Mar / Apr 2021
Remote Risks How can you manage well-being, coaching & productivity in a more dispersed workforce?
Plus... The Future of Work Adapting to Brexit & IR35
INTRODUCING THE
TIARA TALENT ACQUISITION AWARDS SETTING THE STANDARD FOR RECOGNISING INNOVATION AND ACHIEVEMENT Enabling employers to showcase the incredible work they do in talent acquisition and resourcing. https://ta.tiara.talint.co.uk
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01 Leader
Does hybrid work for you? If everyone wants to work in different places and in different ways how can you effectively manage them while maintaining your culture and brand? page 30.
This month we explore one of the most important post-pandemic epiphanies for employers - that there is no one size fits all solution for their people. The return to offices really brings this into focus, with recent polls showing that a significant proportion would rather resign. After a year proving how productive they can be from home, and saving a fortune in commuting costs, there are many who prefer the new normal. There are many others, of course, who can't wait to return to offices who see remote working as an 'aberration'. Hybrid working has emerged as the new default option, but how does this work in practice? Does it help you make a decision about office space or length of lease? What are the implications for management, engagement, learning and development? These and related questions were debated in a recent PointSix roundtable on priorities for recruitment leaders. As the industry moves away from presenteeism, we present insights on how to build trust, monitor well-being and manage remotely in this month's cover feature from page 14. Remote working, and the technology to support it, presents new risks and rewards for employers. Some of these are explored by Future of Work specialist Andrew Spence from page 18. Brexit and IR35 have forced the TA industry to adapt to new restrictions on talent and driven innovation in talent tech. We present insights from recruiters and RPOs from our PointSix Predictions conference last month from page 34 - plus expert advice from our PointSix roundtable with People Group from page 38. Talent dexterity and agility were key predictions for 2021, with vendors having to provide a blend of solutions for employers looking at ways to scale their workforce up and down as needed. TA leaders share tactics on how to improve hiring experience at scale from page 26 and we look at how European TA teams are optimising tech and talent solutions to achieve agility from
We also looked at the new client and candidate demands driving talent tech innovation in a roundtable co-hosted with TIARA winner Odro, with some new perspectives on the role of video and personal brand in D&I from page 40. Alex Evans, Executive Editor
The best TA teams, HR tech, talent solutions, and recruitment firms have proved their value over the last year and we look forward to recognising them with our TIARA awards campaigns this year. Look out for information on how to enter and good luck.
After a year proving how productive they can be from home, and saving a fortune in commuting costs, there are many who prefer the new normal.
About TALiNT Partners TALiNT Partners provides insight, content, connections and strategic support to the world’s recruitment & talent acquisition leaders. We work hard to connect, collaborate and concentrate our efforts to ensure our events, experiences, consultancy and media solutions offer the best support for the talent industry. Published by Talent Intelligence Partners Ltd Upper Ground Floor 18 Farnham Road Guildford Surrey GU1 4XA www.talint.co.uk Editorial: alex@talint.co.uk News & features: dawn@talint.co.uk Advertising & Sponsorship: andy@talint.co.uk
02 TALiNT Scene TALiNT Partners' now legendary wine and cheese virtual roundtables brought together global agency, RPO and inhouse leaders to debate Brexit, IR35 and European talent trends
21st January - TALiNT Partners' Debra Sparshott hosts a discusison on the complexities of flexible contracts and how 2020 will shape both people planning and brand attraction in 2021 with a group of TA leaders from firms including: Ricoh UK, Harvey Nash Group, Unilever, London Business School, Mercer, Santander, Atos, Macmillan Cancer Support, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Schneider Electric, Reed Smith, and Virgin Care.
27th January - A PointSix roundtable co-hosted with People Group brought together executives from recruitment firms including Goodman Masson, Volt International, Fiser Group, MCG Group, Trinnovo Group, ManpowerGroup, The Curve Group, VHR, and RPI to share tactics and solutions for managing the challenges of Brexit and IR35. Read our review from page 36.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
03 4th Feb -TALiNT Partners MD Ken Brotherston and Employer Programme Director Debra Spashott co-host a roundtable with AMS on European Talent Trends & Challenges. Guests included Sofia Cymerman, Recruitment Manager, Uber; Shwetal Randive, Director of Talent Acquisition - Learning & Development, Radisson Hotel Group; and Menno de Groot, Program Manager Contingent Talent EMEA, Netflix.
4th February - Maxine Pillinger, Regional Managing Director EMEA, at AMS explains how HR and Talent Acquisition teams are having to develop a more agile approach to resourcing. Read more in our feature from page 26.
11th February - TALiNT Partners and OutMatch co-host a virtual discussion on the topic of ‘Using tech to drive agility, responsiveness and a better hiring experience’ for a select group of HR and Talent leaders from organisations including: EY, HS2, Investec, McDonald's, Ocado Group, Primark, Sodexo, The Walt Disney Company and Vision Express.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
04 TALiNT Scene Virtual conferences for world-leading recruitment, talent solutions and HR leaders offered predictions on talent acquisition trends and solutions to post-pandemic challenges
24th February - PointSix Predictions, a virtual conference for recruitment and talent solutions leaders, presented insights on how to adapt to new client and candidate expectations; optimise talent tech and new talent acquisition models to build long–term loyalty; adapt to new workforce and workplace trends; and maximise brand, training, and purpose to become employers and partners of choice. Speakers from Bullhorn, ManpowerGroup, LinkedIn and AMS share insight on new TA trends.
24th February - Odro CEO Ryan McCabe, Cranfield Professor Dr Emma Parry, Trinnovo Chairperson Ashley Lawrence & Amoria Bond chairperson Gary Elden MBE discuss post-pandemic leadership challenges with TALiNT Partners Programme Director Alex Evans.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
05 25th February - Supported by sponsors earcu, Sova and TMP, TALiNT Partners' In-House Leaders event on The Candidate Journey presented insight from speakers including Alison Westwood, Head of Resourcing & Recruitment Services, Royal Mail; Faye Woodhead, Executive Director, Human Resources, MSCI Inc; and Jonathan Tinning, Head of HR, Freemans Grattan Holdings (FGH).
2nd March - Access Group Head of Strategy Jason Martin joined PointSix Programme Director Alex Evans to explore the top priorities for CEOs and senior executives of recruiters and RPOs including Harvey Nash, NHS Professionals, Meridian BS, Cpl UK, HR GO, Claremont Consulting, and dp connect.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
06 Contents 08 News analysis
Contributors
08 Budget news in numbers 09 How did the Budget mean for recruiters? 10 Budget summary for UK employers 11 Why 12% of HR leaders don't want equal pay 12 Why workers need vaccination incentives
14 Remote risks
14 Should hybrid work become the new norm?
Nicola McQueen, NHS Professionals, P15
Affi Khan, Cpl UK, P15
18 Future of work
18 How can employers build trust remotely?
22 Tech transformation 22 How to avoid the classic tech pitfalls
24 Hiring experience
24 Building a great hiring experience at scale Melanie Hayes, Harvey Nash, P16
Ben Muwoki, SGI, P16
26 European talent trends 26 The new must haves in agile hiring
30 IR35 & Brexit
30 New risks for clients, contractors, staffing and umbrella firms and how to mitigate them
34 New routes to success
34 Recruiter solutions to compliance challenges
38 Vendor value
Andrew Spence, P18
Ben Gledhill, Thames Water, P22
Mel Punch, Investec, P27
Maxine Pillinger, AMS, P29
Kevin Barrow, Osborne Clarke, P34
Kelly York, The Curve Group, P41
38 What post pandemic client and candidate demands are driving talent tech innovation?
40 TALiNT Talk 40 N/A
Picture credits: Shutterstock, iStockphoto and Unsplash Cover: Unsplash Disclaimer: This publication has been prepared for the exclusive use and benefit of the readers of TALiNT International and other contacts of TALiNT Partners and is for information purposes only. Unless we provide express prior written consent, no part of this publication should be reproduced, distributed, or communicated to any third party. You must not rely on the information in this publication as an alternative to advice from an appropriately qualified professional. In no event shall TALiNT Partners or any of those contributing to this publication be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages or any damages whatsoever, whether in an action of contract, negligence, or other tort, arising out of or in connection with the contents of this publication. © Talent Intelligence Partners
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
Joining the dots of the talent ecosystem...
...to help employers find and keep the people they need talint.co.uk
08 News in numbers
Going up
19% to 25% Corporation Tax in 2023
700k+ The estimated number of people in the UK who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic
Going down
Need to know
£5bn
Government Restart Grant Fund to help businesses get going after lockdown
£25k to £10m Lending available under new business loan scheme announced in Budget
56% UK workers who think staff should be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 before returning to the office (Source: Glassdoor)
2 in 5
12%
Employers reduced staff hours in 2020
UK workers who say they do not intend to take a Covid-19 vaccine
(Source: REC JobsOutlook February 2021)
(Source: Glassdoor)
40.2% Year on year fall in openings in the top 20 female dominated occupations (Source: Adzuna)
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
1.33m Number of active job adverts in the UK at start of March (Source: REC)
10 Budget news
What does Budget mean for recruiters... Recruiters have welcomed the extension of the furlough scheme as a shot in the arm for business confidence but warn that the government still needs to do much more to get companies hiring again. The announcement that furlough would be extended to September was a key plank of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Spring Budget. Other initiatives that will impact on hiring include a £5 billion restart scheme to help businesses get going after lockdown and a new loan scheme offering businesses between £25,000 and £10 million. Also, employers who hire a new apprentice between 1 April 2021 and 30 September 2021 will receive £3,000 per hire, regardless of the apprentice’s age, and an extra £126 million has been allocated in England for work placements and training for 16- to 24-year-olds. Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), welcomed the furlough extension and deferral for VAT and business rates, saying it was good news for the economy and job creation. However, he pointed out there was no sign of a support scheme for owner-operators of small, limited companies, which had so far received
no help at all. “What we needed from this budget was a clearer strategy for tackling unemployment and resourcing growth,” he said. “There was little on the skills transition this requires, including reforming the failed Apprenticeship Levy so that it supports rather than hinders training.” Gender gap is widening Andrew Hunter, Co-founder of job search engine Adzuna, said the government needed to do more to encourage businesses to create entry-level opportunities and flexible working options. “The pandemic
£3,000 750k Increased cash incentive for employers to hire an apprentice, with no age restrictions
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
The number of retail, hospitality and leisure businesses expected to be eligible for rates relief
has created a cavernous career gap between men and women, and the old and young,” he said. “Job prospects are slowly getting better. Our data shows advertised vacancies hit 725,269 in February, the seventh consecutive month of growth, though job openings remain 22% lower year-on-year. But this is not an even playing-field. Much of the current hiring is for more senior roles. And opportunities are clustered in certain sectors - Logistics & Warehouse, Manufacturing, Trade & Construction, and IT - which have traditionally been male-dominated.”
250k
£126m
The profit threshold for businesses to be subject to 25% corporation tax from 2023
Funding for 40,000 more traineeships in England for 1624 year olds
11
...and for employers Employers have applauded the raft of business support measures in the Government’s latest budget. However, some have warned that the sting in the tail of increased taxes could ultimately “drive businesses away from the UK”. Delivering the Spring Budget, Chancellor Rishi Sunak gave the welcome prediction that the UK economy would recover more quickly from the pandemic than previously thought, with expectations it would bounce back to its pre-pandemic size six months earlier, by the middle of next year. However, he also emphasised the huge damage done to the economy, which has shrunk by 10% – the largest fall in three centuries – as more than 700,000 people had lost their jobs. Mixed bag for businesses The budget is a mixed bag for Britain’s business leaders, providing plenty of short and medium term support, overshadowed by the spectre of an increase in corporation tax to 25%, up from 19%, in April 2023. Only businesses with profits of more than £250,000 will be taxed at the full 25% rate, while those with profits of less than £50,000 will remain at 19%. Other key announcements included extending the furlough scheme and the 5% reduced rate of VAT until the end of September; £5 billion in business Restart Grants; a new loan scheme offering businesses between £25,000 and £10 million; and a 130% super-deduction on tax for investments by companies, enabling organisations to slash taxes by up to 25p for every pound they invest. Tax hike criticised Nigel Green, CEO of financial advisory firm deVere Group, said the budget will encourage higher earners to consider their “international financial
options” and will drive businesses away from the UK. “The Chancellor had to perform a tough juggling act. But stealthily dragging more people into the tax net and raising corporation tax might have negative, unintended consequences for the Treasury’s bottom line,” Green said. “Lower corporation tax helps job and wealth-creating business to survive and thrive. Instead of increasing taxes, Mr Sunak should have relentlessly focussed on growth and stimulus policies for businesses.” Tania Bowers, Legal Counsel and Head of Public Policy for the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), called for the government to cut red tape on business support in the short-term. “The extension of the furlough scheme and the announcement of a new recovery loan scheme to replace the Bounce Back support is welcome news that we believe will help strengthen the UK’s employment market,” she said. “As APSCo has highlighted before, though, access to aid such as this needs to be simplified and fast tracked.” Job recovery ‘a year away’ The government must provide business support beyond the end of the furlough scheme as a job market recovery will take at least another year, according to Lee Biggins, Founder and CEO of CV-Library. “Even if the Government's roadmap out of the latest period of national restriction is achieved, it's going to take at least another 12 to 18 months for the job market to recover from Covid-19 and a system that goes beyond the furlough scheme is vital,” he said. “Businesses need to feel confident that support offered will continue as long as needed as this hasn't been the case over the last year".
Budget at a glance • Extension of the furlough scheme until the end of September. Employees will continue to receive 80% of their wages until the scheme ends, but firms will be asked to contribute 10% in July and 20% in August and September as the scheme winds down. • A £5 billion Restart Grant scheme to help businesses get going after lockdown • No increase in national insurance or income tax, but a freeze on personal tax thresholds • Extension to the VAT cut to 5% for hospitality, accommodation and attractions in UK until September, followed by a 12.5% rate for six months to March 2022 • Corporation tax to rise from 19% to 25% in 2023. Only businesses with profits of more than £250,000 will be taxed the full 25%, while those with profits of less than £50,000 will remain at 19%. • A 130% super-deduction on tax for investments made by companies, enabling organisations to slash taxes by up to 25p for every pound they invest. • Hospitality and leisure businesses to pay no business rates for three months, then rates to be discounted for the remaining nine months of the year by two-thirds. • An extension to the selfemployment income support scheme to September
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
12 News analysis
12% of HR leaders say no to equal pay An astonishing one in eight HR leaders at large UK companies don’t think men and women should always receive equal pay for comparable work. A survey by HRLocker of 260 senior HR professionals at companies with at least 250 workers also revealed that eight percent of respondents claim to have knowingly underpaid someone on the basis of gender, with female (10%) respondents more likely to knowingly do so than men (7%). When asked why the two sexes should not be paid equally, the most popular reasons given were: • Pay should be based on skill not gender – 46% • Men tend to be more qualified for senior roles – 19% • Women don’t tend to work in their particular industry – 6% Meanwhile, 27% of respondents’ organisations have had a pay complaint made against them, by an employee, in the last two years. Also, while more than 80% of HR leaders said they had reported on pay disparity at least once a year in line with pay gap reporting regulations,
27%
Of large organisations have had a pay complaint made against them in the last two years
just 35% stated that they had reviewed their pay rates by gender in the last 12 months. UK behind in tech diversity Meanwhile, a global survey of more than 4,200 IT leaders has found gender diversity for top tech roles remains broadly unchanged over the past year. The 2020 Harvey Nash/ KPMG CIO Survey reveals the UK is lagging behind other countries for equality in tech. With 16% of its technology leaders being female, South America has 60% more female IT leaders than the UK.
Over half (54%) of female tech professionals in the UK, and 46% globally, say that the industry is not doing enough to promote female participation. Harvey Nash Group Chief Executive Bev White said, while there was no ‘single magic bullet, there were multiple factors that could help shift the dial, including remote working, mentoring, Diversity & Inclusion training and awareness, apprenticeship and entry schemes, better outreach to schools and colleges and positive messaging.
Jobs market on hold as workers sit tight Permanent appointments fell for the second month running in February, while growth in temp billings eased to a seven-month low as lockdown continued to impact hiring decisions, according to the latest KPMG and REC, UK Report on Jobs survey.
Overall demand for staff was little changed, having fallen solidly at the start of the year. The availability of workers rose only fractionally, despite redundancies, attributed to a greater reluctance among candidates to seek new roles due to uncertainty and concerns over job security. The report, based on responses 400 UK
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recruitment and employment consultancies, also revealed that starting salaries fell modestly in February, while temp wages were broadly stable.
KPMG Vice Chair James Stewart said: “The jobs market remains on hold with hiring decisions stalled, people reluctant to seek new roles and the growth in temporary billings has also slowed. However, it’s encouraging that it’s not seeing the big drop in vacancies or hiring that were seen in the first national lockdown. “There’s a long way to go to rebuild
confidence; but with the Covid roadmap to recovery in place and the Budget announcement to further support businesses and individuals, there is reason for optimism for the UK’s future workforce.”
The REC’s Jobs Recovery Tracker showed the number of new job postings remained broadly stable throughout the most recent lockdown, as companies wait out restrictions. Early March figures show significant growth in ads for home improvement roles, such as roofers and plasterers, in response to the extension of the stamp duty holiday.
13
Workers want cash for jab Four out of 10 UK workers say their employers should offer cash bonuses or other financial perks to get their Covid-19 vaccination. As lawyers and employee groups warn that ‘no jab, no job’ policies could result in companies facing legal action on issues of consent and discrimination, a survey of 2,000 UK employees by Glassdoor found 39% of respondents think employers should offer financial incentives to take the jab. The survey also revealed that 56% of employees think staff should be required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 before returning to the office; 12% do not intend to take a vaccine; and one in four would be more likely to do so if their employer provided incentives. London company Pimlico Plumbers has stated the Covid-19 jab will be “a condition of employment for all people who are able to have the vaccine safely”. Chairman Charlie Mullins told the BBC he was prepared to pay for staff to be immunised privately and it would be done on company time. Pimlico announced that each
member of its team received a £20 daily bonus, free lunch and parking, along with a swab test. Paid time off for vaccine Kathryn Barnes, Employment Counsel EMEA at Globalization Partners, suggests employers offer a paid half day off so staff can receive the vaccine or provide them with a helpline or workshops. “Under the age-old Human Right Convention, you cannot force another person to do anything – including taking a vaccine,” she said. “What employers can do is strongly encourage employees by talking to them, providing documentation and valuable guidance.” ‘Minefield of compliance issues’ Christy Hoffman, General Secretary of UNI Global Union, told The Washington Post that a ‘no jab, no job’ approach would be counterproductive. “To make workplaces safer, employers cannot take shortcuts, and that is what these proposals are,” she said. Tony Prevost, HR Director EMEA at Skillsoft, said mandatory vaccination “presents a minefield of compliance and discrimination issues.”
14% rather quit than risk Covid A Glassdoor survey of 2,000 employees found a significant 14% of workers said they would resign if required to share an office with unvaccinated colleagues. However, while 68% of those surveyed said social distancing and wearing masks should remain compulsory until everyone in the office has been vaccinated, only 56% said vaccination should be a requirement for returning to a shared workplace.
One quarter of respondents agreed that they were under pressure from their company to return to the office as soon as they have been vaccinated, yet 40% of employees said their employer has not yet communicated a clear plan to staff with regards to timing and policies. Only 12% of those surveyed said they did not intend to be vaccinated, yet of this group, one in four revealed they would be more likely to do so if their employer provided incentives.
News in brief AMS & Revature tech partnership to address tech skills shortage The alliance will enable clients to expand the skills of new and existing talent, as well as boosting diversity, through a focus on upskilling and internal mobility. Culture Amp and Personio integrate HR products The agreement enables Personio’s 3,000+ customers to leverage Culture Amp’s suite of employee engagement, performance management, and development tools to understand and improve the employee experience. Scale-up recruiters offered free Jump Start coaching package Jump Advisory Group, the REC and video interviewing platform Odro will launch a competition this April offering four prize packages worth £18,600 each. The 12-month programme will include half a day per month of dedicated coaching and mentoring, REC membership and access to the Odro platform. The contest is open to recruitment business owners trading for between six months and four years. Harvey Nash creates tech guru role to lead tech conversation Global recruitment consultancy and IT outsourcing service provider Harvey Nash has promoted David Savage to Group Technology Evangelist to spearhead technology thought leadership and digital strategy. Savage, who has worked for the group for 13 years, is also the founder of the Tech Talks podcast, which has featured conversations with over 200 global tech innovators.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
14 Cover Feature - Remote risks “People want to come back to the office, but will there be further restrictions after 21st June and what technology will we need to support hybrid working?” Nicola McQueen, CEO, NHS Professionals
Aberration or adaptation?
Working from home has been a necessity in lockdown but should it become the new normal and what does hybrid working really mean? Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon believes that home working should not become the norm. Speaking last month, he said: “It’s not a new normal. It’s an aberration that we’re going to correct as soon as possible.” He’s not the only business leader that feels this way, especially those with expensive offices to differentiate their employer brand, demonstrate their culture, and build team spirit. Despite the frustrations of home-schooling and work / life juggling, evidence is growing that employees expect flexible working to remain an option.
By Alex Evans, Executive Editor
RIGID ON FLEXIBILITY A recent study by Personio – which polled 1,000 employees and 100 HR professionals in the UK found that 27% of workers are likely or highly likely to resign if flexible working opportunities are revoked. It also found that 41.4% of workers believe flexible working arrangements will last, and 59.1% of HR professionals felt the same. The latest Harvey Nash Tech Survey suggested that tech firms should scale back their office space because 79% of UK tech workers (equivalent to over 1 million) want to work from home three to five days a week. But remote working isn’t an option for everyone. Speaking at TALiNT Partners' PointSix Predictions conference on 24th February, MD Ken Brotherston highlighted fairness as a future challenge for employers as only a third of the workforce are able work from home. “An increased sense of ‘them and us’ is emerging which could breed feelings of inequity and resentment, creating new risks for employers,” he said.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
Gender inequality is one such challenge, with women taking the brunt of childcare and home-schooling through lockdown. If men are more present in offices, and gain greater influence over decisions, they may have higher chances of promotion. Employers will need to balance flexibility and fairness. Like furlough, remote working has enabled organisations to keep trading but where it has been poorly managed there will be a lot of resentful workers consulting employment lawyers. Those pro-actively managing these risks will emerge stronger. “Our furloughed staff had regular contact with their line managers so that they felt included and aware of the news and challenges, which meant a lot to them when they weren’t working,” said Cindy Gunn, HR Director at Encore.
Work location and remote working is the now the second most important factor behind pay for those seeking new roles in tech (Harvey Nash)
REMOTE OPPORTUNITY With over 100,000 new IT jobs created since the start of the pandemic, according to ONS data, an industry has grown out of helping workers to make the most of under-utilized technology and enable employers to move to a more decentralised, autonomous, and remote workforce. TALiNT Partners hosted a PointSix roundtable in partnership with Access Group last month to explore the post-pandemic priorities for recruitment leaders from firms including Cpl, NHS Professionals, ManpowerGroup, HR GO, Volt International, MCG, dp connect, Harvey Nash, Morgan McKinley, Meridian BS, SGI, STR Group and Claremont Consulting. Remote and hybrid working was top their collective agenda.
15
“Out of adversity has come a lot of benefit,” said Jason Martin, Head of Strategy at Access Group. “I’ve seen a lot of organisations review and challenge themselves over the last 12 months and right-sizing in terms of headcount, tech and infrastructure. We have seen a lot of recruiters grow and perform more efficiently than I suspect they would have done without the pandemic to drive it.” Nicola McQueen, CEO of NHS Professionals, led a major tech transformation in 2020 to bring 20,000 healthcare professionals back to front line care – achieving in a few months what would have taken well over a year. Adapting to new workforce preferences is the next big challenge. “People want to come back to the office, but will there be further restrictions after 21st June and what technology will we need to support hybrid working? We have to go through another tech change because it’s easy to run a meeting when everyone is remote, but if half of you are in an office and half of you are on a screen the dynamics are very different. It’s harder to control. So the decision about hybrid and the tech to support it is critical.” The Covid catalyst has forced recruiters and TA teams to optimise talent tech tools for hiring, assessing and onboarding, but there are new workforce challenges around coaching, wellbeing and inclusion for tech to address. “Hybrid working is the new direction of travel, but it poses some new challenges,” observed Cpl
Uk CEO Affi Khan. “Good leaders have a high level of emotional intelligence and can pick up how people are feeling in an office, so new engagement tools are needed to monitor mental health and well-being outside the office too. Nicola McQueen NHS Professionals
Affi Khan Cpl UK
Jason Martin Access Group
“There’s also the problem of isolation and getting 360-degree feedback, especially on the performance of leaders. And how do you adapt your KPIs and culture to different people coming in on different days? Does it change the profile of people you hire? How do you onboard, train and develop them?” Chris Gray, Sales & Marketing Director at ManpowerGroup, explained that a pre-pandemic move to more flexible working had made the Covid adjustment easier for its people and they are now taking this further. “We’re now entering a new phase to see how we can join more systems up, make it more seamless, knock out the data pots to make one data lake, and accelerate digitisation.” Better integration and a more unified employee experience are driving innovation in talent tech, and not only for permanent employees. “SIA research recently highlighted that only 1% of temps were working from home pre-Covid and it has grown to over 50% during the pandemic,” said Jason Martin. “It’s forecast to remain at around 20% when we’re out of lockdown so there will be continued demand for tech that’s fit for purpose. Our clients are seeing higher profit per head and lower cost of execution from better use of tech.”
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
16 Cover Feature - Remote risks “Hybrid working is the new direction of travel, but it poses some new challenges. Good leaders have a high level of emotional intelligence and can pick up how people are feeling in an office, so new engagement tools are needed to monitor mental well-being.” Affi Khan, CEO, Cpl UK
so we can provide a good, local and personalised service as demand continues to return.”
Collaboration between HR, IT and Marketing has enabled recruiters to not only work remotely but upskill to meet new client expectations, but managers will make or break hybrid working. “We’ve helped salespeople who are used to face to face to adapt to social-selling, but we need to educate managers to adjust to new ways of coaching teams remotely,” said Melanie Hayes, Chief People Officer at Harvey Nash. “There has historically been a culture of presenteeism in many recruitment businesses, and the pandemic has meant managers have had to adapt at speed. We need to ensure we don’t go back to old ways, but we also need to support managers with new starters who have often learnt by osmosis in the office environment. We need to be more structured with development and coaching – whether people are in offices or not.” Like many firms, Claremont Consulting has had a policy of splitting the week to balance the need for social distancing with those who wanted to come to the office between lockdowns. “Half the team comes in for two days and the other half for two days with Friday as a work from home day for everyone,” said CEO Mark Baker. “While younger and newer members of the team want to be in the office and need coaching and training, managers have less need to be in the office and more reason to work from home – so we’re exploring academy and tech solutions alongside more structured coaching.” While ManpowerGroup has been reducing office numbers, HR GO has been investing more in its regional presence. “We’re not just concentrated in major cities so we can appeal to recruiter talent who don’t want to commute long distance and who do want to stay closer to home,” said Roddy Barrow, Group MD of HR GO. “Going forward, we still want to be local to our clients
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
Chris Gray ManpowerGroup
Melanie Hayes Harvey Nash
According to new ONS data, over 100,000 new IT jobs have been created since the start of the pandemic.
“We’re considering doubling our premises footprint because our staff our telling us they want to be amongst their peers,” added Steve Saunders, Commercial Director of STR Group. “It’s a rare breed that can do a 360-degree bus dev role from their kitchen or bedroom and our people want that coaching and peer learning in a more collaborative environment. Doubling our office space enables us to prepare for future growth but also return people to work in a safer, more Covid friendly way.” BUY INTO BRAND Wherever people work, whether it’s at home or in an office, they will need to buy into the company brand, values and purpose. “Clarity of mission and how that aligns to the individual’s purpose is the differentiator, pre and postCovid,” said Ben Muwoki, MD of Source Group International. “This has helped us to retain our talent because they have felt a deeper connection. As managers, we need to understand what motivates them to go above and beyond for us.” Technology will play an important role in enabling hybrid working, but trust comes from strong and visible leadership. “But what does the new leadership playbook look like?” asks Cpl’s Affi Khan. “Purpose is powerful but everyday values hold everyone to account. Using a values framework in our survey of how people want to work in a hybrid model means it’s easier to explain why we can’t always give them total freedom to work when, where and how they want to.” People want leadership and clarity of expectation, so make a decision about how you need people to work and every other decision about technology and workforce planning will follow.
18 Opinion - Future of work "The role of HR will change from a central organisational silo to a function that enables more self-sufficient decentralised teams. Workforce technology will play a key role in this transition."
Take five
Employers who want to enable a more productive and healthy workforce should consider these five principles for using technology to build successful organisations The pandemic has forced us to change how we work. Organisations have seen years’ worth of technology projects implemented in weeks. Amazing feats have been carried out in the workplace by teams in every care home, supermarket, and delivery depot. HR leaders have done a great job in the last year keeping our organisations going. The focus in the next economic phase for leaders of organisations will be to respond to the economic consequences of the pandemic. It will take some time for a vision to evolve for most geographies, industries, and companies. It is likely that future visions will include mergers, acquisitions and re-organisations as companies work out how they will be successful in the Digital-Covid age. When new corporate strategies are developed, they will all involve our people. In many walks of life, the capability of technology has long surpassed our ability to harness it. We now have face recognition software that can spot a fugitive in a crowd, we have social media networks that can disseminate news to millions in seconds, we can pay freelancers in cryptocurrencies. HR leaders are bombarded with media and marketing messages about using new technology in the workforce, so how do we make the best decisions? Here are five principles to think about when using technology to rebuild organisations. 1. EMPOWER WORKERS, DON'T SPY ON THEM With 40-50% of workers around the world able to work from home, it is now possible to measure a wide realm of data on employees.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
From location to keystrokes, eye movements to happiness apps and sensors in cushions indicating who is sitting down. Employers can now spy on their employees, but should they?
By Andrew Spence
A few years ago, The Daily Telegraph placed motion sensors under its’ journalist’s desks, without permission. There was an understandable and very public outcry. For those responsible for workforce productivity, it is important to measure employee sentiment and productivity. Research conducted by Organization View (see graphic) analysed text from employee feedback. From over 100,000 comments, from multiple sectors and geographies, they found that employees strongly valued working from home, but didn’t want to do it every day. We need to measure employee data in a way that is legal, which is easier said than done in some jurisdictions. It also needs to be both ethical and effective. In this age of advanced technology, successful organisations will be those that can build an older and fundamental human characteristic – Trust. Workforce Trust is a must for the type of organisational changes needed in the coming years.
"With new technology it is tempting to use it to make our existing processes slightly better. This would be a mistake, as some of the technology requires a fundamentally different mindset."
19
It is essential that workers are asked permission before using their data (especially if they are journalists) and provide technology that empowers workers to be more productive and healthier; but not to spy on them. 2. SUPPORT GREAT TEAMS We know from experience that the magic in our organisations happens in teams. Our current situation would have been a lot worse without the teamwork from those developing vaccines, caring for the sick or planning logistics for food and medical equipment. Yet many of the management, and HR, processes we have inherited from the 20th Century are focussed on individuals. From hiring to performance reviews, reward and recognition to employee engagement, and training. Over the next few years, the role of HR will change from a central organisational silo to a function that enables more self-sufficient decentralised teams. Workforce technology will play a key role in this transition. What makes a successful team? A mix of many factors including the individual team members, the context, the communication tools, the culture, the history and psychological safety. We are now seeing organisations using data to look at how teams operate, taking on board personality, team roles, and survey results. Apps like CoachBot can work out where team challenges are by using responses to questions and other data. The tool is used by the NHS and Unilever, and Saberr report team performance increases by 22%. Another method used by HR Teams includes
Organisational Network Analysis, a discipline that looks at actual team behaviour to solve business challenges around inclusion, attrition and productivity. For example, a Fortune 500 biotech company used ONA techniques from Cognitive Talent Solutions to identify informal leaders and also risk of employee burnout. Working out how to source and support teams will be a key skill for organisations in the future. 3. CAST THE NET WIDELY It is well documented that the pandemic has negatively impacted some groups in society more than others, impacting younger, BAME, female and frontline workers the hardest. The type of work we do has been a crucial factor, from being able to work from home, amount of contact with the public and income levels. Working with an employment contract and associated boss is not for everyone. Not everyone can work from home or work regular hours every day. In the UK there are about 5.5 million self-employed, which surprised some government agencies trying to work out furlough schemes last year. In 2021, we shouldn’t have to make the case for workforce inclusion for a fair and equitable society, but we still need to. Cognitive diversity will be a differentiator in competitive industries – getting the best brains and talents together working well in a team. Textio improves candidate responses to job adverts by statistically analysing the words used in the job advert, for example the term ‘work hard play hard’ attracted more male applicants, and words such as ‘adaptable and creative’
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
20 Opinion - Future of work
5. RETHINK WORK With new technology it is tempting to use it to make our existing processes slightly better. This would be a mistake, as some of the technology requires a fundamentally different mindset.
attracted more women. Increasingly our workforce teams are made up of freelancers, suppliers, automated solutions and employees. In sourcing work, HR needs to enable teams to make good decisions and this involves nurturing the best available talent pools; ensuring the procurement is efficient, and the outputs are measurable.
Consider a hiring example from when we had paper job application forms. As the internet arrived, we took all 30 data fields from the paper application form and made an online version. Bingo! But the user experience wasn’t great and not all the data was actually processed.
4. MAKE BETTER DECISIONS ABOUT TECH CHROs need to play a key role in digital transformation. One reason is that 70% of these programmes fail, according to the IDC. We know that one of the key factors for successful transformation of organisations is the people, so HR is in pole position to drive this change in our organisations with knowledge about people and change management, learning solutions, and employment regulations.
Then mobile arrived, and we took our online application form with its 30 data fields and tried to add it to a mobile map. Bingo! But, again, this didn’t lend itself to the new technology. In each case we adapted from experience and made better services. Some say the future of work is remote working – but what does that mean? The location of where we work is just one element in work design. This also needs to include the why, what, how, when and who. Future solutions for hybrid working will need to consider all these factors and include a more decentralised workforce.
Busy HR and Talent executives are bombarded with industry marketing messages form Big Data to Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Remote Work Tools; so how do you make a decision on which technology and tools actually work? Critically assessing a broad set of evidence before embarking on expensive technology programmes is essential. This doesn’t have to be particularly time-consuming, but seek views from experts, stakeholders, and scientific literature where appropriate. In the real-world, executive decisions need to get agreement in short-time frames. This approach can help gain approval and confidence from colleagues. Useful resources for using an evidence-based management approach include Center for Evidence-Based Management (CEBMa) and Science for Work. On digital transformation programmes, one way to cast the net more widely is to seek improvement suggestions from those closest to the products and services, your employees. Then critically assessing the best ideas and implementing – start small, evaluate and then scale rapidly.
So, when planning new change initiatives, these principles can help guide the decision-making and planning process. Supporting and enabling diverse teams will be key to most work situations. Ethical considerations around technology have come to the fore for modern CHROs, and also sharp critical thinking skills to cut through the marketing noise out there. Andrew Spence writes the Workforce Futurist Newsletter and tweets @AndySpence. https://workforcefuturist. substack.com/
The upside is enormous for leaders who embrace new technology, empower their workers and create a trust relationship. Workers will benefit by being more autonomous, more productive and healthy and so will customers. I am optimistic that after a steep learning curve, we will come through and build more resilient and healthy organisations in the coming decade.
Some say the future of work is remote working – but what does that mean? The location of where we work is just one element in work design. This also needs to include the why, what, how, when and who.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
RPO More Value Than You Think REGISTER NOW
Wednesday 24 th March 11:15am – 12:30pm Join our interactive workshop and discover the value RPO can bring to your talent acquisition strategy. Speakers will include Flogas Britain’s HR Business Partner Karen Birch and Omni’s Louise Shaw, who will demonstrate how an agile RPO approach can unlock cost and process efficiencies while making tangible improvements to candidate experience and D&I.
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22 TA Insight
How to triumph with tech
Ben Gledhill shares his top three lessons for presenting the best business case for tech transformation and leading a successful delivery Resourcing, transformation, and technology either inspire exciting thoughts about strategy, change and impact or dread, fear, and panic. It can transform how an organisation operates, deliver superior experiences and augment humans to perform better and faster, but we too often hear the horror stories about a technology platform or solution not making the grade, not delivering the expected results, or failing to illustrate any ROI. How can this happen despite detailed research into our needs, proper planning, good selection process and a thorough implementation? Common themes I hear include it does not live up to what was sold, it does not integrate properly and so creates more manual activity, or after service and support fails to live up to expectations. There might be bigger games in play, such as local v global, point v enterprise, Procurement v HR but any good Resourcing/Talent leader should be able to influence a positive outcome through clear, direct, and leveraged actions. I’m writing this seven days into the go-live of a resourcing tech transformation in my current and enjoyable role at Thames Water, with 6,000 employees and the added complexities of a regulated business. A brand-new applicant tracking system fully integrated into our HCM, a new onboarding platform and a new onboarding chatbot. All three aimed at delivering a better candidate, new starter and hiring manager experience whilst improving our overall strategic resourcing footprint with a solid and sustainable Resourcing Tech stack.
Ben Gledhill Head of Resourcing Thames Water
our function but our organisation. Build the business case by collaborating with your Finance colleagues to model ROI outputs based on activity producing tangible benefits. Far too often we stick to what we know, like time to hire and cost to hire. Most CFOs will turn that page straight over. Look at metrics linked to poor performance - cost of empty seat or failure to fill revenue generating vacancies – as these will get the attention of the C-suite and illustrate your strategic rather than operational influence. Remember, you are competing for investment with every other single function within the organisation. This is your time to become a profit centre. Dig into how Resourcing truly supports the strategy of the business and you’ll have ears twitching, cheques signed and recognition of your value to the organisation. 2. ARCHITECTURE, INTEGRATION, ROADMAP These three words are paramount in any form of technology implementation regardless of function. If product architectures struggle to line up and poorly integrate, it’s investment down the drain. Work with your Business Analysts and Architects to understand the art of the possible. Does the product roadmap continue to support both what is in place now and what might come down the line in the future? Does it fit in with our wider organisational application architecture? Tick these boxes and you will become best friends forever with your CTO.
Here are three key learns that I think anyone from Exec to Leader can bake into their current or next technology implementation to escape some of the classic pitfalls:
3.LOVE YOUR VENDOR Build a real relationship with your vendor. Become a partner and sounding board for future developments. Dig deep to understand their overall goals and values as a technology vendor. Look for synergies. Do not be afraid to challenge commercial proposals with counters such as offering to be a case study for their PR activities or being a testbed for new products.
1.CAPEX & OPEX Capex is long-term investment that adds value; Opex is day to day operating costs. Any cloud software solution should really be Capex as we are looking to increase the capability of not only
We need to be clearer on what we want, be constructive when things go wrong and relate to them as a true partner. Don’t fear asking the tough questions and pushing back as they will trust and respect you far more.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
24 Reed Talent Solutions
Winning TA strategies for our times
Unprecedented times may be the most overused but most appropriate phrase to describe what we have all experienced over the past year... The talent acquisition challenges that we faced pre-pandemic, from candidate shortages in all sectors, differentiating your employee brand for early talent groups, and evolving more attractive compensation and benefits, now seem like distant memories.
• In organisations that have had to increase recruitment to meet staffing peaks associated with Covid-19, how do you augment your existing resources and teams to deliver the best and most cost-effective outcomes? • Conversely, organisations who have been negatively commercially impacted by Covid-19 find themselves having to do more with less. How do you ensure you concentrate scarce resources on the strategically important actions and partner with cost-efficient providers for the transactional marginal value activities?
Now our focus has shifted to how to recruit effectively in a virtual world and deploy a new workforce remotely whilst still delivering an exceptional candidate experience. Reed Talent Solutions, in our capacity as talent acquisition experts, have had to adapt quickly and decisively to continue adding value to our customers. We have focussed our efforts on solving these new challenges for our clients, such as:
The talent acquisition landscape is rapidly evolving. Organisations require increased flexibility to choose not only full outsourcing options, but also the freedom to pick and choose services on a modular, on-demand basis to support their teams in the short to medium term.
• How do you continue to identify and engage the best candidates when recruiting against roles that may have previously attracted tens of applications, but are now attracting applicants in the hundreds?
That is why Reed Talent Solutions offer the following additional services: • On-demand – Immediately scale up your talent acquisition and onboarding capacity to meet fluctuating demands.
• With candidates placing greater emphasis on how an organisation has supported the wellbeing of its employees through the pandemic, how do you adapt your employer brand to keep it relevant? • How do you ensure that unsuccessful candidates, who could in some cases also be customers, continue to have a positive experience of your organisation?
To ensure your business is ready to face them effectively speak to our experts today.
• How do you engage candidates effectively through a virtual selection and onboarding process?
Daniel Youds, Solutions Director, 07712 881 119 or daniel.youds@ reed.com.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
• Full or modular – Use an end-to-end solution, or only select the services you need to enhance your existing team’s resource. • Advisory – Re-design your talent acquisition methodology for the new reality and support transition and contingency planning. As we navigate the roadmap to normality, these challenges are set to stay with us throughout 2021.
26 Hiring experience “Traditional hiring processes are in their nature rigid and inefficient. If you suddenly have to hire at scale you need to either quickly scale up your own team, or quickly outsource and bed that oursourcer into your organisation.” Chris Pateman, senior account executive, OutMatch
Zooming through volume
How do you build a great hiring experience at scale? TALiNT Partners and Outmatch co-hosted a roundtable with resourcing leaders for their view on how to make technology work harder It would be something of an understatement to say that the pandemic had brought about huge changes to the way technology is used in the workplace. The sudden shutdown of many physical workplaces in early 2020 led to an unprecedented digital transformation for many businesses. As the country looks cautiously ahead to a return to partial normality, many firms are realising they now need to bring a similar level of agility to their recruitment efforts if they are going to be able to compete once the economy starts to reopen. Chris Pateman, senior account executive at OutMatch, believes this will lead many companies to revaluate their hiring processes to incorporate more technology. “Traditional hiring processes are in their nature rigid and inefficient,” he told participants of a recent TALiNT Partners event. “The reliance on manual steps means that if you suddenly have to hire at scale you need to either quickly scale up your own team, or quickly outsource and bed that oursourcer into your organisation.” Since its inception in 2015, OutMatch has helped many companies with high-volume recruitment needs and has evolved its own recruitment automation capabilities to create what it calls a ‘hiring experience stack’, a layer of assessments, video interviewing and referencing checking that allows a more efficient recruitment process and provides a cohesive candidate journey, both pre- and post-hire. Improving the candidate experience will be especially crucial for industries such as hospitality, which have had to reduce headcount
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
due to the pandemic but are likely to have to hire again at speed.
By Joanne Christie
As one HR Director from the hospitality industry commented: “How we go about getting people back into the business and how we go about selecting and recruiting is going to be a challenge because our competitors will be in similar positions to us and we are all going to be fighting for great talent.” In preparation for this, he said the company was piloting talent optimisation software. “We are starting to look at how we use technology more to try and make better assessment decisions.” Another Resourcing Leader in the construction industry said: ‘’Given the mass volume of applications we receive, we are looking at upgrading our recruiting technology to help with some of the sifting that the team is having to do through CVs and applications and interviews. We are just doing far too many Teams interviews’’. This sentiment was echoed by other attendees. One upside of the pandemic is that it has facilitated positive change. McDonald’s Market
“Anxiety has heightened with new starters so that is the reason why we bought in automation. We now have a 24/7 comms capability with all our new starters so people can ask questions about onboarding, our culture and our brand.” Ben Gledhill, Head of Resourcing, Thames Water
Talent Lead, Drue Hammond, said: ‘’The relationship with franchisees is a crucial element of our business, we have worked together to improve virtual recruitment and on boarding. This has resulted in positive feedback all round and will form part of our thinking as to how our candidate experience continues to evolve.” Will Hamilton, CMO at OutMatch, pointed out that necessity had driven similar changes across other industries. “Financial services contact centres went remote, fast. Previously they said it couldn’t be done for regulatory reasons but it happened because it had to.” CULTURE CONUNDRUM But the downside of all this rapid change is that some staff are struggling to adapt to the new ways of working. With existing employees, it is perhaps easier to help people adjust to remote working as they are more familiar with an organisation’s culture. But panellists reported that many new hires are struggling. This has been a particular problem with graduates, said Mel Punch, Head of UK careers at Investec. “Our grads who we onboarded in September during lockdown, some of the feedback we get is that they don’t feel connected, they don’t understand the culture. The conundrum at the moment is how you get them to feel they are part of Investec.” EY’s Head of Student Recruitment James Gordanifar reported a similar problem with the 1,000 graduates and apprentices the firm had taken on last September. At Thames Water, Head of Resourcing Ben Gledhill said the company had implemented
chat bots to try to overcome some of the issues.
Chris Pateman OutMatch
Ben Gledhill Thames Water
“One thing that we noticed is that anxiety has heightened with new starters so that is the reason why we bought in automation. We now have a 24/7 comms capability with all our new starters so rather than stressing on a Saturday or a Sunday and not being able to get through to anybody, people can ask questions about onboarding, our culture and our brand.” DREADED DROP-OUTS But while this type of technology will undoubtedly assist employee retention, it seems employers also need to go back a step further. One big problem reported by those on the panel was an increase in the number of candidates accepting a job but then dropping out before taking up their role. The Chief People Officer from a tech services business agreed this was something that had become an increasing issue for them. They had added 5,000 new employees in the last year, and are seeing much higher levels of dropouts of acceptance than we ever saw previously.”
Mel Punch Investec
Their response has been to create a ‘preboarding team’ which has made a huge difference in terms of getting people to join the business and not get cold feet between accepting and starting.” It seems there are a number of pain points in the hiring and onboarding processes and while technology can undoubtedly play a big role in overcoming these, there’s also still a need for human intervention. Finding the right balance between the two will be a key challenge for recruiters in the coming year.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
28 European talent trends
“You can't hire your way to success anymore, so how do you really utilise the internal employees that you have?” Rohit Joshi, Group Head – Talent Acquisition and Identification, Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling Company
The new must have
The pandemic has forced organisations to be agile in ways that many would never have thought possible a short time ago: what does this mean for HR and Talent Acquisition teams? Recruitment agility was the topic of an insightful TALiNT Partners and AMS roundtable held on 4th February for talent leaders in the Netherlands. The event attracted representatives from a wide range of organisations with a substantial EMEA and international presence, including Netflix, Uber, NATO, Philips, Boskalis and Teva Pharmaceuticals, to network and discuss the key challenges they face in rapidly changing markets. The evening was hosted by TALiNT Partners Managing Director Ken Brotherston and TALiNT Employer Programme Director Debra Sparshott, alongside Maxine Pillinger, Regional Managing Director EMEA; Jamie Pirie, Head of Sales; and Emiel van Broekhoven, Regional Operations Director EMEA, representing global total workforce solutions firm AMS, formerly known as Alexander Mann Solutions. Participants included a wide range of HR and Talent Acquisition leaders from a broad range of sectors including consumer goods, technology, care services, engineering and defence. Scale up, scale down, what next? Improving operational agility and flexibility was cited as a top priority for 56% of more than 3,000 CEOs and senior public sector leaders in a recent IBM Institute for Business Value research project. The experience of European talent leaders at the roundtable demonstrated this lesson had been hard won, with numerous accounts of having to rapidly upscale and descale high volume hiring as a result of Covid-19. The massive operational
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
By Dawn Gibson Features Editor
disruption and the subsequent stop-start nature of recruitment in 2020 had given way to continued uncertainty in 2021, even as demand for products and services bounced back. The increased focus on cost-saving posed an additional challenge – is it possible to hire with more agility and efficiency, while simultaneously maintaining quality and keeping costs down? Agility for HR and talent acquisition teams has three fundamental aspects, according to Maxine Pillinger, Regional MD EMEA for AMS. “It’s making sure that your organisation can get to talent quickly, it’s the cost of lost opportunity if you do not get the right talent into your organisation at the right time, and it’s speed to competency,” she said. “That agility can be enhanced by talent acquisition and management as organisations become more digital, driving efficiency, higher candidate experience, and enhanced hiring manager experience.” MORE INTEGRATED APPROACH As Covid-19 has prompted HR and talent acquisition teams to work closely together, many organisations are considering a more integrated approach to hiring. Maarten Hansson, Head of Workforce Strategy for Philips, explained how the company had embarked on a ‘total workforce for strategy journey’ three years ago, encompassing full-time and contingent workers and considering drivers such as skill set, location strategy and automation. “Dependent on the workforce demands and the characteristics we determine: What is the best solution to fulfil that need?” he said. “When it comes to agility and Covid, this is
the moment when HR is really able to make a huge impact because workforce for all companies is one of the biggest costs and one of the biggest decisive factors for success. So, we have a great opportunity to look more integrally at that workforce, mix and location to drive that.” EFFECTIVE INTERNAL MOBILITY Some companies have become more agile because the pandemic has encouraged flexibility – suddenly, old rules are no longer seen as written in stone. However, this of course depends on the nature of your operation; while Netflix, for example, embedded agility in its company culture well before Covid-19, government organisations and stringently regulated industries such as health and pharmaceuticals do not have the same scope to pivot quickly or bend the rules.
Rohit Joshi, Coca Cola
Maxine Pillinger, AMS
Elif Tuncer, Talent Director for global lighting group Signify, said they had a successful long-term track record for internal hiring, but it was still a struggle sometimes to release talent from one place to another within the organisation. “We share the same challenge of upskilling and reskilling and how to do it in a more agile way,” she said. “If we bring in that perspective of skills, it is even more of a challenge for hiring managers, but that's the transition that we need to have.” Other top priorities for talent leaders include creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce and technology investment, specifically digitisation, AI, robotics and automation.
However, regardless of core business, talent leaders strongly agreed that a key part of agility is successfully leveraging internal mobility. “Very quickly you realise you can't hire your way to success anymore, so how do you really utilise the internal employees that you have?” queried Rohit Joshi, Group Head – Talent Acquisition and
Identification for the Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling Company. “The whole talent marketplace initiative is extremely big for us. We have been trying out ideas this year with transferable skills and projects, and we're going to be investing quite a bit in this in the coming two to three years.”
Elif Tuncer, Signify
We have entered a crucial transition phase for the new way of working, but many organisations are still figuring out how they will adjust their attraction strategies and EVPs. While it is unlikely
“Agility is about making sure that your organisation can get to talent quickly, it’s the cost of lost opportunity if you do not get the right talent into your organisation at the right time, and it’s speed to competency.” Maxine Pillinger, Regional Managing Director EMEA, AMS
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
30 European talent trends
Overcoming the barriers to agility
What we see now is that new people looking to join the company are all for hybrid. It seems that there has been a big mind shift.” nine-to-five office culture will remain the norm, what will take its place is a work in progress: will we be largely working remotely or is a hybrid model more productive? Some CEOs are concerned that a permanent shift to remote working will stifle innovation and collaboration; others are convinced that the last year has proven that business as usual can continue without the need to set foot in an office. Candidate preference is another factor. “What we see now is that new people looking to join the company are all for hybrid,” remarked one of the guests. “If we tell people we want them to move to the Netherlands and be on campus every single day, they’re not that interested anymore. It seems that there has been a big mind shift.” There has also been a big mind shift regarding whether it is necessary to relocate talent internationally, underlined by the disruption caused to widely dispersed global teams when Covid-19 struck. Tapping into local talent could be a less risky, more cost-efficient solution. LOOKING FORWARD There are a plethora of challenges facing the talent sector in 2021, and no definitive answers. However, organisations able to enhance agility through internal mobility, digitalisation and integrated workforce strategies will have a sturdy foundation to differentiate themselves as an employer of choice in a swiftly evolving labour market. We’ve learnt over the past 12 months that remote working is completely do-able. We’ve also learnt that it’s essential for us to maintain a connection with like-minded people and interact with them socially.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
Mike Lander, Piscari
Mike Lander is the founder of Piscari which works with suppliers of recruitment industry solutions to negotiate better deals with their clients, especially when procurement are involved. Mike explains how companies can scale their workforce up or down: What are the challenges facing businesses that want a more agile workforce? We’ve been talking about agility since 2000 (ref Microsoft announcement around .NET enabling enterprise agility Nov 2000) so the concept isn’t new. What’s new is the access to scalable technology solutions that enable organisations to have more agile workforces. The key challenges as I see them are: • Defining and executing a workforce strategy that blends perm, contractor, on-demand and Statement of Work (SoW) • Supply side recruitment agencies developing deep expertise in providing worker-ondemand and SoW solutions. The skills and associated risks are completely different to more traditional recruitment firm models • C-suite leadership and a willingness to experiment with resourcing solutions How can tech make the process easier? SaaS solutions need to enable the end-to-end source-deploy-offboard process and integrate with enterprise systems. The challenges are: • Inter-connectivity of systems; more plug and play solutions are required. • User acceptance/usage – the user experience and interface (UX/UI) need to be as simple as using Amazon. • Security concerns for enterprise IT groups. How can organisations switch freelance/gig talent on and off as needed? A key challenge with workers-on-demand is quality assurance and continuity. • How do we know the worker we’ve sourced is going to deliver a high quality service? • How can we manage a pool of remote workers to ensure we hit our deadlines? • What happens if we need follow-up work done and they’ve simply vanished Do businesses really need a physical office space now? I don’t think it’s about need any more. I think it’s about belonging/community/interaction.
32 IR35 & Brexit
Fail to prepare
Those hoping for a further delay in the enforcement of IR35 tax changes will be sorely disappointed. We explore new risks for clients, contractors, staffing and umbrella firms. With the perfect storm of Brexit, Covid and furlough, the 12-month grace period to prepare for IR35 changes to off-payroll working rules was widely welcomed. As the 6th April deadline looms large, it seems that denial and hopes for delay will leave many unprepared. A recent poll of over 500 self-employed workers by EY TaxChat found that 72% of impacted contractors had not yet made any preparations ahead of the deadline and 36% were unaware of the upcoming changes to off-payroll working rules. Only 32% of contractors had taken action and 44% wanted the Government to delay the changes once more. “It is unhelpful to both the contractor and end user population that some in the sector are suggesting that the IR35 reforms in the private sector will be further delayed beyond the 6th April,” said FCSA Chief Executive Phil Pluck. “This is not the case and as a result the vast majority of end users have not applied a status determination to their outsourced roles. Others think that they can avoid any liability in doing so by passing this decision on to agencies or umbrella employers. They cannot.” Speaking at TALiNT Partners PointSix Predictions event on 24th February, Kevin Barrow, a partner at law firm Osborne Clarke, clarified this latter point: “IR35 is already law. It can’t be cancelled without primary legislation and it comes into force on 6th April.” END-USER LIABILITY There was guidance in the summer under the Finance Act 2020 in which it became clear that end-users would be liable even if they do everything right with Status Determination Statements (SDS) and if they engage a contractor
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
through an intermediary who does not pay the PAYE.
Alex Evans Executive Editor
“Another last-minute amendment made the new regime also apply to staffing and umbrella companies who pay under PAYE – which meant that if they don’t deduct PAYE and NIC properly, and the end-user hasn’t issued an SDS, then the end-user is liable. Technically, that means an end-user needs to fill out an SDS for everyone sourced through a staffing company. “HMRC have since said they plan to change it in the 2021 Finance Act. So it’s a case of trusting that the Govt and HMRC do what they say they are going to do and assuming that supply between 6th April and the summer won’t be looked at when assessment is raised.” Many hoped that the Budget would bring much-needed clarity. “While it was disappointing to see that the Chancellor didn’t cover the technical changes in relation to Off-Payroll and the Finance Bill in his Budget, we do welcome the changes themselves,” said Andy Vessey, Head of Tax at insurer Kingsbridge. “The fact that it is now abundantly clear that the client remains responsible for an SDS, even if they sub-contract these determinations, places greater pressure on hirers to ensure these are being accurately assessed. Failure to do so will
“IR35 is already law. It can’t be cancelled without primary legislation and it comes into force on 6th April.” Kevin Barrow, Partner, Osborne Clarke
31
present a significant risk to the entire contractor supply chain should anyone be found to be operating non-compliantly.” COSTLY AVOIDANCE But there is growing concern that many end-user clients are avoiding the issue. “Clients simply don’t want to make a decision about whether interims are under supervision, direction or control,” observes Pete Taylor, the MD of logistics recruiter Encore Personnel who also sits on the REC’s drivers select committee. “They don’t want to fill out the forms about status determination or the risk that comes with it if they are investigated. “For the majority of clients, they would prefer that we make the determination, but we can’t. It does seem that the largest users are almost in denial and hoping it will take care of itself, but no-one is doing anything. Some are only taking permanent drivers or only taking PAYE. The only other way is through umbrellas.” There is growing concern that IR35 will take talent out of the contingent market. In a multi-sector survey of 2,300 contractors by Parasol Group, 62% said they believe that limited company contracting (Personal Service Companies or PSCs) will cease to exist in its current form, 35% intend to look for a permanent role, and 42% said they may need to move to an umbrella employer to remain working as a contractor. It also found that 80% thought the reforms should be deferred even further and 29% of contractors felt their clients were ready when the deferral was announced back in March. “We are confident that accurate status determination statements and alternative contracting methods, such as umbrella employment and professional employment organisation (PEO) models, should offer much-needed hope to contractors at this
difficult time,” said Amy Davies, Director of Sales at Parasol.
Pete Taylor Encore Personnel
Speaking at PointSix Predictions, Parasol’s Director of Strategic Sales, Clarke Bowles, explained some of the pressures on umbrella firms to adapt to the pandemic while helping contractors and clients to prepare for IR35. “Recruitment in many parts of the private sector came to halt and those unable to work due to Covid wanted answers and payments quickly despite a lack of guidance for umbrella and agency PAYE workers,” said Clarke. “At the last count, we have had over 40 updates to the furlough scheme.”
Clarke Bowles Parasol
Phil Pluck, FCSA
PRESSURES ON UMBRELLAS The FCSA, which represents over 170,000 outsourced workers, welcomed the extension to the furlough scheme until September in the new Budget but warned that it failed to understand the pressures it places on umbrella companies as major employers. “To further increase employer contributions by 10% in July and then 20% in August and September is simply not sustainable,” said CEO Phil Pluck. “Our members have always wanted to support their contractor employees, but their margins are low and the contracts they work on are short term. As a result, they cannot support those workers on terms that means they will suffer substantial losses on furloughed workers whilst still recovering from the body of the pandemic.” There is also the added pressure of increasing competition from a growing number of payroll and umbrella players coming into the market. “Our sector is a massive collector of taxes on behalf of the UK Government, but it also attracts those companies who are determined to exploit contractors and the UK Government by
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
34 IR35 & Brexit “Clients simply don’t want to make a decision about whether interims are under supervision, direction or control. They don’t want to fill out the forms about status determination or the risk that comes with it if they are investigated.” Pete Taylor, MD, Encore Personnel
pocketing those taxes unlawfully,” adds Phil Pluck, who also welcomed the budget announcement of investment in HMRC to create a new task force of an additional 1000 investigators. “There is no legal definition of an umbrella company, it isn’t regulated, and new ones are being created every day due to the opportunities that off-payroll reforms present, so we needed to differentiate ourselves,” said Clarke. “As a group we’re now a one stop shop offering umbrella, CIS, PEO, accountancy and our recently launched dual solution allowing contractors to switch seamlessly between their limited company and umbrella.” Kevin Barrow warned staffing firms to be wary of some new compliance solutions in the market. “We’re seeing greater use of third-party status checkers coming into the market, sometimes insurance backed, which could expose you to greater risk than IR35 so seek legal advice on the managed service company tax regime before using these insurance-backed schemes,” he said, adding that IR35 is coming up as an issue in the huge volume of M&A deals in the sector in terms of sustaining profitability and retrospective liabilities. With only a small percentage of his business supplying to clients who are exempt, Pete Taylor says that Encore can be choosy about who they work with. “We’re not looking to insure against any risk of non-compliance because if a client won’t sign an SDS or opt for PAYE we won’t work with them. “IR35 is not the main issue for me, though; it’s attracting enough people into our industry as more opt to go PAYE or leave it because of the growing regulatory burden.”
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
Kevin Barrow Osborne Clarke
Post-Brexit recruitment Kevin Barrow, Partner at Osborne Clarke, sums up the key impacts of the Brexit Deal for staffing companies The EU / UK Trade & Corporation Agreement agreed on 24th December has quite a lot in it about how UK staffing and recruitment companies can operate into and across Europe. EU countries can now legislate to prevent people doing remote recruitment from the UK into Europe – which already exists in Switzerland, for example, so you need a Swiss license to place candidates there remotely. For those choosing to ignore this it will likely be an issue for a future investor or acquirer. A lot of big global staffing firms started their world domination by offering their services remotely from London or other UK locations and parachuting UK contractors into Germany. There is quite a lot in the TCA about how you deploy UK contractors into and around Europe. One route is to permanently establish in-country and employ people and get a sponsorship for them for immigration purposes; but you have to have employed them for at least 12 months before. So this is quite a big impact for the ‘global light’ models that recruiters have used so successfully to scale internationally. The easiest thing is to engage them on a Statement of Work basis for a defined deliverable but if they’re Brits they have to be engaged for no more than 12 months; there is a limited number of roles they can perform; and they might be asked by immigration to show evidence of their specialism and experience or they could be sent back to the UK. People have suggested Employer of Record or a local payroll bureau, which sorts out your workplace tax obligations, but they don’t circumvent the new TCA immigration rules. Also, if you use an EoR you will likely be deemed to have a permanent establishment in country, depending on the extent to which the worker is your dependent agent or they have a fixed place of work, or they’re working on a contract for 6 months or more.
Sometimes things aren’t always quite what they seem
We understand that developing a compliant PSL is no small challenge. Distinguishing between organisations that pay lip-service to compliance and those that are fully committed is complex, costly and time-consuming. Getting it wrong can have serious implications on your business.
That’s why we have done the checks for you. Every FCSA Accredited Member has already undergone the most stringent testing in the industry, at no cost to your agency.
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Recognised as the industry’s compliance gold standard for umbrella employers, contractor accountants and CIS payroll providers; agencies can reduce risk by committing to a PSL comprising exclusively of fully compliant and transparent FCSA Accredited Members.
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info@fcsa.org.uk | www.fcsa.org.uk
36 PointSix - Compliance solutions
New routes to success
Brexit and IR35 have created new challenges for recruiters and more complexity for their clients and contractors. PointSix and People Group brought recruitment leaders together to share tactics In some industries the impact of this cannot be understated, with one panel CEO sharing that in life sciences, 35% of its UK placements were European nationals.
As we approached the start of this year, the continuing Covid-19 pandemic was likely the top area of concern for most businesses. But for those involved in the contracting market, there were two other big issues looming large: Brexit and IR35. Though the last-minute Brexit trade deal means things look rosier for the economy as a whole, for the recruitment industry specifically there’s still considerable concern about the ability to move candidates between the UK and the EU in future. On the IR35 front, the impending implementation of new rules in April looks set to cause seismic changes in the UK workforce. For its first PointSix roundtable of 2021, TALiNT partnered with People Group to explore both the challenges and opportunities arising out of these with a select group of recruitment CEOs and senior execs from Goodman Masson, Manpower, VHR, Curve Group, Trinnovo, MCG, RPI, Fiser Group, Volt International, Noon Dalton and Arthur Edward. ALL CHANGE AFTER BREXIT The end of the Brexit transition period brought with it the opportunity to rework some of the least popular regulations imposed on the UK by the European Union. For these recruiters, the Agency Worker Regulations introduced in 2011 and the Working Time Regulations brought in back in 1998 are key areas where they see potential for positive changes. But the withdrawal from the EU has also introduced a huge administrative burden on UK employers wishing to continue to tap into the enormous European talent pool that was once easily accessible.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
By Joanne Christie
Brexit does not necessarily mean this has to change, but it does mean jumping through a lot more hoops to get candidates into the country. The effect of the end of free movement between the UK and the EU is exacerbated further for those companies also placing UK candidates in the EU. Under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement it is effectively up to each individual country to decide how they want to approach the movement of candidates across borders. As Jason Medcalf, Sales Director at People Group, put it: “Whereas previously you could almost deal with Europe as one homogenous block, we’ve now got 27 individual arrangements with Europe so the complication just became significantly greater.” The panel agreed that this has led to a polarisation in the attitudes of their clients. Some have become more willing to consider candidates from further afield – if a company has to overcome immigration hurdles for
“Whereas previously you could almost deal with Europe as one homogenous block, we’ve now got 27 individual arrangements with Europe so the complication just became significantly greater.” Jason Medcalf, Sales Director, People Group
European candidates it may well decide to open up its vacancies to the entire world. But others are simply refusing to consider hires from outside their home country to avoid the red tape. In any case, most of the panel said that a significant number of hires will continue to be made in the UK from Europe, but there is still some uncertainty about their potential role in this. Several have been investigating the possibility of sponsoring candidates and becoming the employer of record for temporary placements to clients, although there was some confusion about their ability to do this. Terry Hillier, CEO of People Group, clarified that recruitment agencies themselves could not sponsor employees under the new rules. However, if they set up a separate entity such as a consulting arm they should be able to do so. He added that People Group had itself been in talks with immigration lawyers about sponsoring employees for clients using its professional employer organisation (PEO) model. NEW SOLUTION TO IR35 PROBLEM? Until recently, PEOs have been more prevalent in the US employment landscape than in the UK. But as recruiters and service providers look for solutions to the IR35 problem, they have become more popular on this side of the pond. Under such a model, the PEO and recruitment company employ contractors under a joint employment contract, with the PEO becoming the employer of record. The PEO takes care of most of the admin involved in the contractor’s employment and pays them via PAYE, removing the risk of end clients being in breach of IR35
but also allowing them to keep the worker off their own headcount.
Terry Hillier People Group
Jason Medcalf People Group
52%
of hiring managers are not confident about HMRC guidance in relation to IR35 (Harvey Nash / Spinks Survey: Workforce 2021)
Umbrella companies can also achieve similar outcomes. People Group took the decision to support contractor employees through the pandemic last year, processing and paying approximately 62,000 furlough pay slips amounting to nearly £10m of gross pay. Fears of falling foul of HMRC rules are playing a big role in the way companies are interpreting IR35. Despite its implementation being imminent, it seems many businesses still don’t fully understand the rules. Many companies have therefore become very risk-averse and are imposing blanket rules against engaging with contractors via personal service companies. While this is not good news for contractors themselves, it does present some opportunities for recruitment businesses to engage with their clients in different ways and prove their value in the hiring chain. One panellist’s client refused to take on contractors in any way except PAYE, but as they don’t want them to feature in their own headcount, they asked the agency to put them on its books. Though not specifically charging for
“The biggest objection we had prior to Covid was always the fact that the work can’t be done from home and now everyone knows that is a fallacy." Edward Dalton, CEO, Noon Dalton
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2020
38 PointSix - Compliance solutions
the service, the panellist said its margin had become higher as it was charged on a bill that included Employers’ NI and pension contributions. This sort of solution may not work for every recruitment company, but it’s an example that illustrates scope for recruiters to come up with clever workarounds for the big issues currently facing the contracting market. THE OFFSHORING SOLUTION There were always many benefits in allowing staff to work remotely, but pre-Covid most businesses resisted the idea. Now they’ve been forced into it and realised the advantages, many firms are wondering if they should extend the idea even further. Edward Dalton, CEO of Noon Dalton, which provides remote teams in locations such as India and the Philippines, said there had been a definite pandemic-fuelled rise in interest in remote teams, with clients looking at both nearshore and offshore solutions. “The biggest objection we had prior to Covid was always the fact that the work can’t be done from home and now everyone knows that is a fallacy,” he said. Danny Brooks, CEO at technical recruitment firm VHR, also reported a shift in attitude among clients. He cited the example of one UAE client that had previously required all staff to be on the ground but that he was now helping to set up an office in the Philippines. “They have jumped on the idea. This creating talent where it doesn’t exist or shipping it around is definitely an opportunity for people who can look slightly outside the box,” he said. One recruitment business even reported having done so in its own business. Grant Henderson, COO at the MCG Group, told the panel the company had recently set up a team in South Africa. Along with the obvious cost savings, offshoring would also appear to be a viable way of overcoming both the Brexit-related immigration issues and IR35.
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
Solutions for recruiters Edward Dalton Noon Dalton
Danny Brooks VHR
People Group was crowned winner of the Compliance Solution of the Year at the TIARA Talent Tech Star Awards in 2020. Here are some of their recommended tools and tactics: Brexit – Whether as part of socially distanced onboarding or to manage the surge of RTW checks on Euro passport holders this June/ July, check out its digital onboarding solution (https://peoplegroupservices.com/ compliance/) Covid – A feature of PEO by People Group is joint employment recognised by HMRC. Only 1% of the invoice value attracts VAT, so offers significant reductions in VAT payable compared to umbrella or limited company particularly valuable in VAT sensitive industries such as healthcare, banking, charity and insurance (https://cashflow. peoplegroupservices.com/#p=1) KIDs - Key Information Documents became a legal requirement in April 2020 but are often overlooked. Your Key Info provide a reliable and free method to produce and send KIDs efficiently (https://www.yourkeyinfo.com/).
"This creating talent where it doesn’t exist or shipping it around is definitely an opportunity for people who can look slightly outside the box." Danny Brooks MBE, CEO, VHR
40 PointSix - Talent tech
Vision for change
How should recruiters and talent solution providers be optimising technology to deliver more value to clients while adapting to a changing talent landscape? What post pandemic client and candidate demands will drive innovation in 2021? TALiNT PointSix Programme Director Alex Evans co-hosted a virtual roundtable with Ryan McCabe, CEO of recruitment video specialist Odro, to explore this and related questions with a select group of execs from market leading recruitment and talent solutions companies. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, the panel were invited to share their key priorities and where tech will have the most impact. The top three were exploring more internal uses for video interviews; how tech can better support D&I, including job advert decoding and competency assessments; and how to leverage the personal brands of consultants to not only attract more clients and candidates but support the retention and fulfilment of their own teams. SEEING GREATER VALUE FROM VIDEO Lockdown has accelerated the adoption of video technology in all stages of the candidate journey by necessity. “One of the biggest flips we’ve seen is the uptake in people recording the interview,” Ryan observed. “If the video contains the questions the client wants answers to, it gives them so much more value than the CV and related notes.” Ryan also highlighted a growing trend amongst recruitment clients with video recordings enabling managers to coach and train their junior consultants – an unexpected benefit which is addressing the key challenge of a remote team. “Junior employees are going to struggle to learn as we all learnt from sitting next to an experienced consultant, overhearing that client call, being in the room with someone more experienced than you,” said Luke Williams,
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
former CEO of Ignata.
By Marnie Clarke
34%
FTSE 350 chairs have been educated at private school compared to a 7% national average Source: Sutton Trust
ADDRESSING BIAS Returning to candidates, diversity and inclusion is an area where talent tech is having an impact – but there are some process barriers that need to be addressed. “It’s difficult to remove bias when you don’t have control of the client relationship and you have to work through an MSP/RPO using their portal. Even when you are working directly with the end client, their inhouse portal or internal HR processes rarely provide the opportunity to submit candidates from a diverse background without inducing unconscious bias.” explained Maria Vavoulas, COO of commodities search firm Human Capital. “You can’t sanitise a name and you have to add information about education which could prejudice decisions”. The City, for example, tends to favour public school educated individuals. Matt Burton, CEO of flexible RPO provider MBA, acknowledged that portals are a potential pitfall for MSPs trying to address prejudice because of the volume of hires and the need for process efficiency. “But it’s a challenge that is driving innovation and stronger partnerships with clients as well as a heightened awareness of the need to ensure that D&I agendas are not compromised by the need to drive process automation,” he said. MBA was highly commended for innovation at the 2020 TIARA Recruitment Awards for Candidate Zone, its bespoke recruitment platform which allows for custom branded portals and tests to assess and shortlist candidates. “MSPs and RPOs need to work in partnership
with their tech providers, or their in-house technology, to make sure it is suitable and matches the aspirations of clients,” said Matt Hepworth, Head of Talent Solutions at Gravitas. “VMS or ATS providers need to create a platform that enables clients to meet their diversity agenda.” Fiser Group CEO Colin Webster pointed out that the job advert decoder software they have on their website is open source so it should be standard for all recruiters and talent solutions providers. Odro’s Ryan McCabe speculated if it would be possible to use the same technology to devise D&I friendly interview questions to further add value and integrity to the process. “Some interviewers might be well trained on asking structured non-biased questions in the formal part of the interview but can let themselves down in the small talk which precedes it,” said Colin. “With video interviews, other biases can get in the way, such as home backgrounds. An extreme example might be an interviewer having a trophy cabinet of their sports successes in the background, which might make a non-sporty candidate ill-at-ease during interview. Our home environments are bound to be more personal to us than neutral office environments, so it’s something for interviewers to think about.” "Ensuring that your interview system can either blur the candidate's background, or at least integrate with Zoom or MS Team, should be a consideration," Ryan advised. Continuing on the role of technology in addressing unconscious bias, Affi Khan, CEO of Cpl UK, said: “AI and machine learning allows you to pre-screen against a competency framework, and to recruit against your values.
Then you have a talent pool that has been attracted on a neutral basis, tested against competencies and against values, so when it goes to hiring managers you have real gap analysis to ask the awkward questions.” Ryan McCabe Odro
Kelly York, The Curve Group
Odro has added more in-depth data on the views of each candidate to better analyse hiring managers and identify any bias – which supports D&I initiatives. “Our agency clients can take our video system to an employer and show whether the hiring manager has given them all a fair representation in the process - everyone has been watched in full,” said Ryan. “This means you can ask why the hiring manager didn’t watch the full interview of female candidates, or if they had a preconceived idea of what they were looking for.” This led to a discussion on the need for training and education of hiring managers and how recruitment partners can better address bias. “D&I tends to be a C-Suite/HR driven activity,” observed Kelly York, COO of The Curve Group.
Colin Webster, Fiser Group
“When we start to work with companies to define and improve D&I, management have not always been taken on the journey by the exec team. It’s ultimately these managers who will have the most impact on driving through the
“Our agency clients can take our video system to an employer and show whether the hiring manager has given them all a fair representation in the process - everyone has been watched in full." Ryan McCabe, CEO, Odro
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
42 PointSix - Talent tech “It may be building their own personal brand but we’re going to benefit from it in the short term." Sally Field, Finance Director, dp connect agenda and therefore early engagement with this population around the plan is important”. Kelly added that training and education of clients on the benefits of D&I has been their main focus. With exponential growth in the volume of applicants and the need to attract the right candidates, the group discussed brand and how it can be used as a differentiator. “What set many of last year’s TIARA award winners apart was how they used thought leadership content and events to enhance their brand and attract talent,” said Alex Evans. “They have also seen a lot of success from consultants working with the marketing team to develop their personal brand and referral network as subject matter experts. Will we see more of this in 2021, or are recruiters worried about consultants using their brand to build and launch their own businesses?” ROI ON PERSONAL BRAND Sally Field, Finance Director at dp connect, felt that the rewards outweighed the risks. “It may be building their own personal brand but we’re going to benefit from it in the short term. If long term they disappear and take those clients, so what, they’d have gone anyway.” Barnaby Parker, founder and chairman of Venquis, felt that this is the direction that recruitment is heading, with clients and candidates wanting to know more about who they are dealing with. “It’s a crowded marketplace and the people who are going to win are the ones who are the personalities as they attract attention.” “We philosophically believe in the approach that our best staff are our brand by extension,” added Ben Muwoki, MD of Source Group International, which won Marketing Campaign of the Year at
Sally Field, dp connect
Ben Muwoki Source Group International
David Leithead Morgan McKinley
last year’s TIARA Recruitment Awards. “We want different personalities as the customer is buying into the individual. The upside is so much more valuable, but I think there is a balance to be had. With the individuals who are most engaged and fulfilled in having their own voice it polices itself.” The group discussed whether there is dichotomy between corporate and personal brands but concluded that, if you have recruited to your values, your consultants’ personal brand should reflect them. “Everyone at Cpl was hired with values aligned to ours so they can be as authentic as they want as they reflect them back to clients in different ways,” said Affi Khan. David Leithead, COO of Morgan McKinley, agreed that personal brands are part of the pitch to clients and an important differentiator, but he is more worried about the challenges of remote working. “It’s good for some people but it’s not good for most people,” he said. “The giddy excitement of home working has long since gone and people want to come back albeit with some flexibility and a more adult approach to how they structure their day”. The new challenges for leaders and managers, he added, are training, coaching, and developing remotely. Luke Williams observed that the remote recruitment and onboarding of consultants to manage the impact of the pandemic ‘will drive something fundamental which will impact recruiters for years to come’. “If it’s OK to work remotely why would you choose someone in Berkshire over someone in Bangalore or Bratislava? You could have someone doing that job from anywhere, which opens up a whole new field of opportunity and challenge”. Employer brand, and the technology to enhance it, needs to work harder to attract the right people from a much wider and distributed pool.
“It’s a crowded marketplace and the people who are going to win are the ones who are the personalities as they attract attention.” Barnaby Parker, Chairman, Venquis
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
TALiNT Talk
Rising to the challenge What post-pandemic priorities have moved up the agenda for TA teams and what are their biggest challenges in 2021? I could happily list the top 10 (or more) challenges faced by talent acquisition and resourcing teams as we face up to a post-Covid working world. Challenges such as identifying hard-to-find candidiates, reducing time and cost of hires, re-skilling, internal mobility and redeployment, early-in-careers hiring (especially the Kickstart scheme) D&I, and the impact of technology and especially AI are all in themselves of mission-critical importance to emplyers and yet none of them get into our top 10.
Ken Brotherston, Managing Director, TALiNT Partners
Which leaves us with the most important and urgent challenge facing TA teams and employers more widely.
TALiNT Partners has already engaged with over 250 HR and TA leaders across the UK and continental Europe so far in 2021 and their most pressing challenges are remarkably consistent. So, in the best countdown tradition, here they are in reverse order: 3. Onboarding and managing drop-outs after offer Although the pandemic has had a cataclysmic effect on a range of sectors and job types, so far, unemployment levels have not been nearly as bad as initial forecasts with a number of areas still experiencing critical skill shortages - from data scientists to carers and van drivers. Surprising then that employers have reported a considerable rise in drop-outs. In the absence of meaningful data, here is my theory. In times of uncertainly, candidates are more reluctant to move but, if they are mainly working at home, it’s actually very easy for them to interview. Conversely, it’s then much harder for a recruiter to be in the same room as a candidate and be able to spot those tell-tale signs of someone who isn’t completely committed. There is also another aspect to this which brings us to challenge number two. 2: Employer brand - when my home is my place of work, what’s the difference? The move to flexible or dynamic working was already well-established before the pandemic (as any commuter-belt station car park on a
TALiNT International Mar / Apr 2021
Monday and Friday would attest). Covid simply accelerated the evolution and proved it could work in a far wider range of roles than anyone thought possible. So, for those roles that can be done at home (and they do tend to be the professional/ managerial/ specialist roles) this raises a fundamental question about what differentiates one employer brand from another. It does seem as if employer brand is seeing a seismic shift from the physical (how cool is our office) to the pastoral (how good are our well-being programmes).
To find out more about how TALiNT Advantage can help TA teams, please contact debra@talint.co.uk.
1. Creating the right flexible working strategy Flexible working is the tip of a very large iceberg. As soon as an employer tries to implement this across their organisation, they are faced with a range of challenging issues. On compensation, does ‘London weighting’ go down if employees aren’t commuting as much? What about roles nominally based in London but now filled by someone based in another part of the country? Do you pay London salaries if you are recruiting in other parts of the country? What type of roles are best suited to high levels of remote working? How is productivity measured? Do we need different skills sets? How do we treat workers for whom home working isn’t an option? What are our competitors doing? There is no playbook for this, and a one size-fits-all approach clearly won’t work. Perhaps most challenging of all, no one will really understand how employees and candidates will respond to the post-Covid workplace until we have come out of the other side. Employers who get this right – by putting fairness and engagement at the heart of their processes for existing employees and future hires – will have an enormous advantage.
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