Happy New Year

Well, here we are - the start of a brand new year with all the usual feelings that we get at the beginning of January.

Anxiety. Ambivalence. Apprehension.

If you are one of those who simply dreads the start of a new year, then fear not - it’s estimated 42% of people in full time employment don’t enjoy returning to work after the Festive break either.

It’s understandable too, all that looms ahead is 5 weeks before payday, dealing with problems that you hoped might resolve themselves before Christmas and the feeling that there was something you definitely had to remember upon your return to the office and have since forgotten.

The good news is now there is something else to look forward to finding in your inbox once a week. Whether you want it or not.

Unless you unsubscribe of course!

The idea behind this is to give you an idea of what is going on amongst the movers and shakers and how the UK commercial Ag sector is feeling in general.

With that in mind, let me tell you….

2023 started off well.. but in terms of expansion, that was most certainly not the word people would use.

The “glory days” of Covid and lockdown were very much a distant memory.

The time when people were stuck in their homes either baking or buying chickens had long since disappeared, like those who moved from London to rural areas and back again because their broadband speed was just over 1 Mbps!

Sales started to fallback to more normal levels. Like everything else costs went upwards (thanks for that Vladimir) and with that employers started to cut their cloth and adjust their belts accordingly.

Both in terms of recruitment and bonuses.

There were some retirements but they weren’t replaced - their work was merely dished out to colleagues.

This pattern started in the early summer and took us to the Autumn. During this time I worked with several clients all looking for people to join their firms before the end of the year.

They all had a rude awakening.

There was a lack of decent candidates and the ones who were capable were worth about £8-10k more than what anyone wanted to pay.

Hence we reached an impasse for months.

One client still can’t understand why the CV’s are so dreadful - They won’t pay more than £20k… if you can earn more in McDonalds than you can by being messed about with farmers for 50p… why would you bother?

And that’s the issue our industry faces. The same one it faced in the mid to late 1990’s.

It’s not fashionable and it pays terribly.

That’s where I come in, trying to change minds and educate those who seem to think that a mobile phone and a laptop is a perk!

Anyway, here’s the interesting bit. Some of the jobs I’m working on currently: