TALiNT International December 2021

December 2021

Untapped Talent Will employers open their eyes to the hidden workforce?

Plus...

• PointSix insights • TIARA UAE and ANZ Recruitment Awards • Internal mobility: a winning talent solution?

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TALiNT International December 2021

3 Leader

Foresight from hindsight As the year comes to a close, it’s important to look back on our accomplishments – and failures – to ensure success in 2022.

While 2020 was an incredibly challenging year, the uncertainty impacted everyone and people were more forgiving of measures taken in a crisis, whether it was furlough or having to do more with less.

In 2021, we emerged from life after lockdowns and hiring freezes to a brand-new, hybrid way of working and growing talent shortages. We returned to a new, buzzing, almost frenzied normal where we tried to fit 18 months of missed experience and work/life into six!

That was certainly the case for TALiNT Partners, with the majority of our 67 events in 2021 delivered in the second half of the year and inperson events all through the summer.

We’ve all learned that as a society we crave social interactions. While rapid digital transformations have enabled us to do our jobs remotely, we have all suffered ‘screen fatigue’.

Hybrid and flexible working top the list of basic expectations for new employees but employers have found that lockdown talent is the least loyal as it’s so much harder to engage people in a virtual culture.

The post Brexit / post pandemic recruitment boom has taken everyone by surprise. But while job boards posted more than 1.2million vacancies in the Autumn, the staffing and RPO industries are still struggling with their own skills shortages and fighting a war for their own talent.

TALiNT Partners explored this challenge in several of our events this month, including a virtual roundtable on how to cure toxic performers and our PointSix Christmas Dinner and Debate at the stunning Soho Hotel in London. Our Programme Director Alex Evans shares insights from these events on pages 12 and 16.

Another golden thread running through the rich tapestry of the talent industry, highlighted by our TIARA awards and events for inhouse, agency, RPO and HR Tech leaders, is the impact of the pandemic on diversity and inclusion in the workforce. Despite the impetus from BLM and the tech-enabled opportunity to tap into a long untapped workforce, we’re still not filling talent gaps with a more diverse workforce.

Debbie Walton Editor TALiNT International

When you consider that there are 11 million disabled people in the UK, more than half of whom are unemployed, why isn’t disability a bigger part of the D&I conversation? This is a question asked by Fuchsia Carter, a Reasonable Adjustments Candidate Care consultant at HSBC whose partnership with AMS won the D&I Award at the TIARA Talent Solutions Awards this year. Her candid interview can be read on page 22.

There are incredibly exciting times ahead of us and while the unknowns of the seemingly neverending pandemic still scare us, our industry has proved its resilience and will continue to adapt and grow in 2022. Wishing you all a very merry festive season.

“…there are 11 million disabled people in the UK, more than half of whom are unemployed, we should be having conversations around inclusion that actually include disabled people…”

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.talintpartners.com Editorial: debbie@talintpartners.com News & features: debbie@talintpartners.com Advertising & Sponsorship: andy@talintpartners.com

TALiNT International December 2021

4 Contents

Contributors

08 News analysis

08 M&A flurry for growth-building UK recruiters 09 Older workforce critical to economic growth 10 Do zero-hour contracts affect employment figures?

11 Retention crisis fuelled by burnout

12 A PointSix debate

Janine Chidlow AMS P12

Andrew Jackson-Proes Access Recruitment P13

Joanna Hackett Reed Talent Solutions P14

Kristin Duffy Fiser Group P16

James Johnson District4 P17

Affi Khan CPL UK P18

Fuchsia Carter HSBC P22

Noel Thomas Eli Onboarding P25

2021 lessons for the recruitment industry

16 Toxic top performers

Who are they and how do we deal with them?

20 Untapped talent

Will employers open their eyes to the hidden talent pool?

22 Consultant Q&A

HSBC candidate care consultant Fuchsia Carter talked to us about the challenges of the disabled workforce

24 The TALiNT Partners’ Benchmark Summit

Results from the Benchmark Survey debated by industry leaders

28 TIARA UAE Recruitment Awards 2021 Top recruiters celebrated in Dubai

32 TIARA ANZ Recruitment Awards 2021 Crowning of Australia’s top staffing firms

36 Internal mobility

Can talent solutions firms really deliver an effective internal mobility service?

Picture credits: iStock, Unsplash, Canva 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 December 2021

Louise Shaw Omni RMS P26

Hannah Harrison GTI Recruiting Services P36

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6 TALiNT Scene TALiNT Partners’ in-person events continued: we cooked, we debated and shared insights across a host of topics. A great way to end our events season!

18th November — The findings of this year’s Benchmark Summit crystalised the impact of external and internal market factors on how talent was attracted, evaluated and secured in 2021. Skilfully facilitated discussion brought together the wisdom and experience of TA Leaders, from a host of well-respected organisations, and the insight and creative thinking of some the recruitment industry’s finest experts, to create dynamic, thoughtprovoking takeaways for all.

24th November 2021 —TALiNT Partners co-hosted a PointSix Tech Lunch & Learn at The Beaumont in Mayfair in partnership with SourceBreaker. Affi Khan, CEO of Cpl UK – Technology & Healthcare talked about tech transformation and we heard about digital leader priorities from Bev White, CEO of Harvey Nash.

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25th November — We recently enjoyed a fantastic cookery evening with our partner Adzuna and a lively group of senior TA & HR senior leaders. We shared some of the key challenges in talent acquisition and some great ideas whilst making some pretty tasty Vietnamese food at the School of Wok in Covent Garden, London. Look out for more of these events in 2022!

25th November — TALiNT Partners and iCIMS hosted a dinner at one of our favourite venues in London, The Beaumont Hotel, to discuss internal mobility with some of the RPO industry’s top leaders.

Read the full insights on page 36.

TALiNT International December 2021

8 News analysis

M&A flurry for growth-building UK recruiters Morgan McKinley, MCG & Twenty20 announce deals Several staffing firms have announced mergers, acquisitions and partnerships to build on new growth opportunities in recent weeks.

Global professional services recruiter Morgan McKinley and Irish BPO services provider Abtran are merging to create a fully integrated people solutions and business process management provider with services across the UK, Ireland, EMEA, Asia and Australia.

This is being achieved through the acquisition of the entire share capital of Abtran by Morgan McKinley, a process which requires the approval of Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

The combined businesses will employ approximately 2,500 people with projected annual revenues of over €300m. The CEO of Morgan McKinley, Gerald Fitzgerald, has been announced as Global CEO designate of the combined holding company. “Our new business will offer solutions to clients globally in all areas involving human capital,” he said. “Ultimately, we will bring solutions to market to capitalise on the world’s growing demand for flexible ways of working.”

Tech investment The MCG Group has acquired RP

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International (RPI), which specialises in sourcing top leadership and technology talent globally to deliver on major strategic initiatives and transformations across Europe, MEA, APAC and ANZ regions. Since its launch in 1998, RPI has placed over 8,000 people.

For the last three years, The MCG Group has been working in the interactive, digital and immersive technology industry developing one of the largest professional creative networks of clients and candidates through its brand, Creative Personnel.

RPI is a cornerstone investment for MCG’s ambitious five-year strategic international growth plan in the technology sector and is headed up

by MD Rory Ferguson, who said: “RPI’s specialist sector coverage, expertise and great reputation gives us a superb platform to drive more high-level, executive permanent and interim placements as we pursue our international aspirations.”

Colm McGinley, CEO of The MCG Group, added: “We have hugely ambitious plans for the business internationally, which with RPI onboard, I believe we can build something very special in the coming years.” The new enlarged MCG Group will deliver c£150m revenue and c£30m NFI in FY22.

Healthy growth After more than 10 years as part of

the Virgin Group, Virgin Care has been acquired by Twenty20 Capital and rebranded as HCRG Care Group. The acquisition is Twenty20 Capital’s seventh transaction in 2021 and its fourth acquisition in the health and social services sector - adding c£260m of revenues to its growing portfolio of businesses.

James Caan CBE and Recruitment Entrepreneur have joined forces with fitness and digital health talent specialist, Follow the Oak, under their REflex offering, which provides mentoring, infrastructure, and back-office support to recruitment start-ups.

“The global digital fitness market is expected to be valued at over £20 billion by 2022,” said Recruitment Entrepreneur’s CEO Abid Hamid. “We are excited to now be involved in the industry via our partnership with Follow the Oak.” Follow the Oak founder Adam Smithers added: “I’ve always been fascinated by industries that embrace technology to enhance solutions, products, experiences and journeys for the end consumer. The global fitness and wellness economy is evolving at a rapid pace and as participation rates continue to soar, we are seeing more and more tech enabled fitness products and solutions entering the market allowing us to record, measure, map and share our goals and performance.”

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58% of companies offer no employee wellbeing support The threat of new restrictions in the face of Omicron are looming and while the economy is taking a knock, so are employees.

Research from FutureLearn has highlighted the importance of mental health first aiders in the workplace. A new survey of 1,000 key decision makers in business has revealed that over one in five (21%) business leaders state they are willing to re-evaluate their mental health policies, offering reassurance that steps are being taken to support their staff’s wellbeing in the wake of the pandemic and to curb the apparent “great resignation”.

Currently, there are no legal requirements for allocated psychological first aiders compared to the requirement for physical first aiders or fire marshals – despite

being a business essential. However, with the employee experience now in sharp focus, businesses are proactively improving mental health support in the workplace to combat trauma felt post the pandemic.

According to the report there has been an increase of 10% of businesses with support in place. With 12% of employees revealing they have left their job citing mental health as one of the main reasons for leaving, it is clear just how important mental health policies are when it comes to the retention of staff.

The report revealed that of the businesses who have made changes to their policies since the pandemic, 42% have already implemented online counselling for employees and 34% have already invested in mental health first aiders.

Older workforce crucial to economic growth Personal wealth has been eroded in the last 18 months and while the older workforce is working for longer to make up lost wealth, it’s having a positive effect on the economy.

In new reports published by the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC), it’s found that longer lives could be crucial in European pandemic recovery and highlight the economic opportunities of longer lives across Europe.

According to the reports, older people’s contributions across the European region are significant, and growing: • •

In Germany, 77% of people aged between 50 and 64 are in employment By 2035, almost 3 in 5 (59%) of workers could be aged 50 and over in Italy

Comparing countries across the G2o, the “Health equals wealth” reports highlight that: In countries that spend more on health, older people work, spend and volunteer more.

Increasing preventative health spending by just 0.1 percentage can unlock a 9% increase in annual spending by older people and an additional 10 hours of volunteering each year.

In a recent story published by TALiNT International, it’s believed the key to unlocking the skills shortage crisis is to upskill the older workforce.

The reports reveal the need for countries to better support older people’s economic contributions, particularly through greater investment in preventative health measures that support healthy ageing.

News in brief A third of women report pay inequality Female employees have gained ground in the workplace, however large skill gaps still exist when it comes to opportunities for professional development and career advancement. This, according to findings released by Skillsoft in its 2021 Women in Tech Report.

The report revealed a misalignment between the workplace benefits women in tech are seeking and what is currently being provided.

For example, while 86% of respondents cited that opportunities for professional development and training as extremely or very important to them, a mere 42% said their employers currently offer this as a benefit.

Additionally, when asked about the top challenges they have faced while pursuing a tech-related career, nearly a third of women surveyed (32%) pointed to a lack of training.

REVEALED: Jobs Brits are Googling the most Research conducted by Smart Recruit Online has revealed that teaching assistant is the most searched for job in the UK, with more than 273,000 Google searches completed in the last 12 months. This search spiked in May 2021, likely as this is the last month you can register before the summer. The top five jobs searched for across the UK include gig economy roles such as cleaner and driver jobs.

The UK has seen a significant candidate shortage in these lower-skilled roles which has led to salary inflations and a more competitive and incentivised market. Looking at the different regions of the UK, teaching assistant was the most popular job searched for in England, while in Scotland and Northern Ireland, driver jobs were the most in demand.

The research revealed that there were 12,000 searches for driver jobs in Scotland, and just over 3,000 in Northern Ireland. In Wales, moulder jobs were the most searched for, with 10,350 searches in the last year.

“Sandwich generation” needs more employer support According to a new survey conducted

by HIVE360, more UK workers are having to combine full and part time work with caring for an unwell or disabled loved ones. The ‘sandwich generation’ now looking after young children and elderly relatives, needs more support from their bosses post-pandemic.

According to David McCormack, CEO at HIVE360, the company has recorded a steady climb in the number of employees accessing specialist carer support. This data has been gathered from its employee experience platform called Engage. In a complementary report published recently by Aon, it is predicted that by 2040 one in six UK workers will balance their job with caring responsibilities. This figure means that unpaid carers will provide around £132 million worth of care per annum with 2.6 million people having given up work to provide care at home.

TALiNT International December 2021

10 News analysis

Do zero-hour contracts affect employment figures?

According to the latest labour market stats from the ONS, October saw 29.3 million employees, up by 160,000 on the revised September statistics.

However, it was noted that it’s possible these figures may change while furloughed staff, who were made redundant, work out their notice period. But responses to the ONS survey suggest that redundancy numbers are likely to be a small share of those still on furlough when the scheme came to an end.

The industry is anxiously awaiting the next release of statistics by the ONS, especially considering that the arrival of Omicron is threatening the economy’s bounce back – with no furlough to support potential job losses, and the announcement of the Government’s Plan B restrictions, The Labour Force Survey estimates that for July to September 2021 the employment rate increased 0.4 percentage points on the quarter, to 75.4%. ONS reported that the increase in employment was because of a record high net flow from

unemployment to employment. Total job-to-job moves also increased to a record high, largely driven by resignations rather than dismissals, during the same period. The rise is also driven by an increase in parttime work and an increase in the number of people on zero-hour contracts, driven by young people.

The unemployment rate decreased 0.5 percentage points to 4.3% while the inactivity rate remained unchanged at 21.1%.

But we have yet to see the full effects of the end of the furlough scheme and the relevance of zero-hour contracts in these figures. David Head, Director at TALiNT Partners

commented: “Zero-hour contracts, if implemented ethically between employer and employee, are perfect because they allow flexibility in the workforce and allow businesses to expand and contract whenever necessary. However, having vast numbers of people on zero-hour contracts will inevitably mask the true numbers of the unemployed.”

The latest figures show that the number of job vacancies in August to October 2021 continued to rise to a new record of 1,172,000. This is an increase of 388,000 from prepandemic numbers of January to March 2020 level, with 15 of the 18 industry sectors showing record highs.

During the quarter, annual growth in average total pay (including bonuses) was 5.8% and regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 4.9%. Annual growth in average employee pay has been affected by temporary factors that have inflated the headline growth rate. These factors are now waning and will have a smaller impact on growth rates, according to the report.

Will Omicron cancel workforce Christmas fun?

According to the latest from CVLibrary, a UK independent job board, Government’s advice to carry on with Christmas plans is welcome news to UK professionals.

The survey revealed that just over 50% of UK workers are planning to take time off this Christmas with 38.5% of those doing so purely to make up for spending Christmas in lockdown in 2020. Workers want to make the most of the festive season and spend time with family, friends and loved ones, having been denied the opportunity in 2020.

Of the 2,000 respondents, 74% reported that they are not offered any incentive to work over the Christmas period with 55% admitting

TALiNT International December 2021

that they really don’t enjoy working at this time.

Respondents were asked what the pros and cons were and CVLibrary has exclusively revealed the results: Worst things about working over Christmas (based on top three answers) 1.

2.

3.

4.

77% Missing out on spending time with family and friends 22% Missing out on Christmas parties 22% Having to stay in the festive spirit, even though you’d rather be at home 20% Irritable/stressed customers and clients

5.

17% Working longer hours

Best things about working over Christmas (based on top 3 answers) 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

40% Christmas bonuses 33% Christmas music 28% A more relaxed working environment 25% Staff social events 4% Jolly customers

Secret Santa has also been impacted by the pandemic. A mere 27% of professionals say they will be playing the game in their workplace this year, with 23% admitting they used to, but have stopped since the onset of the pandemic.

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Burnout fuels retention crisis According to its latest study, McKinsey & Company has reported that more than 15 million US workers have quit their jobs since April 2021 with 40% of employees saying that they’re likely to quit in the next three to six months. This, because of burnout, the study revealed.

The largest-of-its-kind study released recently by leadership consulting firm DDI surveyed more than 15,000 employees and 2,000 HR professionals across 24 industries.

The study found that nearly 60% of leaders reported feeling used up at the end of the workday.

Burnout has long been a concern for employers, and “leaders who are feeling burnout are now nearly four times more likely to leave their positions within the next year,” according to DDI. The length of the pandemic and the sustained effort required to keep companies afloat through uncertain times (and virtually) have increased exhaustion and stress.

with professional care but this model of care is problematic because according to Benefit News, in the US, those needing mental health support have to wait an average of 19 days to been seen and only “if one of the 12% of therapists accepting new patients are in the person’s network”.

Stigma and fear of repercussions also play a role; 40% of first responders, for example, say they don’t seek help from workplace services because they are afraid of getting fired.

It’s not reasonable to expect an employee working a nine-hour workday to have time to go to the gym after work, make a healthy dinner from scratch, and also spend time with his or her family without feeling burned out.

The arrival of the pandemic brought with it isolation and real human connection is at the lowest point in history. Many family members live in different states or countries, and according to NPR, more than 60% of Americans say they are lonely.

Meanwhile, the lines of work/life balance have blurred, families are facing increased financial anxiety, and the pandemic has put a strain on marriages and parents.

McKinsey’s study revealed that this increase in loneliness has impacted people’s personal and professional lives and made workers more susceptible to burnout.

Staff need more support, but what does the ideal system look like?

This is especially true for non-White employees, who are “more likely than their white counterparts to say they had left because they didn’t feel they belonged at their companies.”

In today’s mental wellbeing landscape, support typically starts

News in brief Sex is the most popular work-from-home pastime Research from IvoryResearch.com has revealed the most popular work-from-home pastime – and it’s not work. Since working from home, employees and employers have become somewhat relaxed in terms of the usual rules from the corporate environment, like dress code, longer lunch breaks and working flexible hours.

One of the most common responses from those polled, with two thirds of respondents admitting to having sex while on the work clock!

Surprisingly midday fooling around wasn’t the most unusual answer as one respondent admitted to taking a secret holiday without their employer knowing. Other answers included setting up new businesses during work hours and creating OnlyFans content to make extra money.

Lack of transparency around salaries hinders women A recent survey from Glassdoor, suggests that the lack of discussion around pay is contributing to inequality for women. Sixty-seven percent of female workers didn’t ask for a salary increase in 2020, which equates to 30% more than men. In the last year, 35% of those working in the femaledominated industries of education, healthcare, and hospitality asked for a wage increase compared to 62% of those working in the traditionally male-dominated world of finance and 56% in tech. According to the results of the survey, women are also 26% less likely than their male counterparts to ask for more money in the next 12 months, with 37% of women planning to ask for a pay rise next year.

Grandparents offered childcare support Saga, a UK specialist in products and services for people over 50, announced a new policy for its 2,500 colleagues that has given grandparents a week of paid time off from work to celebrate the birth of grandchildren. Saga went a step further and have given employees with grandchildren full access to its onsite nursery. This pioneering move was driven by insights from people over 50 who have expressed the need for childcare support.

Academic research also suggests grandparents have a critical – and sometimes unrecognised – role in the development of children.

TALiNT International December 2021

12 PointSix: Lessons from 2021

Live & learn After emerging into life after lockdown, adjusting to hybrid working and rising talent shortages, what are the biggest lessons for recruiters and RPOs in 2021 and how will they define their priorities for 2022?

After the hiring freezes, furlough and furious finance raising of 2020, the recruitment boom of 2021 has helped to restore growth; but how long will this market last? How is the industry proving its long-term value to employers who are seeking short-term workforce solutions? How will staffing and RPO firms win the war for their own talent – and what part will technology play?

These and other important questions were debated by a group of industry leaders, advisers and tech specialists at the last PointSix event of the year, a Christmas Dinner and Debate at The Soho Hotel in London co-hosted by TALiNT Partners and Access Recruitment.

To set the scene for the debate, we presented some insights from the newly published 2021 Recruitment Power List Report, which ranks the top 500 UK staffing firms by revenue. The total turnover of the top 500 in 2020 was £36.3bn, down from £40.8 billion in 2019.

“Although the number of recruitment companies has remained static, the number of people working in the industry has dropped from the 150,000 employees recorded in 2019,” said TALiNT Partners Director David Head, who researched and compiled the rankings. “Early indications are that headcount has been cut by around 20%, with the majority starting their own businesses.”

With job vacancies hitting 1.2 million in October this year (ONS), the industry has been more reliant on technology to fill talent gaps at a time when employers are finally understanding the value of recruiters.

Commenting on this in a recent interview, HR and technology analyst Josh Bersin said: “We are not automating away the recruiting function – quite the opposite. Recruiters have shown the value they bring in understanding cultural fit, adjacent candidate skills, pay equity and refining job specs with hiring managers. They are the tip

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of the spear of all these HR practices.”

By Alex Evans Programme Director TALiNT Partners

Employers have embraced automation through the pandemic to manage their talent shortages.

In its latest survey of over 2,100 digital leaders across 87 countries, Harvey Nash found that Cloud implementation has jumped from 54% in 2020 to 92% and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has increased by more than a half since 2019.

As tech adoption in recruitment has accelerated, expectations of what it can do are increasing.

“We have seen technology move from efficiency to effectiveness, from consultant productivity to consumer grade candidate experience and access to different talent pools,” said Andrew Jackson-Proes, Divisional Director of Access Recruitment, explaining how its tech solutions had enabled agencies to adapt and transform over the last year. “Our NorthStar platform is also helping recruiters to understand what makes a top biller a top biller and how to clone them.”

Commenting on where technology has had an impact on his business, Ross Eades, CEO of SAP specialist recruiter Red Global, said: “In my 33 years in recruitment, I’ve never seen demand like this. To stay competitive, it’s about getting to the talent quicker so we’re more reliant on AI to support that.”

Ken Brotherston, TALiNT Partners MD and host

“Demand for different skill sets has risen and will continue to rise. However, too few people are changing roles… so the heat in the market will stay but we won’t see sustained revenue growth.”

Peter Searle, Chairman, Norman Broadbent

13

of the debate, asked if the market will stay hot, how long and why.

“Demand for different skill sets has risen and will continue to rise,” predicted Peter Searle, Chairman of Norman Broadbent. “However, too few people are changing roles because there are more incentives to stay as employers fight to keep their best people. So the heat in the market will stay but we won’t see sustained revenue growth.”

Janine Chidlow, Sector MD at global total workforce solutions firm AMS, agreed and added that employer expectations have increased.

“Whilst Demand Planning for our clients, we have seen volumes go through the roof, both in 2021 and into 2022. Clients are asking us for data on when the great resignation will end.

Nonetheless, we have seen a momentary slowdown of attrition in sectors such as financial services where individuals are waiting for early 2022 bonus payments before resigning.

“We are seeing employers increasing their focus on retention as well as internal mobility with more employee value led offers such as reimbursing salary sacrifices made at the start of the pandemic or offering more one-off holiday entitlements. There is a bigger focus on EVP than there has ever been.”

This latter point is borne out by TALiNT Partners’ latest Benchmark Survey, which revealed that EVP was the top priority for TA teams, followed by candidate experience and onboarding.

The Harvey Nash Digital Leadership Report also found that 80% of 2,100 CIOs surveyed said new life priorities are impacting retention and 38% have redesigned their EVP for hybrid working.

“Some businesses, particularly tech and creative, don’t care where their employees work; but for most organisations they believe a hybrid approach with some degree of return-to-work is

Andrew JacksonProes Divisional Director Access Recruitment

favoured – believing this supports increased collaboration, culture and exchange of ideas;” said Gareth Vale, Group Marketing Director of ManpowerGroup. “We are seeing some employees, particularly those in back-office functions, are less keen to return to the office; saving time and money on the commute and maintaining the work life balance they have enjoyed for the last two years. Employers are having to adapt their EVP to retain and attract that talent.”

“People don’t want to be forced back into offices,” added Lindsay Harrison, CCO of Rullion.

“They want autonomy and flexibility to do it on their terms and work where and how they want to.”

Janine Chidlow Sector MD AMS

Gareth Vale Group Marketing Director ManpowerGroup

Tristan Ramus, CEO of Twenty20 Capital, observed that there are cultural and demographic variations that have made both hybrid working and recruitment more complex.

“There has been a real reticence about returning to offices — in Germany, for example,” he said.

“Younger candidates have tended to be more ruthless about drop-outs or no shows than older generations. Recruiters need to adapt to different demographics of candidates.”

Some noted that talent recruited during lockdown has been the least loyal, mainly because they weren’t invested or embedded enough in the culture before the move to remote working. “The most loyal tend to be those who came through grad schemes who are paying back the investment in their training and development,” said Joanna Hackett, Solutions Architect at Reed Talent Solutions.

Tristan Ramus added that JLL has recruited a number of workplace psychologists to help employers build more meaningful connections with their remote employees and improve loyalty.

With fewer experienced consultants in the

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14 PointSix: Lessons from 2021 “We are seeing employers increasing their focus on retention as well as internal mobility with more employee value led offers such as reimbursing salary sacrifices made at the start of the pandemic or offering more one-off holiday entitlements. There is a bigger focus on EVP than there has ever been.”

Janine Chidlow, Sector MD, AMS

industry, and everyone competing for each other’s talent, how are recruiters adapting?

“They’re having to look for it in other industries,” said Dave Pye, founder of Jump Advisory Group, which offers strategic advice, leadership, and marketing expertise to a growing network of scale-up recruitment founders. “They’re recruiting from sport, pensions and financial services – where people are used to the phone and being rejected. They are having to play on the ‘consultant’ bit of recruitment consultant to attract them into the sector though.”

Just as the housing crisis has been driven by not building enough homes, training and re-skilling talent will solve the skills crisis – and resource augmentation has helped many recruiters to grow while building long-term relationships with clients. Several of this year’s TIARA winners showed how virtual conferences and online training hubs helped them to build candidate networks over the last 12 months.

Concluding the debate, Ken Brotherston said it had been a challenging year for everyone, but the future was bright. “My key takeaway is that demand will continue to be strong in 2022 but, as the market stabilises, the staffing and RPO firms who have aligned their strategy with their clients’ needs and invested in their own transformation will emerge as the clear winners in the post-pandemic economy.”

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Attract. Manage. Pay.

16 PointSix: Talent Tactics

Fair treatment How do you know if a toxic top performer can be cured? What can leaders do to convert those who can be saved into champions of the behaviour that should be rewarded in your business?

Maintaining culture and preserving goodwill has been challenging for recruiters over the last 18 months, as furlough and remote working have made people feel more detached. It’s more difficult to identify people who might have become disillusioned – or deal with those damaging morale, building their own power base, or even their own business.

What is a toxic top performer and what is the best way to deal with them? How can you prevent toxic behaviour? Is it possible to convert cultural challengers into model managers and exemplary employees, or is it best just to manage them out of the business?

These are difficult questions for any employer to address in the midst of talent shortages and record job vacancy levels but it’s especially acute for recruiters who are struggling to find and keep the best people. Who would fire their top biller in this market?

PointSix member Affi Khan, CEO of Cpl UK Technology & Healthcare quoted Sir Alex Ferguson earlier this year when asked this question saying that ‘no player is bigger than the team’. “As recruiters, our service is all we are, and our brand is therefore paramount. Toxic people are in it for themselves. Irrespective of how good they might be as an individual, the damage they cause to the brand, the team and the culture far exceeds whatever they might be billing.

“We apply as an estimate the same cost to a business of detractors in net promoter scoring and feel one top billing toxic recruiter costs us five average performers. It’s not worth it; get them off the bus!”

Last month, we decided to explore this question in a PointSix virtual roundtable with our partner Access Recruitment. We brought together a group of industry leaders from agencies including Experis, Norman Broadbent, Fiser

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Group and Montreal Associates to see if they shared the same view and to swap tactics for dealing with toxic top performers.

By Alex Evans Programme Director TALiNT Partners

We also invited a guest expert in culture and leadership — Phil Lewis, Founder & Principal of change management consultancy Corporate Punk – to explain what ‘toxic’ means.

“In the context of recruitment, toxic top performers might focus on revenue at all costs, only on the short-term and ‘me’ not ‘we’. In sales-led cultures, individual top performers might not work well with others. They can be a very high opportunity cost because they’re not allowing anyone else to prosper and they’re not leveraging their skills in that context.

“To put toxicity into context, behaviour is toxic, not individuals. Good people have the capacity to be toxic – and so do leaders themselves. You need to acknowledge and understand your own toxic potential as well as that of others in order to do something about it. Willingness to tolerate poor behaviour, or an unwillingness to call it out and enter the zone of uncomfortable conversation, is itself toxic. So can a lack of willingness to empower people. So, toxicity is behaviour we can change if we stop avoiding conflict or the awkward truth.”

Access Recruitment Strategy Director Matt Comber, who co-founded Volcanic before it was acquired by Access Group, gave his perspective on toxicity both as a business leader and a supplier to thousands of recruitment clients.

“Top billers can become toxic if they’re only

“Behaviour is toxic, not individuals. Good people have the capacity to be toxic – and so do leaders themselves.”

Phil Lewis, Founder, Corporate Punk

17

incentivised and rewarded on sales,” he explained. “Their numbers might look good, but the quality of the business they win tells another story. I’ve seen toxic top billers promoted too quickly and it sets the wrong example for how to succeed. They also tend to find toxic clients as well, which is costly in the short and long term.”

Matt believes that technology has a role to play in preventing toxic behaviour to encourage a more collaborative way of working. “Our recently acquired NorthStar performance management platform is being used to appraise consultants in a more holistic way,” he explained.

“For example, if you hit your numbers, you’ll score 7 out of 10. But if you can demonstrate the impact of coaching, training, learning and development and working better with marketing or back office to grow repeat or referral business you’re more likely to score a 9 or a 9.5 needed to justify a pay rise or bonus.

we’ve probably all seen with top billers is a refusal to share work. You expect them to train juniors and be more collaborative, but they are experienced high performers who don’t want to risk lowering their standard for a valuable client; this is rational not toxic behaviour.”

Phil Lewis Founder & Principal Corporate Punk

James Johnson Founder District4

“These KPIs and metrics promote the right behaviour, and the platform provides the data and insight for managers to either reward people or show them where they need to improve.”

This tech-enabled driver of healthy sales behaviour can help start-ups and scale-ups to build the right foundations for growth, but it’s difficult for larger, more mature businesses to change behaviour – particularly when there is a deeply embedded cultural legacy of what is tolerated and celebrated. This is at the heart of why successful transformation is so hard to achieve, because it’s such a major shift and it’s not always clear who or what is toxic.

“I’ve taken over businesses and I’ve seen people who seem toxic, but they’re just de-motivated by a former manager and quite quickly bounce back with the right attention,” observed James Johnson, former CEO of Nicoll Curtin and founder of District4. “The most common red flag

Kirstin Duffy Managing Director The Fiser Group

“Rational behaviour can be toxic in that instance if the development of junior talent is supposedly a priority but it’s not being properly incentivised.

It could be doing damage,” added Phil Lewis.

Experis Managing Director Martin Ewings echoed this point. “You win the right to have the career progression interview with your billings, but you don’t get promoted unless you have demonstrated the right behaviours and processes. This works when it’s baked into the business, but the challenge now is re-aligning behaviours to a new direction. People aren’t toxic if they resist because they have been incentivised and rewarded on something else.

You have to be clear about the vision and communication. Once they buy in to that they are positive about it.”

Kevin Davidson, CEO of Norman Broadbent, added that most businesses have vision, values and mission but not every employee connects with them personally. “If you’re clear about the behaviours that bring your values to life and how they help you to achieve your vision and mission then it’s easier to design incentives and development plans to enable people to thrive.

Everyone becomes part of the architecture of the business and how it grows. Of course, the real challenge is holding people accountable to that framework, especially if it means taking a big financial hit.”

Some may need more time and effort than leaders are willing to invest, as Phil Lewis explained: “People are able to change when the will and support is there, so the business might need to provide coaching, mentoring or training.

An inconvenient truth is that behavioural change

TALiNT International December 2021

18 PointSix: Talent Tactics “You can cure toxicity by talking honestly about what motivated it and then incentivise good behaviour around the development of others.”

Kirstin Duffy, Managing Director, The Fiser Group

takes time and it’s going to cost you. You can be efficient with anything except people, so focus on what really matters to you first. It can take 12 months to convert someone into a top performer, so be realistic.”

The move to remote working has created cultural challenges as expectations have changed, with some who prioritised wellbeing over process now making it a focus again.

“One of our top performers through the pandemic is resistant to returning to the office and not collaborating, coaching or communicating in the way we would expect when he is there,” confided one leader. “We need to know if he is willing to change.

Incentives and KPIs for progression will help us determine that, but if he’s not he can damage culture and morale. We need to know if he can be cured to decide if he is worth time and investment, or if a clean break is better for both of us.”

A positive outcome of the pandemic is that different kinds of leaders have emerged, as Dave Pye, founder of Jump Advisory Group explained: “For tech-enabled scale-up recruiters, they have seen that the toxic top billers aren’t always the best leaders while top performers from other functions of the business, like back-office, have shone.”

The group agreed that, while they have all had a gut feeling about a toxic top performer that was ultimately proved right, it has tended to take longer than it should have to address. This, Phil explained, is because most people avoid having the awkward conversation to resolve it quicker.

“A key takeaway for me is that you can cure toxicity by talking honestly about what motivated it and then incentivise good behaviour around the development of others,” said Kirstin Duffy, Managing Director of The Fiser Group. “For me,” concluded David Thuillier, CEO of Montreal Associates, “the key point is not to promote anyone into a management position who doesn’t deserve it. It’s not just about results, it’s about behaviour.”

TALiNT International December 2021

“If you’re clear about the behaviours that bring your values to life and how they help you to achieve your vision and mission then it’s easier to design incentives and development plans to enable people to thrive.”

Kevin Davidson, CEO, Norman Broadbent

19

What to do now to get 2022 off to a good start SourceBreaker spoke with a range of leading experts across the recruitment industry to get their thoughts on a re-energised market where all sectors look to recover lost ground.

Dean Kelly NED/Advisor

Ben Broughton

Founder, Primis

James Osbourne

Co-Founder, The Recruitment Network

Nicole Plinston

Co-Founder, Prime

Hishem Azzouz

Founder, Recruitment Mentors

Adam Dale

CRO, SourceBreaker TALiNT International December 2021

20 D&I and Disability

Untapped talent D&I has risen up the priority list, but does it include people with disabilities? The numbers suggest not, so when will employers open their eyes to this largely untapped pool of candidates?

The pandemic has shone a light on the everincreasing gap between employed able-bodied workers and those with disabilities. “People with disabilities are less likely to be employed than workers without a disability and the pandemic has only exacerbated this gap,” observed Steve Ingham, CEO of PageGroup, who has become a champion of disability in the workplace and recruitment since a skiing accident left him paralysed.

According to a report from Leonard Cheshire, a company that provides support to people with disabilities to live, learn and work as independently as possible, states that 71% of disabled people in employment in March this year were affected by the pandemic, either through a loss of income, being put on furlough or being made redundant. This increased to 84% for those aged 18 to 24.

PageGroup research highlighted that many disabled people have felt under pressure to return to their workplace now that restrictions have lifted and have experienced increased anxiety as a result.

There are over 11 million disabled adults in the UK. Of that number, 51% are unemployed. That is an enormous, untapped talent pool. But how do RPOs, agencies and talent acquisition teams attract talent from this seemingly invisible workforce, and why haven’t they done so already?

Technology talks Working from home, while mandated in March 2020, has quickly become the norm in today’s economy. In fact, talent acquisition managers are seeing that not offering flexible and/ or home-based working could make or break an offer of employment. It’s been criticised as being elitist, with 80% of the workforce considered “deskless” according to research from Josh Bersin, but employers proved last year that it’s entirely possible to deliver fast and efficient digital transformations in their organisations. So there is no reason not to offer full time working from home options to the disabled workforce.

TALiNT International December 2021

By Debbie Walton Editor TALiNT Partners

Nétive, a vendor management system from the Netherlands, believes that it will become more commonplace now for organisations to offer work from home opportunities thereby expanding their talent pools. Patrick Tiessen, CEO at Nétive said: “This period has made us think about how we can adapt our VMS applications to reach further locations within the market via our MSPs and Master Vendor. One way of doing this is to develop databases of candidates who are far away from the labour market.

“In general, since the pandemic we support our employees working from their homes and it will be more common for our own organisation to hire new candidates with disabilities for example. We believe strongly that COVID-19 will change the way employers look at the possibility of hiring disabled colleagues.”

Upskilling the workforce According to Scope, the disability charity, a staggering one in five disabled people have no qualifications, compared to one in fifteen able-bodied people. This also creates an exceptional opportunity for employers to offer upskilling – which is much needed in the current economy. Lessons learned this year include the fact that professional development is right at the top of the list of perks candidates are looking for.

At the TALiNT Partners Benchmark Summit held in November, we heard from numerous talent acquisition specialists that it’s time to look for talent in unconventional places and look for candidates with different skills too. Soft skills, work experience, volunteering all count towards a potential candidate’s ability to succeed.

Considering that 37% of disabled people who are unemployed want to work, offering learning and development opportunities to candidates who may lack only some skills needed to perform the job could dramatically increase your talent pool and give disabled candidates massive opportunities in the workplace.

Reasonable adjustments This year’s winners of the TIARA Talent Solutions Award for Diversity and Inclusion, AMS and

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HSBC, say that it’s not always necessary to search far and wide for new candidates, but to revisit and take care of the ones who are already applying. By creating a Reasonable Adjustments Candidate Care role, applicants with disabilities who had fallen out of the hiring process for various reasons, are now able to have in-depth conversations around reasonable adjustments to be made in order to accommodate them or opting into the existing Disability Confident Scheme before progressing with an application.

Steve Ingham CEO PageGroup

There are many common disabilities that are “hidden” so people can potentially be unaware of their presence or effect on the individual.

Steve Ingham, speaking at the TALiNT Partners World Leaders in Recruitment Summit in October, said that it’s important to allow employees to bring their “full selves to work”.

“Businesses are often unaware of the challenges facing their employees, so it’s important to champion open conversation and empathy in the workplace,” said Steve.

Alicia Barker COO Staffing 360 Solutions

He believes that disabled candidates often feel uncomfortable disclosing their disability during an interview process due to fear that it might impact their employment prospects.

As such, they hide their condition from their employer which means they cannot be adequately accommodated in the workplace.

Research by the Valuable 500 shows that only 7% of business leaders have lived experience of disability, which contributes to the idea that representation for disabled people is absolutely not where it should be yet.

Cascading change Over the past few years, disability has appeared on the radar of more and more businesses. This is partly thanks to the work of organisations such as the Valuable 500 in raising awareness of the employment challenges facing disabled people across the world, as well as various C-suite initiatives such as the CEO ACT!ON pledge.

However, as the stats indicate, there is still a long way to go.

Brendan Flood Chairman and CEO Staffing 360 Solutions

Patrick Tiessen CEO Nétive

Staffing 360 Solutions Inc. also believe that, to enact change, it must start at the top. Its Chairman and CEO, Brendan Flood, was one of the first CEOs in the staffing industry to join 1,300+ CEOs of the world’s leading companies and business organisations in a united commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace by signing up to the CEO ACT!ON pledge. At the same time, he appointed the Chief Operating Officer, Alicia Barker as the company’s DE&I officer. At the beginning of 2021, Alicia was charged with creating action in both educating its workforce and ensuring that at least 75% of the final candidates for internal positions were from underrepresented groups. To create meaningful change, it’s imperative that goals are set and that someone ensures they are met.

Staffing 360 Solutions believe that eliminating bias and driving change begins in the C-Suite.

The leadership of all its brands have pledged to promote equity for people of all ethnicities, disabilities, spiritual beliefs, genders, and sexual orientations. By ensuring selection, hiring and onboarding processes foster those belief systems, they believe that they will succeed in creating a more diverse, equitable and inclusive environment.

Steve Ingham advises the following to all employers looking to truly diversify their workforce: “In order to create change, I would encourage employers to start empowering themselves with information. As more employers become aware of the barriers that those with disabilities face, the easier it will become to introduce tangible solutions such as proper accessibility when it comes to the application and interview stage process.

“In addition, it’s key that businesses develop a working environment that fosters diversity and inclusion and work towards eliminating preconceptions and biases towards those with a disability, even if it is unconscious. Leaders need to speak authentically about the necessity of inclusion and drive cultural change from within, so people with disabilities can bring their whole selves to work.”

TALiNT International December 2021

22 Interview: Fuchsia Carter

Super heroes don’t only wear capes Fuchsia Carter, Candidate Care Consultant at HSBC won the Netive Diversity and Inclusion Award at this year’s TIARA Talent Solutions Awards. Fuchsia is challenging the industry to employ more disabled people. We sat down with her after the TIARAS and here’s what she said.

TI: Where and how did your career begin?

FC: The start of my career was an unconventional one. Over 10 years ago I was a police officer but I became unwell and had to medically retire. I found out then that I had a life-limiting chronic illness and everything changed. I began applying for work immediately but potential employers looked at my disability and out-of-work status and simply never got back to me. Then in 2017 I became homeless and had to stop my seven-year job search. I had lost all hope, when after a year I was finally housed and could start looking again. I found work at Sainsbury’s Bank, but it was only a six-month contract. I was lost and terrified that I wouldn’t find work again.

That’s when I applied at my local HSBC branch as I thought: “Why not?” I wasn’t successful in the bank clerk role, but I was offered a job within recruitment when I pointed out that a few practices during the HSBC hiring process didn’t work for disabled people. They brought me in to change things.

TI: What daily challenges do you face in the workforce?

FC: Apart from facing resistance from people regarding policy changes and adjustments that I put in place, the biggest challenge is helping candidates. Nearly all candidates have had such terrible experiences with companies in the past that their mental health and confidence is either non-existant or very low. You can hear the pain and exhaustion in their voices and it can be really hard for me as I’ve been where they are.

TI: What differences would you like to see in the industry for people with disabilities in the next 12 months to 24 months?

FC: I want more disabled people to become employed. There are 400,000 disabled individuals out of work in the UK right now.

A mere 43% of disabled people are employed when compared to 87% of the non-disabled population who are employed. There is so much talent out there and we’re all missing out. We

TALiNT International December 2021

By Debbie Walton Editor TALiNT Partners

Fuchsia Carter Candidate Care Consultant HSBC

need more conversations around inclusion that involve disabled people.

You cannot have experts in disability unless they are disabled. No amount of academic achievement will trump the lived experience.

Every company in the country has a duty of care towards the disabled workforce and yet very few carry out policy. It’s definitely time to enact the 2010 Equalities Act and bring about real change and not cherry pick what we want to protect as a nation.

TI: Have you found that your work environment has been largely accepting of you?

FC: I have not felt more at home with HSBC and AMS. My unfiltered mind is welcomed and at times it raises a few eyebrows but it also makes people realise that I am at a disadvantage in most life settings. As for my colleagues, I think they value my honesty and forthrightness. But you might have to ask them!

TI: What advice can you give both those with disabilities and those abled bodied in the workforce that will get the industry to where it needs to be in terms of hiring?

FC: Just have that awkward conversation. Stop thinking that everything is going to cost money when it really won’t. And most of all stop thinking that disabled people cannot do XYZ because trust me, we will surprise you.

To disabled people, I know you are tired. But please keep fighting. Complete change might not happen in our life time, but our fight might change things for the future generations of disabled people.

TI: What other galactic (Star Wars) evening gowns do you own? (Fucshia wore a Star Wars evening gown to the TIARA Talent Acquisition Awards).

FC: That’s my only one; I made it for the Awards (sort of). I make all my own clothes as I don’t wear modern clothing. I even wear bonnets! I find it speaks to my personality and allows me to be who I am. Maybe I should make and wear more Star Wars dresses…

Congratulations

on winning the Nétive VMS Diversity and Inclusion award at the Tiara Talent Solution Awards Presenting this award to you as a well deserving winner was a profound moment of reflection for our team.

It has acted as a driver to accelerate our own D&I policy, and the D&I impact we will help the market make.

On behalf of the entire Nétive VMS team, thank you! netive.co.uk

24 Talent Acquisition

The Benchmark Summit Now in its fourth year, the TALiNT Partners Benchmark Programme is helping talent leaders to review and develop the way they bring the best people into their organisations.

This independent, rigorous and confidential tool offers challenging and thought-provoking questions for TA and HR leaders to explore why they do what they do in talent acquisition, and where they might improve in terms of process, tools, people and strategic planning.

This year’s Benchmark Programme was bigger than ever, with talent leaders from over 200 single and multi-national employers guided through a review of their processes, technology and approach.

Never before have we been faced with the challenges we’re seeing in the market today.

Skills are scarce, job vacancies exceed the number of applicants and the threat of a ‘great resignation’ have all created an environment an industry that is in constant flux. Against this backdrop, TALiNT Partners benchmarked the fantastic results being achieved across all market sectors by talented, dedicated and creative in-house recruitment leaders and their teams as they navigated a complex candidate market and rapidly changing organisational demands.

Many of the challenges flagged in this year’s report were explored at the Benchmark Summit, hosted by TALiNT Partners at The King’s Fund in London on the 18th of November - where industry heavy hitters came together to discuss these incredibly insightful findings.

Talent acquisition teams are facing the toughest recruitment conditions of their careers, caused by a market that is in a constant state a flux.

Attracting and retaining talent has never been more challenging, with universally high vacancy levels and low candidate availability.

This year’s Benchmark Report highlights how changes in candidate attitudes are shaping talent strategy across all market sectors, in how they define their employer proposition, how they engage with talent and are using new ways of working to increase access to a more diverse candidate market.

TALiNT International December 2021

There were notable changes in the following key areas:

By Debbie Walton Editor TALiNT Partners

Candidate Experience: Results from the report around the everimportant candidate experience category revealed that fierce competition for talent is driving better candidate communication, faster response times during the hiring process and attention to feedback. It also showed that partnerships with hiring managers have increased to improve fulfilment but that the rise in quantity of engagement has been at the expense of quality.

Rate your organisations’s overall performance in delivering an outstanding candidate experience

%

20

By Debra Sparshott Employer Programme Director TALiNT Partners

7% Low Moderate High

73%

How can TAs use these findings to refine and/ or better their offerings? Our panel experts discussed how to better the candidate experience.

Andy Randall, CEO at eArcu, said: “Businesses need to keep hiring and focus needs to be on candidate engagement. However, the place to start finding talent is to look internally. It’s historically harder to get a job internally than it is finding one externally. Companies need to simplify the internal hiring process and reengineer it to better candidate experience in 2022.”

Mike Hollister, Strategic Account Director at eightfold.ai commented: “Candidate experience must be personalised and modified to suit the candidate in the process.”

“There needs to be a level of appropriateness

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when it comes to responding to candidates’ job applications,” said Iain Wills, Head of Sales at Adzuna. “If the application process is intense and takes a lot of the candidate’s time, then it’s only fitting that they should receive substantial feedback on their application.”

Employer Brand & Candidate Attraction: The rise of social values and people-first aspirations are re-shaping candidate expectations and the definition of an employer of choice, the Report found. Results from the report showed increased efforts to align with the employee perspective through partnerships with marketing teams and increased enablement of the recruitment supply chain.

Candidates’ wants and needs have changed dramatically in the last two years and we’re seeing a great shift towards employees looking for companies that align with their own intrinsic value system. The panellists at the Summit highlighted the importance of the employer brand and how it affects candidate attraction.

crisis.” Iain went on to explain the importance of employer brands. “Ask yourself what is amazing about your brand. Be honest about what the job entails and be honest about your brand – own your shortcomings. Candidates appreciate honesty.”

Andy Randall CEO eArcu

Dan Moran Client Services Director ManpowerGroup

Dan Moran, Client Services Director at ManpowerGroup Talent Solutions commented on candidate attraction: “The ease and speed of the application process is becoming more and more important. If the application is long and difficult, candidates will lose interest in the company right at the beginning of the process.”

Onboarding: The findings in the Report showed that tightening the onboarding process has been a priority in the struggle to keep candidates post-offer. An increase in communication before the first day comes through but there is concern about detail and the ability to create connection for new joiners in a hybrid workplace.

Pre-employment effectiveness

Rate your organisation’s effectiveness at communicating its distinctive values and characteristics through the following:

A. Confimation of employment post reference check

B. Keeping in touch post offer

Low

C. Completion of necessary compliance (ID, right to work etc.)

80%

Moderate

D. Sending of on-boarding schedule prior to start date

60%

High

E. Arrangement of ID and log-on permissions before start date

N/A

F. Communications of directions for day 1

40%

20%

0%

A. Recruitment agencies

Low

B. RPO providers

Moderate

C. Job advertisements

D. Social media channels

High

E. Employee advocacy

N/A

“It’s really interesting to see the terms candidates are searching for during the job searches,” said Iain Wills, Head of Sales at Adzuna. “People are asking for far more specific job roles; different roles are getting more traction, for example, data entry roles, as they can be done at home. Candidates are also specifically asking for certain brands because they feel more of a ‘safe harbour’ during a

Nikki Steeden Head of Growth and Advisory Retinue Talent Solutions

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Noel Thomas, Co-founder and Creative Director at Eli Onboarding addressed the concerning high volume of reneges currently seen in the market.

“Drop the ball once during the onboarding process and you’ve lost the candidate before they’ve even started.”

A recurring theme seen throughout the discussions is that technology simply cannot be the only enabler in the hiring process. During the onboarding process, candidates need to feel a sense of belonging. “You need to inspire your new hires and foster positive engagements, as well give line managers tools and training, so that they’re equipped to make candidates feel like VIPs,” continued Noel.

TALiNT International December 2021

26 Talent Acquisition

Louise Shaw, Director of Resourcing Transformation at Omni RMS stressed the significance of hiring manager training. “While process and technology are very important, the most important part of the hiring process is people. And TA teams work incredibly hard to attract diverse candidates, but the candidate experience isn’t up to scratch which results in candidate drop off.”

concierge is a wonderful way to foster the relationship between offer and desk.”

And the final burning questions: How can TA Teams get better at understanding the internal talent map?

Noel Thomas, Co-founder and Creative Director at Eli Onboarding: “Take the time to map one!

Most clients don’t have an internal map, so that’s a good place to start.”

Adam Brown, Senior Partner – Talent Solutions and Social Mobility at Connectr answered the question the industry is asking in the face of ‘the great resignation’: why is holding on to top talent so difficult? “Candidates must be made to feel that you are invested in them and valued throughout the candidate journey and beyond day one.”

Dougie Loan, Chief Revenue Officer at Odro: “There is a lack of understanding from line managers as to what other teams actually do.

Bringing in a hiring manager from a central perspective means they have ‘skin in the game’ and can offer a neutral perspective to internal mobility.”

What’s coming in 2022?

Debra Sparshott, Employer Programme Director at TALiNT Partners said: “We’ll be seeing more investment in TA as they now have a solid seat at the table and their importance is realised. TA is going to become an aspirational role in organisations.”

Diverse talent is especially difficult to hold on to.

“We need to move away from just focussing on diverse talent and actually focus on creating a sense of belonging at all levels within an organisation. Belonging helps to build inclusion and diversity,” added Adam.

Dougie Loan, Chief Revenue Officer at Odro agreed: “The process should start with education. By looking at the candidate pool and placing diverse candidates in front of hiring managers we’re perpetuating unconscious bias only to be told: ‘I’ve never hired that candidate before’. So, the deficiency lies in the hiring manager and not the candidate.”

Connection between the candidate and employer is incredibly important. “Just because we’ve stopped talking to them once the offer has been accepted, that doesn’t mean the market isn’t,” added Dougie.

Adam agreed: “You need to leverage existing connections by linking candidates to people in your business who have been through the same process. This brings in the human element post offer acceptance. Leveraging talent to engage new talent is something TAs can do nurture the relationship early on.”

Nikki Steeden, Head of Growth and Advisory from Retinue Talent Solutions said that there are things TA teams can do to reduce reneges.

“Once the offer is accepted, the candidate is passed over to HR. But the recruiter can carry on the relationship with the candidate. A candidate

TALiNT International December 2021

Dougie Loan, Chief Revenue Officer at Odro: “We are going to have to invest more in our people from a psychological level. We need to find new ways to connect as well as find out what drives and motivates people more than ever, as these motivators have changed in the current market.”

Download the Benchmark Report 2021 here

Noel Thomas, Co-founder and Creative Director at Eli Onboarding: “TA and HR now have a far bigger seat at the table and they’re going to have to prove value and deliver on those big promises.”

Keynote speaker Lord Chris Holmes stated: “The key question and issue to be addressed is ‘who takes care of the talent who takes care of the talent’? We need to take the learnings of the last year and do better. We need to be kinder to our colleagues and to ourselves.”

And finally, he said: “Inclusive by design, will only happen if led from the top.”

This is just a glimpse of what lies ahead in this thought-provoking and candid view of the 2021 talent acquisition landscape. Each of the twelve categories has its own story to tell but the overriding view is of a lot of hard work, increasing partnership and more change expected.

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Call Ayers now on 1300 767 391 or visit ayers.com.au TALiNT International December 2021

28 TIARA: UAE Recruitment Awards 2021

Resilience lights the way “Resilience has been a fitting theme for the 2021 global TIARA Recruitment Awards,” said David Head, Director at TALiNT Partners.

Snap back “Resilience has been a fitting theme for the 2021 global TIARA Recruitment Awards,” said David Head, Director at TALiNT Partners. “The COVID-19 crisis hit the staffing sector hard in 2020, companies downsized, re-grouped, and set out their stalls for survival. Fast forward a year and the recruitment industry is experiencing its hottest market for many years as the war for talent has intensified and the opportunities for all have become very apparent.”

By Debbie Walton Editor TALiNT Partners

The TIARAs are distinguished by the rigour and transparency of its judging process and elevated further by the quality and diversity of our judges – making a TIARA a powerful endorsement.

Recruiters who have embraced new, more flexible ways of working, utilised the best in technology, and had front and foremost the wellbeing of their staff, clients and candidates have all been clear winners. These areas of focus have been an overriding theme throughout the winning TIARA Awards submissions this year.

The TIARAs have been presented in the UK, UAE, ANZ and Japan and what has been abundantly clear from the outset of the awards campaign and from the hundreds of submissions received, is the incredible strength and professionalism of recruitment companies across the board. Every category has been hotly contested with outstanding winners and a number of very ‘highly commended’ businesses. None more so than across the Middle East where the winners of the TIARA Recruitment Awards UAE 2021 were revealed at a glittering gala evening at The Grosvenor House Hotel in Dubai.

Attended by over 200 CEOs, senior executives, and leaders from the UAE’s top recruiters the ceremony was held in the magnificent hotel ballroom where finalists arrived to a red-carpet welcome, a sparkling drinks reception followed by a sumptuous dinner after which twelve exemplary winners were announced.

TALiNT International December 2021

Those shortlisted this year have been championing recruitment as a professional service and have demonstrated true excellence, game-changing innovation, and pandemicdefying growth. The judges were impressed with the extremely high standard of the entries and were quick to point out and share what made the winning submissions stand out. Innovation was integral, a fully engrained DE&I policy, and a genuinely great service were all cited.

Underlying all of these was the sheer resilience of the industry.

WINNERS

By David Head Director TALiNT Partners

THE CLIENT SERVICE AWARD This award recognises excellence and collaboration in the delivery of a talent acquisition project or ongoing campaign.

Winner: Salt Salt was praised by the judges for its seamless communication with clients, it’s deep understanding of its client market as well as adapting to the pandemic in effectively supporting remote working engagements.

Judges also commended Salt’s growth in client acquisition over the last year, as well as the superb client reviews.

Finalists: Airswift Kinetic Business Solutions RP International Salt THE CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE AWARD This award recognises excellence, innovation and impact in the way candidates are sourced, managed, and supported to ensure the best outcome for candidates.

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Winner: SThree Judges commended SThree’s excellent communication and pro-active approach to candidate engagement and its investment in candidate wellbeing, working together with clients to support candidates and their families during the pandemic, providing a positive experience during this difficult time.

Finalists: Robert Walters RP International Salt SThree THE CONTRACT RECRUITMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR This award recognises financial and market growth as well as excellence and innovation in sourcing, supporting, and placing the best candidates.

Winner: NES Fircroft Judges praised NES Fircroft for their impressive and sustained growth, their innovation and advanced technology solutions to help clients and candidates overcome geographical constraints and streamline processes. Judges also praised their initiatives to support clients in improving DE&I. Finalists: Halian Marc Ellis NES Fircroft Sthree VHR (Highly commended) THE DIVERSITY & INCLUSION AWARD This award recognises the commercial and cultural impact of policies and initiatives to promote greater diversity and inclusion for employees, clients, and candidates.

Winner: Robert Walters Robert Walters demonstrated a comprehensive

approach, impressive innovation and excellence in embedding D&I into their culture with great evidence of the impact this is having across the business, both internally and with their clients.

Finalists: Robert Walters Salt SThree (highly commended) THE BEST SPECIALIST RECRUITMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR This award recognises recruiters who have achieved impressive results in their specialist niche sectors in the region.

Winner: Salt Judges commended the innovative response to market changes, the investment in employee wellbeing and development, and Salt’s deep expertise under-pinned by strong branding and client proposition.

Finalists: ESMOS Recruitment Kinetic Business Solutions Marc Ellis Mark Williams Recruitment Salt VHR THE ENERGY RECRUITMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR This award recognises recruiters who have achieved impressive results in the energy sectors covering oil, gas and renewables.

Winner: Airswift Judges commended Airswift for an outstanding entry, demonstrating clear differentials and successes. Judges praised the employee excellence, evidenced through retention and high employee engagement as well as the investment in delivering best service for their clients and impressive contractor satisfaction rates.

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30 TIARA: UAE Recruitment Awards 2021

Finalists: Airswift NES Fircroft Progressive Recruitment THE TECHNICAL, CONSTRUCTION & ENGINEERING RECRUITMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR This award recognises recruiters who have achieved impressive results in the Technical, Construction & Engineering sectors.

Winner: VHR Judges praised VHR for their innovative solutions to unique customer pain points and their out-of-the-box approach to marketing and candidate generation, supported by a strong management team and people strategy.

Finalists: GroupL NES Fircroft (highly commended) VHR THE IT & DIGITAL RECRUITMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR This award recognises recruiters who have achieved impressive results in the IT & Technology sectors.

Winner: Halian Halian demonstrated impressive growth, emerging from the pandemic a stronger and more agile organisation. Judges also commended their investment in their digital journey, incorporating AI and new technology which has had a measurable impact for both employees and clients.

Finalists: Cander Halian Huxley JCA Associates Marc Ellis RP International

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Salt THE BEST USE OF BRAND AWARD This award recognises the use of brand in a recruitment company to gain a competitive edge based on a measurable improvement in candidate, client, and employee engagement.

Winner: Salt Salt was recognised by the judges for their clear EVP and brand, standing out as a digital company with digital DNA. Salt’s brand has enabled them to attract and retain the right talent, delivering a great service resulting in increased NPS scores.

Finalists: Alcon Maddox (highly commended) Marc Ellis Salt THE BEST SME RECRUITMENT COMPANY TO WORK FOR This award recognises recruiters who can demonstrate innovation and impact in their attraction, induction, development, and retention of talent.

Winner: Mark Williams Recruitment The judges were impressed with the diversity, support and values-led culture within the business, as well as the excellent training and development opportunities which have resulted in a high performing team, impressive growth and successful client retention.

Finalists: Mark Williams Recruitment Resource Right Group THE BEST LARGE RECRUITMENT COMPANY TO WORK FOR This award recognises recruiters who can demonstrate innovation and impact in their attraction, induction, development, and retention of talent.

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Winner: Airswift Airswift were praised by the judges for their positive employee engagement and retention of staff, enabling long lasting client partnerships and retained expertise. Judges also liked the clear connection between Airswift’s values and approach to clients, candidates, employees and the community.

Finalists: Airswift Parisima Talent Robert Walters Salt SThree VHR THE LEADER OF THE YEAR Winner: Aws Ismail – Director, Marc Ellis Judges commended Aws for his investment in establishing a strong team and building an open and supportive culture. His proactive approach to adding value to the business has led to delighting clients and demonstrating impressive growth. A leader with heart, the judges also found the CSR work impressive, giving back and supporting the community through an incredibly difficult year.

Finalists • David Stockton, CEO - Dulsco • Aws Ismail, Director - Marc Ellis • Richard Smith, Regional Director - Salt • Danny Brooks MBE, CEO - VHR

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32 TIARA: ANZ Recruitment Awards 2021

Awards down under It’s been another challenging 12 months for everyone around the globe, which gives the industry more reason to come together. What better way to celebrate the successes than through the global TIARA awards programme.

THE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AWARD This award recognises recruitment companies that have successfully implemented a new training initiative or strategy for the personal and professional development of their staff.

The TIARA Awards serve to recognise and reward all the hard work, the tough decisions, the extra hours, time and effort recruiters have all put in on behalf of candidates and clients.

COVID-19 has led to seismic transformation, and it seems that the world isn’t going to return to ‘business as usual’ for some time yet. Travel restrictions, the great resignation, localised lockdowns have all made finding and retaining talent even more complex, creating greater challenges urgency and demand.

Recruitment is more business critical than it’s ever been and the sector has a pivotal role to play in this change.

The TIARAs have been presented in the UK, UAE, ANZ and Japan and what has been abundantly clear from the outset of the awards campaign and from the hundreds of submissions received, is the incredible strength and professionalism of recruitment companies across the board. Every category has been hotly contested with outstanding winners and several very highly commended businesses.

WINNERS THE BACK OFFICE TEAM OF THE YEAR This award recognises an exemplary team within any back-office function that has enabled or best supported growth, innovation, or performance.

Winner: PeopleIN Judges praised the company for their focused investment in people across a broad group of brands, incredible growth and some very original initiatives that are clearly making an impact.

Finalists: AMS (Highly commended) Clicks IT Recruitment PeopleIN Talenza

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By David Head Director TALiNT Partners

Winner: Halcyon Knights Judges praised Halcyon Knights for their creative training and development initiative, resulting in improved onboarding for new joiners in addition to driving collaboration and innovation in the business.

Finalists: Halcyon Knights Kona & Co. Spencer Ogden THE RECRUIT WIZARD CLIENT SERVICE AWARD This award recognises excellence and collaboration in the delivery of a talent acquisition project or ongoing campaign.

Winner: people2people Judges commended people2people for their impressive entry, demonstrating exceptional client care delivered through several unique and original initiatives, going above and beyond.

Finalists: Horner Recruitment JIVARO people2people SULLIVAN Consulting Technology People (Highly commended) THE SOURCR CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE AWARD This award recognises excellence, innovation and impact in the way candidates are sourced, managed, and supported to ensure the very best outcome.

Winner: Zeep Judges liked the focused and proactive approach to continuous improvement and the investment in technology to provide a personalised service to

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candidates. Judges also commended the clear connection between Zeep’s values and the approach to delivering exceptional candidate care.

Finalists: JIVARO (Highly commended) people2people Samuels Donegan SULLIVAN Consulting The Nudge Group (Highly commended) Zeep THE DIVERSITY & INCLUSION AWARD This award recognises the commercial and cultural impact of policies and initiatives to promote greater diversity and inclusion for their employees, clients and candidates.

Winner: PeopleIN The judges praised PeopleIN for their leadership commitment and fantastic D&I initiatives, in particular the programmes supporting indigenous employment, successfully building inclusive workplaces both internally and with their candidates and clients.

Finalists: HOBAN Recruitment PageGroup PeopleIN THE CSR INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR This Award recognises organisations that demonstrate the positive impact of their CSR initiative on both their community and business performance, creating sustainability within the chosen cause/charity.

Winner: Potentia Recruitment Judges praised Potentia Recruitment for their long-term commitment to supporting graduates through the Taitamariki Potentia initiative, providing resources and opportunities to young people that may otherwise have not been available as well as supporting them through the

challenges of lockdown.

Finalists: Potentia Recruitment SULLIVAN Consulting VOLCANIC BEST USE OF TECHNOLOGY AWARD This Award recognises the best use of technology in a recruitment company to gain a competitive edge based on a measurable improvement in candidate experience, client service, and employee engagement.

Winner: Pulse Staffing Australia Judges commended Pulse Staffing Australia for their investment in technology, partnering with PowerHouse Hub to address a key issue in the sector, leading to impressive results and the ability to resolve talent challenges for their clients.

Finalists: Pulse Staffing Australia The Recruitment Company Zeep THE DAXTRA GROWTH RECRUITMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR This award recognises an impressive track record of sustainable growth in sales, profit, headcount, and client base.

Winner: Launch Recruitment The judges were impressed by the super growth that Launch has experienced through an exceptional year. Judges praised the successful long-term client partnerships as well as the investment in the business to ensure continuous evolution and future growth.

Finalists: Evolve Talent Gatehouse Legal Recruitment HorizonOne Recruitment (Highly commended) Launch Recruitment

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34 TIARA: ANZ Recruitment Awards 2021

SustainHealth Recruitment Technology People The Network Zeep THE BULLHORN SPECIALIST RECRUITMENT COMPANY OF THE YEAR This award recognises market leaders in a niche sector who can demonstrate the best growth, depth of knowledge, and differentiation from competitors.

Winner: Clicks IT Recruitment Judges praised Clicks IT Recruitment for their focus on quality and deep understanding of the tech sector leading to an impressive number of long-term clients and excellent feedback from both candidates and clients. The judges also commended Clicks IT Recruitment for their programme to help neurodiverse candidates find meaningful employment.

Finalists: Aptus Personnel Clicks IT Recruitment Cornerstone Medical Recruitment Gatehouse Legal Recruitment JIVARO Potentia Recruitment (Highly commended) Pulse Child Care Crew Sonder Consultants SustainHealth Recruitment The Network THE AYERS GROUP RECRUITMENT BRAND OF THE YEAR This award recognises the best use of brand in a recruitment company to gain a competitive advantage.

Winner: TalentWeb The judges were impressed with the multifaceted approach to using brand to excel the business and the achievement of B Corp Certification, clearly demonstrating the positive impact their brand has had across the organisation from growth to employee development.

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Finalists: [axr] Recruitment & Search Cornerstone Medical Recruitment Evolve Talent Gatehouse Legal Recruitment SustainHealth Recruitment (Highly commended) TalentWeb TaylorCare Recruitment WOW Recruitment THE IMS GROUP RPO TALENT SOLUTIONS COMPANY OF THE YEAR This award recognises those demonstrating best practice and excellence in the delivery of talent acquisition services.

Winner: Hays Talent Solutions Judges praised Hays Talent Solutions for their compelling entry supported with impressive results and great testimonials, demonstrating their strength in innovation and building long-term successful partnerships with their clients.

Finalists: AMS Hays Talent Solutions THE VINCERE RISING STAR AWARD This Award recognises up and coming agencies that have shown financial and market growth as well as excellence and innovation in sourcing, supporting and placing the best candidates.

Winner: WOW Recruitment WOW Recruitment were praised by the judges for their impressive achievements, and speed of growth through the pandemic underpinned by a clear strategy and comprehensive employee development programmes. Judges also commended the marketing and brand, which clearly communicates the energy and vibrancy of the business.

Finalists: Samuels Donegan SULLIVAN Consulting

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Talenza WOW Recruitment THE AYERS GROUP BEST SME RECRUITMENT COMPANY TO WORK FOR This award recognises employers of choice in recruitment who can demonstrate innovation and impact in their attraction, induction, development and retention of talent.

Winner: SustainHealth Recruitment The judges praised SustainHealth Recruitment for their inclusive culture and investment in employee development and wellbeing, creating a positive and collaborative workplace for their growing team.

Finalists: EGM Partners Gatehouse Legal Recruitment Kona & Co. Lloyd Connect SULLIVAN Consulting SustainHealth Recruitment WOW Recruitment THE AYERS GROUP BEST MID-SIZED RECRUITMENT COMPANY TO WORK FOR This award recognises employers of choice in recruitment who can demonstrate innovation and impact in their attraction, induction, development and retention of talent.

Winner: Zeep Judges commended Zeep for their engaging purpose, and desire to do things differently.

Zeep showed clear evidence of aligning their values to the employee journey and approach to customers, resulting in outstanding employee engagement metrics and impressive commercial outcomes.

Finalists: Cornerstone Medical Recruitment Horner Recruitment Launch Recruitment (Highly commended) TalentWeb Zeep

THE MERCURY BEST LARGE RECRUITMENT COMPANY TO WORK FOR This award recognises employers of choice in recruitment who can demonstrate innovation and impact in their attraction, induction, development and retention of talent.

Winner: Talenza Judges praised the values-led approach across the business and the focus on successfully establishing a collaborative and inclusive culture, resulting in outstanding performance and strong growth.

Finalists: Evolve Talent Halcyon Knights PeopleIN Spencer Ogden Talenza THE ENTIRE SOFTWARE RECRUITMENT LEADER OF THE YEAR This award recognises a visionary recruitment leader who has achieved exceptional growth, pioneered transformational improvement – in their business and industry – and inspired the highest levels of engagement and performance from their people.

Winner: Jason Elias of Elias Recruitment The Judges praised Jason for his continuous drive for innovation and collaboration, and his outstanding commitment to raising the profile and professionalism of the recruitment industry.

Finalists: Jason Elias, CEO – Elias Recruitment Andrew Sullivan, Managing Director – SULLIVAN Consulting Kate Taylor, Founder & CEO – TaylorCare Recruitment

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36 Talent Solutions

Moving and shaking Can talent solutions firms really deliver an effective internal mobility service? The challenges are complex but it’s a big prize for employers and providers.

As employers increasingly look to integrate their internal and external resourcing efforts, an increasingly obvious solution is to use their outsource recruitment partner. However, this can often be complex and politically tricky to achieve. On a chilly November evening at one of our favourite venues, The Beaumont Hotel in Mayfair, TALiNT Partners brought together a number of senior execs from the talent solutions sector to discuss internal mobility over a rather lovely shepherd’s pie and a glass or two of warming red wine.

At TALiNT Partners, we believe that engaging in small groups in relaxed settings, with respected industry peers allows delegates to share information and learn and empower one another. There’s something refreshing about hearing the words: “Yes, that happens in our business, too.”

Firms ranged from some of the largest global players to fast growing scale ups. Discussions were centred around a number of key themes, namely client buy-in to internal mobility and flexible working.

Internal mobility’s biggest challenge is getting employer buy-in “The challenge we face is helping clients keep their talent by moving them around the business,” said Pete Donaldson – Head of Sales EMEA & Americas at Resource Solutions.

“Historically it has been hard to get clients to see the value in internal mobility.”

In the current candidate-led market that is influenced by the much talked about ‘great resignation’, the employee experience is more important than ever. The pandemic has enabled talent to reimagine different ways of working and intangible benefits such as a sense of belonging and working with purpose are high on the list of what talent wants. RPOs are in the unique position to both empower employees and enable their clients to retain top talent through internal mobility programmes, but how can they do it successfully?

“We don’t consider ourselves outsourced

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because we are embedded in our clients’ businesses, it’s easier to get buy-in if you’re truly part of the business,” said Rob Blythe, Co-CEO, Instant Impact.

By Debbie Walton Editor TALiNT Partners

By Ken Brotherston Managing Director TALiNT Partners

Hannah Harrison, Director at GTI Recruiting Solutions said that she’s seen clients implement a “try before you buy” programme. “Internal hiring processes are tricky and often applying for a job at a company someone already works at is harder than applying for one at another company. Internal secondments work incredibly well and give candidates the opportunity to experience the role before applying for them. It’s good exposure and promotes internal mobility well,” said Hannah.

Another way to get client buy-in, according to Darren Topping, Director of Solutions & Insight at Lorien is to position internal mobility as a new recruitment channel.

But this begs the question often asked by a client: Why should they pay their recruitment partner to place a candidate they already have and effectively placed themselves?

Internal mobility as a paid-for service It could be argued that RPOs have made a rod for their own back as historically they gave this service away to sweeten a bigger deal, and still often work this cost into their pricing model.

Balancing the value of internal and external hires given the market, the best clients and providers are working together to resolve this. However, it can be a real challenge and it’s a difficult conversation to have.

When internal mobility becomes a paid-for service it can require providers to reduce what they charge for external hires. It could also potentially create internal challenges for them, too, as it requires clients to pay more for these internal hires, which are often seen as talent they already have.

But it’s clear that if they don’t resolve this, other tech businesses will be looking at how they provide this service.

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“Succession planning creates more roles and reduces attrition,” commented Bob Davies, Solutions Director at Hays Talent Solutions. “It’s crucial that our clients understand who they have in their business and as recruitment partners, we should help manage internal mobility through the use of tech and it should form part of the commercials too.”

Rob Blythe believes that this is the perfect opportunity to assess and deploy tech in-house as it’s a huge differentiator.

Bringing the flex into flexible working Forced ‘working from home’ at the start of the pandemic has now been termed ‘flexible working’ and is considered a benefit that, if not offered by employers, will result in the loss of talent. Whilst being able to enjoy the benefits of working from home, it has come with its challenges, and it appears that the workforce is suffering from various levels of ‘Zoom fatigue’. A burning question was raised during the dinner: How do we culturally integrate new hires and connect with the ‘old’ faces of our teams, if we’re stuck behind a screen all day? Culture is important in any business, but how can employers foster a culture of belonging and inclusivity if you’re never face-to-face with your team?

Pete Donaldson – Head of Sales EMEA & Americas at Resource Solutions said that because they’re a globally diverse business they’ve made coming into the office a few days a month a non-negotiable for their sales and sales enablement function. They’ve also implemented team building days that he jokingly called “compulsory fun” days.

Matthew Wragg, CCO of Gattaca commented on screen fatigue: “It feels as if some people are losing social cues and the ability to deeply connect with each other. It’s important that we all get back to the office for at least a few days a week to keep that social interaction healthy.”

Hannah Harrison agrees. She believes that she can read her team far better in person. “I pick up the emotions of my team far easier when I am in

Hannah Harrison Director GTI Recruiting Solutions

Louise Shaw Director of Resourcing Transformation Omni RMS

Bob Davies Solutions Director Hays Talent Solutions

a room with them and I get to chat to people in the office that I might not have regular meetings with. That said, it often feels more private on a video call than in person.” Ken Brotherston, MD at TALiNT Partners agreed with Hannah. He said: “The irony is that on Teams calls it can be easier to notice when someone is upset and have a sensitive conversation without being interrupted.”

Louise Shaw, Director of Resourcing Transformation at Omni RMS, shared that companies are now openly naming people as “Teams hires”, which is a worrying trend alluding to the lack of cultural integration, so a blend of office and home is proving beneficial, certainly during onboarding so new hires feel a sense of belonging.

A key takeaway from the conversation around flexible working is that a large portion of the workforce doesn’t have the luxury of being able to work from home for a few days during the week. It’s important that RPOs and their clients work together to afford the mobile or ‘deskless’ workforce similar benefits that come with the flexible working phenomenon as it seems it’s certainly here to stay.

A look to the future We asked delegates what they predict will happen come the summer of 2022 and Louise Shaw gave her opinion: “Within our own recruitment sector, as recruitment levels begin to calm down towards the end of next year, inflated salaries for TA will come down slightly and those people who moved for £20k or even more when they were not necessarily ready for such progression, may be found out… companies will realise that they simply weren’t ready or are worth it.”

Geoff Fawcett, Director at Hays Talent Solutions said he predicts that the whirlwind of movement and distressed purchasing will calm down. While Pete Donaldson said climate change, Net 0 and ESG will become more important than DE&I in the bidding process…

Food for thought indeed.

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A process that's fair by design Fairness by design is at the heart of what we do.

There’s a perfect role for every person, and creating opportunity means assessing for potential, not track record. Sova’s commitment to intelligent, ethically applied AI helps you to consistently make fair decisions that support more diverse hiring and progression.

Find out more at sovaassessment.com

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39 Sova: Graduate recruitment in Australia

What to consider for your graduate recruitment in 2022

Ensure you are meeting the expectation of the latest cohort of grads.

For this year’s graduating class, they have spent the majority of their time at university studying and working remotely in lockdown, leading to a new perspective on what they’re looking for from their first corporate role: an employer that is aligned with their outlook and future plans.

Design assessments around values alignment ShapeShapeAccording to research by PwC Australia and Atlassian: ‘Return on Action 2021’, an increasing number of employees are more likely to seek work that meets their needs with employers who share their values”.

As assessment experts, we help some of Australia’s largest graduate employers, such as Pitcher Partners, Coles and NAB to select the best early career talent for their organisations.

Here is our advice on meeting the changing expectations of today’s graduates.

We know from our own experiences with clients that post-pandemic more young people are looking for work that aligns more closely with lifestyle ambitions and values.

Judge candidates on potential not their past The reality is that until interstate and international borders reopen, the talent pool is finite. Unemployment is low and there is fierce competition amongst hiring organisations for a limited pool of home-grown talent. But these young people have not had access to the same education opportunities, internships and work experience as graduates in previous years. So how can organisations make an offer to the right candidates?

Make equality and fairness inherent in your hiring process Diversity and inclusion have moved up the agenda in recent years and today’s graduates want to work for an employer where fairness and equity are baked into corporate culture. A fair recruitment process is an important statement for companies to make and an opportunity to tangibly move the dial on diversity in a way that can be demonstrated to graduates.

Ensure that development and upskilling is not overlooked Organisations that have pivoted to offer virtual recruitment processes, in many cases for graduates all over Australia rather than a traditional city by city approach, are now turning their thoughts to other virtual processes. For clients that have graduate programmes already running, we have helped them to implement virtual development centres that have successfully removed geographic restrictions, and other borders, facilitating a more equitable approach to upskilling, reskilling and the development of high potentials.

In the current white-hot Australian graduate recruitment market, there are example of on-boarding bonuses and retainers. Pay is one way to bring candidates into the funnel but to ensure a good fit for the longer term, we recommend being explicit about values and culture in the recruitment process. This can be conveyed through the content or even the medium through which its delivered.

Provide a transparent and realistic job preview regardless of whether a role is in-person, virtual or hybrid. A key part of making a virtual hiring process effective, is being able to offer a realistic job preview. How can you show people, without inviting them into your offices, what it’s like to work in your organisation?

Who are your key leaders? Who would candidates be working alongside? And what does a typical day in the role look like? Using video, interactive screens and two-way interview sessions we can bring the role and your business to life. And in some instances, candidates actually prefer online to in-person even when the choice is available.

Hone your assessment process for this year’s graduate intake This year’s graduates are a cohort like no other and your assessment process will likely require some fine tuning. It’s a candidate’s market with many receiving multiple offers — and even reneging on offers before onboarding.

Therefore, it’s more crucial than ever to carefully consider your assessment journey and how you can offer a recruitment process that is engaging and scalable, yet without compromising on its accuracy, prediction or fairness.

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Rise of the people People are vital to successful digital transformation – so how do you find and retain the right talent to enable success?

Digital transformation projects have been fast-tracked during the pandemic, as organisations quickly realised the need to modernise their systems to support vital elements like remote working and online transactions.

While businesses are rushing to digitise their operations, project success rates are not increasing at a similar pace. In its Digital Transformation paper, Deloitte notes that 70% of transformation efforts fail. Furthermore, it takes around three years for organisations to actually begin competing in the digital market, even when they get it right.

So why such a high rate of failure? As digital projects revolve around technology, it’s easy to assume that issues with the technology itself are to blame. But actually, it’s the people factor that needs looking at. The most common reasons for digital transformation project failure are management behaviour not supporting change and employee resistance to change, according to Deloitte.

In digital transformation, people are your most important asset Taking a technology-first view is the wrong way of approaching these projects. Certainly, technology has an important role to play as an enabler, but starting with a complex and costly legacy-replacement programme and then trying to shoehorn existing business processes and people into this new technology is a recipe for disaster. The success of your digital transformation depends on your people. The skills, experience and knowledge they can apply to what is a period of organisational disruption and uncertainty is crucial.

As a result, ensuring you have the right people in place to guide your organisation through change becomes a strategic priority. However, we face a new reality. The pandemic is having a long-term impact on how we prefer to work, which requires a new approach to people management and recruitment. Therefore the current policies,

processes and talent a business has aren’t necessarily the ones required for a truly modern and digital organisation.

By Heike Wiesner Global HCM Director Unit4

A massive 77% of respondents to a recent Gartner survey on ‘Attraction and Retention Strategies in a Hybrid World’ highlighted flexibility as being essential to recruiting and retaining talent. Therefore, it is crucial to approach these transformation projects from a change management perspective, putting people at the heart of plans.

Where to find the right people?

Another challenge companies face is competing for talent. If people are crucial to the success of digital transformation projects, it may be the case that businesses need to reskill existing employees or recruit new ones. However, recruitment is proving a difficult task.

The first step for HR and line managers should be looking at current employees, to identify those who could evolve into new roles rather than needing to recruit externally.

Once that option has been exhausted, firms need to look beyond their traditional talent pools and accept that university degrees are not necessarily the route to success. Work experience, self-taught skills and experience gained via volunteering are just as valuable in the post-pandemic world.

Instead of requesting a certain degree or training course, it’s those who are flexible, curious and have a desire to learn who will prove the most valuable to businesses.

How to make your business appealing It is time for businesses to relinquish the old beliefs of fixed working times and location, and instead empower their workforce to determine where, how and when they deliver their work.

By doing so, organisations can attract and retain the best people, and give their digital transformation projects the best chance of success.

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42 TALiNT Talk

What the Dickens, Zero-hours contracts?

According to the ONS, zero-hour contracts appear to form part of the ‘those who are employed’ stats. But are zero hours contracts representative of unscrupulous employer behaviour? Or is what the next generation of workers actually want?

It is almost Christmas present 2021, and all over this fair land workers are spending their hard-earned wages on presents, decorations, mince pies and turkeys – will not have a bad word said about the vegans or vegetarians. But what about all those on zero-hour contracts, will they be cut adrift like Bob Cratchit or is the reality more Mr Fezziwig?

The days of Christmas Past Forgive this author his flights of fantasy and dip into Dickensian life, the rewards, treatment and wellbeing of employees has never been more serious. Victorian factory practices and worker exploitation should have long since been abolished, sadly even in the UK we know that is not the case, but are zero hours contracts part of the problem or the beginning of the solution?

Prior to the introduction of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and the National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999, zero-hour contracts were sometimes used to “clock-off” staff during quiet periods but from 2000 onwards they have been, well, marmite. ONS records from the end of that year reveal that there were around 225,000, or 0.8% of the working population engaged on this employment status.

Trade unions and workers groups have subsequentially been fierce critics with The Labour Party’s 2017 and 2019 General Election manifesto containing a commitment to prohibit zero hours contracts entirely.

As recently as 2020, Zero Hours Justice, was set up by the President of the BFAWU trade union, Ian Hodson, and supported by the Richer Sounds music shop founder and entrepreneur, Julian Richer.

In contrast, a report published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that zero-hours workers, when compared to the average UK employee, are just as satisfied with their jobs (60% versus 59%), actually,

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happier with their work-life balance (65% vs 58%); and less likely to think they are treated unfairly by their organisation (27% vs 29%).

By David Head Director TALiNT Partners

Christmas Present The number of employees on zero-hour contracts remained at or below 0.8% until 2012, when it began to climb steadily. By the end of 2019 it hit 3% or just under 975,000 people in work. Not unsurprisingly the pandemic, shut down and furlough saw that number hit its highest level of 3.3% in June 2020. Today the number has fallen, and we have just under 1,000,000 or 3.1% of those working on a zero-hours contract.

Has the rise been driven by greedy and unscrupulous employers? Or has the increase been fuelled by a new generation of job seekers who want to work more flexibly and who view a job for life as something just so last century? In my opinion it is the latter. Whilst we must never rest on our laurels and accept anything other than the highest standards from employers, it is without doubt a candidate-driven market and if talent demands a zero-hours contract, then that’s what they get.

Christmas Future McKinsey coined the phrase ‘the war for talent’ way back in 1997, twenty five years later and that conflict is set to reach Defcon1. Strap in, buckle up, it’s going to be one hell of a ride with talent solutions providers on the front line of opportunity.

“Trade unions and workers groups have subsequentially been fierce critics with The Labour Party’s 2017 and 2019 General Election manifesto containing a commitment to prohibit zero hours contracts entirely.”

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