Talent management | Headcount - How many is 'just right'?

There was very little to cheer about in the CIPD’s latest Labour Market Outlook report, published this week.

Employer confidence is now at rock-bottom levels (down from +24 to +16); plans to invest are being scaled back; and the number of employers who say they’re planning to make redundancies is now at it’s highest level in a decade (excluding data from the pandemic).

But if this wasn’t worrying enough, came the accompanying assessment that companies’ hiring intentions are being affected too.

According to the CIPD, nearly a quarter of firms say they are either cancelling or scaling back plans to expand their business, while nearly a third (32%) plan to either reduce their workforce through redundancies or recruit fewer new workers.