James Reed absolutely loves the job. He arrives at his office in central London on his dark blue Vespa feeling energized and declares his love for Mondays. This is all well and good, as he is the boss of Britain’s largest recruitment firm, REED, which was founded by his father Sir Alec, who (you guessed it) is still working in his nineties.
This unbridled, unapologetic enthusiasm for work is refreshing, given that more than nine million Britons have left the workforce and are “economically inactive”.
Furthermore, work seems to have become a four-letter word in many circles and the Labor Party seems unable to even say what a worker is.
Reed, 61, is an evangelist for the positive power of work to transform people’s lives, help them achieve social mobility and even, whisper it, make them happy.
He would like to see a nationwide marketing campaign to champion the joys of a satisfying job.
‘We need to do a marketing campaign to support the work. The work is wonderful, I know a lot of people who love their jobs.’
‘The objective of our company consists of only four words and is very simple. ‘Improving lives through work.’
The boss of Britain’s biggest recruitment firm has issued a stark warning that the jobs market is “in a slow-motion car crash” and that Labor policies risk causing further damage.
Speaking ahead of this week’s budget, James Reed, who runs the company of the same name, highlighted a sharp decline in the number of staff companies are looking to hire.
He fears that Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ widely rumored moves to increase employers’ National Insurance will make matters worse because businesses will become even more reluctant to take on more employees.
A slowdown in hiring would act as a brake on growth, which Labor insists is at the heart of its economic agenda.
Reed also warned that the government’s plans to give workers new rights from their first day on the job will make employers much more cautious about who they recruit, which could be bad for diversity and unconventional candidates. .
Reed pointed to official figures showing the number of vacancies has fallen for the last 27 consecutive terms.
‘This is what worries me. The deterioration has not received the attention it deserves and will get worse before it gets better.”
He said that at Labour’s investment conference earlier this month, the government announced £65bn investment in the country, securing 38,000 jobs.
“But the next day official statistics show an estimated decrease 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’ contributions to National Insurance (NI), a widely touted budget measure, “is a tax on jobs, literally”.
“If they put it in, it will have an effect on the number of jobs that employers are willing to create and it will have an effect on wages in the longer term because they may be less willing to give a pay rise.”
The current NI rate for employers is 13.8 per cent, but there has been speculation that Reeves will increase this, possibly by 2 per cent.
He has faced accusations of hypocrisy over the possible move because the Labor Party promised not to raise taxes on workers.
‘Is it a tax on workers? It’s a tax on jobs and only workers have jobs,’ Reed said. “In an environment where job openings are declining, I worry that this is a decision the government would end up regretting.”
He also warned the government against creating a “two-tier” labor market that favors public sector employees over those in private enterprise.
Reeves has been attacked for his plans to impose national insurance on employers’ pension contributions, while respecting the public sector.
He said: ‘All workers are important and I believe they should be treated fairly. (Differential treatment) is unfair at the most basic level. As a country we are quite quick to tune into injustice and it seems wrong to me as a general starting point.’
‘Creating a two-tier workforce is a mistake. People who work in agriculture produce the food we eat and that, I would say, is quite important. All kinds of jobs are really important in the private sector and make the world go round. To somehow create that distinction I would not recommend or agree with that.”
Reed is married to Nicola, who runs a business called Beeble making honey whiskey from beehives at their home in Wiltshire.
She hands me a bottle of her own brand’s version of the drink, ‘Jimmy Reed’, which she made in a beehive on the roof of her headquarters, hidden in a quiet corner of Covent Garden.
The couple has six children, three boys and three girls. His daughter Rosie works in the business and hopes one of her children will return to the business after taking time off to gain a qualification in finance and accounting.
He says that “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 do you think about nepotism? “Guilty as charged,” he laughs. “I’m the beneficiary of nepotism, but I feel like after 30 years in the business, I think I can say I did as good a job as anyone.”
‘My father is a brilliant businessman, he is 90 years old and he still calls. He was giving me a hard time earlier this week, which I like. I love that. He started working when he was 16 years old.
‘I firmly believe in a multigenerational workforce. My dad is from the Silent Generation, but I joke that he didn’t get the memo.
REED’s largest shareholder is its charitable foundation, which owns 18 percent. The rest is in the hands of the family, who bought the company back on the stock market in 2003.
“We consider ourselves a philanthropic company,” he says.
‘One day a week we work for charity. We directly employ 4,500 people and they really value that.’
Sir Alec founded The Big Give in 2007, which matches donations.
“Last year we raised £33 million in one week in our Christmas challenge and we want to beat that number,” says James.
He is in a good position to assess the new government, having seen a stream of prime ministers and chancellors come and go during his tenure.
‘I have been chief executive since 1997 and I have seen there have been nine prime ministers. John Major was the first.
“Everyone says they want to grow and then they do various things that don’t help them achieve their goals.”
“The other thing that worries me is AI,” he says. “It could be a perfect storm.”
Are you worried that AI could in the future make your own business redundant by using bots to recruit for companies?
‘We’ve had people saying things like this for years. Ultimately, people deal with people; Ultimately, AI provides tools we can use to do better work.’
He adds: ‘AI is already causing job losses in areas such as IT and finance. AI is writing a lot of code. Our specialty in tech recruiting is very quiet and I think that’s interesting. Much of the work of technologists is now done by technology.’
The other big change, he says, is the aging of the population. A younger generation is rising to the top with a very different set of attitudes.
‘I’m a tail baby boomer and we’re leaving the workplace. We are a large group with certain characteristics, one of which is that we were very competitive with each other. Generation Z, the zoomers, have a completely different attitude.”
‘That competitiveness is less important to them. They are not driven by the same forces.’
“People will end up working longer, many of them because they want to,” he adds.
Would you like to work until you are ninety, like your dad? “Well, I don’t know if I’ll live that long, but I’d like to continue 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 (when with family)
• Favorite book: The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono
• Who (living or dead) would you invite to a dinner party and what would you serve? Satoshi Nakamoto, which is the name used by the alleged pseudonymous person or persons who developed bitcoin… because I’m curious to see who would show up. I would serve lamb curry, my signature dish.
• What job do you think you would be really bad at and get fired? Pilot… I should not be allowed near the cockpit. Skills are important.
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