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Large employers such as Unilever, the BBC and the Royal Mail are increasingly hiring staff directly through their own corporate websites, reducing the need for recruitment agencies, according to a study published yesterday.

In a bid to cut costs, employers are exploring alternative approaches to recruitment, ranging form web-based solutions to outsourcing the hiring and management of staff needs, says the report by consultants KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. Direct recruitment through company websites, however, only makes sense if the organization has a strong corporate presence or a brand powerful enough to attract a large number of candidates. Most employers do not fall into this category and therefore will continue to need the help of agencies to find and attract staff, says the study.

Some 80 per cent of employers questioned in a survey reported that they still used "a combination of in-house recruitment and agencies to find staff". The report predicted that "over the next one to two years, most employers will have a career section on their corporate site and make some efforts to move recruitment communications online, assisted by agencies offering support and services".

Recruitment outsourcing using managed services "whereby an employer appoints one or two agencies to manage all recruitment and staffing needs" is also becoming more popular with central and local government employers. Among all employers the percentage of users, however, is relatively low at 20 per cent, says the study.

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