How do you become an employer of choice in a competitive market?
AK: People want different things. If I was a welder fabricator I’d want to work on the biggest projects in the UK, on the nuclear sites. When it comes to having a family, I’d want a decent work-life balance.
We can’t offer working from home but we’re constantly looking at different ways of accommodating people when it comes to shifts. One person wanted to do a degree so we put her on a weekend shift. She’s now finished that and is working in the office on a bigger salary.
We’ve introduced profit share and in the past two years we’ve paid out £12m to staff across the board. We also have our ‘Fair Quid’ programme, set up with a credit union, which offers loans to staff at better APR rates than a credit card and you don’t need as high a credit score.
VW: A lot of recruitment is done by word of mouth, people bringing in other people. When it comes to attracting young people, you see companies that are very strong on social media which engages them and they also offer strong benefits.
JB: As well as academic staff we’ve got professional services and support roles. Across the board it’s knowing what, in broad terms, floats people’s boats in their specific knowledge and skills area.
I’ve done research, particularly in construction, looking at what brings people into a high performing team and what makes them stay. It’s always about money because most of us have a mortgage to pay.
However, particularly when it comes to companies in remote or rural areas, what studies have found is that it is about finding that intrinsic reward and motivation. If you give people the opportunity, not just to learn and develop, but to learn collectively, that has a massive power.
GW: People really want to identify with your business, so your values have to be clear as well as your credentials. One of the things we’re very proud of is you can recycle 90 per cent of our products. Young people in particular want to know about your green credentials and how sustainable you are.
AH: Probably the most valuable thing we’ve done this year is put all of our leaders through a ‘Leading the Staci Way’ course based around our values. You can have the best set of values, you can publicise them brilliantly but, if your managers are not living them every single day, then you’re going to be let down.
Rachel Rump Emma Swan
ES: A business has to be open to change and collaboration. To be an employer of choice they have to challenge themselves and the status quo and then build on what they already have. Opening those doors and opening the minds of people in the business spreads the good word.
RR: There is an inextricable link between being an organisation driven by values and making sure that you’re walking the walk as well.
There are organisations that we can’t compete with in terms of salary, but we have careers for life and it’s making sure that we’ve got the right sort of value proposition, the right type of rewards and benefits.
CG: True flexibility is really important. That doesn’t necessarily mean working at home two days a week, but it might mean, ‘Can I leave early because I’ve got a concert?’ or ‘Can I come in a bit later?’ That is a big attraction.
AH: You can’t afford to just focus on pay and you have to have a complete HR strategy, and you have to juggle a million plates if you want to be an employer of choice.
EC: You need to understand the best ways of communicating within a company. You have a wide mixture of people and ways they like to access communications. Some will enjoy joining a webinar, others will look at an app and some are happy to sit in a room, listen and put their hands up and ask a question.
ES: It boils down to two things, adaptive leadership and communication. It’s looking at the businesses and how it operates, ‘Are we keeping with the markets? Are we doing things innovatively? Are we making our businesses sustainable for future generations?’ But it is also being adaptive in terms of who we employ, who we engage with.
You need to be able to bring people together for certain things but then, as leaders, step back and see people as individuals.
Some people will not be as ambitious as others, but they may still really enjoy the contribution that they are making and really see a value for themselves and what they’re bringing, and it’s understanding all those different things.
SC: Every member of staff will have different values and will perceive the value differently. The communication of what is available or what is delivered by the company is key.
It may be a project that you feel really bought into because you’ve got those ESG values and you can actually see the piece of the puzzle you’re contributing to.
It may be flexibility or private medicine. If people aren’t told it is available and this is how you use it, it is not perceived as a value.
What we are delivering and how the company supports that is the key for recruitment.
Victoria White
Gary Wilson
LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
IEW.CO.UK
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RECRUITMENT
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