T H E BI G STORY S A M A N T H A R A M S AY T H E B IG STO RY CO R DA N T G RO U P
Work is also under way to develop technology to provide a direct link between the requirements of the NHS for staff and those healthcare professionals that are available. At the moment, Ullmann says the system isn’t working in the interests of society, as “there are occasions when professionals are held back and not offered [to the NHS] because it makes more money for both the worker and the agency”. Ullmann says eliminating the number of tiers between the NHS and health professionals will reduce bureaucracy and cost. “My staff become matchmakers, their role changes, they become people that understand the needs of people, whether its the needs of the nurse or those of the patient. The role becomes less process-driven and more people-driven,” he explains.
Beneficial altruism While altruism is at the heart of Ullmann’s vison, that is not to say that Cordant as a business won’t benefit from its new status. According to Mark Lavery, group managing director of medical education and social care recruiter Sugarman, a Cordant Group subsidiary, the idea of putting some of their profits back into the NHS is already starting to resonate with clients from some of whom both he and several of his recruiters have received “good feedback”. “First it was raised eyebrows, then it was almost like a light bulb coming on,” he says of their reaction. Other business benefits are already starting to come through too, says Ullmann, who points to how Cordant’s commitment to making a difference in wider society is resonating with candidates for roles in its IT department. “In the past we struggled to recruit; now we have people queueing up,” he says. “The competition for colleagues is fiercer than ever before, and people have a choice based on corporate standards and beliefs, and doing the right thing,” adds Jamie Reynolds, MD of PMP SP OTLI G H T Recruitment, the high-volume recruitment arm of the group. “The morals of a social enterprise will strike a chord with people of the highest calibre and might just give us a ▶ 1996 to present: Director and competitive edge.” executive chairman, now chief Ullmann says he wants Cordant energiser, Cordant Group Group to be a role model for other ▶ Previous roles included in the recruiters. While he predicts that other family manufacturing business, recruitment companies will follow KPMG and J Sainsbury. suit, he says it won’t be easy. “There are systemic problems that prevent listed companies from doing this kind of thing,” he says. This would require changes to Section 172 of the Companies Act, says Ullmann, something he says “is not currently on the agenda”. This refers to directors’ duty in law to increase the long-term value of the company. However, Kenneally says: “The great thing about recruitment is there are an awful lot of entrepreneurial characters who started companies that aren’t listed, and for them this journey will be a lot easier to commence. If they are like minded they can do it,” he says. It may be some time, however, before we can say for sure whether Ullmann turns out to be a dreamy idealist or a pioneering trend setter, who stole a march on the rest of the industry by being ahead of his time.
Phillip Ullmann
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