Hire or Fire? For firms, has this decision just been made easier?

As of yesterday, the government made it simpler and less costly for companies to get rid of employees. The proposed changes include; an extension of settlement agreements, where staff accept a payment for leaving to help reduce the number of expensive tribunals, imposing a time limit on claims of unfair dismissal and a reduction in the duration of redundancy consultations. Even if these changes threaten Clooney’s job as a corporate ‘downsizer’ in the film ‪’Up in the Air’, as a graduate, does this affect you?

This obviously depends if you have a job or not. If employed, this only serves to make your situation slightly more precarious. But this is old news. Until you complete your graduate scheme and someone asks you to join their team, junior positions in the City have always been notoriously unstable. Therefore, you may need to work a little harder to ensure you always make the cut. However, these changes can only be a positive for firms. They are less likely to have to carry deadwood or those who have lost motivation, but still cream off a salary of several figures. Companies can more easily be detoxed.

Maybe more 'little people' [graduates] will be saved with these employment reforms

If unemployed, the future surely looks slightly brighter. The retirement age is creeping ever higher as some people simply can’t afford to retire. Whilst many firms have little faith in graduates, so unimaginatively choose to retain their more experienced staff. This causes a distinctly grey hue to swathe the page of staff photos and can upset the balance of a company. What is a point of board of management if they have fired all the workers? The unwillingness for some companies to let go of people that have essentially stopped contributing, in order to allow new team members to join at the bottom, is one factor that has further reduced the number of graduate jobs. It looks like this will change.

So you could argue these amendments will make rebalancing company structures easier. The droves of underperforming middle managers can be weeded out, creating spaces for you. A streamlining of headcount and a general drive to make offices more efficient, should help increase the number of jobs open to graduates. Companies understand they need to recruit graduates; they are good value for money and work hard. But with top heavy company structures, firms have been unable to put this plan into action. So hopefully this policy change will open up a few more graduate opportunities! For more graduate focused discussion please follow this blog.