What’s in Store for 2024? Scaling & Team Culture Trends

Are you curious about what the forecast hiring/retention trends are for the year? We’ve been attending some really interesting talks and events in Jan, here are our thoughts and highlights.

Note - All views are focused on London tech hiring for Pre Seed, VC-backed and challenger brands.

⏱ 2023 was the year of “waiting”

➢ Most companies sat in a ‘wait and see’ mode - waiting for the VCs to wake up, waiting to rehire, waiting to open the new international office, waiting for the economy to pick up.

➢ Big tech hiring in 2023 had record redundancies (250K+) in Q1. E.g. Alphabet, Meta, Twitter and Microsoft, plus high profile scaleups.

↗️ 2024 - Cautiously optimistic

➢ The early signs are that most companies are cautiously optimistic about rebuilding. Strategic replacement hires are most likely going to be across Sales, Marketing, Software and Product.

➢ The AI boom shows no signs of slowing down. There is room for real growth in this area.

➢ Exciting news from the US, with 353,000 jobs added in January. Hopefully we will start to see this in the UK at some point soon.

➢ Tech layoffs have slowed but aren’t over yet, with targeted job trims still being announced.

➢ The Middle East is starting to make an impact on the London tech scene, UK Fintechs opening Dubai offices is becoming more common. Plus, we predict a talent brain drain relocating to the Middle East at some point soon.

🤝 Sectors hiring right now - for job seekers

➢ AI/ML, SaaS, Clean & Green Tech,  Renewable Energy, ESG, Fintech (Challenger Banks, Open Banking, GreenFinance, Blockchain, Payments), and CyberSecurity.

➢ The ones to watch are Defense Tech, Space Tech, and Healthtech Longevity.

💰 Venture Capital - $300 Billion in “dry powder”

➢ VC activity is expected to restart at some point with $300 Billion in “dry powder” unspent from 2023.

😇 Angel investment into Pre Seed

➢ 2024 would be a good time to angel invest. The best venture startup vintages of the past two decades were in the years 2010-2012 - just after a significant downturn (when valuations were depressed). 2024 valuations have come back down to earth, so the smart investors are out there looking to invest again with tax sayings via SEIS.

💡 Hiring tips in a challenging market

➢ Don't wait for external funding - build a strong sales team. Start with the Head of Sales (Sales Director, VP Sales or CRO): Also, consider a more experienced Interim hire for maximum value.

➢ Combining 2 roles can be cost effective. Hiring a CRO instead of a VP Sales and a VP Marketing, or combining Product and Software creating a CTPO, rather than hiring CTO and CPO, can save costs whilst ensuring you get the skill sets you need.

➢ The Sam Bankman-Fried FTX meltdown last year was a good example of what happens when you don't have Operations, Risk or HR in place. Making sure you have a strong Infrastructure team is still essential, even in a slower growth environment.

📉 Salaries are down

➢ With the shift from a candidate-driven market (2021/22) to an employer-driven market (2023/34) the salary expectations are looking reasonable again. Potential candidates asking for significant pay rises have disappeared.

➢ As always, this moves back and forth depending on economic cycles. Picking one strategic hire this year could be a sensible idea, such as hiring a VP Product star from Google or a COO with a track record of successful exits. This is the year to cherry pick a key hire, with minimal competition and affordable salary requests.

💸 Interim - Cost effective hiring

➢ Interim roles are taking over from FT hires, especially across Product, Marketing and HR.

💻 Remote vs Back to the office vs Hybrid

➢ Early career employees who are based remotely are at a disadvantage, as staff that are in the office typically learn more about customers and their team more quickly.

➢ Remote workers have a 31% less chance of getting a promotion.

➢ Remote jobs are 50% down from the 2022 peak.

➢ It really depends on the founder’s preference as the optimum working location and flexibility is still debated in every company.

➢ The term Hybrid can mean anything. So it's best to highlight what you have in mind for “Hybrid” : how many days, time in the office, what day etc.

🔒 Retention

➢ Turnover of staff on average is 18 months within the startup/scaleup sector -  this has dropped from 2 years 1 month pre-covid.

For a confidential conversation about hiring or any help in benchmarking against the market, feel free to WhatsApp me on 07584 022852 or email ell@santamonica.digital