Pension packages no longer vital to recruitment

The contraction of the employment market has meant that prospective employees do not see an attractive pensions package as essential to their decision to accept or reject a job offer.

According to Gerwyn Davies, public policy adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), people are now more concerned about finding jobs than about the benefits package that accompany them.

When jobs were plentiful added benefits, such as pensions were often the determining factor, but, with unemployment on the rise, that is ceasing to be the case.

Research carried out by the CIPD found that 75 per cent of respondent firms intend to take on new staff in the next quarter compared with 81 per cent in the summer.