Entrepreneur: Abby Robbins
Business Name: Yellow Bricks Recruitment
Industry: Talent Search
Business Location: Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Many small businesses are struggling with rising wage bills. As a small business owner, and a HR professional, what’s the secret to navigating these challenges?
It’s certainly an interesting time for the market, but this isn’t my first downturn. I have seen economic cycles take out many businesses in this industry. Under pressure, many organisations are hiring badly, which ultimately costs them more – in time, money, and damage to organisational culture.
Employers have reacted quickly to rising wage bills, first with freezes, then with redundancies, in a bid to conserve cash. But the work still has to get done.
That’s where our temporary staffing model comes into its own. Temps aren’t a stop-gap, they’re growth insurance. They keep businesses moving when uncertainty strikes.
Around one in eight business owners say the biggest mistake they’ve made is growing their team too quickly, according to NerdWallet UK’s 2025 business survey. Around a fifth of business owners are considering delaying their hiring plans (21%) or reducing headcount (18%) given current economic pressures.
Do you think temps are the solution to higher NICs and bigger wage bills?
Yes. Temping can give people continuity of work, it often pays well, and it gives the business owner access to talent, but with a pre-agreed end date.
I practice what I preach when it comes to hiring temps. I’ve always kept a lean team, and I’ve constantly got my eye on what’s coming down the road and who I might need. They’re not always going to be permanent staff, but I always try to positively affect their career, however long they’re with Yellow Bricks. We keep in touch, and I help them on their way.
If you genuinely care about your people and want them to do well, you look after them, because if you understand what’s going on in their lives, you can help them to be better at work.
How have you personally responded to this challenging labour market?
The current economic challenges have sharpened my focus. I now spend more time working on the business than in it, spotting trends, anticipating what clients will need tomorrow, and building services that help them get there.
Business leaders are realising that people strategy is business strategy, and that’s exactly where we’re investing. Demand is rising not only for quality hiring, but also for what comes next. Once you’ve hired a great person, how do you scale that success across the organisation?
I’m excited about growing our people transformation projects and workforce planning partnerships, which help organisations align staffing decisions with their growth objectives, avoiding the costly cycle of reactive hiring.
What’s the biggest challenge for your business right now?
The biggest ongoing challenge is staying relevant, making sure we’re solving today’s problems, not yesterday’s. The world of work shifts so quickly that it’s easy to be left behind.
When you’re a small firm, you have to adapt to the market. Whenever something bad’s happening, there’s always an industry that’s thriving. You have to look for that and pivot. That’s the entrepreneurial mindset; you can’t silo yourself into one specific task, role or industry.
With my front-row view of how businesses are navigating economic challenges, I can see short-term mindsets hurting both companies and individuals. Companies are trying to solve the staffing problems they’ve got now without looking ahead to whether that role, person or resourcing solution is going to add value longer term. They’re rushing to fill roles and ending up with the wrong skills for where their business ultimately needs to go. Long-term thinking always wins, but it takes patience to see the results.
What advice would you like to share with other small business owners?
When you run your own business, you become the chief-of-everything officer. If you get an office, you’ve got to sort the lease out, order the stationery and clean the toilet.
People looking from the outside might think, ‘It’s all right for you, you’ve got your own business’, but there have been things I’ve had to give up.
This is one of the reasons why I’ve built a strong network of trusted professionals, fellow entrepreneurs and advisors I can call on for their expertise when needed. They help me to save money, deliver better results, and relieve stress.
I encourage any business owner to prioritise relationships built on mutual respect and trust. And don’t expect to ever “crack it.” Stay adaptable, keep listening, and when you face a big decision, step back, sleep on it, and revisit it with a clear head.
Image credit: Abby Robbins
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