Profits at recruitment giant Hays more than halved in the latter period of last year, as companies across the UK and Europe put the brakes on hiring.
Hays is among the biggest recruitment agencies in Europe, and its fortunes are closely tied to the market for office-based jobs in the UK, Germany, France and others.
Hays said: “Economic and political uncertainty weighed on client and candidate confidence driving lower placement volumes and a material lengthening of our ‘time-to-hire’.”.
Meanwhile, it closed 15 of its UK and Irish offices during the calendar year, and slashed the number of consultants by more than 1,100, including about 300 roles in the UK and Ireland.
But amid a swathe of elections across western Europe, and worsening economic conditions across much of the continent, hiring has slowed significantly.
