Hays cuts its cloth after coronavirus hits hiring

Recruitment heavy weight Hays has warned over further cuts to its own workforce as it revealed annual profits plunged by nearly two-thirds after the Covid-19 crisis hit hiring worldwide.

The group saw its consultant workforce fall by 11 per cent to 6,900 at its 30 June year-end, with a 6 per cent fall in the UK and Ireland, and said a small further drop was expected in the three months to the end of September.

But the group is expecting most of this to come from leavers not being replaced and natural staff turnover.

It came as Hays reported a 63 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to £86.3 million for the year to 30 June after fees tumbled 11 per cent.

In the UK and Ireland, operating profits slumped 66 per cent, with the pandemic following hot on the heels of a difficult end to 2019 amid Brexit uncertainty and the general election. But the group said the recruitment market had begun to recover.