The innovation imperative report

Innovation Imperative The

A global insight study investigating the impact of innovation on recruitment and talent management Produced by Futurestep, a Korn Ferry company

Talent with impact

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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Contents: Foreword ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 4 1. Why is innovation important? �������������������������������������������������������������� 8 Expectations of innovation amongst recruitment and talent managers ������������� 9

Expectations of innovation: Candidates ����������������������������������������������������������11

The impact of innovation �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������13

Are companies innovative? �������������������������������������������������������������������������������17

2. T he impact of innovation throughout the employee lifecycle �������19

Where is innovation most important for Professionals? ��������������������������������20

Where is innovation most important for Candidates? �����������������������������������21

What does innovation look like at each stage, now and in the future? �����������22

2.1. The Recruitment stage ���������������������������������������������������������������������24

What creates the greatest impact? ������������������������������������������������������������24

Does perceived impact match up with real activity? ������������������������������26

The future of innovation �����������������������������������������������������������������������������28

2.2. The Engagement stage ���������������������������������������������������������������������30

What creates the greatest impact? ������������������������������������������������������������30

Does perceived impact match up with real activity? ������������������������������32

The future of innovation ������������������������������������������������������������������������������34

2.3. The Development stage ��������������������������������������������������������������������36

What creates the greatest impact? ������������������������������������������������������������36

Does perceived impact match up with real activity? ������������������������������38

The future of innovation ������������������������������������������������������������������������������41

Experience versus expectation �����������������������������������������������������������������42

3. Barriers to innovation �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������43 4. Looking ahead ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������46 5. Conclusions and recommendations ����������������������������������������������������������48 6. Regional analysis ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������49

The BRIC Nations ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������49

Europe �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������51

North America ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������53

Australia ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������54

Research methodology ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������56 Notes on interpretation of data and sources for benchmarks ��������������57 Professional demographics ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������57 Candidate demographics �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������58 Talent with impact

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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Foreword In today’s HR world, with change afoot at every level, there are few constants.

Innovation, it seems, is one of them.

The use and impact of innovation in HR and talent management – the need to ‘be innovative’ – is dominating many an HR industry conversation. All of this is driven of course by the fact that innovation has been hailed as one of the turnaround tools for the global economy: a route to growth in uncertain times.

For HR, recruitment and talent professionals, innovation is about even more than that. It is about finding the ideas and methods that can help to evolve our entire industry. With so many tools and tactics at our disposal today, we have an abundance of opportunity when it comes to redefining the way that we recruit, engage and develop.

There is no doubt that our industry is fertile ground for these kinds of innovation. In the last decade alone, we have multiple examples of how HR, recruitment and talent management professionals have embraced new trends – both technological and societal – to improve their offering.

From job boards, LinkedIn and Google+, to the incredible ways in which employer brands are using everything from advertising to open days to directly

engage and entertain their candidates, the HR and recruitment landscape is scattered with evidence of an industry that consistently strives to break from tradition.

As we will come to see, we cannot undervalue the importance of this kind of innovation. Ours is a fiercely competitive environment, one in which critical talent can mean the difference between success and failure on a global scale.

Candidates around the world, across a multitude of sectors, demand innovation at every level. From their first interaction with a potential employer to the opinions they hold and share long after they have left, innovative methods and tactics have a demonstrable impact on the way that they regard employer brands. There can be no doubt that the impetus is on employers to deliver or risk being left behind.

With this global study we wanted to examine innovation at the key stages of the employee lifecycle: recruitment, engagement and development. So we asked the 800 recruitment and talent managers (“Professionals”) and the 4,000 employees (“Candidates”) around the world we surveyed to define what innovation means to them. Vitally, we found that there are some common themes shared by both groups.

Many see innovation as improvement: thinking outside the box and doing things better. It is also forward thinking – having an eye on the future and always being one step ahead of the crowd. And last but certainly not least, our respondents defined innovation as change: being brave enough to do things differently and continually improve.

Within this framework, we concluded that innovation in the context of talent attraction and development is about “strengthening and developing companies to ensure they continue to achieve their best, for their profits and also for their employees”.

To explore that idea a little further, we also asked respondents to choose the three most important elements that engender innovation in the workplace. Recruitment and talent managers consistently chose their people as the key element that makes a company innovative, followed by the products they produce and the company culture. Candidates chose the same three Throughout this report, we examine elements, but placed products and what Candidates, recruitment and talent services at the top of the list. managers mean when they talk about innovative methods of recruitment, engagement and development.

Professionals Candidates The findings provide a view of which methods both groups feel have greatest Top three Top three impact within the employee lifecycle.

globally

Common interpretations of ‘innovative’

Creative Evolution Unique

Change

Efficiency Adding Value Profitability

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Improvement

Finally, to set the scene we asked those who took part to name companies that they admired for showing continuous innovation. Google, arguably as famous for its innovative office environments as its products, was the most visible brand for Professionals worldwide.

For Candidates, their focus on products and services became apparent with the dominance of Apple as the brand they admired the most.

globally

62% 60% 46% 56% 42% 44% 1. People/staff

1. Products & services

2. Products & services

2. People/staff

3. Company culture

3. Company culture

Combined, this insight provides us with an invaluable view of what the industry will look like in the future, if the innovation imperative is met. I hope you find it a useful source of inspiration – and we would love to hear your views on what we have uncovered.

Byrne Mulrooney CEO, Futurestep

Forward Thinking

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

So what makes a company innovative?

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recruitment stage e h t t a 86

%

of professionals think innovation is important in development

62

%

76of

60

%

%

56

candidates agree

%

46

%

42

%

44

%

NOW

HIRING

49

more likely to consider a job % are advertised in an innovative way...

And innovation would make feel positively about the company.

51

%

44

%

of candidates would be more likely to leave a company that failed to engage them in an innovative way.

37

%

For companies, what are the main barriers to innovation?

28

%

27

%

37

%

79

%

34

%

online professional communities

CopyrightŠ2013. Korn/Ferry International/Futurestep, Inc. All rights reserved.

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viral advertsising

online bespoke talent communities

23

%

19

mobile campaigns

%

16

%

5

%

online social communties

Talent with impact

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

1. Why is innovation important?

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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Expectations of innovation amongst HR, recruitment and talent managers

The idea that innovation is important to the sourcing, recruitment and on-going engagement of Candidates is a long-standing one.

At the same time, innovation can be difficult to quantify. What ‘looks’ innovative to one party may be par for the course to another.

It is a theme that holds particular relevance for those tasked with strengthening employer brands, especially when we consider innovation – as our Professional and Candidate audiences do – to be a combination of change, improvement and forward thinking. Termed like that, innovation becomes less about ‘soft’ benefits, and more about a way for employer brands to out-compete and out-think the competition.

To help put that in perspective, and to start making the idea of innovation more tangible, we questioned two groups on the issue; talent management Professionals and a more general base of Candidates1.

In geographies, sectors and functions in which high-quality talent can be difficult to find, this kind of innovation becomes all the more important. As the availability of top talent dwindles, the cost of hire rises. So too does the cost to the business of not having that talent in place. These thoughts alone move innovation from a “nice to have” element within the talent management process to being an essential differentiator.

1 More detail on both of these groups can be found at the end of this report in the section entitled “Research methodology”.

To avoid confusion, when we refer to Professionals and Candidates in this report, we are referencing these two survey groups. Non-capitalized and italicized instances indicate common usage.

To help define the Professional view of innovation within talent management, our audience here was asked to what level they agreed with seven statements relating to recruitment and retention:

Professionals. To what extent do you agree with the following statements?

Professionals: To what extent do you agree with the following statements?

Demonstrating innovation in recruitment and talent management is crucial to help us achieve our growth targets

78%

22%

Demonstrating innovation in recruitment and talent management is crucial for staff development

77%

23%

Demonstrating innovation in recruitment and talent management is crucial for our competitive edge

76%

24%

My organisation needs to do more to demonstrate innovation in recruitment and talent management

74%

Demonstrating innovation in recruitment and talent management is crucial to achieve profitability

69%

Demonstrating innovation in recruitment and talent management is highly valued within my company

56%

My organisation does not need to do more to demonstrate innovation in the way we recruit and manage talent

41% Agree

26% 31% 44% 59%

Neutral or disagree

Agreement with the majority of these statements was very high, demonstrating some fundamental truths about innovation in business across the globe: Innovation is crucial to the modern workplace, and not just to the HR department Although Professionals are in broad agreement with many of the statements above, certain ideas produced particularly strong reactions. More than three quarters noted the strategic importance of innovation, agreeing that it is crucial to achieving growth targets and the development of staff. Almost 70% went so far as to say that innovation in recruitment and talent management is crucial to achieving profitability.

That last point is arguably more important than it might initially sound. Professionals believe that innovation – something that can easily be viewed as a loosely defined, potentially costly activity for the business – is actually key to moneymaking too.

Innovative recruitment and talent management methods are seen as highly valuable to the organization by HR Professionals, particularly those in BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China) If innovation in recruitment and talent management has an impact on growth and profitability, then it is equally important to Professionals as a way of differentiating their organization from the competition.

Just as respondents cited innovation’s importance to development of staff, 76% noted its value as a way of gaining and maintaining competitive edge. Framed in the context of fierce competition for the best talent, this once again elevates the relevance of innovation here.

Professionals in the BRIC nations tend to place an even higher value on innovation in these fields. Asked whether innovative methods are important for staff development, respondents from India, Brazil and Greater China are all more likely to agree (88%, 85% and Greater China 81%) when compared with countries such as the UK (a comparatively low 67%).

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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Expectations of innovation: Candidates

“Why do BRIC nations seem to value innovation more than others? Perhaps because they are witnessing more change around them. Their GDP is growing, their business communities are growing, their opportunities are growing.

Invention and innovation are all around, because the traditional hierarchies and structure aren’t necessarily in place in those nations. So there is probably a stronger expectation of innovation, but an innate value placed upon it too.”

Kim Severinsen, Practice Lead, Assessment & Selection, Futurestep Australia “We are seeing a strong focus on innovation from our customers in India which is driven by the fact that the average age of the Indian employee in most sectors is under 30 years – that is almost 80% Generation Y. It is a really interesting time for all stakeholders in the talent space right now and a real opportunity to leverage emerging technologies both to connect and engage with talent pools.”

The Professional view on innovation is important, as it provides us with a clear way of analysing its value at a business level. But that perspective can only take us so far. To truly get to grips with what innovation means within recruitment and talent management, we also need to understand how Candidates view it; what motivates them, excites them, and draws them to one company over another.

To test that, we quizzed our Candidate audience on eight themes relating to innovation that complement the above insight gained from the Professional group.

As before, Candidates were asked to give their level of agreement with the following statements:

To extent whatdoextent do you with the following statements?

Candidates.

Candidates: To what you agree with the agree following statements?

Sreenivasa R. Yadavilli, Managing Director, Futurestep India

I expect companies to be demonstrating innovation in the ways they retain their staff long term

76%

24%

More could be done to fuel innovation, but getting buy-in to do that can be hard

of innovation themselves, only 56% say that demonstrating it is highly valued.

This raises important considerations about how innovation is implemented, something discussed later in this report.

I expect companies to be demonstrating innovation in the way they keep staff engaged

76%

24%

Interestingly, BRIC nations demonstrate a greater sense of contentment around innovation. 65% of Chinese Professionals, 54% of Indian Professionals and 53% of Brazilian Professionals all say that they “do not need to do more to demonstrate innovation”, likely reflecting a feeling that they are already actively and effectively delivering innovation.

I expect companies to be demonstrating innovation in the ways they develop talent

If Professionals value innovation in recruitment and talent management, they also see room for improvement in their own organizations. Around threequarters of the sample agree or strongly agree that their company needs to do more to demonstrate innovation (74%).

One contributing factor may be that innovation in recruitment and talent management seems more difficult to ‘sell’ to the wider organization. While Professionals clearly recognize the value

Innovative workplaces foster pride that goes beyond what people are doing

Roberto Spuri, Managing Director, Futurestep LATAM

Companies need to be doing more to demonstrate innovation within their recruitment and management procedures

28%

71%

Even if I was happy in my current role, I would consider leaving it if the role had innovative benefits

29%

64%

36%

60%

Even if I was happy in my current role, I would consider leaving it if I was approached in an innovative way

40%

55% Agree

45%

Neutral or disagree

Just as Professionals have high expectations around what innovation can deliver, Candidates have similarly high anticipation around what employers should do when recruiting and developing their people: Candidates want brands to recruit, engage and develop them in innovative ways Innovation holds sway over many Candidates throughout both the recruitment process and their tenure with a company; in the majority of cases, they are actively seeking it. While almost two-thirds of Candidates want employers to innovate during the recruitment process, the strongest feelings towards innovation are reserved for the role itself – around three quarters want to be innovatively engaged (76%) and developed (72%).

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25%

72%

I expect companies to be demonstrating innovation in the ways they recruit talent

“As an emerging market, Brazil is enjoying intense growth without necessarily having the base of skilled candidates and employees to match. In many ways, that begs the question: which came first – innovation or results? Innovation is crucial in attracting, engaging and retaining talent, as the labor market is highly competitive. At the same time, HR and talent professionals need to be flexible and creative in order to work around the constraints of a market growing so rapidly. I think we see that clearly in these results; the value of innovation is clearly defined and, by necessity, innovative methods are already being employed to good effect.”

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75%

That sentiment extends beyond the initial hire, and even beyond engagement and development. The long-term retention of staff is another area in which Candidates have high expectations, with 76% looking for evidence of innovation here.

Once again, respondents from BRIC countries have higher expectations.

Brazilian and Indian Candidates, for example, are much more likely to feel that brands need to innovate when recruiting (76% and 74% respectively, against a global average of 60%).

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

13

The impact of innovation

“As we do with Professional opinions around innovation, I think that with Candidates in Brazil we see that the implementation of innovative recruitment, engagement and development methods can be a way of bridging some of the gaps inherent in a fast growing economy. Candidates believe that employers demand innovation from them in order to fulfill business and economic objectives. It’s only natural that Candidates would demand the same in return.”

Roberto Spuri, Managing Director, Futurestep LATAM

Delivered in the right way, an innovative approach to recruitment and talent management will lure Candidates away from their current roles Innovation in any form clearly has a strong pull on the Candidate audience, even to the extent that it can tempt them away from their current roles. 64% of Candidates admit they would consider leaving for a new role that offered innovative benefits – even if they were happy in their current role. 55% said the same of being approached in an innovative way.

Expectations are high, and Candidates believe that companies have work to do when it comes to innovation If innovation is important to Candidates, many also find it lacking from the current employment landscape. Almost threequarters of Candidates say that companies need to be doing more to demonstrate innovation in their recruitment and management procedures (71%), although this was least pronounced in France (62%) and Greater China (66%).

Innovation extends into brand sentiment For recruitment, HR and talent management too. Asked if they agree that innovation in Professionals, that creates both threat and the workplace creates a sense of pride that opportunity. The chance to win the hearts goes “beyond the job”, three-quarters of of top talent currently residing in another Candidates agreed. This is particularly business will undoubtedly be an attractive relevant when we consider once again the one. At the same time, the knowledge that reverence that Candidates hold for brands their own Candidates can be lured in that such as Apple, Google, Virgin and Heineken. way ensures that Professionals need to Innovative brands and workplaces – even keep up or outperform their competitors at a perception level – have a strong pull or risk losing key people to competitors on Candidate heartstrings. who are – or are even perceived to be – more innovative.

Candidate attitudes towards innovation present what can be seen as a burden, opportunity or both for Professionals, depending on the point of view. Their level of expectation means that Professionals have a ready-made audience with which to practice innovation, but it also creates a vacuum that can quickly be filled by other brands if Professionals aren’t able to react.

We have already learned much about how innovation makes Candidates think and feel about innovative employer brands.

But does innovation also have an impact on how they act?

To find out, we asked Candidates what effect the introduction of innovative tactics, recruitment methods, working practices, environments and more would have on them.

Innovation positively impacts Candidate performance, making them feel more motivated and likely to perform Innovation can have a dramatic impact on productivity and morale. One third (34%) of Candidates said that they would feel much more motivated if innovative management methods were employed in their workplace, with almost half (46%) saying that it would motivate them to some degree. Just 14% were unmoved by the idea.

This ties in closely to Professional thinking that innovation contributes to both the overall bottom line and competitive advantage (section 2.1 above). Not only are Candidates more compelled to engage with and join innovative companies, they will perform with greater motivation if they are managed innovatively.

What impact would the introduction of innovative methods have on you?

4%

I would feel much more motivated to perform

14% 2%

I would feel more motivated to perform It would have no effect

34%

This concept is discussed in more detail later in this report.

I would feel less motivated I already experience innovation

Base: All Candidates (4030)

“The highly educated within Generation Y perceive innovation as being absolutely essential, and in some areas driving innovation is even seen as the main purpose of a business. This goes beyond making a profit; they perceive innovative brands to drive positive impact on society, and they want to be part of this.”

46%

Jan Mueller, Managing Director Solutions, Futurestep EMEA “There’s real resonance in the idea that people are what makes a company innovative, especially when you look at the benefits of well-delivered innovation. I regularly hear from executive team members within client businesses that they’re on a level playing field with their competitors operationally; where they compete and make a real difference is through the people that they have.”

Jeremy Paynter, Director Client Solutions, Futurestep New Zealand

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

Innovative methods in recruitment have the potential to excite, inspire and change perceptions

with much food for thought. 40% of Candidates say that will look for more information about a company after their interest has been piqued, while around Innovation at the recruitment stage can a third would recommend theon job you? or the What impact would a particularly innovative recruitment method have significantly influence Candidate decision company on to others. 25% would be making. Done right, not only will it make inspired to update their CV. Candidates feel more positively towards an organization, but to accept a role as well.

In all of these ways, innovation starts to It would make me feel more positively towards the organization 51% take shape as a particularly effective tool More than half (51%) of Candidates say for motivating the passive majority. As that innovative recruitment methods such, it has clear implications for employer improve their perception of a brand, with I would be much more likely to consider the job advertised brands, providing them with a 49% tangible a similar proportion suggesting that they way of reaching those who may be more likely to consider a role with an It would prompt me to find out moreare information or look expertly qualified or ideally suited to a role, organization perceived as an innovative 40% at the website but are either not looking or are happy in recruiter. Moreover, innovation fuels their current employment. This is key, as positive word of mouth. Even if the job employers who are more It would make me likely to refer the role othersa third of Candidates help to it indicates that 33% isn’tonto for them, willing or able to embrace innovation can spread the word by suggesting it to others use it as a major tactic in the war for talent. (friends, family and potentially colleagues), It would make me more likely to recommend the organization 31% approaches to and 31% are prepared to recommend an In short, innovative innovative hirer. recruitment (and, as we will see, engagement and development) can help It would inspire me to update my CVEven when it does not convince them 25% brands to engage candidates at depths that wholesale that the role is for them, can normally be much harder to reach. innovation will still provide Candidates I would talk to others about the campaign

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

The door swings both ways – Candidates demand continued innovation once they are in the job As we have already seen, if innovation helps boost an employer brand, it also creates an expectation that must be lived up to. What we haven’t yet discussed, is the extent to which that shapes a candidate’s decisions when that promise goes unfulfilled.

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Tellingly, Candidates across the globe say that they will actually consider leaving a company if innovation fails to materialize (44%), with almost as many (42%) confessing that while they would stay with the company, they would do so whilst harboring a sense of resentment towards the brand.

“It’s impossible to underestimate the importance of innovation when we consider these results. Innovating, doing things differently, coming up with new methods of recruiting and engaging can sound expensive. When people hear the word innovative, they don’t think cost savings or doing the same thing for less money. But you need to offset that against the performance and productivity gains of being innovative. That 80% of candidates say that innovative methods motivate to perform better is testament to the power – and potential ROI – of innovation.”

Adam Mesh, Vice President of Human Resources, Futurestep North America

19%

What would the impact be if innovative methods fail to materialize at the Engagement stage?

What impact would a particularly innovative recruitment method havehave onon you?

What impact would a particularly innovative recruitment method you?

Base: All Candidates (4030)

51%

It would make me feel more positively towards the organization

49%

I would be much more likely to consider the job advertised It would prompt me to find out more information or look at the website

8%

6%

14%

I would be very likely to leave the company I would be somewhat likely to leave the job It wouldn’t have an effect on whether I stay with the company but it would make me less satisfied with my job or feel more negatively about the company

40%

I would not refer the company to friends or family It would have no effect on me

33%

It would make me likely to refer the role onto others

31%

It would make me more likely to recommend the organization

Base: All Candidates (4030)

Base: All Candidates (4030)

25%

It would inspire me to update my CV I would talk to others about the campaign

42%

30%

19%

“Generation Y, aiming for innovation and personal fulfillment in working life, is very receptive to word of mouth. This socially networked, multi-channel generation spreads the word rapidly across the web and to other interested groups.”

Jan Mueller, Managing Director Solutions, Futurestep EMEA

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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Are companies innovative?

The clock is ticking: employers have six months to prove their innovation before Candidates will start to look elsewhere The idea that staff would actually leave a company if they felt underserved on innovation is an interesting one, particularly framed against today’s economic realities. It points to a particularly selective Candidate audience, traits that many Professionals could recognize from their top talent targets.

To look more closely at the idea that underperforming on innovation can cause employees to leave, we asked Candidates just how long it would take for them

to start searching for a role elsewhere.

Amongst those who do say that they would consider leaving, only 31% would give their employer the benefit of the doubt for longer than six months. More than a third, however, said they would begin actively pursuing new opportunities within three months (37%).

Knowing the value that both Candidates and Professionals place on innovation gives us a useful way of benchmarking what those groups expect from innovation.

The logical follow-up to that is to ask how innovation looks now; are these people working in innovative companies today, and if so, what makes them innovative?

In summary, innovation cannot be an unfulfilled promise. Employers need to demonstrate it honestly and consistently, or risk losing the faith not only of those they have worked so hard to on-board, but potentially their wider network too.

To investigate where innovation ‘comes from’, Professionals and Candidates were asked specific questions about their own businesses to quantify the resources being spent on innovation, and whether they are perceived as innovative.

Many organizations have a defined budget for research and development (R&D) or innovation

Candidates, if you would leave a role if innovative elements failed to materialize, how long would it take until you search for another job?

Almost two thirds (61%) of Professionals report that there is an R&D or innovation budget in place within their organization.

Those who reported having an R&D/ innovation budget were then asked whether or not this was put towards recruitment and talent management processes and activity. Frequently, this budget is used to contribute towards activity in those areas; 81% of organizations with this kind of fund use it to help boost innovation aimed at Candidates and employees.

29% 26% 23%

11%

8%

Don’t know

One year or more

6 months to a year

Up to 6 months

Up to 3 months

Up to a month

3%

Base: Very or somewhat likely to leave

“We’ve heard much about the war for talent already, but this is a theme that will only intensify as the market begins to shift. As a result, and as we see here, companies will have to infuse innovation in every layer of the organization.

This line of enquiry presents some interesting differences at an industry level.

The government sector, for instance, is the least likely to have an R&D budget that contributes towards recruitment or talent management (31%). Contrastingly, 90% of financial services companies with this budget are able to access it for HR and talent management initiatives.

Generally speaking, those HR Professionals who reported that their R&D/innovation budget was put towards recruitment and talent management (TM) processes and activity were also more likely to use third party recruitment agencies for all or some of their recruitment.

Candidates are split on whether their current workplace is innovative Globally, 36% of Candidates think their current workplace is innovative, compared to 30% who do not. Of that 36% who do, 8% believe that their workplace is ‘extremely innovative’.

IT and telecommunications companies lead the charge here, with 12% of Candidates in that sector citing their business as very innovative.

Candidates are similarly conflicted towards their talent management department, though their reservations about TM’s ability to innovate are more pronounced than when it comes to the company as a whole, describing the department as ‘not at all’ or ‘not very’ innovative (41% TM to 30% company). While this is based purely on Candidate speculation, it is likely to tie closely to the worries that Professionals have over the wider organization seeing the value in innovation originating from their department (section 2.1 above).

“It’s vital to remember that renovation is not innovation. Sometimes, innovation is used as an umbrella term for any improvement that can then be labeled as ‘new’. We also need to consider that not all innovative methods are equally impactful. Knowing what is most likely to work where, and why, is invaluable.”

Leslie Jane Parsons, VP of Strategy & Development, Futurestep United Kingdom

That means extending it way beyond the initial recruitment process and making sure that innovation is present and active across the employee lifecycle.”

Germayne Cade, Vice President of Project Recruitment, Futurestep North America

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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2. The impact of innovation throughout the employee lifecycle We know that innovation is important to Candidates and Professionals alike, and we also know how it can prompt them to think and act differently towards potential employers. But where is innovation most important during the employee lifecycle?

How innovative is recruitment and talent management in your current workplace?

Current workplace TM department

11%

19%

18%

34% 23%

29%

28% 22%

8% 8%

To help answer that, we segmented the – often complex – lifecycle into three distinct stages: • Recruitment – the stage at which candidates are actively or passively sourced and hired into an organization

• Engagement – the long-term process of building relationships with candidates and helping to foster their loyalty to the company • Development – the ongoing practice of helping to improve and expand a candidate’s skill-set and increase their value to the organization Looking broadly at those three stages, we then asked Candidates and Professionals to state where innovation is most important to them.

Not at all innovative 1 2 3 4 5 Extremely innovative Base: All candidates

Experience erodes faith in companies to be innovative If opinion is split on how innovative Candidates’ current organizations are, they divide further when we look in depth at those who have moved jobs more often.

Experience seems to diminish belief in innovation; the more companies a candidate has worked in, the less likely they are to describe their workplace as innovative.

Of those Candidates who have worked in three or fewer companies, 39% believe

that their company is innovative.

This compares to 33% of Candidates who have worked in between four to five companies and just 31% of Candidates who have held roles in five or more companies.

Though the instant reaction to this is that employees become more cynical about innovation as they move roles, or that they become harder to impress as they see ‘more’ innovation take place, there is another, more optimistic possibility too: companies that are more innovative are more likely to retain their employees.

“There can be huge variances on how advanced organizations are when it comes to driving innovation across their employee lifecycle, depending on everything from personality and culture to geographical location. As a result, using Augmented Reality to attract candidates in the UK may be seen as ‘cutting edge’ whilst in areas of China, using a campus radio to promote a brand’s value proposition will be seen as ‘daring’. Adapting your message to engage, recruit or develop talent according to their behavior is all important.

Innovation isn’t just watching and observing the latest trend, or experimenting with the latest social media application. It’s applying techniques and ideas to areas that marry up against the way people behave with regards to their world of work.”

Neil Griffiths, Global Practice Leader – Talent Communications & Employer Brand, Futurestep

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

Where is innovation most important for Professionals?

Engagement is seen by Professionals as the most important area in which to demonstrate innovative methods within the employee lifecycle Innovative approaches are regarded as important at all stages of the employee lifecycle by Professionals, but Engagement was the area consistently chosen as the most important place to demonstrate it (43%).

Overall, Professionals also believed that their employees would say that demonstrating innovation at the Engagement phase was most important (38%). However, there was variation by sector. Professionals within Government organizations are the only ones who This may have much to do with the believe that their employees are most perceived sense of control that Professionals likely to value innovation in Recruitment feel here. After all, once a candidate is (37%), while Professionals in the Retail and present in an organization, an HR or Distribution industry thought that it was talent management professional is likely most important to demonstrate at to have more control over their the Development stage (35%).

Where is it most important to demonstrate innovation?

And where would your employees say it is most important?

34

Professionals’ beliefs about candidates

29

Candidates

19

21

Where is innovation most important for Candidates?

engagement than they would over their recruitment or development – two factors that always contain a degree of external influence.

Professionals

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

43 38 42

23 33

Candidates are more interested in the This is best understood from the ‘long game’ and the role itself, as opposed perspective of time spent in each of to innovative recruitment techniques these stages. While Recruitment may present a long-term task for Professionals, In line with Professionals, Candidates also Candidates spent a relatively limited feel that innovation is most important at amount of time there. As a result, their the Engagement stage (42%). Importantly interest in innovation at the Engagement though, they are almost equally concerned and Development stages is likely founded about innovation being demonstrated on both the duration of time they ‘spend at the Development stage (39%). there’ and, of course, the long-term benefit Subsequently, Candidates are much to them and their career. less likely to believe that innovation has importance at the Recruitment stage, That long-term benefit is more pronounced with just under a fifth suggesting it is for Candidates in both the Government best placed here (19%). and Manufacturing sectors, who show an enhanced interest in Development compared to the average (42% vs. 39%).

“Innovation can take on many forms: the insurance company looking for its future leaders through social media referrals; the technology giant looking to attract talent from its competitor by floating foam logos past their office windows; the global power business that inspired future engineers by building an engine out of Lego. The key is understanding an employee’s ‘current state’ across the entire lifecycle, and looking at the opportunities where a more innovative approach can improve the experience. Only then can the metrics associated to the current situation be tracked to show where innovation can improve a situation, and prove ROI.” Neil Griffiths, Global Practice Leader – Talent Communications & Employer Brand, Futurestep

39

Recruitment Engagement Development Base: All professionals (814), all candidates (4030)

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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What does innovation look like at each stage, both now and in the future?

Clarifying where Candidates most want to see evidence of innovation might help Professionals focus their aim, but it is not enough to produce actionable insights around exactly ‘what’ that innovation should look like.

To move the discussion to the next level, within the three stages listed above we provided both audiences with a range of tactics, benefits and management techniques that, if delivered in the right way, could prove to be innovative.

Across all three stages, we asked both survey groups to state which of these innovation indicators they believed would have greatest impact if employed innovatively. We then looked at which of these methods Professionals currently using, and compared them with those that Candidates believe are the most effective. Finally, Professionals were asked which methods they would like to use that they aren’t currently, and set their views against the tactics that Candidates want to see in the future.

Would the views of these groups match? Or are recruitment, HR and talent management Professionals investing in areas their employees consider to be irrelevant or ineffective?

At the Engagement stage, the choices were:

1. Flexible working (remote working, cloud offices and modern methods of working) 2. E xtra-curricular projects funded/supported by the business and/or Corporate Social Responsibility activity 3. Contact and communication from the leadership team 4. Creative office environments and working spaces 5. Sharing strategy with all employees and asking for contribution from staff at all levels 6. A highly technical working environment 7. A non-traditional or flat hierarchy 8. Performance related pay 9. Financial incentives (i.e. bonuses)

At the Recruitment stage, the list was as follows:

10. Non-financial incentives – vouchers, meals out

And at the Development stage, respondents were asked to consider:

1. Recruitment partners 2. Professional networking sites e.g. LinkedIn 3. Social networking sites e.g. Twitter

1. On-going training

4. Direct contact with a candidate e.g. email/Skype

2. Benefits and bonuses related to performance

5. Informal networking activity (summer schools/events)

3. Capacity to move internally within the organization (within different teams or departments)

6. Using creative interview techniques or assessment tasks

4. International secondment opportunities

7. Bespoke talent communities

5. Offsite company team building

8. Offline advertising (disruptive)

6. The company paying for formal qualifications training

9. Online advertising (viral)

7. The company paying for staff to sit formal qualifications exams

10. Creative advertising e.g. films

8. External training and coaching

11. Advertising on job boards

9. Internal training and coaching

12. Mobile campaign (smartphone/tablet)

10. External mentoring

13. Ambient/guerrilla marketing

11. Internal mentoring 12. Internal secondments 13. Secondments with other organizations to develop skills 14. Career path tools managed by the HR department 15. Career path tools managed by employees

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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2.1 The Recruitment stage What creates the greatest impact?

Creativity is valued by both Professionals and Candidates, but opinions differ on contact methods A degree of creativity in the recruitment process holds great store with both audiences. HR Professionals and Candidates alike say that creative interview techniques and assessment tasks are likely to have the biggest impact when used innovatively in the recruitment process (41% of HR Professionals and 44% of Candidates).

Professionals and Candidates: Recruitment methods with greatest impact used or experienced

For Professionals, specialized networking sites such as LinkedIn (41%) are popular ways of finding and contacting potential employees. This is broadly in line with Candidate perceptions, with 30% suggesting that they are comfortable being contacted in this way. That doesn’t mean that it is the most productive avenue though, with Candidates believing that contact via email or Skype would be more impactful if it were done in an innovative way (41% compared to 34% from HR Professionals).

“This is very interesting from a Brazilian point of view. LinkedIn has become very popular over the past five years, and has helped to improve the connection between companies and candidates. At the same time, there are still large numbers of candidates who don’t use social network tools. So in Brazil, for the time being at least, high-touch connections are still highly valued.”

41%

Professional networking sites like LinkedIn

30% 41% 44%

Using creative interview techqniques or assessment tasks

34%

Direct contact with candidate – email/Skype

41% 32%

Third party recruitment companies

23% 20% 18%

Informal networking activity – summer schools event Bespoke talent communities

18% 15%

Social networking sites like Twitter

18% 16%

Advertising job board

17% 17%

Creative advertising (e.g. films)

16% 18%

Roberto Spuri, Managing Director, Futurestep LATAM

Overall, ambient/guerrilla marketing (5%), offline advertising (6%) and mobile campaigns (9%) are all seen to be low-impact routes of communication

by Professionals, an opinion shared by a similar proportion of Candidates.

12% 13%

Online advertising (viral)

9%

Mobile campaign – smartphone/ tablet

12% 6%

Offline advertising (disruptive)

4% 5% 6%

Ambient/guerrilla Other None of these

2% 1% 1% 4%

Professionals

Candidates

Base: All professionals (814), all candidates (4030)

Different industries also view a variety of techniques as having impact when used innovatively Candidates within the Financial, Media, IT & Telecoms and Professional Services industries are more likely (37%) to believe professional networking sites like LinkedIn have impact compared with those in the Government sector (23%), all set

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against a global average of 30%. Those Professionals in the Retail and Distribution industry are more likely to think that creative interview techniques and assessment tasks (52%) or direct contact with Candidates via email or Skype (45%) would have the biggest impact when used innovatively.

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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Does perceived impact match up with real activity?

If almost two thirds of companies have access to a budget for innovation within recruitment and talent management, are they spending wisely? Are businesses putting resources against the things that Candidates say have the greatest impact?

Recruitment methods used tend to correlate loosely with what is perceived as innovative… but there is scope for more alignment Overall, responses indicate that there is general alignment between what HR and talent management Professionals are doing

right now and the activities that have the greatest impact throughout the employee lifecycle. That alignment is not complete however; there is clear scope for increased use of creative interview techniques and assessment tasks. These are seen as having the biggest impact by both HR Professionals and Candidates, but are only used by around one third of businesses.

The same is true of informal networking activity; cited as one of the five most impactful innovative methods, it is outside of the top five methods currently in use by Professionals.

Professional perceptions of impact against what they are currently using What would have most impact? (top 5)

Are they using this? (Top 5)

Professional networking sites like LinkedIn (41%)

Yes (41%)

Using creative interview techniques and assessment tasks (41%)

Yes (35%)

Direct contact with candidate – email/Skype (34%)

Recruitment partners (32%)

Informal networking activity – summer schools/events (20%)

Yes (43%)

Yes (51%)

Many Candidates see little variation in recruitment, and they crave creativity Almost one in five (18%) Candidates say that they have not experienced any of the recruitment methods above.

Vitally when Candidates do experience innovation, it is likely that they value it more than they see it used.

“Innovation is definitely out there when it comes to recruitment. One client I’ve worked with said that when they hire, they have to hire someone at least 50% better than they are. If that sounds hard to pin down, bear in mind that they have all kinds of metrics, measures and extraordinary processes involved in determining if the candidate really is 50% ‘better’ than the interviewer.

That takes a lot of confidence, constantly living to those high standards.”

Jeanne MacDonald, Chief Sales Officer, Futurestep Global

Candidate perceptions of impact against what Professionals are currently experiencing What would have most impact? (top 5)

Are they experiencing this? (Top 5)

Using creative interview techniques and assessment tasks (44%)

Yes (17%)

Direct contact with candidate – email/skype (41%)

Yes (32%)

Professional networking sites like LinkedIn (30%)

Yes (19%)

Creative advertising (e.g. films) (18%)

No

Third party recruitment companies (23%)

Yes (41%)

No

The Government sector is more likely to be utilizing more traditional recruitment methods Within Government and the Public Sector, fewer Professionals use dedicated networking sites such as LinkedIn (21% compared to the global average of 41%).

They are, however, more likely to advertise

Copyright©2013. Korn/Ferry International/Futurestep, Inc. All rights reserved.

Creative interview techniques (cited as impactful by 44%), direct contact through email or Skype (41%) and use of LinkedIn (30%) are all underused in comparison to their potential impact. Less than a quarter of Candidates experience creativity at interview and use of professional networking sites.

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positions on job boards (46% compared to the global average of 37%). For Candidates in this sector, only 12% had experienced recruitment through professional networking sites, which contrasts starkly with the 28% within the Financial, Media, Telecoms, and Professional Services industries, and compares to a 19% average.

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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The future of innovation

There is a disconnect between aspirations for the future and what Professionals and Candidates see as most impactful in Recruitment If we see a clear imbalance between impact and experience of innovation in recruitment today, it is a gap that looks set to be replicated in the future too.

Three of the biggest innovation impact factors – creative interview techniques, direct contact and use of recruitment partners – are outside of the Professional audience’s top five when it comes to future plans around implementation.

detail later), this doesn’t necessarily deter Professionals. A perceived low-impact tactic – the use of mobile campaigns – is actually one of the innovative recruitment methods most desired by those Professionals not already using it (23%). Mobile campaigns are followed by creative advertising (21%) and use of social networking sites (19%) as implementation priorities, despite having a similarly low perceived impact (for the avoidance of doubt, LinkedIn is not counted as social networking, but professional).

If Candidates don’t necessarily see the value in some tactics (and perceptions can be skewed, as discussed in more

Candidate impact set against what Professionals would most like to implement

Aspirations for the future vary between industry sectors What they think would have most impact? (top five)

What Professionals would like to implement (top five)

Using creative interview techniques and assessment tasks (44%)

Not in the top five but already in use by 35% of Professionals

Direct contact with candidate – email/Skype (41%)

Not in the top five but already in use by 43% of Professionals

Professional networking sites like LinkedIn (30%)

Yes (18%)

Third party recruitment companies (23%)

Not in the top five but already in use by 51% of Professionals

Creative advertising (e.g. films), advertising on job boards (17%)

Yes (21%)

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Within Retail, 30% would like to be using more creative advertising for recruitment compared to the 21% average, whilst Professionals within Manufacturing and Utilities were more likely (26%) to express a desire to use bespoke talent communities (compared to the 19%

average). This demonstrates some disparity between industry sector, but the top five remained largely unchanged – albeit in slightly different orders.

“One thing I don’t think we see enough of at the moment is recruiters of all kinds using the data they accrue on what’s happening in the wider market.

Some will be having as many as 50 interactions with candidates every single day, most of which will reveal snippets of information on their competition.

Those snippets might involve anything from business strategy to compensation drivers, innovation to talent mapping. The key is in harnessing that information and using it in two ways: both as a way of giving the wider business intel that it can use to shape its own strategy, and then packaging it up as a way of differentiating from the competition when it comes to recruitment.”

Jeanne MacDonald, Chief Sales Officer, Futurestep Global “One of our technology clients has shaken up the way that they conduct their interview process. Rather than repeating the same assessment techniques at each stage, they now use the different parts of the process as a way of getting to know different facets of each candidate. This helps them to get a more in-depth view of the candidate, but it also gives the potential employee a much more engaging experience. That’s good for the employer brand, as it helps them differentiate.”

Xavier Segrestin, Head of EMEA RPO Operations and Recruitment Solutions, Futurestep

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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2.2 The Engagement stage What creates the greatest impact?

Professionals and Candidates place high value on flexible working patterns As at the Recruitment stage, innovation in Engagement takes many forms. And, just as with Recruitment, we see certain ties between the Professional and Candidate view on how to achieve impact here – with some key exclusions.

Professionals believe that an innovative approach to flexible working hours (51%), contact and communication (38%), and sharing of strategy (34%) are likely to stimulate the greatest levels of engagement in the workplace. Aside from flexible working, Professionals tend to place

Impact of innovative methods in Engagement – likelihood of appearing in top three

emphasis on innovation methods that occur within the work environment, focusing on the dynamic between work colleagues and the physical working environment – neither of which directly impact Candidates outside of work.

For Candidates, flexible working (61%) and financial incentives (37%) were also listed as the top innovative methods that would have the greatest impact on engagement in the workplace. Other methods listed included sharing company strategy (31%), creative office environments and working spaces (31%) and contact and communication from the leadership (30%).

38%

Contact and communication from the leadership team

30%

Sharing strategy with all employees and asking for contribution from staff at all levels

34% 31%

Creative office environments and working spaces

33% 31% 27% 30%

Performance related pay

24%

Financial incentives – bonuses

37% 19%

There are of course, some clear differences of opinion in this area.

Professionals underestimate the impact of financial incentives (24% compared with 37%) and flexible working hours (51% compared with 61%) on workplace engagement in Candidates.

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17% 19%

Extra curricular projects funded/supported by the business (Corporate Social Responsibility activity)

16% 13% 11%

A non-traditional or flat hierarchy – organizational structure Non-financial incentives – vouchers, meals out

Jan Mueller, Managing Director Solutions, Futurestep EMEA

Copyright©2013. Korn/Ferry International/Futurestep, Inc. All rights reserved.

61%

A highly technical working environment

“Companies being perceived as innovative do not necessarily spend most money on R&D. Employees are looking for time to learn and investigate new ideas, they want to be encouraged and rewarded for creativity and they want to see their employers listen, take their ideas and make them happen.”

For Candidates, the highest value innovation can be found in areas that simultaneously enhance aspects of work life and home life. Flexible working and financial incentives, for instance, would both contribute to a better adjusted worklife-balance. Innovative methods in areas that enhance a Candidate’s work life are clearly still valued, but not to the same extent.

51%

Flexible working

(remote working, cloud offices and modern methods of working)

4% 9%

Professionals

Candidates

Base: All professionals (814), all candidates (4030)

Industry has little influence over how we see impactful innovation at the Engagement stage While some Candidates working in the Government sector thought that flexible working (69%) would have the greatest impact, those in Retail and Distribution valued sharing strategy (36%) above all else. Financial/Media/Telecoms/ Professional Services thought that innovation in the working environment

would be much more effective than the average (creative office 38%, highly technical office 24%). Amongst the Professional audience, there were no significant differences by industry, perhaps suggesting that they were considering working conditions more broadly across a workforce than the more particular conditions that would be experienced by individual Candidates.

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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Does perceived impact match up with real activity?

There is broad correlation between what Professionals say they offer and what employees say they receive when it comes to innovation in Engagement Professionals seem to employ a wide range of tactics to engage their staff.

Tactics in Engagement most often employed by Professionals globally are flexible working practices (46%), contact and communication (44%), financial incentives (38%) and performance related pay (38%). Other frequently used methods include the sharing of strategy with all employees (35%) and the development of creative office environments and working spaces (31%). While this spread of methods indicates a healthy attitude towards open thinking on innovation, it also serves to demonstrate that even the most frequently used methods are used by less than half of Professionals.

say they deliver. Candidates are most likely to experience contact and communication (44%), flexible working (37%), the sharing of company strategy (29%) and financial incentives (26%). Once again, however, issues of pay remuneration rear their head. Professionals indicate that they use financial incentives (38%) and performance related pay (38%) to engage staff to a greater extent than Candidates say they see in reality (26% and 24% respectively).

Those working in the Government and Public Sector are the least likely to have received financial incentives – probably due to well defined pay structures there.

And, indicative of their working environments, Candidates in the Manufacturing and Utilities sectors (and in the Retail and Distribution sector) are least likely to enjoy flexible working (both at 29% compared to an average 37%).

The Candidate view of what they receive is broadly in line with what Professionals

Thinking about your current job and company, which of the following do you experience/do you actually employ to drive engagement?

46%

Flexible working

(remote working, cloud offices and modern methods of working)

37% 44% 44%

Contact and communication from the leadership team

This opportunity is not based on Professional perceptions alone.

Candidates also see a more stimulating working environment as a highly motivating factor, though once again it is something that does not appear in the top five list of what they experience in today’s workplace.

Perceptions of impact against actual use What Professionals think would have the most impact (top five)

Are Professionals using this (as a top five)?

Flexible working hours (51%)

Yes (46%)

Contact and communication (38%)

Yes (44%)

Sharing strategy (34%)

Yes (35%)

Creative office environment and working space (33%)

No

Performance related pay (27%)

Yes (38%)

Base: All professionals (814)

38%

Perceptions of impact against actual experience

24% 35%

Sharing strategy with all employees and asking for contributions from staff at all levels

29%

What Candidates think would have the most impact (top five)

Are Candidates experiencing this (top five)?

Flexible working hours (61%)

Yes (37%)

Financial incentives (37%)

Yes (26%)

Sharing strategy (31%)

Yes (29%)

Creative office environment and working space (31%)

No

Contact and communiction (30%)

Yes (44%)

31%

Creative office environments and working spaces

20% 27%

A highly technical working environment

23% 27%

Extra curricular projects funded/supported by the business (Corporate Social Responsibility activity)

18% 17%

Non-traditional or flat hierarchy – organizational structure

12% 15% 14%

Non-financial incentives – vouchers, meals

None of these

Although Professionals are already implementing many of the innovative methods that they feel would have an impact on levels of engagement, one clear area of opportunity can be found in the provision of creative office environments and working spaces. Listed as having high potential impact on Engagement, but not

26%

Performance related pay

Base: All professionals (814), all candidates (4030)

one of the top five tactics in current use, it presents itself as a potential quick-win (albeit a possibly costly one).

38%

Financial incentives – bonuses

Other

More innovative work spaces and office environments provide room for improvement

0% 1% 3% 14%

Base: All candidates (4030) Professionals

Candidates

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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The future of innovation

Professionals seem to have less flexibility to deliver on innovation at the Engagement stage

to be focusing. Financial incentives, identified by 37% of Candidates as a high impact tactic, are not on the roadmap.

This is understandable given the still At a broad level, the outlook for innovation uncertain economic climate. Perhaps at the Engagement stage is positive. more surprising is the omission of contact The top three tactics that Professionals and communication from the Professional suggested that they would be prioritizing audience’s top five – a clear priority for a all fall within the five top methods identified third (30%) of Candidates, but seemingly

by Candidates as having high levels of less so with the former group than low impact if implemented innovatively. impact tactics such as performance related pay and the implementation At the same time, and undoubtedly for of extracurricular projects. differing reasons, there are two clear areas in which Professionals do not appear

Candidate perception of impact against Professionals aspirations for the future What candidates think would have the most impact (top five)

Are candidates experiencing this (top five)?

Flexible working hours (61%)

Yes (20%)

Financial incentives (37%)

No

Sharing strategy (31%)

Yes

Creative office environment and working space (31%)

Yes

Contact and communiction (30%)

No

“Who says all the big decisions have to come from the top? One of our clients had the idea that the best strategies and choices can come from any employee, from senior exec to blue collar worker. To help facilitate the exchange of ideas and information, they created a scheme to reduce their hierarchies and put decision making into everyone’s hands. As an example of that in practice, for the recruitment of a new senior manager, the third round of interviews was conducted by 10 more junior members of staff. It helped to get both candidates and existing employees much more engaged.

As a result of this scheme, the organization in question has reduced its staff turnover and helped to encourage a much greater sense of belonging. The new model has also helped them develop new products and win big international tenders. It’s a great example of why the idea of ‘sharing strategy and getting contributions from all levels is so important.”

François Godin, Executive Manager Industrial Practice, Futurestep France Industry differences also emerged when looking at what Professionals would like to be offering more of in terms of innovation in engagement. Globally, those working in Government (27%) were most likely to want to introduce financial incentives (despite the likely possibility that these are more difficult to deliver within government contracts), and along with

Retail and Distribution, the most likely industries to want to offer non-financial incentives (21% for Government, 22% for Retail and Distribution). Those working for Manufacturing and Utilities were more likely than those working in other industries to want access to flexible working practices (28%).

Base: All professionals (814), all candidates (4030)

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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2.3 The Development stage What creates the greatest impact?

Candidates and Professionals have a combined view on what innovation in Development looks like: benefits, bonuses and internal mobility within their organization Professionals indicate that if used innovatively, benefits and bonuses (42%), and capacity to move internally (37%) would have the greatest impact at the Development stage. Replicating the interest seen in ‘financial incentives’ at the Engagement stage, the idea that benefits and bonuses could be used as way of encouraging candidates to develop is understandable.

Other frequently selected innovative methods included international secondments (27%), the company paying for formal qualifications training (25%) and external training and coaching (21%).

Which methods of innovation in development would have the greatest impact when used innovatively?

Candidates also believe that benefits and bonuses (51%), and the option to move internally (43%) would have the most impact on employee development within the workplace. Furthermore, Candidates also indicate that the company paying for formal qualifications or training (34%) and international secondment opportunities (20%) would have high impact if used innovatively. Formal qualifications is one key area for Professionals to focus on; 34% of Candidates rate it as a high impact tactic when deployed innovatively.

While the two groups see eye-to-eye on the impact of external and internal training and coaching, the option to receive formal recognition is clearly important for Candidates.

42%

Benefits and bonuses related to performance

37% 43%

Capacity to move internally within the organization

27%

International secondment opportunities

20% 25% 34%

The company paying for formal qualifications training External training & coaching/On-going training

21% 19%

Internal training & coaching/On-going training

19% 19% 18%

Internal mentoring

9% 17%

Offsite company teambuilding

11% 14% 14%

Company paying for staff to sit formal qualification exams External mentoring

11% 5% 11% 11%

Career path tools managed by the HR department

9%

Secondments with other orgnisations to develop skills

11%

Internal secondments

7% 6%

Career path tools managed by employees

5% 7%

Other None of these

0% 0% 0% 4%

Professionals

Base: All professionals (814), all candidates (4030)

There are some differences across sectors between what Professionals and Candidates value

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Within industry, Professionals working for the Government and Public Sector are the most likely to indicate that the capacity to move internally within the organization would have the greatest impact on staff development (51% compared to the average 37%). In contrast, this is not an opinion that is emphasized by Candidates

51%

working in Government, just 39% selecting this method (compared to the 43% average).

Candidates working within Retail and Distribution believed that benefits and bonuses would have the greatest impact on staff development (57%) and those working in Financial/Media/ Telecoms/Professional Services were most likely to have rated international secondments as having the greatest potential impact on development (25%).

Candidates

38

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

39

Does perceived impact match up with real activity?

Benefits and bonuses related to performance (46%) and capacity to move internally (37%) are the methods used most frequently by Professionals to enhance the development of employees.

These are followed closely by tactics including internal mentoring, internal training and coaching, and the company paying for formal qualifications training (each at 33%).

As with innovative methods at the Engagement stage, less than half of Professionals appeared to be implementing innovative methods in the workplace in order to support Development, highlighting the scope for businesses to be more innovative here.

The methods of Development that Candidates have experienced are similar to those indicated by Professionals; capacity to move internally was experienced by 37% of Candidates, internal training

and coaching by 33% and benefits and bonuses relating to performance by 32%.

The next most frequently selected were the company paying for formal qualifications training (29%) and internal mentoring (20%).

Professionals thought that international secondments and external training would have the greatest impact on the development of employees in their workplace, though they are not implementing these as frequently as others.

As is the case with Professionals, the main area that could be improved in terms of innovation in development is accessibility to international secondments.

This innovative approach to Development is rated as having high potential impact in developing employees (20%), but is only experienced by 13% of Candidates.

Think for a moment about your current role and company; which of the following do you experience/do you employ with regards to innovation and development?

46%

Benefits and bonuses related to performance

32% 37% 37%

Capacity to move internally within the organization

33%

Internal mentoring

20% 33%

Internal training & coaching/On-going training

33% 33% 29%

The company paying for formal qualifications

29%

External training & coaching/On-going training

19% 24%

International secondment opportunities

13% 24%

Offsite company teambuilding

“At a UK level, and even more generally, there is a sensation that HR is spreading its net too thin in a highly competitive market. As we see in these results, HR is investing in a number of development methods without maximizing the outcome or impact of an individual method. There are clear gains to be made in focusing on high-demand, low-use methods such as mentoring, mobility and internal secondments.�

Leslie Jane Parsons, Vice President of Strategy & Development Futurestep, United Kingdom

13% 23%

Company paying for staff to sit formal qualification exams

16% 21%

Career path tools managed by the HR department

15% 21%

Internal secondments

15% 17%

External mentoring

7% 12%

Secondments with other organizations to develop skills

8% 9% 10%

Career path tools managed by employees

3%

None of these Other

15% 0% 0%

Professionals

Candidates

Base: All professionals (814), all candidates (4030)

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Talent with impact

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

41

The future of innovation

Perceptions of impact against actual use (Professionals) What Professionals think would have the most impact (top five)

Are Professionals using this (as a top five)?

Benefits and bonuses related related to performance (42%)

Yes (46%)

Capacity to move internally within the organization (37%)

Yes (37%)

Internal secondments (27%)

No

The company paying for formal qualifications training (25%)

Yes (33%)

External training or coaching On-going training (21%)

No

Base: All professionals (814)

Perceptions of impact against actual experience (Candidates)

As with Recruitment and Engagement, Professionals in the sample were asked to indicate which of the innovative methods they aren’t currently using they would like to in order to offer greater standards of development. The innovative methods most sought after by Professionals are international secondments (22%), external training and coaching (19%) and external mentoring (19%). Also highly desired are secondments with other organizations (18%) and offsite company team building events (18%). Candidates indicated that

international secondments (20%), and external training and coaching (19%) would have a high impact on employee development if implemented innovatively.

While external mentoring, secondments with other organizations and offsite company team building are not perceived to have much potential for impact

by Candidates, these still might be fruitful areas to increase innovation.

Low perceived impact here may actually be a result of low exposure to these methods.

Candidate perception of impact against Professionals aspirations for the future What Candidates think would have the most impact (top five)

Is this one of the top five methods Professionals would like to be using more of?

Benefits and bonuses related related to performance (51%)

No

Capacity to move internally within the organization (43%)

No

What Candidates think would have the most impact (top five)

Are Candidates experiencing this as a top five?

The company paying for formal qualifications training (34%)

No

Benefits and bonuses related related to performance (51%)

Yes (32%)

Internal secondments (20%)

Yes

Capacity to move internally within the organization (43%)

Yes (37%)

Internal and external training or coaching On-going training (19%)

Yes

The company paying for formal qualifications training (34%)

Yes (29%)

Internal secondments (20%)

No

Internal and external training or coaching On-going training (19%)

Yes (33%)

Base: All professionals (814), all candidates (4030)

Base: All candidates (4030)

Job types have a major impact on what Development opportunities Candidates receive Candidates working in the Financial/Media/ Telecoms/Professional Services industries (42%, compared to the average 32%) were most likely to have received benefits and

bonuses during their careers, whilst those working for Government experienced this the least (23%). Those working in more physical jobs received the least mentoring, experienced least often by those working in Manufacturing and Utilities (15%) or Retail and Distribution (17%).

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

While identifying the tactics that register as ‘low impact’ with those groups can be a useful way of evaluating their impact, we also need to consider that perceptions will be shaped dramatically by previous experience of those methods. Put simply, the less evidence that a Candidate or Professional has of a specific tactic being a success, the less likely they may be to see it as having an impact.

In practice, this means that while Candidates may suggest that ambient/

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3. Barriers to innovation

Experience versus expectation

In the last few pages, we’ve looked in no small amount of detail at the innovative approaches and methods that Candidates and Professionals alike place value in, want to see more of and, of course, already see evidence of today.

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

guerrilla marketing, offline advertising and mobile campaigns are ‘low impact’ methods of innovative recruitment, this perception is likely heavily influenced by the corresponding fact that only 7% of recruiters say they are using ambient or guerrilla marketing, 15% offline advertising and 8% mobile campaigns today. With such limited exposure to those tactics it is unsurprising that Candidates are unable to vouch for their impact.

Over the previous pages, we have seen just how important demonstrating innovation is to our Professional audience. There are clear gains to be made when Recruiting, Engaging and Developing Candidates.

HR, recruitment and talent management Professionals have a clear understanding of those gains and, even when priorities do not precisely match between the two audiences, they have an appreciable awareness of what keeps Candidates motivated.

While this finding doesn’t preclude the idea that when Candidates have experienced those tactics they failed to deliver an impact, it does help to balance the conversation. The future of innovation is discussed in more detail in Chapter 5 of this report.

Despite that, it is telling that few Professionals feel that they currently work in an innovative company themselves.

“Looking at issues of experience versus expectation is essential in seeking to understand how innovation can be converted into impact. Candidates clearly expect a higher level of innovation in terms of how they are engaged by potential employers. HR professionals also agree that innovation in talent attraction is needed, but less so than candidates demand it to be. The result is that it feels like HR professionals are more comfortable with incremental process changes, while candidates demand more; they want game changing innovation. When translated, this innovation gap will put those organizations that rely on the incremental approach at a serious competitive disadvantage.”

If not a lack of interest in innovation, just what is stopping Professionals from implementing innovative methods in their workplaces?

With only 4% of Professionals reporting that they face “no barriers at all” to implementing innovation, we explored the issue further.

37% of Professionals said that resistance in their corporate culture is the main barrier to implementing innovation. Over a quarter also said that they fail to get buy in from senior management teams (27%).

“ A resistant corporate culture is one of the main three barriers to innovation - and getting buy-in from senior stakeholders is also hard.”

What are the main barriers to employing innovative methods?

37%

28%

27%

27% 24%

23% 20% 18%

17% 12%

Leslie Jane Parsons, Vice President of Strategy & Development, Futurestep United Kingdom

11% 8%

There are no barriers

Other

We do not need these things

It is not clear what we would need to do

Not something that has been discussed

What we have is effective

Employees do not demand these things

No resources

No time

Fail to get buy in

Lack of experience

No money

Corporate culture resistant to change

4%

Base: All professionals (814)

There is also a sense that use of innovative methods was simply not likely in some companies. Almost a fifth (17%) of Professionals globally said that innovation is just “not something that has been discussed” in their company.

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A quarter of those in the Retail industry along with almost as many in the Travel, Transport and Distribution industry also saw this as a significant barrier to employing innovation in their workplaces (25% and 22%).

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

“Gaining buy-in to develop an employer brand can be difficult if the culture of an organization is risk averse. In this environment, a resistance to change the ‘norm’ requires a clear business case based on fact, figures and trends. This in turn takes time and resource if the benefits are to be clearly articulated at a senior level – but is well worth it. One client’s Chief Technology Officer recently commented at their Global HR Conference that they couldn’t achieve their business goals and revenue targets unless they attracted and retained engineering talent. The budget to sign off the phase two of their Global Employer Brand rollout was immediately prioritized. Barriers were removed, and senior managers bought in.”

Neil Griffiths, Global Practice Leader – Talent Communications & Employer Brand, Futurestep A lack of tangible resources is a key issue, particularly for developed nations There were several barriers related to a lack of tangible resources that affected Professionals globally to similar levels.

Almost one in three (28%) Professionals say that their organization has no money to invest in innovation (despite overall confidence around R&D/innovation budgets). A similar number say they have no time to develop innovative ideas (24%) and almost one quarter (23%) believe that they do not have the resources to develop innovation.

Absence of experience could be holding Professionals back Just under a third (27%) of all Professionals suggest that a lack of experience in their talent management teams acts as a barrier to implementing innovation. 12% say that they are not sure what they would need to do to start setting up innovative initiatives.

At an industry level, this barrier was most reported in the Telecoms, Manufacturing and Financial sectors (34%, 31% and 31%). While surprising, this may be indicative of those industries as a whole; simply, innovation is made more difficult due to the disparate, technical nature of roles there.

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

India presents an interesting dichotomy of attitudes – there is some confidence here that Professionals are already performing adequately in innovation Indian Professionals appear to be much more convinced than other markets that their current methods are innovative, or that innovation is not needed. A fifth (20%) of Professionals globally believe that employees do not demand innovative ideas from them, while in India this belief is significantly more likely – over a third (34%) of Indian Professionals believe that employees do not demand greater innovation from them. The IT sector was also more likely to agree with this statement (25%).

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Conversely, there are also markets that are significantly less likely to agree with this statement – France and the USA (12% and 11%) were places where the appetite for innovation from Candidates was more likely to be felt.

Almost a fifth of Professionals globally say that the methods they employ are effective, suggesting a belief that active pursuit of innovation is not needed in the marketplace. This is least likely to be the case in the USA (11%), Greater China (10%) and within Government (13%).

Once again, India is significantly more likely to agree with this statement (36%).

“Discussing the barriers to innovation is particularly relevant to the French market. There’s a perception that French businesses are more conservative, and that they are more comfortable with widely used traditional methods than less proven innovative ones. Innovation is a valued and sought after concept, but by its very nature it is linked closely with risk and change. That begs the question as to whether companies innovate because they want to be a pioneer, or because they want to remain competitive. Either way, the fact that so many companies in France have an R&D or innovation budget is promising, as it hints at a hunger for both.”

François Godin, Executive Manager Industrial Practice, Futurestep France

“The idea that lack of experience means lack of innovation is an interesting one. Change can be difficult and there are definite perceptions that recruitment is, and will only ever, be a high touch people-on-people business.

That thinking precludes the use of innovative tools or tactics. Combined with the idea that recruitment hasn’t had to “keep up” with innovation to the same degree that other services and industries have – say IT or telecoms – and it starts to become easier to see why innovation doesn’t always come as easily as it should.”

Dennis Law, Vice President, Futurestep North America

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

47

4. Looking ahead Though we have already investigated the future of innovation within the three key employee lifecycle stages, it is undoubtedly useful to look ahead more generally as well. To explore innovation more generally, Professionals were presented with a list of five methods and asked which they thought would become most influential in attracting talent over the next 12 months.

Professional communities are likely to become the most important influence globally in the next year Online professional communities hold the greatest promise for the Professional audience, chosen by around a third (34%).

Bespoke online talent communities have a similar level of importance for almost a quarter (23%) while mobile campaigns, despite having low impact and low current use, were chosen by almost a fifth (19%).

Viral advertising and online social communities (a much more subtle way of sourcing and recruiting talent) footed the poll, increasing in relevance for 5% and 16% of the panel respectively.

Which methods do you expect to become most influential in attracting talent in the next year?

Online professional communities

34%

Online bespoke talent communities

23%

Mobile campaigns

19%

Online social communities Viral advertising

16% 5%

Internationalizing those responses draws some interesting comparisons. Online professional communities are expected to become more influential in India (42%) while German and Chinese Professionals (25% and 24%) were the least likely to see their value.

Online bespoke communities are seen as likely to become more influential particularly in Greater China, where 34% say that their influence will rise in the next 12 months. Respondents from the USA

are less interested in this idea, where only 13% expect them to become important in attracting talent.

No market particularly thought that online social communities (as opposed to professional social communities) would become influential in the next year.

Viral advertising, however, may have scope in the USA, where 10% selected it as one of the most likely influential recruitment techniques in the next year.

“Innovation means different things in different places. The imperative right now in China is for line managers to be better enabled to interview and hire based on potential rather than current performance. Companies here are looking to hone their assessment process and considering some of the tools that they have available that can help them break away from the traditional interview and assessment processes. Clients are realising that it is costly for them to go through the recruitment process and then lose the candidate through poor cultural fit, misplaced expectations and so on. So innovation here might be better processes that help to counter a high rate of staff turnover.”

Chong Ng, Managing Director, Futurestep Greater China “Talent Communities have become a trending subject across the HR world.

It makes sense to engage talent on an ongoing basis, and to educate them regularly on the wonderful stories and successes a brand is having.

Will they work? Early adopters are excited about the possibilities, but companies that are resistant to change or already push jobs to their talent pools are unsure.

Once time is dedicated to looking at the business case, and learning more about the impact a well-established, engaged and inspired community can have on the quality of candidate, time to hire, and the increase in direct sourcing and cost per hire – that opinion will change.”

Neil Griffiths, Global Practice Leader Talent Communications & Employer Brand, Futurestep “We are expecting a huge innovation adoption curve among candidates and professionals – whether that’s the tools and technologies used by professionals, for example, or the lifestyle changes in candidates brought about by smartphones, social media or realigned personal values.”

Sreenivasa R. Yadavilli, Managing Director, Futurestep India

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

5. Conclusions and recommendations The innovation imperative is clear to see.

Globally, and across multiple sectors, innovation in recruitment and talent management has the potential to inspire, entice and engage Candidates. Moreover, innovation at all stages of the employee lifecycle has become an expectation; Candidates will actively seek out and engage with those brands that offer them fresh approaches to recruitment, engagement and development.

As with any opportunity though, the real priority must be on converting potential gains into real ones. Candidates place clear value on innovation, and they are equally forthcoming about the tactics and approaches that they find to be most relevant to them. The challenge for recruitment, HR and talent management Professionals is to deliver against those expectations and innovate in ways that deliver for both the business and the candidate.

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

49

6. Regional analysis As such, the focus for Professionals becomes clear: 1. H R, recruitment and talent management Professionals can align more closely with Candidate preferences on innovation Where there is appetite, there is expectation. Candidates value innovation at every stage; from the moment they consider a brand as a potential employer to the day on which they walk out of the door (and even beyond). Aligning more closely with what they expect from a company can be the difference between inspiring a candidate and losing them.

2. Professionals need to be more confident that they can deliver innovation that Candidates desire Across the board, we see evidence that Professionals around the globe are delivering valued innovation to Candidates at all levels in all sectors.

At the same time, there is evidence that Professionals do not feel comfortable or ‘licensed’ to deliver innovation.

For HR, recruitment and talent management teams to grasp the innovation opportunity, they need to be confident in delivering the changes and improvements that Candidates and employees alike crave.

3. The burden is on Professionals to provide proof to the wider business that innovation in recruitment, engagement and development has a tangible impact on Candidate attraction and retention Like any business activity, proving that it works is vital to securing long-term buyin and funding for it. With suggestions arising that the wider business fails to grasp the point of innovation across the employee lifecycle, Professionals need to demonstrate the value that it can bring to their organization.

Do innovative recruitment, engagement and development methods look the same the world over? Or do some countries place a higher value on different tactics and approaches?

Armed with the above knowledge of the global picture, we proceeded to drill

down into four specific regions: the BRIC countries (excluding Russia), Europe, North America and Australia. Presented below are the most salient points from each of those territories, compared and contrasted where appropriate with other nations and the world as a whole.

The BRIC nations NB: Countries surveyed in this category were Brazil, India and China.

The importance of innovation While Candidates find innovation to be a motivating force globally, it is particularly important in Brazil (89%), India (85%) and Greater China (83%). 59% of Brazilian and 69% of Indian HR, recruitment and talent management professionals note the ‘high-medium importance’ of innovative techniques, followed closely by 49% of Chinese respondents. Those figures all compare to a global average of 36%.

As we have seen, Professionals in all countries and industries see innovation as important at all stages of the employee lifecycle. However, in BRIC countries, the value placed on innovation was greater.

They are more likely to see innovation as important at the Recruitment stage in Brazil and India (91% and 90%), at the Engagement stage (Brazil 93%, India 90% and Greater China 88%) and the Development stage (India, Greater China and Brazil 94%, 91% and 89%).

Candidates in this region testify to the elevated significance of innovative approaches at these stages, though those in Brazil are particularly swayed. Brazilian candidates demonstrate the highest level of affinity with innovative recruitment, engagement and development tactics, with 63%, 79% and 87% supportive of such approaches.

What does innovation represent?

In the BRIC nations, we see distinct regional ‘flavors’ of innovation. Asked to state the key elements of innovation within a company, 75% of Brazilian Professionals and 70% of Candidates suggest people and staff. In India, products and services are seen to be the key point of innovation, just under half (49%) of Professionals and two thirds (64%) of Candidates believing this to be so. Chinese respondents are more likely to see innovation within company culture and ways of working, 59% of Professionals and 63% of Candidates agreeing.

That both groups independently selected these factors as the most important in their country reveals much about the ingrained nature of innovation in those regions.

4. Future spend needs to be matched to future demand, or risk being wasted Innovation without focus is wasted.

With one third of Professionals reporting a lack of funding for innovation, the importance of targeted spend becomes ever greater. Knowing where investment equates to impact is vital for Professionals, particularly as the available channels become increasingly diverse.

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

Funding new approaches

Gauging impact

BRIC nations tend to have greater access to a defined R&D or innovation budget, though Brazil lags behind. 82% of Indian and 72% of Chinese Professionals note the presence of such a budget, the two highest responses in the study. Brazil, while still high at 60%, falls short of the 67% of French and 70% of German respondents who state that they have access to this kind of funding.

The introduction of innovative methods would make 66% of Brazilian and 47% of Indian Candidates ‘much’ more motivated and likely to perform. Indian (58%) and Chinese (44%) Candidates are more likely than most to believe that their current workplace is innovative. Creative interview techniques are the most valuable method of innovation for BRIC Candidates at the Recruitment stage, flexible working at the Engagement stage, and benefits and bonuses related to performance at the Value of innovative methods Development stage. Professionals in the Evidence of innovation is more than region share those beliefs, though Indian just a soft benefit in the BRIC nations.

HR, recruitment and talent managers are Professionals are distinctly more likely to more likely to see the value in professional cite it as key to achieving growth targets networking sites (such as LinkedIn) at the (87% Brazil, 85% India, 84% China against Recruitment stage. a global average of 78%). Understandably, we see wider appreciation of innovation here, with an average 71% of Professionals in the BRIC nations agreeing that innovation in recruitment and talent management is highly valued within their company (global average of 56%).

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

Europe NB: Countries surveyed in this category were France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The importance of innovation

futurestep.com/innovate

What does innovation represent?

As a region, Europe trails the pack when it comes to the motivational power of innovative approaches to recruitment, engagement and development. An average 76% of European Candidates say that they believe the introduction of innovative methods will motivate them, the lowest of the three territories summarized here (though not far behind North America).

Contrasting with the BRIC nations, Candidates and Professionals in Europe are in almost unanimous agreement that people and staff have the potential to be the most innovative element of any business. 69% of Professionals state this to be the case, as do 58% of Candidates.

Skewing the picture here are French respondents, who have a markedly lower view of the innovative nature of people Correspondingly, Professional opinions lag and staff (just 48% compared to 60% very slightly behind those of their BRIC of UK and 67% of German Candidates). peers, 35% of HR, recruitment and talent As a result, the aggregated Candidate management professionals from the UK view tilts more towards innovation being believing that innovative approaches to defined by products and services (an the employee lifecycle are of ‘high-medium’ average of 62%). importance, 36% of those in Germany and 37% in France. Europe matches Funding new approaches precisely the global average of 36%.

UK Professionals have a notably low If there is a lower overall appreciation opinion of the idea that their organization of the benefits that innovative approaches needs to do more to be innovative, to recruitment, engagement and just 15% agreeing against a global development can bring in Europe, average of 25%. the continent performs comparatively Innovative methods at the Development stage are seen to be most important to Professionals in Europe, an average of 80% citing their importance at this part of the employee lifecycle. 73% said the same of Engagement, and 72% Recruitment.

Echoing the situation in the BRIC nations, Candidates in Europe share the view of the Professional audience, also placing highest value on the introduction of innovative approaches at the Development stage (70%), followed closely by Engagement (64%) and Recruitment (54%).

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well when it comes to funding innovation.

63% of Professionals say that they an R&D or innovation budget, with France leading the pack at 70%.

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

Value of innovative methods Perceptions of the impact that innovative recruitment and talent management can have on business growth are more reserved in Europe than they are in the BRIC nations. German Professionals are notably less inclined to see innovation’s contribution here, less than two thirds (64%) believing that it can have a positive impact on growth. As a result, belief that demonstrating innovation is valued by the wider company is drastically lower too, significantly less than that of BRIC respondents (49% Europe compared to 71% BRIC).

Gauging impact From the three regions considered here, German Candidates are the least likely to be motivated by the introduction of innovative approaches to recruitment, engagement or development. That is not to say that a substantial majority do not agree that they would; after all, 72% is still a very high proportion. The reality of workplace innovation is an issue for many in Europe, with around a third (32%) of

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

Candidates in the UK and 36% in France suggesting that their current workplace is failing on innovation.

North America

For Professionals in the UK, impactful innovation in recruitment is most likely to be the use of sites like LinkedIn (42%). Candidates tend to favor creative interview techniques (45%). The majority (42%) of German Candidates believe that direct contact has the greatest impact when recruiting, a view shared by 37% of Professionals. French Candidates and Professionals align on creative interview techniques.

The importance of innovation

At the Engagement stage, both groups are in sync on flexible working having the greatest impact (53% of Professionals, 60% of Candidates). And European Professionals and Candidates alike are most likely to believe that the capacity to move internally within an organization has the most impact during Development (the top choice for both at 39% for Professionals and 48% for Candidates).

In many ways, North America serves as the bridge between European and BRIC nation perceptions around innovative approaches to recruitment and talent management.

78% of North American Candidates say that their level of motivation is influenced by innovation, slightly higher than the European result but noticeably lower than amongst BRIC Candidates.

42% of North American Professionals say that innovative tactics in their field are of ‘high-medium’ importance which, while not approaching the heady views of Indian recruitment and talent managers, at least approach parity with those from China and Brazil. Importantly, 37% of North American Candidates are positive about the state of innovation in their current company, the third highest response within the BRIC, European and North American group.

North American Professionals share the view of the BRIC counterparts that innovation can have the greatest impact at the Engagement stage of the employee lifecycle, recognized by 43%. Candidates are less likely to agree with this, 76% citing innovation’s importance during Development compared to 74% who reference it during Engagement. While slight, this difference demonstrates that the two groups do not always agree completely.

What does innovation represent?

There is no doubt amongst North American Candidates and Professionals that products and services represent the most likely path to innovation. Perhaps indicative of a market in which Apple and Google are based (lest we forget, the two most frequently named ‘innovative brands’ that inspire Candidates and Professionals in equal measure), 69% of Professionals and 66% of Candidates selected this area as being most indicative of a business’ ability innovate. The Candidate response here was the highest from across the BRIC, North American and European landscape.

Funding new approaches While there is overall positivity about the value inherent in recruitment and talent management innovation in North America, the outlook is less optimistic when it

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comes to the investment needed to drive said new methods and tactics. Just 41% of Professional respondents from North America suggest that they have an R&D budget, the lowest by far in the territories reviewed here. This is particularly surprising when we consider that a quarter (26%) of North American Professionals suggest that there is room for their business to improve on innovation.

Value of innovative methods Putting the above finding into even starker contrast is the fact that 77% of North American Professionals believe that innovation in recruitment and talent management is key to achieving growth targets. At the same time, with only 47% believing that demonstrating these sorts of innovative approaches is valued by the wider organization, we can begin to see some of the causes behind North America having such limited access to funding for innovation. This is the lowest rate of response from the BRIC, European and North American regions.

Gauging impact Creative interview techniques, first choice for both BRIC and European Candidates when it comes to impactful innovation, are top of the list for those from North America too (49%) when it comes to Recruitment.

Candidates here also place great store in direct contact (47%) and the use of professional networking tools like LinkedIn (37%). Professionals in North America are more likely to value the potential impact of professional networking sites such as LinkedIn (55% compared to the global average of 41%).

At the Engagement stage, flexible working continues to hold relevance, with 63% of Candidates and 55% of Professionals citing it as the most impactful tactic – the highest in both camps. This alignment falls away at the Development stage however, Candidates clearly favoring the implementation of performance related bonuses (60%), a view that only 41% of Professionals share. The latter party are more likely to believe that innovation could be more impactful when applied to internal secondments or job moves.

Talent with impact

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The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

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Australia

The importance of innovation

What does innovation represent?

Value of innovative methods

Gauging impact

If Professionals in Australia see innovation as equally valuable in Recruitment, Engagement and Development, Candidates struggle to echo their enthusiasm for the first of those categories. While 76% of Australian Professionals see innovative methods as important in Recruitment and Engagement, and 79% at the Development stage, only 55% of Candidates feel the same about Recruitment (compared to the 71% and 77% who believe that innovation is important at the latter two stages).

An innovative company culture appears to be a particularly important focus for Australian Professionals, 49% citing it as such (tracking slightly higher than the global average of 45%). Expectations around leadership are also pronounced, with 45% citing it as a key innovation measure (global average of 37%).

Contrastingly, brand and marketing is seen as important to innovation by only 15% of Australian Professionals, well below the global average of 25%.

Australian Professionals track broadly in line with their global peers on the subject of innovation as a way of achieving growth or developing staff. At the same time, they are less likely to believe that the wider organization shares that sense of value.

Only 10% of Professionals strongly believe this to be the case. While a further 36% consider innovation in HR, recruitment and talent management to be valued to some degree, the combined 46% who agree is still one of the study’s lower responses.

Australian Candidates match almost precisely with the global average when it comes to innovation’s impact on their attitude towards a role. Candidates here are, however, more focused on the long game than their global counterparts.

45% see the value in their employer paying for formal qualifications (global average 34%). 43% also believe that innovative methods can help to build a sense of company pride that extends beyond the day job (global average 37%).

This disconnect does little to detract from the overall value of innovation here. 40% of Australian Professionals see innovation as being of high-medium importance, higher than their European counterparts and on a par with North America.

Australian Professionals are more likely to see the value of third-party recruitment partners in being innovative. 40% believe that these partners can have great positive impact if used innovatively, notably higher than the third (33%) that do so globally.

In total, 86% of Australian Candidates expect innovative methods to be demonstrated by employers and potential employers. Contrastingly, only 29% believe that their current role delivers that kind of innovation to them, one of the lowest responses in the study.

Just under half (47%) of Australian Candidates would consider leaving for a new role if approached in an innovative way, while 14% say that they are very likely to leave a company should promises around innovation go undelivered. 15% would give an employer just a month to fulfill that demand, one of the most aggressive responses globally.

From a Candidate perspective, innovative ways of delivering contact and communication from the leadership team are seen as impactful by 34% (against a global average of 30%), while performance related pay and highly technical working environments are seen to be less effective here than on average.

Copyright©2013. Korn/Ferry International/Futurestep, Inc. All rights reserved.

Funding new approaches Australian Professionals may see the value in innovative tactics, but they don’t often have access to the funding that can help turn them into a working reality.

43% (one of the highest responses) say that their organization doesn’t have an R&D or innovation budget that can be used to improve performance. While access to that budget for HR or recruitment purposes is relatively high (79%) when it does exist, the fact that almost half of Professionals do not have this kind of financial support to innovate is troubling.

futurestep.com/innovate

Talent with impact

56

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

Research methodology Opinion Leader, an independent research company, was commissioned in January 2013 by Futurestep, a Korn/ Ferry company and global industry leader in high impact recruitment solutions, to research innovative methods in the international workplace. Opinion Leader ran two concurrent online surveys, the content and format designed in conjunction with Futurestep and Harvard, to assess ideas about innovation, the shape of innovative methods in the current climate, and the possible future of innovation across the world.

One survey was designed for talent management Professionals, while the other was aimed at potential Candidates for a new job. Respondents to the survey were invited to take part through an email invitation after being screened as eligible for the research. The survey took around 10 minutes per respondent and looked at concepts of innovative methods in business at the three stages of the employee lifecycle, an analysis of what is currently being used by Professionals to recruit and engage Candidates, and what the future of innovation might look like.

The research took place between 19th February 2013 and 13th March 2013. The survey was launched in eight markets and conducted in the most appropriate

Copyright©2013. Korn/Ferry International/Futurestep, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

57

Notes on interpretation of data and sources for benchmarks language for that market.

The eight markets surveyed were: • UK • USA • Australia • France

All results are subject to sampling tolerances, which means that not all differences are statistically significant.

The base sizes of some sub-groups are small for some questions or groups (i.e. a base size of below 100 respondents), which means that any difference between them should be treated as indicative only.

Where percentages do not sum to 100, this is due to computer rounding, the exclusion

• Germany • Brazil • India • Greater China (an amalgamated market comprising Hong Kong and China) In each market, 100 talent management Professionals were surveyed who held senior positions or above, in companies of 250+ people. The HR Professionals all held one of the following job titles:

of “don’t know” categories, or multiple answers. Throughout the report an asterisk (*) denotes any value of less than half of one per cent, but greater than zero.

Data have not been weighted, as it was not intended as a nationally representative survey for any country or workforce population, nor are there any previous similar data to compare it to.

Professional demographics and large (those with 1000+ employees) was Professional quotas for each country were achieved; in Greater China, India and Brazil achieved, as well as substantial numbers in Professionals were sourced from companies many industries globally. with 250+ employees as opposed to 500+.

A roughly equal split between “small” companies (those with 250 – 999 employees)

1. CHRO/HRD/VP 2. VP/Director/Head of Talent/Recruitment/ Talent Management 3. HR/Talent/Recruitment Manager 4. HR/Talent/Recruitment Executive For the Candidates survey, 500 current working employees were surveyed in each market. All respondents to this survey were between the ages of 18 and 65 years old.

futurestep.com/innovate

Country

Total

Sector

UK

100 12%

Government

USA

101 12%

Financial

131 16%

Australia

100 12%

IT/Telecoms

130 16%

Germany

100 12%

Manufacturing

134 16%

France

100 12%

Media

Brazil

111 14%

Professional Services

India

100 12%

Retail

51

6%

Greater China

102 13%

Travel, Transport, Distribution

55

7%

Business size

Total

Utilities

31

4%

Other

91

11%

250-499

88

11%

500-999

301 37%

1000+

425 52%

Total 70

16

9%

2%

105 13%

Talent with impact

58

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

There was a 50:50 split between men and women and there was a broad representation by age.

Futurestep is the global industry leader in high-impact recruitment solutions; offering fully customized, flexible services to help organizations meet their talent and recruitment needs.

Country

Total

Sector

Total

UK

503 12%

Financial

316 8%

USA

500 12%

IT/Telecoms

470 12%

Australia

502 12%

Manufacturing

467 12%

Germany

508 13%

Media

France

500 12%

Professional Services

Brazil

504 13%

Retail

279

7%

India

507 13%

Travel, Transport, Distribution

194

5%

Greater China

506 13%

Utilities

277

7%

Age

Total

79

2%

392 10%

Other

997 25%

Gender

Total

18-34

1685

35-44

1020 25%

Male

2011 50%

45-65

1325 33%

Female

2018 50%

Length of tenure

Total

0-2 years

875 22%

2-5 years

938 23%

5+ years

2217 55%

CopyrightŠ2013. Korn/Ferry International/Futurestep, Inc. All rights reserved.

42%

59

About Futurestep

Candidate demographics A minimum of 500 interviews was achieved in each market together with broad representation by industry type.

The Innovation Imperative | A global insight study

futurestep.com/innovate

Our clients turn to us for proven expertise, a global process and infrastructure, proprietary competency models, innovative sourcing and attraction strategies, and a unique approach to measure and optimize business impact.

As a Korn/Ferry Company, Futurestep can meet a variety of workforce requirements; from RPO and project recruitment, to search and consulting, our solutions apply a truly world-class capability to deliver talent with impact, providing the experience and global reach to identify, attract and retain the people who drive business success.

To learn more, visit www.futurestep.com

About Korn/Ferry International Korn/Ferry International is a premier global provider of talent management solutions, with a presence throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The firm delivers services and solutions that help clients cultivate greatness through the attraction, engagement, development and retention of their talent.

Visit www.kornferry.com for more information on Korn/Ferry International, and www.kornferryinstitute.com for thought leadership, intellectual property and research.

Talent with impact

ABOUT FUTURESTEP

Futurestep is the global industry leader in high impact recruitment solutions; offering fully customized, flexible strategies to help organizations meet specific workforce needs.

Futurestep’s clients turn to them for proven expertise, a global process and infrastructure, proprietary competency models, innovative sourcing strategies, and a unique approach to measure and optimize business impact.

As a Korn/Ferry Company, Futurestep can meet a variety of workforce requirements; from RPO and project recruitment, to single search and consulting, our solutions apply a truly world-class capability to deliver talent with impact, providing the experience and global reach to identify, attract and retain the people who drive business success.

To learn more, visit www.futurestep.com

Talent with impact