N E WS
UPDATE
Phaidon staff reap investment rewards
WE LCO M E
LEADER
D
ebate around the ‘gig economy’ has risen to a fever pitch this autumn,
BY COLIN COTTELL
punctuated with blasts from unhappy Uber and Deliveroo workers about the nature of their employment. The expression ‘gig economy’
generally refers to having multiple jobs or ‘gigs’, with the inference that a lot of people have more than one job. Perhaps a more appropriate view of the gig economy is having a number of micro assignments – picking up and delivering a Nando’s, then a meal from Pizza Express – under one overarching ‘gig’, ie. Deliveroo.
“Surely there’s a way to modernise and improve this unwieldy tax and employment classification system”
That’s comparable to an agency worker having a series of different assignments from one recruitment company. Perhaps there needs to be a new classification for employment that falls between the definition of self
employment and full employment. What we have today isn’t working for workers. It’s not working for employers or those operating either recruitment agencies or companies like Uber and Deliveroo. Another example of this current confusion will be found in our article on p26 about issues surrounding the impending Apprenticeship Levy, where large recruitment companies must contribute to a fund that no one – the agencies themselves, clients or the agency workers –
AN £18M INVESTMENT into international micro-specialist recruiter Phaidon International earlier this year is already reaping rewards both for the company and individual members of staff. It also provides a strong platform to drive future growth by incentivising staff, Adam Buck, Phaidon’s executive chairman, has told Recruiter. Buck said the investment by global institutional asset manager Muzinich & Co and HSBC Bank in April “had been very positive” by allowing the company “to accelerate its growth”. Since the investment, which took the form of an £18.5m loan and a £3m working capital facility, Phaidon – whose brands include banking specialist Selby Jennings and life sciences recruiter EPM Scientific – has opened offices in Boston and in Chicago. According to unaudited figures released last week, for the 12 months ending 31 October 2016, turnover rose 48% to £49m, net fee income was up 27% at £32.7m and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was 66% higher at £6.5m. James Slipper, Phaidon’s International’s chief financial officer, told Recruiter the investment both rewarded managers “for getting Phaidon from where it was 10 years ago to where it is today”, and incentivised them and others to drive future growth. Among those to have gained financially are chief executive Harry Youtan; James Brown, managing director of Eurasia; Kieran Behan, director of North America; chief commercial officer Andrew McNeilis; and Buck. “The institutional investment allowed them to turn their previous share options into shares that were then sold, giving them a proportion of cash, loan notes (corporate IOUs) and new shares in the business,” Slipper explained. Previously, Buck had held 100% of the shares. Buck said the number of equity partners, who stood to gain financially from the firm’s future performance, had doubled to about 50. Under the rules of the company’s previous Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) scheme, only UK staff could really benefit, with the
except the government will benefit from. Surely there’s a way to modernise and improve this unwieldy tax and employment classification system that insists on jamming square pegs in round roles.
DeeDee Doke, Editor
Adam Buck
Harry Youtan
James Slipper
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