Cheers to those who kept Britain working over Christmas!

For most of us, the Christmas holidays went a little something like this: mountains of presents; a few drinks; copious amounts of turkey, chocolates and mince pies; piles of washing up; a few more drinks; a Christmas movie; just one last drink; board games; family quarrels; bed.

Sadly, some of us had to drag ourselves away from the Christmas specials and giant Quality Street box to attend business as usual. And while most of the UK workforce were tucking into roast dinners and pulling crackers, almost one in 10 were heading out to work. Key workers such as doctors, nurses, police officers and fire fighters as well as countless others including call-centre staff, shop assistants, taxi drivers and bar staff were out in force to keep the nation’s cogs turning.

REC (The Recruitment and Employment Confederation) also highlighted the thousands of recruitment professionals who were also on call over Christmas. Commenting on the role of the industry during the holiday period, Kevin Green, REC's Chief Executive said:

"Whilst many of us have downed tools for the holiday period, thousand of key workers and recruitment professionals were hard at work. Temporary, contract and locum staff as well as interim managers provided crucial front line services to keep Britain working over Christmas.

At the same time, recruitment professionals play a pivotal role in responding quickly and efficiently to the demand for often highly-skilled staff in sectors such as healthcare, transport, care, logistics and technology."

And as the UK economy slowly moves out of recession in 2010, recruitment professionals will provide one of the most important services for any business. Recessions mean that companies need to be more efficient than ever and part of this involves employing high quality staff. Sourcing and retaining key talent to drive our businesses forward will be absolutely vital in this new decade.