James Reed absolutely loves to work. He zooms into his office in central London on his dark blue Vespa, full of beans, and declares his love for Mondays. Which is all just as well, considering he’s the boss of Britain’s largest recruitment company, REED, which was founded by his father Sir Alec, who is, you guessed it, still working at the age of ninety.
This unbridled, unapologetic enthusiasm for work is refreshing, given that more than nine million Britons have left the labor market and are ‘economically inactive’.
Plus the fact that work seems to have become a four-letter word in many circles and the PvdA doesn’t even seem able to say what a worker is.
Reed, 61, is an evangelist for the positive power of work to transform people’s lives, help them be socially mobile and even — whisper it — make them happy.
James Reed gets to work on a Vespa
He would like to see a national marketing campaign to promote the joys of a fulfilling job.
‘We need to have a marketing campaign to support the work. Working is great, I know so many people who love their work.’
‘Our corporate purpose consists of just four words: it’s very simple. ‘Improving lives through work.’
The boss of Britain’s biggest recruitment firm has issued a stark warning that the job market is ‘in a slow-motion car crash’ and that Labor policies threaten to cause further damage.
Previewing this week’s Budget, James Reed, who runs the eponymous company, highlighted a sharp drop in the number of staff companies are looking to hire.
He fears Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ widespread talk of increasing National Insurance for employers will make matters worse as companies become even more reluctant to take on more workers.
A slowdown in hiring would hamper growth – something Labor says is at the heart of its economic agenda.
Reed also warned that the government’s plans to give workers new rights from day one will make employers much more cautious about who they recruit, which could be bad for diversity and non-mainstream candidates.
Reed pointed to official figures showing that the number of vacancies has fallen for the past 27 periods in a row.
‘This is what worries me. The decline has not received the attention it deserves and it will get worse before it gets better.”
He said the government had announced a £65 billion investment in the country at Labour’s investment conference earlier this month, which would secure 38,000 jobs.
“But the next day, civil service statistics show an estimated decline in the number of employees on the payroll of 35,000 between July and August.”
“The government’s agenda is to grow the economy, but this trend is the opposite of that.”
He said increasing employers’ National Insurance (NI) contributions, a much-touted Budget measure, is ‘literally a tax on jobs’.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will announce her first budget later this week
“If they put it up it will have an effect on the number of jobs employers are willing to create and in the longer term it will have an effect on wages because they may be less willing to make a pay increase.”
The current NI rate for employers is 13.8 percent, but there is speculation that Reeves will increase this, possibly by 2 percent.
She was accused of hypocrisy over the potential move, as Labor promised not to increase taxes on working people.
‘Is it a tax on employees? It is a tax on jobs and only workers have jobs,” Reed said. ‘In an environment where vacancies are declining, I fear this would be a decision the government would regret.’
He also warned the government against creating a “two-tiered” labor market that favors public sector workers over workers in private companies.
Reeves has come under attack over plans to impose national insurance on employers’ pension contributions while sparing the public sector.
He said: ‘All employees are important and I believe they should be treated fairly. It (differential treatment) is unfair at the most basic level. As a country we are quite quick to keep an eye on unfairness and that seems to me to be wrong as a general principle.’
“Creating a bipartisan workforce is a mistake. People who work in agriculture produce the food we eat and that’s quite important, I would say. Jobs of all kinds are very important in the private sector and make the world go round. To create that distinction one way or another, I would not advise or agree with that.”
Reed is married to Nicola, who runs a company called Beeble, which makes honey whiskey from beehives at their home in Wiltshire.
He hands me a bottle of his own label ‘Jimmy Reed’ version of the drink, which she made from a beehive on the roof of his headquarters, hidden in a quiet corner of Covent Garden.
The couple has six children, three boys and three girls. Daughter Rosie works in the business and he hopes that one of his sons will return to the business after taking the time to obtain a finance and accounting education.
He says it is “never difficult to follow in my father’s footsteps. It probably helps that I have thick skin, the skin of a crocodile.’
What does he think about nepotism? “Guilty as charged,” he laughs. “I’ve been the beneficiary of nepotism, but I think after 30 years in the business I can say I’ve done as good a job as anyone.”
‘My father is a brilliant entrepreneur, he is 90 and still calls. He gave me a hard time earlier this week, which I like. I like that. He started working when he was 16.
“I’m a big believer in a multi-generational workforce. My father is part of the Silent Generation, but I joke that he didn’t get the memo.’
REED’s largest shareholder is the charitable foundation, which owns 18 percent. The rest is owned by the family, who bought the company back from the stock exchange in 2003.
“We call ourselves a philanthropy company,” he says.
‘We work for a good cause one day a week. We directly employ 4,500 people and they really appreciate that.’
Sir Alec founded The Big Give in 2007, which matches donations.
“Last year we raised £33 million in one week for our Christmas challenge, we want to beat that,” says James.
He is well placed to assess the new government, having seen a stream of prime ministers and chancellors come and go during his time at the top.
‘I have been CEO since 1997 and I have seen that there have been nine prime ministers. John Major was my first.’
“They all say they want growth and then they do all kinds of things that don’t contribute to achieving their goals.”
“The other thing I worry about is AI,” he says. “It could be a perfect storm.”
Does he worry that AI could make his own company obsolete in the future by using bots in recruiting?
‘There have been people saying these things for years. Ultimately, people have to deal with people. Ultimately, AI provides tools that allow us to do our work better.”
He adds: “AI is already leading to job losses in areas such as IT and finance. AI writes a lot of code. Our tech recruitment specialty is very quiet and I find that interesting. Much of the work of technologists is now done by technology.’
According to him, the other big change is the aging of the population. A younger generation is rising to the top with a very different attitude.
‘I’m a baby boomer and we’re leaving the workplace. We are a large cohort with certain characteristics, including that we were very competitive with each other. Gen Z, the zoomers, have a very different attitude.’
‘That competitiveness is less important to them. They are not driven by the same forces.’
“People will end up working longer, much of it because they want to,” he adds.
Would he like to work until he is ninety, like his father? “Well, I don’t know if I’ll live that long, but I’d like to keep going as long as I can.”
- Age: 61
- Family: Married to Nicola and they have six children
- Lives: in London and Wiltshire
- Drives: Vespa GTS300 or VW Transporter (if with family)
- Favorite book: The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono
- Who (living or dead) would he invite to dinner and what would he serve? Satoshi Nakamoto, the name used by the suspected pseudonymous person or persons who developed Bitcoin… because I’m curious who would show up. I would serve mutton curry, my signature dish.
- What job does he think he would be really bad at and get fired? Pilot… I’m not allowed near a cockpit. Skills are important.
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