As businesses expect more sales, profits, capital investment and employment growth in 2018, their intentions remain high to hire and retain talent.
This brings confidence to the economy, with the potential to add 400,000 new jobs over the course of the year. Lack of customer demand and skill shortages are two major threats facing these intentions.
Wage growth is also predicted to remain moderate, however a continued tightening in the labour market could improve the growth.
Smart FMCG businesses open to diverse experience. We have seen a trend emerging with several FMCG businesses more willing to consider talent from non-traditional FMCG backgrounds, expanding their talent pool considerably. We have also noted an extension of this with an openness to look at talent from non-corporate grocery backgrounds. As an example, people from petrol and convenience are being offered interviews for corporate grocery roles if they demonstrate the right level of drive and motivation.
Large FMCG organisations rethinking traditional team structures. As retailers and customers progressively gain a strong influence on business decisions, FMCG organisations are responding by re-structuring their teams. ‘Demand’ and ‘Consumer’ teams are slowly replacing separate sales, supply chain and marketing functions in an effort to bring teams together in one division.
Visa changes result in hiring without residency almost impossible. This has impacted the FMCG sector significantly. International talent with ‘business critical skills’ are now more reluctant to relocate as there is uncertainty around their ability to stay in Australia long term. The Australian government removed 200 roles from the list of jobs eligible for skilled migration last August, in favour of a tightened temporary skill shortage visa.
The digital impact not meeting expectations. Companies are cutting their digital spend due to the difficulty tracking the return on digital campaigns. FMCG organisations that set up silo digital marketing teams are largely affected by these cuts, as opposed to companies who incorporate digital into their current brand marketing teams. P&G recently cut over $100M in digital spend, resulting in no negative impact on sales. Unilever also cut back digital investment by 59% in the first half of 2017.
FMCG manufacturers’ plan to reduce waste. As Australians become increasingly aware of food waste in the supply chain, manufacturers are taking a stand to reduce it. With the Australian economy losing approximately $20 billion a year through food waste, companies came together at last years National Food Waste Summit and created a goal to reduce Australia’s food waste by half by 2030. We believe that first mover organisations will reap the benefits in terms of attracting the next generation of top talent.
Jordana Jacklin is an Executive Consultant, specialising in the recruitment of National Account Managers and National Business Managers within the FMCG and Consumer space, at Six Degrees Executive.
