ONS reports tech jobs boost – March 2021

Following the release of Office for National Statistics (ONS) jobs data last week, we prepared a response from Harvey Nash to the finding that UK Tech has created more than 100,000 jobs since the start of the pandemic.

The response also picked up on a preliminary Harvey Nash Tech Survey 2021 finding that technology companies may need to dramatically scale back their office space, as staff want to mainly WFH post Covid-19.

The Harvey Nash data and comment was widely picked up by the media, including pieces on Sky Business News, TechRepublic, Computer Weekly, The Register, IT Pro Portal, TALiNT International, and IT Pro.

The preliminary data from the Harvey Nash Tech Survey 2021 specifically found:

  • WFH post pandemic – Over three quarters (79%) of tech workers, the equivalent of over 1 million people working in the sector, want to continue working the majority of the week (3-5 days) from home after the pandemic. 95% want to work 2-5 days a week from home. This compares with only 42% of tech professionals working 2-5 days a week from home prior to the pandemic.
  • Work location and remote working second only to pay for job seekers – The extraordinary shift to on-mass WFH in the past 12 months has also led to ‘work location and remote working’ being identified for the first time as one of the top three most important factors when looking for a new job in tech, second only to pay. The top three more important factors are now – remuneration (1.), work location and remote working (2.), and a strong culture & strong leadership (3.).
  • Office of the future – With the equivalent of 1 million UK tech workers aiming to continue working the majority of the week from home after the pandemic, Harvey Nash believes that this will not only have a huge impact on tech office space and hubs, but it will also drive many more remote jobs particularly in areas such as cyber-security, data analysis, software engineering/development, and those with skills in AI and machine learning.

Bev White, Chief Executive, Harvey Nash Group, said:

“The ONS figures underline the strong health of tech amidst booming demand for digital and cloud-based solutions and services in the Covid era. We don’t see any sign of this changing, and expect many thousands more jobs to be created in tech through the rest of this year and beyond. The pandemic has not dimmed tech – in fact, it has turned up the lights.”

 

 

 

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