing recruitment continues to take a hit.
After reaching a four-year low in April, employment prospects for marketers in the last three months faced “further deterioration”, according to exclusive IPA Bellwether data for Marketing Week.
More than a fifth (22.4%) of marketers expect the number of marketers at their companies to be lower in the next three months. Just 17.1% expect employment to be higher in the next quarter, a drop from 19.2% in April’s survey.
The majority (60.6%) expect staffing levels to remain the same for the next three months, up 10 percentage points from last quarter (50.6%).
Overall, this results in a net balance of –5.3%, putting marketing recruitment into the negative for the second time in over four years, following a record low last quarter, as the pessimism felt by brands earlier this year doesn’t seem to be going away.
Rebound in marketing budgets driven by short-term media
The negative feeling towards recruitment is likely impacted by increases in Employer National Insurance contributions and the National Minimum Wage earlier this year.
However, the most significant negative impact on recruitment has perhaps passed, suggests the IPA, “with more companies adapting to the changes in employment policy and expecting to hold on to staff”.
This comes as marketing budgets were revised upward in Q2. However, the growth was largely driven by tactical activities, such as sales promotions and direct marketing, suggesting marketers are under pressure to drive short-term, measurable results.
A net balance of 5.5% of panellists reported an increase in overall marketing budgets, a turnaround from the -4.8% recorded in Q1, which marked the first decline in four years.
However, a breakdown of spending plans reveals that marketers raised their spending primarily for sales promotions and direct marketing, with net balances rising from 8.0% to 9.4% and 9.0% to 9.1% respectively.
