Small businesses in 'good shape' after recruitment freeze

Date: 10th June 2010

Small businesses are finding themselves in "good shape" after recruitment freezes and redundancies.

This is the view of Andrew Hawes, director and co-founder of specialist consultancy Newton, who said that laying off staff last year was "tough but necessary" and it was a "good time to do it".

After making these difficult decisions, small businesses have put themselves in a better position because of it.

His comments come after a Manpower Employment Outlook Survey revealed that most employers plan to stick with their current headcount, while seven per cent expect to hire more staff.

It also found that businesses in the East Midlands had the most positive outlook when it came to hiring activity in the future.

Mr Hawes explained that for businesses it is "much more about getting themselves in a really lean, good position, and I think inevitably that will feed into more recruitment".

"I think a lot of these businesses are going to get themselves into a shape where they can start recruiting, but it is not yet at a point where that has become the focus."