Management at a Midlands-based recruitment agency say they are heading towards £100 million in annual turnover as they mark 20 years in business.
Encore Personnel, which employ more than 200 people across the region, reported a turnover of £95 million in 2021, up from £76.6 million in 2020.
It was set up in Leicester in 2002, provides temporary and permanent jobs to the industrial, driving, energy, engineering, manufacturing, managed services and professional services sectors and has branches in Coventry, Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Peterborough, Northampton, Nottingham, Spalding and Telford.
Managing Director Pete Taylor said the current employment scene was one of the toughest he had seen, but the business was still on track to hit the milestone figure.
He said: "We're delighted to report that our business is thriving in what is undoubtedly the toughest labour market we have experienced.
"2022 marks Encore’s 20th anniversary, a cause for much celebration in itself. Couple this with the fact that we're in the most agile, dynamic and driven form we've ever been – against a very unsettled economic backdrop – we can honestly say we're ready for and equal to the ever-changeable requirements our customers might have.
"I'd like to shine the spotlight on our culture and our people who make Encore what it is today.
“Our teams are our business – without them we wouldn't continue to stand out as the Midlands' gold standard recruitment agency for quality expertise and exceptional client service.
“We’re in a strong position, despite the challenges we’ve faced and continue to face, and that is the real success story here.
“The main hurdles of the early 2020s have been the huge cost increases and overheads relating to the widely publicised staffing shortages UK wide, which has played a crucial role in how we’ve shaped our candidate attraction and retention strategies.
“I like to say that every cloud has a silver lining – and in this case, the positive takeaway from these turbulent and testing labour market conditions is that we have, as ever, flexed to not only support but to excel for our customers, which is reflected in how our company continues to grow and thrive in such an unsure economy.”
Britain’s jobless rate has fallen to its lowest level for nearly 48 years, but workers have seen their pay fall further behind rocketing inflation, according to official figures.
The rate of unemployment dropped to 3.7 per cent in the three months to March – the lowest since October to December 1974, the Office for National Statistics said.
For the first time, there were fewer unemployed people than vacancies as job openings hit a record 1.3 million, although the fall in the rate – down from 3.8% in the three months to February – was also due to a rise in the number of people dropping out of the jobs market, the figures showed.
