3 ways recruitment agencies can develop diverse candidate pipelines for companies in 2022

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How do we develop diverse candidate pipelines for companies in 2022? Over the last 18 months, the topic of diversity, equity and inclusion has shifted the workplace. Following the death of George Floyd, discussions around talent acquisition, recruitment, and retention have challenged companies across all industries to ask questions around the cultures that have been built in the workplace. With underrepresented groups leaving companies in droves following on from his murder that year, between May and September of 2020, we witnessed these same groups being headhunted for diversity, equity, and inclusion job opportunities. Indeed, the worldwide employment website said that diversity and inclusion job postings rose by an astonishing 123%.

With organisations now implementing talent strategies to increase diverse representation across businesses, what can recruitment agencies and external suppliers that work with companies do to develop diverse candidate pipelines? Here are three recommendations to consider.

Your focus is on speed and not enough on quality

We get it. You receive a brief and the client provides you with a turnaround date of yesterday. You’re known for being able to deliver either on or before time. But you want your candidate pipelines to be more diverse of the market that is out there. Filling the role with similar talent is an assured safety measure that the client will be satisfied with. Its predicted success.You do not have to trade speed for diversity, but you will need to create time to develop new pathways to deliver a quality filled diversified pipeline.

Create time to expand and diversify your search profiles

Based on the sector you work in you probably have ‘ideal’ candidate profiles that fit the roles you fill. And while that is great, what does that mean for underrepresented groups that do not fit or fill these profiles? Because there is no ‘one’ ideal candidate, rather than referring to the one or two that come to mind when filling roles, why not take the time to create 2-3 more? Yes, the short-term investment is that it will take a few days to create and develop a selection of diverse profiles, but ultimately developing this step will provide long term quality and success for your clients in the long run.

Build diverse pipelines by building new relationships

This could become a part of your business development strategy. Within our day-to-day work, we make the time to network with existing relationships we have with clients, and we even make the time to get to know successful candidates that have been hired. But what can we do to begin building meaningful connections with diverse candidates? Get out of your comfort zone! Explore new online communities, sign up to online discussions, career fairs and external industry events that garner diverse talent. Not only will you get to know meet new talent, but you’ll also be able to gather intel that clients will appreciate.

Recruitment agencies may not work as seamlessly or consistently with company recruiters, hiring managers and talent partners as they would like. But, as industry leaders across respective sectors, accountability and external insight into the candidate market gives you, the supplier, the consent to enhance and add value to your clients when delivering your services.

To discuss further, please get in contact with our Managing Director, James Cumming.

HR Director career: the next step

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Should HR be on the board of Directors and if so, what can you do as an HRD, to take your career to the next level?

According to Korn Ferry, in 2019, fewer than 3% of sitting directors on the boards of Fortune 1000 companies, were current or former HR executives.

Exec boards are increasingly recognising the importance of diverse perspectives. Although board turnover remains slow and HR remains underrepresented in the boardroom, there is growing openness to bringing on different types of expertise.

In my opinion, when boards are discussing culture, values, succession planning and talent management, there really needs to be an experienced HR leader involved to guide that conversation.

On top of that, the pandemic has shone a light on HR, reminding businesses of its importance. Surely, this gives the greatest opportunity for HR leaders to step up? Here are some things you need to consider.

Know your ‘why’

For anyone who hasn’t seen Simon Sinek’s video, I would highly recommend it and I think it helps with this challenge!

Given that people should be an organisation’s most important asset there are huge opportunities for HR to support the CEO with challenges around culture, diversity, and talent.

From a practical point of view, it is important to think about why you want to be on the board, how you might impact the business and what you can bring to the role.

Become an advisor to your CEO and board

You want to be leading the discussion about the organisation’s culture and analysing how it is helping the performance of the business as a whole. Make sure they think of you as a Chief HR Officer.

It is a good idea to look externally too, many senior leaders are well-read in the leadership space, bringing innovative insight and opportunity into the business, will help to raise your profile from a strategic perspective.

Network with board members

You need to find board members you know, or have connections with, and strengthen relationships with them. Directors you’ve worked with and know of your interest in taking on a board seat can help you. Reach out to people to build new relationships in businesses you have identified you’d like to be a part of and get out to events you know the right people will be at.

The more you grow your network, the more inside information you can get and the closer you are to achieving your goal. Most Board Directors are more than willing to offer their time to other new or aspiring Board Directors.

Become an expert

It sounds simple – but a lot of people miss this step out. Make sure you’re clued up on the board selection process and how it all works. Think about what industries are you interested in working in? What sort of companies? Who is involved in their board selection process? This will allow you to get on the radar of the right people, who can recommend you when the position comes up – which links back to networking with the right kind of people.


You can find out more about what makes a great HR professional here.

Carl Hinett is our Director & Executive Search Specialist. If you’ve got a hard-to-fill role and need some help, get in touch at carl@refind.co.uk.

Want to hear more about our senior HR professionals golf society? Sign up here.

Have we lost the work-life balance?

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Work-life balance, we talk about it all the time. It’s so important to make sure you have a balance between your work and home life – we’re big advocates of it here. The last year has turned everything upside down and we’ve been at home permanently, so it has made the topic even more important and more widely discussed. Is work-life balance even a ‘thing’ anymore or have we progressed into something more fluid?

There are many factors to be considered when addressing the work-life balance argument – for me, they all centre around technology. Technology has allowed us to change the once rigid working environment – with a set place of work and working hours – to be much more fluid and relaxed. This advancement allows for far greater flexibility, but can add extra challenges for keeping the structure in place between your work and social life.

Remote working

Remote working allows us to work from anywhere, not just in the office. At home, on a train, in another office, even abroad. In most cases, all you need is your laptop and phone and Wi-Fi connection and you’re away. This flexible working allows employees to work in different places, where they may feel happier, more productive or more creative. It means they are able to work while they travel to a social event or go away for some peace and quiet, without taking holiday. Allowing work and life to intertwine can lead to a much happier, healthier and more productive team.

Flexitime

Flexitime gives employees the freedom to choose their hours to fit around their other commitments outside of work. This blurs the lines, but in my opinion in a positive way – you can work around dropping off your kids, having a personal appointment or event meeting friends. You do not need to sacrifice your work or your personal commitments – you still do your hours and get your work done but can also do the things in your personal life that are important.

Technology

Mobile phones and laptops are great because you can take them easily wherever you go, to work remotely. But this often comes with its own problems – if you use the same laptop or phone for both personal use and for work, it can be difficult to switch off. Many phones have emails and Slack and other forms of communication for work connected to them, which allows totally switching off from work almost impossible! There are solutions though – whether it’s keeping a separate phone for work or turning off notifications for certain apps, you can still maintain healthy barriers. Turning your phone to ‘do not distrub’ mode at times also helps to switch off – whether it is to concentrate on a project for work or to do something personal, it’s good to have some quiet time to concentrate.

Blurred lines

All these technological factors blur the lines between your work life and your home life. But is it necessarily a bad thing? In my opinion, the freedom and flexibility businesses and employees now have, to work where and when they want, is brilliant. And, although the factors blur the lines so work can creep into your home life, it also means your home life can merge into work-life too – you are able to juggle other responsibilities around work, rather than following a strict 9-5 Monday – Friday in the office. Less need to sacrifice things, including our own health. Having said that, it is still really important to make sure you keep a balance and sometimes – press the off button, to successfully manage stress in the workplace.

If you need some practical tips to help you, here are 6 tips for a better work-life balance.

Carl Hinett is our Director & Executive Search Specialist. If you’ve got a hard-to-fill role and need some help, get in touch carl@refind.co.uk.

Want to hear more about our senior HR professionals golf society? Sign up here.

Achieving business goals

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Achieving business goals, whether they’re personal or professional, can be tough. We’ve all got our own personal mountain tops. The goals that we set ourselves that, from the outset, seem nearly impossible to conquer. So how do we overcome this and allow ourselves to reach those goals?

If you haven’t read  ‘The One Thing’ by Gary Keller, then you absolutely should. The premise is: what is the ‘one thing’ that you need to do that will subsequently make everything else fall into place and become easier? “The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results.”

In the book, Keller talks about breaking down your goals into long and short term, and how by doing this you can turn them into more manageable and less intimidating tasks.

Once you’ve broken them down, you can then consistently go back to that one thing and ask yourself if what you’re about to do is going to add to your progress and keep you on track with achieving business goals.


The process

This process works in two parts. The first is about finding the right direction, and the second part is about chasing the right action.

For the first part, think about the big picture and identify what your overall goal is: what is the one thing that you want to do or achieve. This can be anything from your career goals to a personal ambition that you have.

The second part of this process is more short-term and practical. You have to ask yourself questions that provide you with a small focus on what you can do right now to help you get to where you want. You can break it down into what you’re going to do today, this week and this month to achieve that one thing. By always going back to your one thing, you ensure that everything you are doing is helping you to progress forward with that goal and increases the chances of you achieving it. 


Stay on track

By repeatedly asking yourself these more focused and short-term questions, you will not only keep on target to your overall goal, but you will also find yourself taking actionable steps that all build on one another and provide you with the momentum to finally reach your mountaintop!

Once you break it down, it’s so much easier to achieve those goals.

  1. Define goals
    It’s important to clearly define your business goal, so you know exactly what it is you want to achieve and where you are aiming.
  2. Be specific
    Being specific is important – understand exactly what you are aiming for and why – what will this goal mean for you? It’s a lot easier to stay on track when you know the benefits.
  3. Keep going back to the one thing
    Make sure everything you do is going to helo you reach that goal.
  4. Stay committed and motivated
    Commit to your goals – write them down, share them with colleagues, friends and family so they can hold you to account. Give yourself a deadline to keep you motivated and pushing forward.

Don’t forget to celebrate and reward yourself for achieving those goals or reaching a milestone and share the progress with everyone around you to keep you motivated.


To have a chat about your goals contact me at carl@refind.co.uk.

Carl Hinett is our Director & Executive Search Specialist. If you’ve got a hard-to-fill role and need some help, get in touch

Want to hear more about our senior HR professionals golf society? Sign up here.

How to nurture HiPo’s to benefit your business

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High potential employees – or HiPo’s – increase the value of a business. They outperform their peers, doing more work and putting in more effort. Most businesses will have recognised that between 3-5% of their staff are high potential employees. There are 3 important attributes for a HiPo who is likely to succeed and get a senior position: aspiration, ability and engagement.  There are many factors that fall into these 3 attributes – leadership abilities, performance, competency and confidence when challenged.

HiPo’s need minimal supervision, are fast learners, reliable, can complete any tasks, work well under pressure and aspire to rise to leadership. They are a huge asset to your business.

So how can you nurture them to fulfil their potential and benefit your business?


Nurturing HiPo’s

The important thing to remember when discussing programs to retain and progress HiPo’s is that these individuals have been identified as having potential. They are not fully-fledged leaders, ready to step into a senior or critical role – yet. They likely will be, but they need developing and nurturing.

Training onsite and offsite, coaching, workshops and seminars can all help in the nurturing process, supporting the individuals to enable them to reach their potential. Real-life situations are really helpful, just be aware that it’s not too much, too soon.


Reducing risk

SHL’s ‘How to Reduce Risk and Realise More Value in Your HiPo Programme’ eBook says:

“Through objective assessment of all three factors (above), you can accurately identify your top talent while ensuring you avoid the most common HiPo programme risks:

  • The risk that they will fail to rise to a senior position
  • The risk that they won’t be effective in a more challenging role
  • The risk that they will leave to join competitors, diluting your bench strength”

Benefits of a successful program

HiPo’s represent a company’s strongest leadership pipeline. Investing in the success of them, means you are investing in the future of the company as a whole, because they will:

  • Deliver strong results
  • Master new types of expertise
  • Have a good attitude and a drive to excel
  • Have the desire to seek new ideas and the ability to convert them into productive action

By identifying, cultivating and investing in employees with exceptional aspirations, rare abilities, and greater engagement, you can ensure that the next generation of leaders within your organisation will be equipped to boost performance, foster innovation, and maximise corporate growth.

What are you doing with your HiPo’s and what successes have you had? If you have stories to share, I’d love to hear them, email me on carl@refind.co.uk.

Carl Hinett is our Director & Executive Search Specialist. If you’ve got a hard-to-fill role and need some help, get in touch

Want to hear more about our senior HR professionals golf society? Sign up here.

 

Employee onboarding – warm welcome or completely clueless?

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We know how important onboarding is for our candidates. The wrong experience can have a hugely detrimental effect on a new starter. The process ensures new employees receive all relevant information and understand how the company works and what is expected of them. This information allows them to transition from a new joiner to a productive team member, and so is a vital process within any organisation. 

So how does it change in a fully remote working world?

Really, it shouldn’t affect the fundamentals:

  • New equipment
  • Communication
  • 121s
  • Introduction to the team
  • Training and coaching

But it does mean being organised and ensuring that everything is prepared way ahead of the new team member starting. Equipment needs to be ordered and sent to their home address, an introduction to the business, the team and regular 121s need to be diarised and the induction needs to be planned out and communicated clearly.

It’s not just about the new starter

It’s not just about the new joiner either, your onboarding process can affect existing team members who will register the way a new employee is treated.

Onboarding begins before the new team member starts – both internally and externally. Calling the new employee is clearly important to let them know the basics, but also letting the existing team members know what is happening.

Returning to work onboarding

My wife, Gemma, wrote a blog about onboarding, with a difference – the importance of onboarding returning maternity leavers. “Yes, they’ve always been employed and aren’t “new’, but when I returned to work after 10 months out, a lot had changed, and I mean a lot. It was almost like returning to a new business. This, coupled with the fear of returning to work, was surely a recipe for disaster.”

Some key points are addressed about being introduced back into the company/role after a substantial period away, including new technology, new faces and new structure. You can read the full blog here.

In any capacity, onboarding is important to your business – it makes for happy employees and better business efficiency, as it gets employees up to speed quickly.

To have a chat about your experiences with onboarding or returning to work you can contact me on carl@refind.co.uk.

You can view more about Carl Hinett our Executive search of HR professional’s specialist here.

Managing stress in the workplace

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Managing stress in the workplace

Are you tired? Do you feel irritable? Do you suffer from headaches, muscle tension, and struggle to concentrate at work? If so, you may be one of the millions of people across the country who are feeling the effects of occupational stress. So how can we manage stress in the workplace?

Occupational stress

Occupational stress has many emotional symptoms such as feeling overwhelmed, feeling depressed, feeling anxious about going to work, lacking confidence, and experiencing mood swings. Alongside this, many people report physical symptoms such as general aches and pains, feeling nauseous, losing or gaining weight, and pain or tightness in the chest.

According to a 2019 report by Qualtrics, more than a quarter (29%) of UK workers reported that they felt stressed or emotional because of work, either ‘always’ or ‘most of the time’. Work-related stress, anxiety or depression accounts for around 44% of all cases of ill health and is estimated to cost the UK £34 billion per year. Worst of all, however, chronic stress has been shown to exacerbate many serious health problems such as mental health disorders, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes.

It’s very clear that stress is not something that should be brushed away by employers and employees alike, but rather has to be recognised and managed for the benefit of both the individual and the business.

The cause

Occupational stress can be caused by a lot of things. Excessive workloads or unrealistic deadlines are some of the most common, along with difficult relationships with colleagues, disagreements with the management style, being micro-managed, being unclear about what it is that you are meant to be doing, and feeling as though your skills and abilities are being wasted. Stress can be caused by one of them, all of them, or it may be something different. Every person is unique. The important thing is to take some time and think about what is it that is specifically causing these feelings of stress at work.

The approach to managing stress

As many of these causes are due to difficulties imposed upon the employee by the employer and, aside from raising concerns, there is little that the employee to change these causes. What can be changed, is the approach that we take to manage stress in our day to day lives. Try to take a walk during lunch hours to clear your mind for half an hour, work regular hours and take the time off that you are entitled too, make an effort to manage your time both in and outside of work, reflect on your thoughts and feelings often, try to develop relationships in work, and accept that there are some things that you do not have control over.

One of the best treatments for work-related stress is exercise. Aerobic exercises such as running, swimming, dancing, and walking increases the production of endorphins in the brain improving your mood. Exercise also offers the perfect opportunity to reflect on the things that have been causing you stress. Many people report that engaging in exercise allows them to think more clearly and find solutions to their problems that they previously could not work through. Naturally, this can have great benefits to both mental health and performance at work.

Finally, finding time to unwind with people in a friendly and sociable environment is essential to keeping on top of stress. Human beings are inherently social beings. Socialisation, whether that be by talking with friends, going for a coffee with a co-worker, or going for some food after work, has been shown to decrease stress-related anxiety, make us feel more confident, and promote a sense of attachment to those we are close to. This is one of the reasons that we love to host events that bring together people from across different industries to enjoy time together in a friendly environment.

Want to talk more about stress at work or interested in coming to one of our events? You can contact me at carl@refind.co.uk.

 

You can view more about Carl Hinett our Executive search of HR professional’s specialist here.

 

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Promoting wellbeing in the workplace

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Workplace Wellbeing
Workplace Wellbeing

We recently held our third run of The Forum, discussing the importance of promoting mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. For those of you who don’t know, The Forum is an exclusive quarterly event for HR Directors to ask, share, explore and learn.

This quarter, we were talking about mental health and wellbeing in the workplace and it sparked some very interesting conversation, so I thought I would give my opinion on a few things!

First, a few stats:

  • 83% of people go to work when they are unwell
  • 59% of people who are off work on long-term sickness are off due to mental health problems

I think one thing is very clear – workplace wellbeing is a hot topic right now! Whilst I think organisations have come on leaps and bounds in terms of supporting wellbeing in general, I also think some organisations can turn it into a gimmick or photo opportunity – a bit like when everyone slaps the rainbow on the corporate logo for pride month…

Financial

Money or money-worries can be the root of a lot of stress and mental health issues. Some organisations have been running some great initiatives to combat this.

PKF Cooper Parry have allowed people to choose when during the month they get paid. The NHS has been offering same-day pay for its flexible employees. I think these approaches are innovative. It provides the flexibility that people need and empowers people to manage their finances and feel in control.

One thing I’m not a huge fan of is these new apps that allow you to access some of your next month’s salary early. I know they are marketed as being used for emergencies and a lot of them have limits on how much you can access, but I do feel that for some people (me included!) it would encourage you to frequently spend outside your means and always be living in a deficit, meaning you would be accessing money early every single month.

 

Flexibility

Flexible working, agile working, unlimited holidays…does it work? Do people really use it?

I am very lucky to work for an employer who offers flexible working. And when I say that I mean ACTUAL flexible working. What this means is that I can work from home, when I want, without needing a reason. On a Thursday I finish work at 4 pm to go and visit my nan who has Alzheimer’s and I don’t make the time back up. What I do, is deliver all the work I need to in the hours that I work.

Flexible working isn’t being allowed to finish at 4 pm on a Friday or starting an hour earlier/ skipping your lunch so you can leave early and it definitely isn’t being allowed to go for an appointment in the middle of the day as long as you make the time back.

The unlimited holidays I’m not 100% sold on, which is probably because It is now November and I still have 9.5 days holiday to take before Christmas. I’m not great at taking holiday. But I do see the purpose of it. Say you have a special occasion, honeymoon or the opportunity to go on an extended break, then it would be great to utilise.

Engagement

There must also be engagement in workplace wellbeing and organisations need to empower and equip individuals to self-care.

There are other options to engagement surveys, for example, to get people to spend time thinking about themselves. People don’t just need to think about how they feel, but also what impacts those feelings, what are the root causes?

There are now apps that are a self-coaching platform and can be used with employees to enable them to assess their work happiness. These are an interesting alternative to employee engagement surveys and encourage people to think about the underlying motivations to their happiness – even as far as their work relationships, identifying which are high quality and which you could/would like to improve.

Anna Cleland’s app Workhappy is a great one to check out.

There is so much good happening in workplaces (and some crap here and there!) that I think we are making strides in workplace wellbeing, but there is still plenty more to be done.

It would be great to hear about the initiatives you love or hate, and what else you think needs to be done.

If you need some practical tips to help you, here are 6 tips for a better work-life balance.

Carl Hinett is our Director & Executive Search Specialist. If you’ve got a hard-to-fill role and need some help, get in touch carl@refind.co.uk.

Want to hear more about our senior HR professionals golf society? Sign up here.

Par-tee on!

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Our golf society has been a huge success this year – we teamed up with Mills & Reeve at the beginning of the year, to host an annual golf society across the West Midlands, which has been running from March through to October.

Why join?

If you’re anything like me and love playing golf and meeting new people, then it’s the perfect event to attend. It’s informal networking at its best, and we’ve even managed to guarantee the weather on every occasion bar one!

We don’t care how good your golf is or if you haven’t played for a while, we’re more about the taking part and having fun.

The final meeting

The next, and final, event of 2019 is being held at Aston Wood Golf Club on the 17th October. We currently have over 30 people attending so far, with the brilliant Ady coming along for the whole day to run all different competitions and give away prizes including a Par 3 challenge with Hole-in-One insurance: £1,000 instant win up for grabs!

We’re all about having a chat and a bit of fun, so we’ll heading out for an afternoon/evening of food and drinks. The event is free to attend, and we’ll be giving out some prizes.

Here’s James Cumming showing his natural golfing skills at one of our earlier society meetings!

Next year

Next year will be even bigger and better – we have HJ Wealth Planning joining forces with us and we’re cherry-picking the best courses to play. If you’re interested in coming along on 17th October or you want to get involved in the society next year, please contact me for more info and we’ll get you in if we can.

If you would like to discuss further, email me on sam@refind.co.uk.

You can view more about Sam Perry our Shared Services Executive Search expert here.

Why won’t top-performing shared service professions join your business? And what to do about it. Download our free eBook here.  

The importance of networking

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Networking – it’s a word that can make people recoil, yet we all know the importance of having a strong business network and how much it can benefit you and your company. So why so much negativity?

I guess it doesn’t help that we’ve all heard the networking horror stories – or had to suffer some personally!

Too salesy

There are always the few people who are super salesy and just attend to get their business cards out to as many people as possible without even bothering to get to know them. Or the ones who introduce themselves and immediately launch into their 5-minute pitch before asking, ‘And tell me what exactly you do?’

Lacking in the manners department

Some people don’t seem to have any manners at networking events, charging up to a group who are deep in conversation, to butt in with their introduction. Whilst others stand in the corner on their phone and make no attempt to introduce themselves at all!

Choosing terrible subjects to discuss

I’ve cringed listening to some people talk, apart from the salesy chat, there are other definite no-go’s when it comes to networking conversations.

Number 1 is politics! Just don’t do it.

I’d also steer clear of any offensive jokes or anything too personal, to avoid an awkward situation.

Finding the right event

Having said all of that, if you find the right networking event to go to, then it can be enjoyable, fun and beneficial. Meeting people and growing your network opens up opportunities for you and your business.

You might get direct business, you might not – but don’t forget it’s not just about that. Extending your network and making friends also gives you the chance to get help or advice from your peers, get invites to other events to meet more likeminded people or get referrals. You never know, it might lead to business, but it may not be until a year down the line, so you must think long term.

Thursday Brunch

We run a ‘Thursday Brunch’ breakfast networking event, with guests being interviewed on specific subjects, whilst cooking. It’s informal and relaxed and a fun environment to meet great people, have fun and take away some useful information. If this sounds like the sort of event you’d like to join, you can sign up here: https://buff.ly/303KcE9

To have a chat about your executive search, contact me at carl@refind.co.uk.

You can view more about Carl Hinett our Executive search of HR professional’s specialist here.

Want to hear more about our senior HR and Shared Services professionals golf society? Sign up here.