TALiNT International March 2022

March 2022

Solid DE&I:

Unlocking the door to successful talent attraction and attrition

Plus...

• • •

Q&A: TIARA Talent Tech Star judge PointSix Predictions: The future anatomy of successful talent and recruitment Interview: McDonald’s UK&I, TIARA Candidate Experience Award Winners

How Do You Measure Up? Equality, diversity and inclusion is a crucial aspect of any strategy, process or culture.

Omni’s Resourcing Effectiveness Assessment operates with EDI as a key element, and supports you in determining how your organisation measures up, and what changes you need to make to attract and retain diverse talent in the future.

The REA will: • Audit where you are now • Assess your current initiatives • Develop action for your organisation to take

Get in touch now to find out how the REA can help you in enabling better diversity and inclusion initiatives across your organisation.

Leader

Solidify DE&I As the Editor at TALiNT Partners, I have a front row seat at events, roundtable dinners and conferences with industry leaders in the HR, talent and HR tech ecosystems. It’s from this front row seat that I am privy to trend predictions, leader insights, debates and opinions from the best in the business. Over the last six months, COVID-19 and skills shortages have dominated conversations, along with new ways of working and the importance of employee wellbeing.

But one such thing that has stood out to me, while sat in the front row, is the importance of what candidates are looking for in their career journeys and the role that DE&I strategies play on that journey. Candidates aren’t only looking for a job; they’re looking for a sense of belonging and purpose and if their employers’ value proposition doesn’t align with their value system, simply put, they leave.

Hiring diverse candidates is difficult enough in the current market but once hired, are you able to retain them? TALiNT International sat down with TIARA Awards judge Karima Green to talk about the importance of DE&I and the upcoming TIARA Awards. Read the full interview on page 14.

So as HR and TA teams are faced with the most talent-scarce market we’ve ever seen, organisations have been forced to adapt and adopt new ways of finding new talent and retaining existing employees.

Successful DE&I strategies start on the inside with buy-in from employees so it is wise not to underestimate the importance of the candidate experience (page 21), as McDonald’s UK&I demonstrated in their award winning entry for the TIARA Talent Acquisition Awards 2021!

But instead of looking outwardly, perhaps now is the time to look within because solid DE&I strategies could be the key to unlocking the door to talent attraction and retention...

Debbie Walton Editor TALiNT International

“Candidates aren’t only looking for a job; they’re looking for a sense of belonging and purpose and if their employers’ value proposition doesn’t align with their value system, simply put, they leave.”

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 Casa Court Great George Street Godalming GU7 1DX www.talintpartners.com Editorial: debbie@talintpartners.com News & features: debbie@talintpartners.com Advertising & Sponsorship: andy@talintpartners.com Design: annabelle@talintpartners.com

TALiNT International March 2022

3

Contents

Contributors

08 News Analysis

08 Employment rate increases 09 Can mental health issues mean job loss?

11 PointSix Predictions Summit Trends in the post-COVID talent and recruitment industry

14 Q&A: TIARA Awards judge

Melanie Hayes Harvey Nash P11

DJ Marker Trinnovo Group P11

Janine Chidlow AMS P11

Catherine Kellaway Goodman Masson P12

Nicola McQueen NHS Professionals P12

Paul Modley AMS P12

Keely Woodley Grant Thornton P12

Ryan McCabe Odro P13

TI spoke to Karima Green Global Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & People Engagement at SThree

18 Talent Solutions Power List ESG Report The new frontier in talent solutions

21 TIARA TA Candidate Experience Award winner TI interview with McDonald’s UK&I

24 Total talent acquisition A holistic talent strategy

28 Putting the ‘I’ in DE&I

Managing successful D&I in the current market

32 TALiNT talk The art of saying no

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

4

TALiNT International March 2022

Karima Green SThree P14

Annelise Smith Lorien P24

TALiNT International March 2022

5

TALiNT Scene

This month saw a mix of in-person and virtual events for the TALiNT team! Once again, industry experts led conversations around industry trends and predictions. The talent eco-system is set for dynamic growth this year. Exciting times indeed.

24th February: The Year Ahead Summit was held at The King’s Fund in Central London with expert panelists looking at the big talent issues facing employers in 2022! After extensive roundtable discussions between delegates and sponsors, we had time for a networking drink at the end of a great day!

4th March: The PointSix Predictions Summit brought together 80 staffing and RPO leaders at NatWest Group’s Conference Centre in the City of London. They shared priorities for the year ahead, gained insights from a fantastic panel of speakers, and joined roundtable discussions with peers and experts from Bullhorn, Odro, Parasol Group, SourceBreaker, Sonovate, Grant Thornton, LinkedIn, Trinnovo Group, Harvey Nash, AMS, NHS Professionals, Reed Talent Solutions, Goodman Masson and SThree. Internal mobility, upskilling, inclusion, employer brand, train & deploy, wellbeing, purpose and the perception of recruitment as a professional service were all key themes.

6

TALiNT International March 2022

9th March: TALiNT Partners and Deloitte co-hosted another great HR & Talent Tech Investor Summit to connect some of the sector’s best new solution providers with investors for insights on growth funding and valuation drivers. An expert panel included Deloitte’s Kiren Asad, who explained why multiples are at an all time high for fast growing tech firms.

Tucker Dearth, CFO of Omnipresent, urged founders to start the recruitment process early for senior leaders with experience of high growth and scale-up culture. And remuneration specialist Simon Patterson, MD of Pearl Meyer, recommended more generous incentives early on to find and keep the senior team that will ultimately create a much bigger pie for the founder.

16th March: TALiNT Partners in partnership with Eightfold.AI hosted a dinner at the elegant Aquavit London. With shortages of in-demand talent likely to continue for the foreseeable future, hiring for skills rather than experience is more important than ever. It is also a great opportunity to network and socialise.

TALiNT International March 2022

7

News Analysis

ONS report states increased employment rate The latest Labour Force Survey (LFS) has been released and contains estimates for November 2021 to January 2022. The survey has shown a continued recovery in the labour market. The employment rate has increased on the quarter with a decrease in the unemployment rate.

However, economic inactivity has increased slightly on the quarter.

The UK employment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points on the quarter to 75.6%. Full-time employees drove the increase in the employment rate during the latest three-month period. While the number of part-time employees decreased strongly during the pandemic, there’s been a steady increase in these figures since April to June 2021.

Self-employed data raises concerns around the UK’s skills stability as the number of self-employed workers remains low following decreases through the coronavirus pandemic.

The ONS stated that its most timely estimate of payrolled employees has shown another monthly increase (up 275,000) in February 2022 to a record 29.7 million.

The unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points on the quarter to 3.9%, while it’s reported that economic inactivity rate increased by 0.1 percentage points to 21.3%.

During the pandemic, increases in economic inactivity compared with the previous three-month period were

4.8%

Average total pay increase (including bonuses) 8

TALiNT International March 2022

largely driven by those aged 16 to 24 years. However, interestingly the LFS has shown that the number of economically inactive people aged 16 to 24 years has been decreasing since early 2021, with those aged 50 to 64 years driving the recent increases in economic inactivity.

According to the survey, the number of job vacancies in December 2021 to February 2022 rose to a new record of 1,318,000. This is an increase of 105,000 from last quarter, with half of the industry sectors showing record highs. However, the rate of growth in vacancies has continued to slow down.

Average total pay increase (including bonuses) was 4.8% and growth in regular pay (excluding bonuses) was 3.8% among employees in November 2021 to January 2022, according to the ONS. In real terms, with figures adjusted for inflation, growth in total pay was 0.1% and regular pay fell on the year at negative 1.0%; strong bonus payments over the past 6 months have kept recent real total pay growth positive. Previous months’ strong growth rates were affected upwards by base and compositional effects. These initial temporary factors have worked their way out. However, ONS is now comparing the latest period with a period where certain sectors had increasing numbers of employees on furlough because of the winter 2020 to 2021 lockdown, so a small amount of base effect will be present for these sectors. This will not be to the degree we saw when comparing periods at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

1,318,000 Number of job vacancies from Dec 2021 to Feb 2022

3.9%

Unemployment rate

Employee fear: can mental health issues result in job loss?

The Employee Mental Health and Remote Working report conducted by virtual events and in-person team building company Wildgoose has revealed that one in six UK employees feel worried that raising mental health concerns with their company could put them at risk of losing their job. The report on mental health and remote working surveyed employees from 129 different companies on whether their mental health at work had improved or become worse during the last year.

It also asked if those surveyed felt comfortable raising any mental health concerns with their employers and what they believed would happen if they did.

Results showed that 86% believed that their workplace is not a safe space for employees to be open about mental health.

According to the report, over the last 12 months, two in three employees have experienced worse mental health at work, compared to the previous year. As remote and hybrid working environments continue to be adopted by more UK businesses, evidence suggested that companies have struggled to adapt their mental

health support processes, with the report revealing that one in three employees feel less able to raise mental health concerns during remote meetings, which has caused issues to go unnoticed.

The results also showed that just over one in eight companies in the UK don’t have a process in place for remote workers to report mental health concerns with the highest prevalence in SMEs, where this figure nearly doubled to one in five not having a process in place.

What employees want from their employers Worsening employee mental health continues to be a growing concern and the researched showed that the change most desired by employees is for companies to offer more regular in-person meetings (36%) and for managers to receive better training on identifying signs of poor mental health (36%).

Just under a third of respondents (32%) stated they would like to see a process policy of reporting mental health concerns, which is not currently broadly offered, followed by assurances of job security after reporting.

News in brief TA teams can gain access to 4.6 billion candidates!

According to talent attraction experts at Adway, they’ve cracked the code to simpler, smarter recruiting that gets you way more candidates and it’s a lot simpler than you think. In a talent-scarce market, isn’t that what recruiters are looking for? It’s all about automated social recruitment marketing.

Well-executed social media recruiting allows modern recruiters to dive into a talent pool of 4.6 billion+ candidates who are active users on social media. It elevates their employer brand so they can stand out against their competitors, it allows them to tell the story of what it’s like to work at their company! Recruiters can now reach their dream talent on any device.

Automated social recruiting marketing creates a candidate experience that draws from best-in-class e-commerce advertising tactics — with highly-intelligent, targeted ad campaigns that compel candidates to explore the employer’s potential, review job listings and apply on the spot. Adway’s Ultimate Guide to Social Media Recruiting is a must-read tool for busy TA professionals who want to spend less time hunting for candidates and more time meeting them.

Gender jobs gap holding back women’s careers Recent research by skills organisation City & Guilds has suggested that outdated stereotypes are holding women back from accessing high paying job opportunities in traditionally male dominated industries. The research found that women are shunning jobs in certain sectors in favour of lower paying sectors. As women are more likely than men to take on caring responsibilities throughout their working lives, the research pointed towards the need to create more flexibility and a better work/life balance to open the doors to jobs that seem inaccessible to many women.

The Great Jobs research explored the attitudes of 10,000 UK working age people towards the essential jobs that keep the nation running found that when looking for a new job, 53% of working age women prioritise flexibility, compared to just 38% of male respondents, whilst 65% of women opt for a good work life balance compared to 57% of men.

Women are more likely to be interested in careers in typically female dominated industries – such as education, health and social care and retail. These jobs are more likely to be in the public sector, offering part-time roles with flexible hours. But they also typically offer lower salaries.

Global hybrid working figures grow According to Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index, the number of people working in a hybrid way across the world is up seven percentage points on last year at (38%), while 53% of people are likely to consider transitioning to hybrid working in the year ahead. When UK staff were surveyed, 84% said they are as productive or even more productive compared to a year ago – higher than the global average of 81%.

Less than half (43%) of business leaders in the UK who were surveyed said productivity had been negatively impacted since the move to remote or hybrid working.

Organisations in the UK are seeing that productivity is not being affected by where their staff work. As a result, they are giving employees more say in deciding whether they commute to the office or work from home. Less than half (44%) of business leaders in the UK say their company is planning to require employees to work in-person, full-time within the next year.

TALiNT International March 2022

9

10

TALiNT International March 2022

PointSix Predictions

The beat goes on If talent is the lifeblood of the economy, and recruitment keeps its heart beating, how are the best providers keeping their fingers on the pulse – for themselves and their clients?

UK job vacancies hit a record high of 1,298,400 from November 2021 to January 2022, according to the ONS, who also reported that 988,000 were driven by resignations rather than dismissals from October to December 2021. But where are all the recruiters?

According to LinkedIn, there are 284,667 working in recruitment and 65,836 left to work for another company over the last year – so will the Great Reshuffle continue in staffing and the wider economy?

TALiNT Partners brought together industry leaders, advisers and experts at the PointSix Predictions Summit last month to answer these and other questions about what will enable and impact growth in 2022.

To set the scene for this annual look at the year ahead for the staffing and RPO sector, Amy Burns-Thomson, Head of TA / Executive Search at NatWest Group offered a large employer perspective on the talent landscape and her prediction of where recruitment partners will add most value.

“As organisations continue their recovery, TA is looking for more support with real time analytics for agile talent strategy development; AI enabled platforms to simultaneously assess and match internal and external candidates for positions to reduce time-to-hire; remote and hybrid TA to expand the geographic search and access mature workers and the non-active workforce; and leveraging analytics to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion through the hiring process,” she explained.

This supported the findings of TALiNT Partners’ newly published Talent Solutions Power List, which surveyed the world’s leading RPOs and asked what their clients value most.

It found that 79.4% of employers want help with Assessment & Deployment of Technology,

followed by Screening & Assessment (76.1%) and Employer Brand & Candidate Attraction (74.5%).

But what are recruiters and RPOs doing to build their own employer brands to find and retain the best people?

Alex Evans Managing Director TALiNT Partners

Janine Chidlow, MD at AMS, said: “After three years of personal reflection those organisations with a clear focus on purpose will win the competition for talent. Combined with a vision for skilling, taking individuals into a Hire, Train, Deploy model to help fuel their recruiting teams but hiring into the programmes through an inclusion lens.”

Janine recently launched AMS TalentLab to train recruiters and has led an initiative to attract talent from other industries into recruitment.

But what are recruiters doing to keep their talent?

DJ Marker, CPO of Trinnovo Group – the TIARA 2020 and 2021 Best Recruitment Company to Work For (£20m to £50m) – said: “We have a people strategy around three key pillars – attract, train and retain – but retention is more than just career pathways and training. It’s important to have a shared vision, mission and ability to directly create positive impact in the work we do.”

Career pathways, wellbeing initiatives and investment in a new learning platform have been a key part of the retention strategy for Melanie Hayes, CPO of Harvey Nash. “People are not just focused on reward, often they will be looking to work somewhere they will be inspired. Working for an inspirational leader is what helps to create stickiness in a business.”

Train to retain In an industry where high attrition is the norm many have opted not to invest in training talent for the benefit of their next employer; but this is

TALiNT International March 2022

11

25%

growth in RPO compared to only 1% in traditional agency recruitment in 2020 (World Employment Confederation)

changing. “Employers in recruitment will take what candidates want more seriously, especially inclusion, and what is in place to support employee development,” predicted Alex Charradeau, Head of Enterprise Sales at LinkedIn. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion has become a higher priority for providers who are looking beyond the why to the how.

“DE&I should be like good manners – part and parcel to any business,” said Catherine Kellaway, Executive Director of Goodman Masson, which won the 2021 TIARA D&I Award. “Our priority is to keep DE&I at the top of the agenda and continuously influence the conversation.”

SThree won company of the year at the 2021 European Diversity Awards. Its Global Head of DEI & People Engagement, Karima Green, predicted that there will be an increased focus on ‘Intersectionality’, or the different layers of diversity, and the importance of internal PR, saying: “A clear mission is critical in translating the, often theoretical, diversity ambitions of an organisation, into tangible and relatable messages for everyone that can be easily repeated. Root it in your purpose and vision, create messages that are compelling and inspirational but realistic.”

Karima also urged the staffing industry to collaborate to share data and best practice on DE&I, like Goodman Masson’s Programme One initiative, and also hold each other to account.

Paul Modley, Director of DE&I at AMS, observed that over the last 12 months many organisations have focused on data collection of their existing workforce to better understand the diversity mix of their employees. “The same level of focus is now being directed to collecting diversity data of candidates to help them to verify if there is any bias in their hiring processes,” he said, which enables RPOs to become better inclusion partners.

12

TALiNT International March 2022

The top three universities feeding recruitment talent in 2021 were Manchester Metropolitan (2,624), Leeds (2,327) and the University of Manchester (2,277), according to LinkedIn

CONTINGENT COMMUNITIES Another PointSix Predictions panel looked at what can be done to build more engaged candidate and contractor communities.

Nicola McQueen, CEO of NHS Professionals, shared insights from its recent survey of over 60,000 flexible workers to gauge their expectations. “It’s clear that a commitment to ongoing skills training, beyond the statutory and mandatory minimum, is a key motivation for many to stay in the NHS. The more skilled our workforce is, the more they can diversify and book shifts across the roster. This increase can deliver potentially thousands of extra FTE hours into the system and support wider strategic ambitions like integrated care.

“We’re also targeting investments in pastoral care and wellbeing resources because our members tell us they want to work for a compassionate and inclusive employer that gives them a voice when they need it.”

Training and wellbeing are now higher priorities for RPO clients, as Julie Hinchcliffe, MD of RTS Contingent Workforce Solutions explained: “This is partly pandemic led where hybrid working makes it more difficult for managers to gauge the wellness of their contractor workforce. Upskilling contractors has also become a priority for clients to drive internal mobility and solve the skills gap.

“Focus should be on those silver and bronze candidates who just missed out and upskill them to suit the role. This creates an increased talent pipeline but getting employer buy in to pay for L&D before the candidate has even joined is going to be difficult.”

Train and deploy solutions are likely to proliferate this year to meet demand for skilled talent in specialist sectors, particularly pharma, health, education and tech. Keely Woodley, Partner, Head of Corp Finance Advisory UK at Grant Thornton UK LLP, agreed that this was a key area

of growth but urged providers to ensure the offering was fair and equitable to candidates to avoid any PR risks.

Speaking on a growth panel looking at what will drive new and profitable growth in 2022, Keely added that those delivering talent advisory solutions as professional service providers will see higher margins. Mark Thompson, Head of Enterprise & Partnerships at Sonovate predicted that staffing and RPO firms who look to embed a funding capability into their solution will differentiate themselves in the market and add new value points to candidates, employers and their own revenue streams.

Steve Solomon, Director Professional Services at NatWest, warned that a strong balance sheet and access to capital should be a priority to weather an economic storm that could be precipitated by the war in Ukraine.

TECH SOLUTIONS With talent shortages expected to last, our panel of tech experts predicted greater innovation at all stages of the candidate journey to reduce time to hire and drop-outs.

“Our 2022 GRID survey revealed that 90% of candidates wish the process of finding jobs through agencies was more streamlined,” said Stuart Johnson, Enterprise Team at Bullhorn. “I predict an increase in businesses digitising their operations to leverage automation and empower customers to self-serve. And if you don’t have video as part of your engagement strategy you’re losing out.”

Ryan McCabe, CEO of Odro, predicted that 2022 will be the year that people realise the value of recorded video to save time in the hiring process.

“The candidate landscape is more competitive than ever, and we are seeing that personalisation - and even relevance - is being sacrificed for scale. The highest performing firms bring an

insight into people and culture to the very top of the funnel, so your brilliant people play a part in the attraction of great candidates, not just the retention.

“Most conversations we have with staffing firms begin with ‘lack of candidates’ and finish with the realisation that they are seeing an unhealthy number of good candidates not complete the process. This is almost always down to the experience of your process versus another they are involved in.”

Greater adoption and integration of talent tech means more data across the sales process to make better decisions, identify top performers and help to develop them, said Steve Beckitt, CEO of SourceBreaker. “As more processes become automated, recruiters will be able to focus their energies on what they’re best at - engaging with candidates and clients - resulting in a far deeper understanding of their space to become true market experts and partners to their candidates and clients.”

This should be the year that recruitment and talent solutions are recognised and retained as professional services providers.

90%

of UK workers between 55 and 65 believe they have transferable skills, but only

35%

employers offer training

(WD Research and 55Redefined) TALiNT International March 2022

13

Q&A The diversity of diverse talent Karima Green, Global Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & People Engagement at SThree and TIARA Talent Tech Star Awards Judge, sat down with TI to talk about intersectionality and how employers use their DE&I strategies to attract and retain diverse talent.

TI: At the PointSix Predictions conference

earlier this month, you were asked what you predict will come into focus this year where DE&I is concerned. Your answer was intriguing.

You talked about intersectionality. Could you talk more about that?

KG: Intersectionality is the interconnected

nature of social categorisations such as race, class, and gender, creating overlapping and interdependent systems of disadvantage. I think organisations need to gain a better understanding of what intersectionality means, how complex it is and ultimately the impact it can have when not considered. To create truly diverse and inclusive businesses, there needs to be recognition of the different layers to an individual’s identity and acknowledging that diverse groups that may share one commonality may not share the same experience. Take gender for instance; there is so much work in place to support and advance women in the workplace, but women’s experiences are not singular or universal. For example, a black or brown woman’s experience will likely be very different to their white counterpart. You have to take into consideration the overlapping identities of individuals to effectively understand the barriers they face to create the right organisational strategies to make change.

TI: It’s become evident that candidates are

increasingly looking to work for employers who “walk the walk” when it comes to DE&I. What can employers do to make themselves more attractive to candidates who are looking for a sense of purpose?

KG: Do the work. Now more than ever there is

14

TALiNT International March 2022

Debbie Walton Editor TALiNT Partners

a lot of focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I), and how individuals can feel connected to the overall mission and purpose of an organisation that makes a difference. I am seeing trends across industries that candidates are much more inclined to research an organisation based on their commitments and their actions to these important areas that can then sway a decision to engage. Having a compelling narrative and attractive employee value proposition is one thing, but having clear evidence, actions and credibility in ESG and DE&I is what secures and then retains talent.

TI: You spoke repeatedly about employee

engagement and the success of DE&I strategies in an organisation. How can employers engage their employees to better serve DE&I strategies?

KG: Give your employees a platform to share

their voice. Create an environment where individuals can create communities such as employee resource groups that are actionorientated and can make an impact on your organisation. Provide opportunities for employees to share their thoughts, experiences and suggestions and be prepared to act. From

“I am seeing trends across industries that candidates are much more inclined to research an organisation based on their commitments and their actions to these important areas that can then sway a decision to engage.”

Karima Green Global Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & People Engagement at SThree

my experience, engaged employees in the DE&I space are the ones who have seen or felt the change, and very often hearing from their peers on their experiences is the most powerful vehicle to do this.

TI: I read an article a few weeks ago that spoke

about DE&I and B. The “b” is a sense of belonging. How is this different from inclusivity?

KG: For me, I’ve always followed the formula

that diversity is representation that can be evidenced in data, inclusion is the actions you take that celebrate difference and make systemic change, and belonging is the outcome and environment you create when you have the first two bits right. It sits at the very heart of your DE&I work – and not only does it make a difference in your DE&I ambitions, but also in your employee engagement. A sense of belonging is feeling empowered, connected, engaged and included – and it’s what people need now more than ever. Employers will benefit from their employees feeling like they belong too, through higher retention, productivity and improved business performance.

TI: You also talk about delivering candidate

communities. TA teams are facing an impossible task: to hire diverse and quickly. This often leads to valuable diverse employees leaving an organisation soon after starting for various reasons. How can companies operationally change the way they work in order to retain this talent?

KG: There is a great focus on diversity targets

and representation, but I see a shift to retention

targets for diverse talent in the future. It’s a more reflective depiction of how your organisation is operating. Hiring from diverse groups is one thing, but creating an environment where you retain your diverse talent is another. Diverse recruiting will not have a long-term impact unless there is operational change to practices, policies and processes to ensure retention.

TI: There is a deep need to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of a business. How has SThree accomplished this?

KG: At SThree, as a specialist STEM staffing

company, our purpose is ‘Bringing skilled people together to build the future’. Our DEI strategy was created in 2020 and is a four-year operational strategy that is linked to our business objectives.

It’s a critical part of our day to day, and we have ensured it reflects our business’ mission and purpose that inspires our people. We are seeing this pay off internally and externally, in 2021 we won Company of the Year at the European Diversity Awards and in 2022 we were shortlisted for Company of the Year and Head of Diversity of the Year at the British Diversity Awards. It is a great validation of the time, effort and investment in this area and something our people are really proud of.

TI: How does one truly measure inclusion?

KG: If only it were so easy! I personally don’t see it as one true measure, I think there are a number of data metrics that can and should be used; Retention, promotion, Diversity networks, employee resource groups, employee engagement data, turnover, pay gap reporting, focus groups, anecdotal data…the list can be long. But be careful not to fall into the data trap alone. You need to be

TALiNT International March 2022

15

“Hiring from diverse groups is one thing, but creating an environment where you retain your diverse talent is another. Diverse recruiting will not have a long-term impact unless there is operational change to practices, policies and processes to ensure retention.”

clear on what you consider to be inclusion, and more importantly what this means to your people. Make time to understand what that looks like in your own organisations; listen, but be prepared to self-reflect, change process and act.

TI: It is obvious that any strategy has to have

complete buy-in from leadership. But how does result in buy-in from employees? And does it?

KG: I really believe that it’s not about strategy

for employees, it’s about showing up. Of course, employees knowing there is a diversity strategy is important, but ultimately they care more about what impacts them day to day. Segmenting your approach is important, Leadership need to support and guide the strategy – but employees want to see delivery and action. Having resource to constantly be working on events and initiatives that employees can see, feel and hear is what keeps it front of mind and relevant for them.

TI: If you could change anything to completely accelerate the trajectory of successful DE&I, what would it be?

KG: I think for organisations, the only way you

can accelerate is by appointing the right team and resource to prioritise. DE&I is a skill set and specialism all on its own that is complex and requires the right experience to identify operational opportunities to collaborate with leaders and functional owners to deliver real change. However, there needs to be a wellresourced delivery team and a committed leadership structure to support DEI leaders as the workload, scope and opportunity is huge, but so is the emotional labour of the role. The DEI role is not transactional, and burnout for DEI professionals after the last few years is on the

16

TALiNT International March 2022

rise. Many DEI professionals are choosing to step away from the discipline for their own mental health and wellbeing, indicating that something needs to change.

I think more widely, there needs to be further focus on creating government requirements that hold organisations accountable. For example, we have the UK gender pay gap – but we don’t currently have an Ethnicity, Disability or LGBTQ+ pay gap reporting requirement. I believe what gets measured, gets done and the more data we can collect to evidence systemic barriers, will be the best way to drive societal and organisational change to equity, accessibility, fairness and equality.

TI: You’re a judge again for the TIARAs. What do you believe sets this awards programme from others, and what does it mean to you to be a judge again?

KG: I’m really pleased to be asked back as a

judge for the TIARAs. It’s exciting to be part of a process that recognises and celebrates organisations that are setting the standard for excellence across different areas of recruitment and staffing. What makes the TIARAs stand out for me is the commitment to delivering judging feedback to those finalists in the process. That is such a valuable insight for organisations because the judges take a lot of time to discuss and reflect, we can offer outside independent views and experiences that can be helpful.

One of the best parts for me as a judge is to sit in a room with leaders who are respected and making waves in their own fields, I take a lot from the diversity of thought across the panel...

Also, the TALiNT team know how to throw a good party and award ceremonies are always fun!

TALiNT International March 2022

17

ESG: The new frontier in talent solutions While rapid progress is being made by some, our Talent Solutions Power List shows there is still some way to go, but helping employers enhance and deploy good Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policies will improve employers’ ability to find and keep the people they need and help talent solutions firms win more business.

THE TALENT SOLUTIONS POWER LIST The Talent Solutions Power List (TSPL) has three key objectives: •

•

•

To enable employers who are considering or changing a recruitment outsourcing provider to make an informed decision based on their own specific needs.

To help recruitment outsourcing providers to clearly demonstrate their expertise in relevant areas based on an independent, rigorous evaluation.

To provide confidential feedback to providers on ways in which they can finely tune the services they offer to respond effectively to customer needs and market trends.

THE FIVE KEY PRINCIPLES TO A MEANINGFUL ESG STRATEGY The TSPL scores outsourcing provider’s ESG strategies against nine criteria.

However, the highest-ranking subscribers outscored entrants in the following five areas: • • • • •

Setting a clear vision and purpose for their ESG strategy.

Creating SMART goals and means to frequently track progress.

Understanding how ESG initiatives help themselves and their clients win business.

Ability to identify limitations of initiatives and demonstrate steps for improvement.

Awareness of competitor’s strategies and success.

We are calling these the five key principles.

The difference between good ESG practices and great ESG practices, are those which are part of a broader strategy explaining why such practices are beneficial for you and your clients’ businesses.

18

TALiNT International March 2022

BUT WHY DOES ESG MATTER? Research from ManpowerGroup, Talent Solutions, the highest-ranking provider in the category, demonstrates that in the era of talent shortages, high ethical standards are a key differentiator for clients and candidates alike.

Ken Brotherston Chief Executive TALiNT Partners

“ESG is important to many of our clients and shared values matter to candidates too – people want to work for organisations that act as global citizens, pillars of the community, and environmental stewards.

As part of ManpowerGroup, Talent Solutions our “Working to Change the World Plan” is about collectively caring for People and Planet with new awareness and urgency: advancing towards net zero with validated science-based emission reduction targets, accelerating social justice to address inequities, and re-skilling and upskilling at scale to ensure that everyone can be part of future growth and prosperity.”

Marceline Beijer, Vice president, ManpowerGroup, Talent Solutions

However, this is not the only way a solid ESG strategy may win you and your clients’ business.

Good ESG also creates sustainable, resilient businesses, capable of adapting to shocks such as those we all endured as a result of the Pandemic.

ESG BEST PRACTICES Findings from the TSPL demonstrate no single initiative guarantees great ESG. However, below are examples from this year’s TSPL top scorers, demonstrating how both small- and large-scale initiatives can fit the five key principles to a meaningful ESG strategy.

PageGroup, one of the TSPL’s top scorers, demonstrate below how they meet each key marker for a great ESG strategy.

1. Vision and Purpose: ‘Our purpose is to change people’s lives through creating opportunity to reach potential’.

2. Smart Goals and Tracking: ‘To become carbon net zero with the ambition of becoming carbon positive by 2026’. This was measured through greenhouse gas data reported through their annual disclosure within their annual report.

Demonstrated -18% on reported C02 emissions and 100% of reported C02 emissions offset.

3. Win Business: ‘Climate change – severe weather events, extreme temperatures, water shortages and other environmental concerns are impacting people’s ability to live and work safely. In 2019, it was estimated that 1.2 billion jobs – 40% of all employment – were dependent on a healthy environment.’

4. Limitations: In a separate area of ESG, acknowledged that their policy of promoting from within meant it was taking longer for genderpositive initiatives to impact the top of the organisation. Therefore, they set up an internal initiative designed to hire, retain and promote female talent.

Subscribers provided a range of inspirational and impactful ESG initiatives. Environmentally beneficial schemes included carbon off-setting schemes such as purchasing carbon removal credits or moving regional offices onto renewable energy tariffs. High scorers demonstrated effective measuring and tracking of goals through membership of the UN Global Compact.

Common social initiatives included local workshops to better prepare disadvantaged young people for the job market or supporting women who had

taken over two years out of work to return to meaningful employment.

Demonstrating engagement at all levels is critical when it comes to good governance. While Executive Oversight Committees were commonplace among TSPL subscribers, those who used both stakeholder and employee input demonstrated a more meaningful ESG strategy.

Active engagement through hotlines, reporting and training on codes of conduct, cyber security and other key ethical practices led to a more effective ESG strategy by increasing employee buy-in to their ESG strategy.

Hays Talent Solutions, the second top ranking company in this category, demonstrated a comprehensive range of ways in which they support and drive their ESG practices.

“Our passion for people goes beyond recruitment and HR services, championing various local and global charities that are important to our communities, clients and employees. Recently, this has seen us strengthen our links with charities such as ‘End Youth Homelessness’, build Social Value Charters in partnership with valued clients to improve the employability of underutilised or overlooked talent and launch the ‘Trees for Cities’ campaign.

ESG is now a key driver of a company’s purpose, strategy and employer value proposition. As ESG evolves in the postpandemic world of work, we would anticipate sustainability to be at the core of many initiatives, reflecting global concerns such as biodiversity, pollution and energy consumption.”

Elisabetta Bayliss, Managing Director UK&I, Hays Talent Solutions

TALiNT International March 2022

19

Upcoming events 2022 Date

Audience

Location

Roundtable discussion partnered with AMS

06.04.22

In-house

Virtual

Roundtable discussion partnered with MyBasePay

06.04.22

Recruitment

Virtual

Roundtable discussion partnered with AMS

21.04.22

APAC In-house

Virtual

The TIARA Talent Tech Star Awards - entries close

22.04.22

HR Tech

Roundtable discussion partnered with Cappfinity

26.04.22

In-house

Dublin

TALiNT Partners Ireland Summit

27.04.22

In-house / Recruitment

Dublin

PointSix Lunch & Learn workshop

27.04.22

Recruitment

London

Roundtable discussion partnered with Omni

28.04.22

In-house

London

Date

Audience

Location

Event Name

Event Name

Roundtable discussion

04.05.22

ANZ Recruitment

Virtual

Roundtable discussion partnered with Omni

05.05.22

In-house

Edinburgh

Roundtable discussion partnered with Armstrong Craven

10.05.22

US In-house

New York

Roundtable discussion partnered with Guidant Global

10.05.22

US In-house

New York

Roundtable discussion partnered with eTeam

11.05.22

US In-house

New York

Roundtable discussion partnered with Eightfold.ai

11.05.22

In-house

London

PointSix Lunch & Learn workshop

12.05.22

Recruitment

London

TIARA Awards MENA - entries open

12.05.22

Roundtable discussion partnered with AMS Roundtable discussion partnered with AMS

Recruitment/Talent Solutions/In-house/HR Tech

18.05.22

APAC In-house

Virtual

19.05.22

In-house

Virtual

Roundtable discussion partnered with Indeed

19.05.22

In-house

London

TIARA Talent Solutions Awards Europe - entries close

20.05.22

RPO/MSP

Roundtable discussion partnered with Resource Solutions

24.05.22

US In-house

TIARA Recruitment Awards ANZ - entries open

25.05.22

ANZ Recruitment

Roundtable discussion partnered with Guidant Global

26.05.22

US In-house

Virtual Virtual

VISIT TALINTPARTNERS.COM/EVENTS TO REGISTER 20

TALiNT International March 2022

Apr

May

Q&A CX appeal McDonald’s UK&I, winners of the eArcu Candidate Experience Award at the TIARA Talent Acquisition Awards in 2021 spoke to TALiNT International about how technology supported and elevated their TA functions and improved their candidate experience during the pandemic and the importance of the human touch.

TI: Judges at last year’s awards praised

McDonald’s UK&I for consistently delivering an exceptional candidate journey during a troubled employment landscape. Now that we’re starting to see the back of the pandemic, have you kept those strategies in place or has the TA team reverted to pre-pandemic hiring practises?

McD: As we’ve come out of the pandemic we

have kept a lot of the new processes that were adopted during COVID-19. Our move to direct hiring from agencies remains important as we are able to target desired candidates, engage on a more personal level and provide a great experience that represents our brand.

We have also kept the same strategies with regards to the recruitment process, such as conducting first stage interviews via video calls.

It provides flexibility and better time management for both the candidate and hiring manager, so it’s a win-win for all, and with people now being well practiced with platforms like Teams, you can still have as warm and engaging a conversation as you would face-toface.

We also continue to look at ways to enhance our candidates’ and new starters’ onboarding experiences, such as providing them with more choice.

Traditionally a new starters’ first day would have been in the office, but during lockdown this had to be at home. Now we can offer different options to the employee and manager by tailoring our approach to meet their preferences, enabling them to choose whether their first day should be in the office or virtually at home.

TI: How did technology support your hiring during the pandemic?

McD: During lockdown, with almost every Debbie Walton Editor TALiNT Partners

employee working remotely, technology was absolutely paramount to ensuring we could continue to interact with each other and candidates too. Video calls meant we were still able to engage with new starters and make them feel welcomed and connected to the business.

Starting a new role can be challenging at the best of times, so having to navigate that during a pandemic was new territory for all of us, but as with all businesses over the past two years, we quickly came to realise the power of tech.

We looked at how to add more touch points into the process and although this was sometimes time-intensive, we felt that in the long run it was important to start building relationships with our future employees, making them feel reassured about McDonald’s UK&I in an ever-changing employment landscape.

At this time, we made good use of Teams with video interviews, virtual check-ins and a dedicated channel for our new starters. This channel was a great way to connect new

“With much of the world isolated for long periods of time and not only working, but living in unprecedented conditions, connection became paramount.”

TALiNT International March 2022

21

“Entering the TIARAs made us sit back and think about not just what we’d achieved, but how we could do better going forward. It gave us a moment for pause and consideration to think about what we had done well, and how we could be even better.”

employees with each other, so they had the opportunity to talk to others going through the same unique experience of starting a new job during the pandemic.

TI: Tell us about the innovations you

implemented that have changed your talent acquisition strategies.

McD: Over the last 18 months, we’ve made a

big impact on candidate experience, as seen by the positive feedback we’ve received from both hiring managers and candidates, along with high employee retention rates. This has come from taking a more personal approach, whether this was in how we sourced or how we engaged with candidates.

This focus on ‘candidate experience’ continues to feed into our strategy for 2022 and beyond. As such, we are currently reviewing our recruitment technologies and looking at how we can evolve the systems we have. As part of this, we’re considering how we can be truly innovative and the potential positives of CV-less applications and the removal of application forms.

TI: What are the biggest TA lessons you learned in 2021?

Simplifying the application form, removing the corporate tone from automated emails, aligning the look and feel of documents, more regular phone calls with applicants and a new Candidate Pack that gave an insight into what it’s like working at McDonald’s UK&I before starting, all helped to increase feelings of connection and inclusion.

McD: Without a doubt, the importance of

Then, to make the transition into McDonald’s UK&I as seamless as possible, we also posted all IT equipment to home addresses, with a Welcome Pack containing branded goodies such as notepads, pens and water bottles. However, the thing that created the most excitement was a surprise McDonald’s breakfast sent to them via McDelivery on their first day.

Direct hiring has provided that personal touch and allowed us to start building a diverse pipeline of talent, which puts us on the path to all being much more inclusive.

Since COVID-19, we have continued this journey and have now launched an interactive Onboarding Guide for both managers and new starters that supports them through their first

22

year. We’ve also reintroduced our ‘restaurant experience’ programme, whereby all new employees spend three to five days working in a local restaurant to really immerse themselves in the business.

TALiNT International March 2022

human interaction. With much of the world isolated for long periods of time and not only working, but living in unprecedented conditions, connection became paramount. It has also been important to acknowledge that we need to be flexible in our approach to people and recognise that everyone is different, not one size fits all.

TI: What about the TIARA award programme made you submit your entry?

McD: The TIARA awards are prestigious and

recognised across the industry for their insights, expertise and the support they can offer businesses. As such, we were keen to be both

McDonald’s accepts the eArcu Candidate Experience Award 2021

recognised by the experts, but also amongst our valued peers. Taking part also provided us with the opportunity to benchmark and network with others in our field.

TI: What did winning the Candidate Experience Award at the TIARAs mean to you?

McD: Winning was incredible! It was extremely rewarding for the whole team and we felt very proud to be recognised. It certainly boosted morale after a tough year and it was great to get the opportunity to celebrate together at the event. One of the reasons it meant so much was because the win didn’t come from big investments, but from the dedicated hard work and passion of the whole team.

TI: Would you recommend entering this year’s

and rightly so. It’s something that as recruitment professionals we should take both a business and personal accountability for. A lot of work has been done in this area as an industry, but there is still so much more we can all do.

Automation and AI will also play a big part in recruitment in the future and whilst this has many benefits in terms of efficiencies, experience and maybe even removing bias from the process, we should act with caution and not forget the importance of that human touch.

Recruitment is evolving rapidly and with the amount of employment, alongside skills shortages, it’s a candidate’s market. With this is in mind we really do need to think about what candidates want, the experience we give them and how we make them feel.

awards? Why?

McD: Definitely, if only for the reason that it

makes you reflect. Entering the award made us sit back and think about not just what we’d achieved, but how we could do better going forward. It gave us a moment for pause and consideration to think about what we had done well, and how we could be even better.

We also enjoyed the awards event immensely, it was really great to be surrounded by industry experts and see and learn from the collective achievements.

TI: What trends do you predict the TA landscape will see this year?

McD: DE&I will certainly continue to be

important within the TA landscape going forward

TALiNT International March 2022

23

Total talent acquisition TALiNT International interviews Annelise Smith, Director for MSP and RPO at Lorien, about how companies that adopt a holistic talent strategy can slash attrition and broaden their talent pool.

Talent solutions are evolving rapidly as the recruitment industry navigates the huge changes accelerated by the pandemic and digital transformation. Organisations are pushed to be more creative in order to attract and retain staff in a fiercely competitive market. Candidate expectations are also broader and more ambitious – while a fat salary will always be attractive, today’s top talent also want to know they will have access to flexible and/or hybrid working arrangements, as well as ample opportunities for career growth and development. Shifting ground in what the workplace offers and heightened competition for top talent is changing how we go to market – and surfacing a new talent solution trend.

WHY IS TTM TRENDING? The concept of total talent management (TTM) is attracting a lot of interest as a potential way to bridge the gap between traditional recruitment and new market realities. But what does TTM mean in practice? What are the challenges?

What are the business benefits and how long does it take to see them?

Annelise Smith, Director of MSP and RPO at global digital, transformation and technology recruitment specialist Lorien, part of the Impellam Group, works with an increasing number of companies contemplating these questions. “Total talent management has been talked about for some time from a conceptual perspective, but it’s a topic that is now building momentum,” she said. “We’re seeing candidate scarcity getting more and more extreme, and organisations are realising they have to think differently about talent in general.”

“While total talent acquisition is more about how we look at the external workforce, total talent management is about having a more cohesive, holistic approach to acquiring,

24

TALiNT International March 2022

engaging and utilising talent in both the external and internal markets,” Smith explained. “A TTM approach draws from all sources of talent and, as a result, in theory, the talent pipeline is extended, enabling companies to keep up with shifting and aggressive business demands.”

Dawn Gibson Features Writer TALiNT Partners

“The market is in an evolutionary place. We may start seeing a shift from the big ‘one size fits all’ MSP/RPO programmes we have been used to.

Customers are looking for more agility; they are looking for different solutions, different options and they want to work with providers who can support them with their talent agenda.”

HOW DOES TTM WORK? Traditionally, hiring has been organised into distinct silos according to permanent, contingent and Statement of Work (SOW) requirements. TA and HR are responsible for permanent recruitment, while procurement handles contingent and SOW. The evolution towards total talent management is blurring these divisions. TA teams are increasingly playing a key overall role, taking on responsibility for contingent as well as permanent staffing. While SOW continues to primarily sit within procurement, TA leaders are becoming more involved in setting SOW parameters.

“You can start to see the benefits of small changes quite quickly from a cost, quality and timeframe perspective.”

Annelise Smith Director for MSP and RPO, Lorien

And total talent management does not necessarily mean that a company outsources all of its recruitment to one provider. TTM is more about improving service delivery than cutting costs – and that means working together and across borders.

“It’s not about saying it needs one team doing everything related to talent acquisition, because that is probably unrealistic; it’s more about having an overall owner, cohesive ways of working and a unified approach,” Smith said.

“Within a TTM model, you may have an MSP, an RPO provider and a TA team working together to deliver a strategy that comes from above.

Business buy-in and CEO sponsorship are absolutely key. If you’re rolling out a new model, and trying to break down traditional barriers and silos, there has to be clear vision and executive sponsorship.”

we have tended to see efforts concentrated to date.”

TTM also means looking more analytically at the internal talent pool and alumni candidates, as well as providing opportunities for upskilling and retraining to fulfil business needs and employee goals. Smith expanded: “A true total talent management approach is bringing to the table graduates and apprentices, but also the existing workforce – talent that may well exist right under management’s noses, but they don’t necessarily have the means of classifying and understanding the potential of that talent, understanding those people’s ambitions, what they want to do, what they could do.”

“If you focus on that internal market, the external market will follow. Reskilling and retraining programmes are going to be fundamental to the importance of any solution.”

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS? For organisations that go down this route, the rewards look extremely enticing. TTM promises to deliver not only a wider talent pool, but also a more diverse selection of candidates and a more flexible approach to how work gets done. “Any approach that broadens the potential pool of workers, taking away barriers to entry and opening up different types of engagement opportunities, should naturally have a positive impact on diversity,” Smith said.

TTM could also prove a much-needed solution to retention issues. Smith said a 20% reduction in attrition over two years was likely to be a ‘reasonable target’. “Certainly, for any organisation struggling with attrition, you should see benefits from any approach that utilises the talent available to you in the best possible way,” she said. “You are looking at your workforce as a whole, you have greater access to data, and are better able to understand all the different interplaying scenarios that are happening, so you can make informed decisions that drive tangible benefits.

“Total talent is about the optimisation of a workforce, and optimisation goes hand-in-hand with diversity. It’s long been shown that businesses with a more diverse workforce and inclusive practices tend to outperform their competition. A truly cohesive approach can enable organisations to broaden their diversity aspirations beyond the permanent world, where

“I think you will see cost benefits as well. In our current siloed market, we all know of many roles going through a high-cost consultancy or contingent route that should perhaps not be run in that way. Similarly, we see many roles being recruited on a perm basis when a shorter term, albeit higher cost, contingent option would probably be the better route. We all know that; we

TALiNT International March 2022

25

“Total talent is about the optimisation of a workforce, and optimisation goes hand-in-hand with diversity. It’s long been shown that businesses with a more diverse workforce and inclusive practices tend to outperform their competition.”

all see it happening; but it can be hard to break the habit.”

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES? For Smith, the evolution of TTM also offers significant opportunities for HR and TA functions to elevate people strategy as a key business priority but acknowledged this brought with it tough conversations.

“The focus of Talent Acquisition functions has to be how best to broaden the net in order to attract and engage the best possible talent – and that means putting the focus primarily on the talent and what they want rather than what the hiring manager has in the past come to expect.

This means evaluating every step of the recruitment process from attraction strategy, assessment, selection, offer right through to onboarding, to ensure a positive candidate experience. Now more than ever it is the function of TA to educate the business in the role they need to play when it comes to securing the talent they so badly need.”

Getting executive buy-in is the first and arguably the greatest challenge, considering TTM is new and largely untested. Employers have to be willing to experiment, find out what works for them and learn from their mistakes.

“We need to be really clear about what the business benefits are, and how those business benefits go beyond cost savings,” Smith said.

“What will the approach achieve in terms of access to talent? How will it drive greater diversity? What tangible improvements will your hiring managers see?”

“TTM is a long-term project requiring considerable change management, so, it is essential for the investment case to be sound. TA, HR, and the C-suite need to really think about what they are trying to achieve and how to communicate their strategies.

“It’s about starting small – building the

26

TALiNT International March 2022

foundations, focusing on data, process, capability and working from there. It may take years to get a full total talent management solution up and running, but you can make small changes along the way that will have an immediate impact.”

FIRST STEPS TO TTM Smith recommends companies trial a total talent acquisition strategy; namely triaging roles to determine if they should be treated as permanent, contingent or SOW, rather than putting roles in the same silos as they always have. “Put in a process which enables you to look at each role on its merits, so you are optimising your chances of getting the right talent for the right amount of time, the right price, for that specific requirement considering current market conditions,” she said. “You can start to see the benefits of those kinds of small changes quite quickly from a cost, quality, and timeframe perspective.

However, it’s vital that all stakeholders, from the TA team to RPO/MSP providers and staffing firms, are operating on an even playing field.

“The customer needs to set the right expectations and encourage a culture which supports collaboration; for example, not having suppliers being played off against each other. It goes back to setting a clear strategy of what we are trying to achieve.”

“We are already seeing some organisations putting ownership of all the different routes to market in one place, and I believe we will start seeing a lot more demand for teams, either outsourced or internal, to work more closely together and to have more valuable discussions around the right route to market for each role,” Smith said. “Even if organisations are not thinking about adopting a total talent solution, many realise they need to optimise their operations. The market is changing and that means we need to change with it – we can’t continue to do things the same way we always have done.”

TALiNT International March 2022

27

AMS: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Putting the ‘I’ in DE&I Overwhelmed by DE&I? You’re not alone. Talent leaders are faced with hiring a diverse workforce in a talent-scarce market and in limited time. So, how are organisations managing successful DE&I initiatives in the current market?

On the Thursday 24th of February, TALiNT Partners, in partnership with global workforce solutions firm AMS, hosted an in-person, roundtable discussion with HR, DE&I and Talent Leaders in Atlanta. The event was held in the Oak Room at Del Frisco’s Grille situated in the bustling neighbourhood of Buckhead.

Judy Ellis, Senior Vice President and DE&I Advisory at AMS opened the discussion by asking the question: “How do you create buy-in to corporate DE&I initiatives in a way that everyone in the organisation feels engaged and committed?”

She referenced a recent employee sentiment study to come out of a large employer where 25% of respondents viewed DE&I programs negatively. “Clearly, 75% were positive but such a sizeable minority is likely to impede meaningful progress; not least by making it simply too hard and too tiring for those within in the organisation trying to drive change,” added Judy.

Sherika Ekpo, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Anaplan made the important observation that a big part of the problem is that whilst the vast majority of people want to do the right thing, DE&I can often feel like it’s added on top of everything else and for a lot of executives in today’s market (especially TA execs) it can all feel a bit overwhelming.

Sherika’s advice was threefold: “Make sure DE&I is primarily focused on the benefits for the

Ken Brotherston Chief Executive TALiNT Partners

internal audience and not only the external one; if you have set aspirational goals, explain very clearly how you got there (both in terms of the actual objectives and the metrics) and, perhaps most importantly, continuously ‘sell the problem’ in other words, it’s imperative to keep reminding people why DE&I is important as too often the outcome isn’t seen in this context.”

When it comes to DE&I strategies, communication is critical and while it doesn’t have to be expensive it does take time so it’s important to manage expectations and not expect quick wins.

FOCUS ON THE I AND NOT THE D This is an increasingly common theme when it comes to how to land DE&I well and, whilst it is overly simplistic to say: ‘Just do inclusion’, there is a growing understanding that it is the key to long term success. Put directly, not only will DE&I fail if your diverse talent leaves, but it will also have been seen to fail, sending out a powerful message that says: ‘diverse talent doesn’t thrive here’.

We often find inspiration from unlikely sources: “If everyone is thinking alike, then no one is thinking at all.”

Whilst there is some debate as to the provenance of the quote above and whether it came from Benjamin Franklin or General Patton, from an organisation’s perspective, it is as true now as it was then. This is where Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) have a pivotal role to

“Make sure DE&I is primarily focused on the benefits for the internal audience and not the external one…”

Sherika Ekpo, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Anaplan

28

TALiNT International March 2022

play. Our group of delegates had a lively debate about ensuring ERGs remain business relevant – perhaps becoming Business Resource Groups – but all agreed that they are an incredibly important resource in developing new ideas, keeping leadership engaged and hopefully acting as an early warning system to identify issues.

But whether it’s an ERG or BRG, tying DE&I programs to business goals is important to stop them being seen as purely performative and, again the point was made: ‘Lead with the goal, not the metrics’.

But of course, tracking progress against DE&I goals is essential as proof points of organisational commitment and Liz Freedman, Global Head of Talent and DE&I at IHG Hotels & Resorts, gave a powerfully succinct response to how IHG determines which metrics are key for them on a global and market basis. “Inclusion and wellbeing are key measures across our global organisation. However, representation in the leadership ranks varies across countries and functions, where demographic focus is likely to differ relative to gender, ethnicity, or nationality.

There isn’t a single global solution.”

“How do you create buy-in to corporate DE&I initiatives in a way that everyone in the organisation feels engaged and committed?”

Judy Ellis, Senior Vice President and DE&I Advisory at AMS

Having opened the conversation, Judy rounded up the discussion by again reminding us that whilst driving DE&I is hard and complex, the benefits that successful DE&I strategies bring to an organisations’ culture, ability to attract talent and ultimately their long-term successes are huge.

TALiNT International March 2022

29

TALiNT Talk

The art of saying no TA and HR teams are stretched the breaking point. At what stage are organisations going to take care of the talent that takes care of the talent?

When it comes to talent, HR and TA can do anything, just not everything. The time has come to start saying ‘no’.

HR and TA teams are often the corporate punching bags for other parts of their organisation; everyone thinks the job can be done with ‘a bit of organised common sense’ or ‘by working just a bit more efficiently’. Whilst it’s true that sometimes HR and TA can seem a bit too inward looking (how many other functions are constantly debating what they should be called? And don’t even get me started on the pointlessness of calling roles ‘business partners’) over the last two years the importance of finding and keeping people has never been more important.

Furthermore, the pandemic created a myriad of new challenges: creating effective flexible working models; expanding the function to look at re-skilling, upskilling and internal mobility; creating remote-first EVPs and onboarding strategies; assessing and deploying an evergrowing array of technology solutions and driving better DE&I results, all whilst hiring against the most acute talent shortages any of us have ever seen.

This is compounded by the propensity for people in the profession to have a very strong service orientation (whether this is a result of a lack of confidence – see opening sentence – or other reasons, is for another article) but the result is that they are continuing to operate at a ‘code red’ level that is simply not sustainable. Clearly at the height of the pandemic everyone had to pull together with a ‘do whatever needs to be done’ mentality but that time has passed and a longer term, more strategic approach is needed.

The structural challenges in the market aren’t going away any time soon and as we leave COVID-19 behind, we are faced with another set of economic, political and societal challenges that all add to the ongoing feeling of crisis. But as Lord Chris Holmes so eloquently asked our

30

TALiNT International March 2022

Talent Acquisition Awards last autumn ‘who looks after the talent that looks after the talent’?

Ken Brotherston Chief Executive Officer TALiNT Partners

As with any complex problem, there is no simple answer. In an ideal world the HR and TA leaders would have the resources they need to deliver effectively, but there also needs to be a recognition at C-suite that there is an acute shortage of recruiters so there needs to be a limit to how much additional work can be added.

It’s an emotive topic because pretty much every other corporate function has faced additional demands so making the case for HR to be prioritised isn’t straightforward, but it must be done. A good place to start is labour market analytics – at the beginning of 2022 the most in-demand jobs weren’t in tech; they were in recruiting. But this only helps set the scene, the tricky bit is learning to say ‘no’ or, at the very least ‘not right now’. Finding and keeping talent has always been a top-three priority for CEOs, for so many organisations it is now the number one priority.

I talk to so many HR and Talent leaders and they are all resolute in doing the best job they possibly can, but there is also often a high degree of frustration in not being able to have the time to move from fire fighting to dealing with the source of the fire itself.

Ultimately however they also have to be the ones to get their CEOs to understand that balancing short-term fixes with properly resourced long-term talent strategies is fundamental to a sustainable business. The campaign goes on!

“A good place to start is labour market analytics – at the beginning of 2022 the most in-demand jobs weren’t in tech; they were in recruiting.”

TALiNT International March 2022

31

talintpartners.com