Rickerbys' survey suggests confidence is returning to the County

According to a survey of 587 businesses in Gloucestershire last month, almost a quarter of the county’s privately owned businesses faced the prospect of laying staff off in the past year’s recession.

The survey, commissioned by the county’s leading law firm, Rickerbys LLP, revealed that 21% of the businesses asked made redundancies during the recession, with 16% imposing a pay freeze and 12% actually cutting pay and working hours.

Employment Partner at Rickerbys LLP, Darren Sherborne said, "With such a high figure making redundancies, it is likely that some businesses, but not all, saw an opportunity to cut away dead wood. It’s not uncommon in times of recession for astute firms to see an opportunity to be better staffed with higher skill levels when the upturn comes. Pay freezes were also common place as firms attempted to adjust to harder conditions without letting their more valued staff go."

Employment Partner, Matthew Clayton commented, "What is most interesting in this part of the survey results is that only 16% of the firms questioned felt that further steps were likely to cut staff costs in the coming 12 months. 56% said that they did not envisage any further steps and this must be a strong indicator that both confidence and vitality are returning to the local market."

The survey also examined whether or not firms who made cut backs had cut too much away to cope with an upturn without recruiting. Kristine Scott, Solicitor at Rickerbys added, "28% of the county's businesses admitted that they will need to recruit to cope with the anticipated upturn. This will create a race for skills in the area as firms look to fill the gaps they have with the best possible staff. What people may not realise is that even if they themselves are well staffed, other firms looking to recruit will be seeking to poach the best performers from them.

"Nearly 40% of those surveyed had no measures in place to prevent this from happening. Covenants in the contract of employment preventing staff from going to local competitors are not expensive and are relatively easy to introduce."

The survey, published today is the first part in a two part study of Gloucestershire businesses by Rickerbys LLP. The second part, focused on trade and banking support, is due to be released in a fortnight.