The vote to leave and remain campaigns have now concluded. The public has voted to leave the European Union after being a member for 33 years. Is Brexit the right decision? We’ll find out over the coming years, but what is important now is we all unite together to make sure it was ultimately the right choice. The question we must also ask ourselves is how will this affect the recruitment and staffing industry?

As a recruitment software supplier to the recruitment industry, we must be diligent and foresee potential opportunities and threats that may affect us as an industry going forward as a result of leaving the EU. We’ve come up with 4 areas the Recruitment Industry must be wary of going forward:

1. With free movement to the UK inevitably going to cease or at least be restricted, compliance will have a far greater importance in the Recruitment Industry. Does your recruitment software have the ability to store Visas, rights to work and remain compliant with new migration laws when they arrive? itris can automatically request updates on visas and compliance fields to ensure your workforce meets the potential new criteria.

2. Data hosting laws may change – Currently, UK based companies can host data anywhere within the EU. However, going forward they may have to host their data within the UK to remain compliant if the UK data protection laws change. A lot of web-based recruitment software platforms currently host their data in alternate EU countries. If your current system is web based/ hosted, do you know where your data is currently held? Will your data be moved from one location/country to another? Have you spoken to your supplier about where your data will be stored in the future?

3. Potential shortage of workforce in the healthcare industry. Following on from the potential restrictions that could be placed on EU workers, this will also vastly affect the chances of filling our ever-growing healthcare professional shortage. One option would be to increase visa quotations from non-EU countries such as Australia and India. Either way, the skills shortage will need action taken against it.

4. Will there be potential changes in employment legislation? Working Time Directive and Agency Worker Regulations are currently set by EU Law. It seems clear that these will be high on the list of legislation that will be amended to create a more pro-business labour market. This will of course mean that recruitment software suppliers will need to update their AWR modules to make sure they meet any new legislation criteria.

If you have any doubts over your current recruitment software’s ability then feel free to call one of our highly trained professionals to discuss these features in more detail on +44 (0) 1892 825 820 Option 3.