2018 in preview: Jane Biggs, Bygott Biggs

Jane Biggs, managing director of Nottingham-based legal recruitment firm Bygott Biggs, gives us her three business predictions for 2018.

1. Millennials matter. This cohort of legal talent is coming of age and is in fact now the largest generation occupying the workforce. With this new era comes new challenges in the workplace for every sector but especially within law. They require, flexibility, opportunity, recognition which is not purely financial and crucially, respect. The employers that embrace these new challenges, whatever their industry will be the ones who reap the rewards of thinking differently.

2. It isn’t just the Millennials who are making waves in the market with differing requests and expectations. More and more employees expect flexible working to be offered as part of any negotiation. Whether that means in terms of hours worked or the location they are worked from, the opportunities that new technology brings is something that should not be resisted and wrestled with, it should be embraced. Allow talented people to do what they do best, however works best for all parties.

3. If there is one thing that fascinates and often worries businesses in equal measure, it is the growth in artificial intelligence and automated working processes. What it will mean for employers and employees, even within traditionally people led sectors like the legal profession remains to be seen but again, my advice would be to see how it can drive innovation rather than worry about its potential impact on the ‘way it has always been’.