The three trends shaping the Channel Islands workforce agenda in 2024

But what about the Channel Islands? We all know that this is a unique place to live, work and build a career, with its own distinctive talent demands and labour market dynamics. As careers become more mobile, local employers are also competing for prized talent against a number of comparable economies stretching from Luxembourg to the Cayman Islands.

So, it’s useful to look at what’s uppermost on the minds of Channel Islands’ workers and how this will shape their choice of career, employer and place to live. Three key trends stand out:

What we’re hearing

Channel Islands’ workers may not face the long and increasingly expensive commutes that are deterring many people worldwide from going back into the office. But the already high living costs have seen significant increases in both Jersey and Guernsey and many local households are feeling the pinch.

More than 40% of the workers taking part in PwC’s Channel Islands’ Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2023 report that while they can afford to pay their bills, this leaves them with little or nothing left for savings, holidays and extras. The proportion of workers struggling to get by is especially high among women and younger people.

A common assumption is that people working in Financial Services (FS) live more comfortably. But our research indicates that the gap between financial and non-financial industries isn’t as wide as expected.

The rate of inflation is slowing in Jersey and Guernsey. But the enduringly high costs of housing, childcare and other basics could force younger workers to look for jobs elsewhere. The results would stunt growth for local businesses and across our economies as a whole.

Priorities ahead

• Talk to your employees about the cost-of-living issues they face and how you can help to ease them. With many workers regularly travelling off-island, this includes making sure they’re not out of pocket by cutting the wait times for reimbursing expenses.
• As well as benchmarking pay rates against island peers, compare them against employers in jurisdictions competing for the same talent.
• Train managers in how to support employees going through financial crisis and hardship, with employees knowing they can speak to someone at work for help. Support this with financial literacy and wellbeing training for employees (especially younger workers), who may have not had this in education.
  

What we’re hearing

Channel Islands’ workers want more workplace flexibility and are voting with their feet if they don’t get it.

Others, especially women, are choosing to drop out of the workforce altogether. When compared to similar economies such as Luxembourg, our latest Women in work index research shows that the Channel Islands has a disproportionately high number of women who aren’t able or choose not to work because of limited opportunities and a lack of workplace flexibility and affordable childcare.

As demands for flexibility increase globally, a growing number of employers are offering a four-day-week option. This is an opportunity for differentiation in a tight labour market. But it could soon become an employee expectation. Following a four-day-week trial we ran at PwC Channel Islands in the summer of 2022, more than three-quarters of our employees said that they would be more likely to stay with PwC as a result.

However, in exchange for increased flexibility, we expect to see a rise in employers only offering this if employees comply with business requirements, such as completing important training modules by the set deadline.

But attitudes to flexible working among Channel Islands’ employers remain polarised, with some taking innovative steps while others still refuse to, or are unable to offer even a bare minimum.

Priorities ahead

• Engage with your employees. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to flexibility. So it’s important to listen to your employees to find out what kind of flexibility would best suit their needs.
• Trust your employees. Flexible working can improve rather than impair productivity, even if this means working fewer hours. When we ran our four-day trial, more than 90% of employees felt that they’d achieved the same amount of work or more.
• Focus on outcomes achieved rather than hours worked. This allows workers to meet expectations in a way that best suits them, while easing employer concerns about what employees are doing with their time.
  

What we’re hearing

Globally, PwC research reveals that more than 80% of employees now prefer to work for companies that care about the same issues as they do, such as diversity, sustainability and social inclusion. But most Channel Islands employers are behind the curve on DE&I. Our Channel Islands Future of Work and Skills Survey 2022 found that less than 30% of local employers publicly set diversity and inclusion targets, compared to around three-quarters of organisations globally.

One reason that DE&I isn’t at the centre of the radar here in the Channel Islands is limited regulation. But this could soon change if local regulators follow the leads set in the UK and EU. The UK FCA in particular wants to encourage FS organisations to include social background as well as gender and ethnicity in their reporting – voluntarily at first, but with the possibility of making this mandatory further down the line.

Priorities ahead

• Get on the front foot by ensuring you have the necessary DE&I data in place now. This includes the socio-economic make-up of your workforce and its leadership. This will not only provide a baseline for reporting if and when this becomes a statutory and/or employee expectation, but also help to identify gaps in DE&I and priorities for action ahead.
• Work with governments to encourage inactive workers back into jobs through steps such as skills training and increases in childcare allowances.