The official publication of
The Association of Professional Staffing Companies in Australia
The Awards for Excellence
The 2020 winners receive their trophies Nominations now open for 2021
EMERGE 2021- THE CONFERENCE IN PHOTOS
What's inside?
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25 15 4 A message from APSCo Australia MD Lesley Horsburgh 6 Talent shortages, skilled migration and the bigger D&I picture, by Stephen Smith
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7 Member news 10 Insight into the challenges that lay ahead, by Anthony Whyte 11 The importance of a sense of belonging, by Laila Billberg 12 Jobs up, rates up - candidates down, by John McCluskey 13 Association news 15 Emerge 2021 in photos 22 Is your 'Tech stack'... a 'Frankenstack'? by Bernie Schiemer 25 The 2020 Awards for Excellence cocktail evening in photos 31 The business case for payroll outsourcing, by Vicki Gris 33 Increased demand and an adaptive workforce, by Stephen Veness 34 Post-pandemic workforce demand, by Melissa Occhipinti 36 Reliability is underrated, by Thomas Taylor 37 Heightened focus on employee and cyber risk management, by Mark Laudrum
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Front cover image credit: Alex Kelly, Driftwood Group Recruitment & Co is published by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies Australia (APSCo Australia). Editorial submissions: carly@apscoau.org Advertising enquiries: carly@apscoau.org Membership enquiries: paul@apscoau.org www.apscoau.org
A MESSAGE FROM OUR MD
Welcome to the June issue of Recruitment & Co Lesley Horsburgh APSCo Australia Managing Director
It’s hard to believe that we are half way through 2021 already, so much has happened in the last 6 months, coupled with a stronger than anticipated market recovery the industry and indeed APSCo has never been busier. May marked the launch of our annual full day conference – Emerge 2021, which I am delighted to say was a huge success. Our focus was to deliver a high value, hard hitting one day program of learning and of course, enable some long overdue networking between attendees. While legislation and compliance formed some robust discussion, our focus on talent shortages and the need to embrace Diversity and Inclusion certainly got the room talking. It is clear from the sessions we held that Members are highly engaged in ensuring their businesses not only comply with the legislative backdrop but that they continually seek out new ways of evolving their business. May was also significant in that we saw the start of the ACT Labour Hire Licensing (LHL) Scheme. After some regular consultation and our submission on behalf of Members, it is disappointing that we were not able to achieve a carve-out for professional contractors that is clear. We will continue to raise our concerns and drive the need for one National LHL Scheme that removes the complexity and clutter from our Member's businesses. Our Recruitment Professional Certification program was revamped during the last 12 months and has been receiving some excellent engagement among those in the industry eager to ensure their teams are practicing to a high standard. We encourage all Members to enrol consultants and help us to collectively raise the bar in recruitment. And on that topic, our Awards are once again open for nomination, this time with a twist to bring all of our Members no matter what State they are located in an opportunity to showcase their achievements and compete at a local level. Last but not least, a warm welcome to our new Members: Salt Medical Recruitment, Rainy Day Recruitment, Transform IT, DNA Medical Recruitment, Elias Recruitment, Harvey Nash, CareerBlend, Evolution Recruitment Solutions; and Partners: PayRoller (Associate) and BrokersOnline (Affiliate). LESLEY HORSBURGH APSCo Australia Managing Director RECRUITMENT & CO | 4
www.apscoau.org
A MESSAGE FROM APSCO'S AUSTRALIAN CHAIR
Talent shortages, skilled migration and the bigger D&I picture It was great to see so many familiar faces in person at the APSCo Emerge conference held in Sydney in May. Not only were those people I spoke to pleased to attend what turned into a great APSCo event, but there was particular excitement to do so in person. I would like to again thank the APSCo team for hosting such a relevant event for recruiting in 2021 and again I would like to thank those who participated in the day and for everyone who attended the event.
Stephen Smith Chair - APSCo Australia Director - Sirius People
My key takeaways included; understanding that although there are major challenges for our businesses, no two businesses will look at these challenges the same way; and it is critical to work through legal, compliance, and operational issues, specific to your own business; certainly there is no one solution for all. I find myself thinking back to some of the talent shortage issues highlighted during the day that we will all face in hiring into our own business as well as our customer, not just this year or next, but into the next decade until a point comes when skilled migration can come close to delivering talent in line with Australian economic requirements and then "catch up" on the shortfall. This skills shortage without immigration really only leaves a small number of channels, young people training, retraining of people from other sectors and/or accessing individuals who have previously not been considered for roles in recruitment. Another takeaway that I have started talking to my team about is Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) in 2021, how we must ensure we focus on the overall business reasons for D&I and make sure we are looking at the entire D&I picture, not just individual aspects; this is particularly challenging as communication must balance D&I purpose from an ethical but also a business and productivity perspective. It is however positive to be tackling these challenges from what we are seeing as generally a good market for large parts of the recruitment industry. Good Luck to everyone in finishing off the 2021 financial year and good luck for the beginning of 2022.
STEVE SMITH Director Sirius People, APSCo Australia Chair RECRUITMENT & CO | 6
www.apscoau.org
MEMBER NEWS
Ratescalc makes Fast 500 APSCo Affiliate Partner Ratescalc has been named in the 2020 Asia Pacific Deloitte Technology Fast 500. The Fast 500 is a ranking of the fastest growing technology companies in Asia Pacific and is based on a company's percentage revenue growth over three years. Ratescalc grew 567% during this period, which pushed the company to the ranking of 100. Ratescalc’s CEO, Col Levander credits the growing Australian market and his dedicated team at Ratescalc for helping to build a successful software company. “First and foremost, to build a successful company, you must have a vision and real passion around what you’re doing. You have to believe very strongly that what youre planning is ‘doable’, that the market needs it and that you can help make it happen. It’s even more rewarding when the product also makes a difference to people’s lives and companies success," he says. Find out more.
SHARE YOUR NEWS WITH US! Do you have a news item regarding your business? A new appointment or an exciting announcement? Please get in touch with us here at Recruitment & Co. SEND YOUR NEWS TO CARLY@APSCOAU.ORG
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In 2021, a number of categories will switch to a State competition, enabling recognition at State level initially – culminating in a National winner across each category. The new format will enable Members and industry to celebrate with their local recruitment community, and offer a great story for clients and candidates of our winners and finalists at a local level. Just like last year, we're inviting all of the industry to nominate!
Find out more at www.apscoau.org
Click on the badge to view the entry form.
APSCO'S REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE
ANTHONY WHYTE- TALENT
Insight into the challenges that lay ahead Beating possible Covid-19 border restrictions, I was lucky enough to join delegates at APSCo Australia’s inaugural conference, aptly titled ‘Emerge 2021’.
The day kicked off with a brilliant session on ‘how to win the race for clients and talent’ led by Martin Richardson and it quickly became evident that the entire audience were experiencing that exact issue. With the overseas talent pipeline severed, we are now fishing in the same pond, therefore the agencies that get creative and understand the demographics of their candidates, will have a massive advantage over the ones that will rely on job boards for their talent. The next sessions were short but punchy with presentations on Managing IR & Risk (William Marshall); Work Health & Safety (Brianna Cattanach) and the Key to Winning Tenders (Ian Maas). These sessions were all very topical and many great takeaways were well received.
After lunch, Mike Beeley had the audience captivated on his presentation on ‘Challenging the norms of talent attraction’. If you haven’t seen Mike present, you are missing out as he delivers his insights with no holes barred. The afternoon session was based around Diversity & Inclusion and People and Culture in the Workplace. Rhonda Brighton-Hall delivered a great talk on workplace culture with several good do’s and don’ts to maximise your positive shift in cultural outcomes. All panel discussions entailed robust conversations and occasionally challenged our thinking, but the real value was listening to industry experts and how they and their businesses are dealing with the speed of change and the challenges that lay ahead.
Anthony Whyte Vice-Chair - APSCo Australia General Manager - Talent International.
My key takeaways were: Job boards target 10% of candidates – what are you doing to attract the remaining 90%? Social media is a tool to adopt, not shy away from. Profiling is key – where do the candidates live, work etc.? Diversity and Inclusion can be summarised as simply ‘belonging’. Diversity of ‘thought’ can be one of the most important concepts to adopt. Ensure that your client/contractor contracts are reviewed 6-monthly. Compliance – train your staff in the ‘why’ and you will get better buy-in. WH&S is a multibillion-dollar industry that continues to grow and affects us all. Finally, it would be remiss of me not to give the APSCo secretariat a massive shout out for arranging one of the most interesting and insightful events I’ve attended – well done team.
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APSCO'S REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE
LAILA BILLBERG - IGNITE SERVICES
The importance of a sense of belonging Emerge 2021 was an inspiring day highlighted by some truly incredible speakers, Laila Billberg writes.
The sessions discussed key trends and issues shaping the recruitment industry, and provided valuable insights and tips to help any recruitment professional succeed. The first half of the day focused on important topics surrounding legal, compliance and risk. This included practical information about how to stay legally protected while navigating the jungle of labour hire legislation, and key insights about how to manage risks such as remote work (for contractors and employees) from a work health safety (WHS) perspective. In particular, I found the session hosted by Ian Maas very insightful, as he shared
his top tips to win tenders in a very competitive environment. After lunch, we discussed diversity, inclusion, culture and belonging. All of these topics are very close to my heart and struck a chord with me. It’s inspiring to see how diversity has evolved beyond gender, now encompassing all walks of life. I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion about language, and how we can better utilise it to be inclusive of all people. Another highlight was meeting Rhonda and Ros, who wrapped up the day by discussing workplace culture and the importance of belonging.
Laila Billberg Director - APSCo Australia General Manager - Ignite Services.
Rhonda summed it up beautifully, “we all know what it feels like to not have a sense of belonging!” All of these sessions were inspiring for me and had numerous key learnings for any current or aspiring business leader. I’d like to extend a huge congratulations to all the 2020 APSCo Awards winners, who finally got the chance to shine and receive their well-deserved trophies. A special thanks to Lesley, Melissa, Carly and Paul for organising such a fantastic event. It was great to ‘emerge’ from isolation and engage with peers face-to-face once again. I look forward to Emerge 2022.
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APSCO'S REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE
JOHN MCCLUSKEY - WHIZDOM RECRUITMENT
Jobs up, rates up candidates down May was an interesting month with the first face-to-face conference, Emerge 2021, held in Sydney. It was a cracking event, and it was great again to be meeting in person.
John McCluskey Director - APSCo Australia Managing Director - Whizdom Recruitment
Emerge 2021 provided some really good takeaways for me, especially around marketing from Mike Beeley. I must admit I am usually one to turn off when it comes to self-promoting marketing disruptors or guru’s, but I was totally engaged by the different mechanisms and tools for talent attraction in this candidate short market from Mike. Some of the other speakers, especially from Gadens and Ready Set Recruit, who spoke around the changes to casual employment and the impacts and considerations for recruitment companies with labour hire/contingent businesses was a huge eye opener and very informative.
If organisations are dismissing this, you are opening yourself up to huge risks to your business and I encourage people to get advice on their contracts and processes going forward. The timing of the event was pretty much perfect, with Melbourne going back into lockdown just days after. Now for a quick update on the market in General. We have seen job ads up in record numbers, but candidate responses and availability at record lows. It is a candidate short market nationally, and we all have to look at different methods of attraction for candidates.
As an industry we must adapt to continue to show value to our clients and promote a value proposition to candidates. The Canberra market is still strong and with only 3.5% unemployment. There continues to be a shortfall in available candidates, with many reluctant to leave existing roles where employers supported them during COVID, which is honourable. The shortfall in candidates is putting pressure on client rates, particularly with roles requiring security clearances. We expect this environment will continue over the next 12 months. RECRUITMENT & CO | 12
ASSOCIATION NEWS
Certification revamp complete APSCo's Recruitment Professional Certification is open for enrolments.
The six modules that make up the Recruitment Professional Certification are presented in a new video format that allows students to equip themselves with knowledge on-the-go and at their own pace. Individual modules are also available for recruiters looking to fill a specific knowledge gap. APSCo Certified Recruitment Professionals have access to exclusive logos and a position statement that can be used to promote their knowledge and stand out from the crowd. Certified Recruitment Professionals are also listed in the APSCo Recruitment Professional Directory and acknowledged on the APSCo Australia LinkedIn page. There are no renewal requirements under the current certification process as long as the Recruitment Professional maintains an active account with APSCo Australia. Students have continued access to the training materials with any changes or updates being notified by email. Enrol in and learn more about Certification here.
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Photograph by Francis Watson
Thank you to our Sponsors
The APSCo Australia Conference
APSCo Au Chair, Steve Smith
APSCo Au MD, Lesley Horsburgh
After a lengthy stint on the sidelines, APSCo Australia returned to face-to-face events with its full-day Conference Emerge 2021, held in May at The Mint in Sydney.
"100% of attendees said they would attend Emerge again in 2022."
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Martin Richardson
"More than 90% of attendees rated Emerge 2021 overall as either Excellent or Very Good"
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01 Paul Masters, Sovereign Private 02 Debbie Davis, Sirius People 03 The Compliance Panel 04 Tariq Nasri and George Haros 05 George Haros, Gadens 06 Tariq Nasri, The Adecco Group
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Very relevant for my business and an amazing feeling to see everyone 'live' after a long time on the sidelines."
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12 A cuppa, and a catch-up
08 The Vincere team & Debbie Davis 09 All smiles during Morning Tea 10 The sun shines on Emerge attendees 11 Our stunning venue, The Mint
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"I really enjoyed the speakers...It was such an engaging panel and spread of topics." Kristy Gilham, Vincere
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What was the most compelling element of the day for you? The diversity and inclusion sessions...it was great to learn more about the challenges being faced by the industry as a whole. Mark Laudrum, BrokersOnline
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Mike Beeley, Lightbox Communications Simon Lowe, The Ageing Revolution The Diversity and Inclusion Panel Lee Barnes, Peoplebank Emma Jones, Project F Rowena Smith RECRUITMENT & CO | 19
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Q&A More Q&A with panellists Rhonda Brighton-Hall, mwah. & Ros Tregurtha, The Domain Group Rhonda Brighton-Hall, mwah. Lesley Horsburgh, APSCo Australia Ros Tregurtha, The Domain Group
"THE COMPLIANCE TALKS IN THE MORNING SESSION." KRISTY GILHAM, VINCERE "THE NEW CONNECTIONS I MADE AND THE PAST RELATIONSHIPS I REKINDLED." MARK LAUDRUM, BROKERSONLINE "THAT WE HAVE THE RIGHT PROCESSES IN PLACE ON CONTRACTS AND LEGAL COMPLIANCE." MARY, CITRUS GROUP "WAYS OF ENGAGING TALENT GROUPS..."JAYSON EICHSTADT, MEDACS GLOBAL GROUP "THERE WERE MANY...THE FIRESIDE CHATS WERE GOOD!" SAM GLASS, ALLEGIS GROUP "I REALLY LIKED THE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION, AS WELL AS PEOPLE AND CULTURE." LAILA BILLBERG, IGNITE "(THE) LEGALITIES AND COMPLIANCE OF OUR INDUSTRY CONTINUES TO DOMINATE MANY CONVERSATIONS." ANTHONY WHYTE, TALENT "MIKE (BEELEY'S) PRESENTATION ON TALENT CHALLENGES." STEVE SMITH, SIRIUS PEOPLE "(IT) WAS GREAT TO BE BACK AT A FACE-TO-FACE EVENT!" MARK GILHAM, VINCERE
Is your 'Tech stack'... a 'Frankenstack'? Here’s a question for you: Is your recruitment ‘tech-stack’, in reality, a ‘debtstack’? Or worse... a ‘Frankenstack’?
Bernie Schiemer CEO, Vincere APSCo Affiliate Partner
I believe the Recruitment Tech space is currently dominated by the Frankenstack, with ANZ recruitment firms amongst the worst affected globally. What is a RecTech ‘Frankenstack’? A Frankenstack is a collection of disparate software tools mishmashed together. Different tech vendors to deal with. Multiple invoices at the end of each month. Integration failure points and, crucially, nothing working in 2-way sync.
Over the years, recruiters typically bolt on a hotchpotch of systems or apps to their CRM. Each to solve a different pain-point, with hopes for greater profitability and productivity. It’s an easy trap to fall into. I should know, I built a rectech Frankenstack of my own.
When I was running my agency, I had over 300 consultants across 2 countries...and a tech stack that sucked time, money and choked growth. A CRM that I hosted on-premise in two offices, with full-time support engineers. A backoffice team that spent 1 week per month processing paper timesheets. My ‘analytics’ stuck firmly in Excel hell.
The recruitment Frankenstack exists in many forms, here are 3 of the most common: 1. The ‘Marketplace’ Frankenstack This is the CRM vendor that outsources key features to the 3rd parties in their marketplace. Elements that are essential to growing your business - think online timesheets, candidate/client portals, Continued page 24 RECRUITMENT & CO | 22
TV dashboards, decent analytics - are provided by ‘partners’ instead of the CRM vendor. These guys work on the theory that, once you are using a few of the 3rd party apps in their marketplace you’ll be trapped into staying with them. More vendors = more problems. Misaligned contract end-dates and the classic ‘vendor blame game’ as soon as there’s an issue with integrations. The ‘Marketplace’ Frankenstack has risen to dominance in the ANZ market over the past 10 years. Expect a lot of compromises and hidden costs. 2. The ‘Platform-Play’ Frankenstack Typical examples are applications like Salesforce.com or Microsoft Dynamics. They rely heavily on partners to deliver services and the platform itself. This Frankenstack requires you to spend big on ‘integration’ and ‘customisation’. A lot of ‘yes’ in the sales process, followed up by a lot of teeth-sucking once you sign up (Can you tell, I am speaking from personal experience here?) If you opt to ‘customise’, you’re in danger of writing yourself out of the future release roadmap.
Ultimately you end up with a bastardised platform that no one likes using. This Frankenstack is impossible to budget for, so get your cheque book ready. 3. The ‘Build-your-Own’ Frankenstack A custom-built mess of hardware and software. Typically stitched together over years by a small team of developers to support changing business needs. You own all the problems. A nightmare to move away from, this Frankenstack inhibits growth. A ‘Frankenstack’ is a ‘Frankenstack’. The bolts don’t go away. Over the past decade, the rush to the Cloud combined with a proliferation of rectech apps have contributed significantly to the rise of the Frankenstack. Anyone with a credit card can add new tools to their ‘tech stack’ within seconds, without thinking hard about the implications for the recruitment business. But they have glossed over one crucial thing: all the heavy lifting required to truly make things work together. The type of deep integration that allows your systems to speak to each other. Properly.
Or are your teams still bogged down by admin? Oracle’s co-president said it best when asked about the rise of the tech ‘Frankenstack’, ‘The fact that everything ever works perfectly together, anybody who tells you that is pulling your leg…There will never be a day where the depth of integration unless it was all built from the bottom ground up, will be integrated as any of us would like." My teams work closely with recruiters all day, slaying recruitment Frankenstacks of all shapes and sizes. From the ‘horror stories we’ve gathered, the piecemeal practice of collecting different pieces of tools to create a ‘tech stack’ only has one real ending: death to growth. The outlook right now: Jobs are on the rise, our industry’s outlook is buoyant and powered by a renewed desire to succeed. Scr*w COVID. Loads of our customers have had massive quarters. If growth is your agenda for 2021 and beyond, a tech stack audit is one you definitely cannot afford to ignore. Take a peek under the hood of your ‘tech stack’, do you see the bolts?
Think about it: Are your tools fully connected in a 2way sync? RECRUITMENT & CO | 24
THE
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Awards Cocktail Evening WEDNESDAY THE
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NigelKevelighan Harse (middle) 1Medical from StaffingNigel Industry Metrics with Ryan Ryan Harse Staffing Kevelighan (left) and Benjamin Lepke (right) representing Most IndustryImproved Metricsof the Pandemic winner, 1Medical.
John McCluskey of Whizdom Recruitment accepts the Best Performer of the Pandemic trophy from Nigel Harse of Staffing Industry Metrics.
APSCo Australia Managing Director's Recognition Award recipient, Haylee Burley of Whizdom Recruitment.
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Oliver Hastie of BluePrint Medical accepts the Best Response to the Pandemic (Innovation) trophy from Micaela Hollins of Entity Solutions.
Yvonne Kelly of Driftwood Group accepts the CSR Initiative of the Year trophy from Alyce Tulich of SEEK.
Rebecca Hartshorn of Launch Recruitment accepts the Best Response to the Pandemic (WHS) from Tania Evans of WorkPro.
Marco Setiadi from CareerOne (left) with Robin Jerome, representing Candidate Experience winner, Zeep.
Chantell Neale from Ayers Group (right) with Juan Giraldo, representing Best use of Digital winner, ManpowerGroup.
APSCo's Carly Fordred (middle) with Paula Dickson (left) and Steve Tolen (right), representing Best approach to Health & Wellbeing winner, Allegis Global Solutions.
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The business case for payroll outsourcing PayRoller's Vicki Gris discusses with Marcelo Concha – Co-Founder and CEO of Reo Group about determining if outsourcing the payroll function is right for your business. Business leaders must wear more and more hats today – you need to be a leader, a lawyer/industrial relations specialist, an accountant, a HR manager, a contracts expert, a marketing and digital media guru, a salesperson extraordinaire, a risk and compliance connoisseur, an IT and data security expert, and a psychological safety and wellness champion, to name a few. It is no wonder that business leaders and owners new and old, find themselves looking at what they can outsource to make their lives easier and to free them up to focus on what really matters. The payroll function ticks all the boxes. It is a complex, resource-heavy cost centre for a recruitment business. It requires fit for purpose systems, stringent processes, and experienced resources. The compliance and risk burdens are overwhelming. Keeping up with changing legislation and requirements (per State and Territory) is daunting and expensive.
Vicki Gris, Co-Founder and Strategic Director, PayRoller (APSCo Associate Partner), and Marcelo Concha Co-Founder and CEO, Reo Group
The consequences of getting it wrong are severe and potentially fatal to a business. Outsourcing this function seems like a no-brainer to the converted, however, this task should not be taken lightly. Provider due diligence is critical given the payroll compliance heavy space. Furthermore, providers should be viewed as business partners, rather than a commodity given that they are responsible for engaging, managing, and paying the workers that you have worked hard to source for your valued clients. Putting this specialised function in inexperienced hands will not achieve your goals of; minimised risk, simplification/process efficiency, cost effectiveness, improved service quality and contractor experience or allow you time to focus on your core business.
How do you know if outsourcing the payroll function is right for your business? How do you pick the right partner? Let’s ask someone who has been through the decision process and has come out the other side smiling – Marcelo Concha – Co-founder and CEO Reo Group. Vicki: Reo Group went from an in-house payroll function to an outsourced function partnering with PayRoller almost 2 years ago, can you tell us what your key drivers and considerations were? Marcelo: There were many factors in considering moving our in-house payroll function to an outsourced model. Top of the list was cost, which I needed to balance with risk. While the initial cost comparison would be different depending on how many contractors we have, RECRUITMENT & CO | 31
knowing our tipping point was important to understand when the numbers made sense. This also included knowing the cost of risk associated with getting something wrong, which could lead to costly fixes or legal costs. The strong Government push to keep employers accountable has meant that even honest mistakes are being dealt with harshly and is a constant challenge to get right. The other main factor was finding a service provider that saw themselves as a business partner to our business. Disruption to payroll is never a good thing so we wanted to find a partner that was in it for the long haul. This meant knowing that their approach to our business needed to be on point which would be evident in what questions they asked to know and understand not only our needs but also our business. Vicki: How did you go about formulating the business case and taking the key stakeholders on the journey? Marcelo: The business case involved showing our stakeholders our current state that would require continually adding more resources, time, energy, and effort as we grew our contractor book. This would be a distraction away from our key focus in the
business, which would also slow down our growth efforts and prolong our timeline for hitting key milestones. Vicki: Fast forward 2 years, what key benefits have you derived from outsourcing to experts? And what key learning can you share? Marcelo: The major benefit in all of this is knowing that we are 100% compliant in all areas of our payroll function. This is not an easy exercise when you consider the legislative minefield that exists currently with each State and Territory having different rules that we need to play by. The other main benefit that we did not foresee to the same extent is how free we have been to focus on other parts of the business. As we have grown, the payroll function has been ready and capable, growing with us and supporting the greater business to achieve. The key learning for me has been that having payroll professionals manage the function in the business has allowed us to play to our strengths while giving us a level of comfort and support that ultimately allows us to provide our clients and candidates an improved, professional service that scales with our business.
Vicki: Like consumers of staffing services, payroll outsourcing clients can be spoilt for choice, what advice can you give others for selecting the right partner for this critical business function? Marcelo: When considering outsourcing payroll, make sure your service provider can deliver what they claim. Words are great but attitude and action is everything. My experience with PayRoller is not measured when everything is going right, but more so when a challenge is presented. I have found that the team at PayRoller step up to the challenge and approach the situation as a business owner would proactively working on getting the right outcome with minimal to no impact on our clients and candidates. This characteristic is key for effective partnering in such a vital area such as payroll. Asking them for examples of how they have dealt with issues or challenges that their clients have faced is key in understanding the attitude and action that turns up under stressful situations.
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APSCO'S REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE
STEPHEN VENESS - DAVIDSON
Increased demand and an adaptive workforce Unfortunately, I was one of the small number of APSCo Directors who was not able to attend the Conference in Sydney in May, however huge congratulations to the whole team for bringing together such a fantastic event.
The feedback from across industry seems to have been very positive and it is great to have the opportunity to bring people together to discuss challenges and opportunities in the sector, especially in person! In small part, it was an exceptionally busy schedule in May which impacted my ability to travel. At the moment, a busy diary is far from unique as we all experience the increased demand from our markets as unemployment numbers continue to go down. The combination of economic stimulus into major infrastructure projects, increased market confidence and the amazing way in which the workforce
Stephen Veness Director - APSCo Australia Group Manager - Strategic Partnerships, Davidson
has adapted to remote working and the odd snap lock-down has pushed many markets into a situation where the talent needed is in significantly short demand. This trend looks set to continue in most of the professional sectors, not aided by the lack of international migration. As we exit a quite extraordinary financial year (if you report July-June), I think most recruitment leaders will be happy and possibly a little relieved when thinking back to July 2020 when the market looked quite different. The 12 months ahead will be challenging on a whole range of fronts… not least in talent acquisition and retention.
As such, our industry looks set to play a vital role in supporting the economic growth and recovery. In the major projects world that I spend a lot of time in, there are skillsets that are in such short supply that there is a genuine risk to the project outcomes. Creative thinking, innovation around development of transferable skills and resource sharing are all areas in which our industry must be playing an increasing role. RECRUITMENT & CO | 33
APSCO'S REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE
MELISSA OCCHIPINTI - PAXUS
Post-pandemic workforce demand 2021 has seen businesses find their feet and hit the ground running after a turbulent year navigating the global pandemic, explains Melissa Occhipinti. Job vacancies are now surging, and the growing demand for talent highlights as a nation we’ve catapulted out of survival and into a high growth phase. The recent federal budget indicates that Australia is on track to drive unemployment below 5 per cent by the end of 2022. With more people in work than ever before, and a lack of opportunity to supplement the Australian workforce with skilled immigrants, we’re facing a critical shortage of talent. As this war for talent intensifies, organisations are having to re-write their employee value propositions and reconstruct their employee benefits to ensure they’re aligned with the postpandemic expectations of the workforce.
Whilst the number of Seek ads were at a 23-year record high in April, the number of job applications were at a 9-year low. Until organisations catch-up, we will continue to witness a significant disconnect between what employers are seeking and the expectations of potential candidates. Nikki Grech, the NSW Paxus State Manager, provides further insight on the current job market. “We’re experiencing very high job demand. However, the challenge is finding candidates to fill these vacancies,” Nikki explains. “Candidates are currently dictating and influencing their salary and conditions.
Melissa Occhipinti Executive General Manager - Paxus Director - APSCo Australia
We’re also seeing an emphasis on the importance of brand and culture that previously never existed, with candidates now having the luxury to pick and choose their employer. Even with all boxes ticked, candidates are becoming more reluctant to sign a contract, and we’re regularly experiencing counter offers. We’re not selling the candidate to the organisation; we’re selling the organisation to the candidate.” It’s certainly an interesting time for recruitment. Employers will need to revisit whether they’re offering enough security, training, and compensation to attract and retain the right workers. It’s also vital for businesses to assess employee wellbeing and take additional measures to retain their top talent in what is a strong candidate market. RECRUITMENT & CO | 34
Reliability is underrated In Ty Tashiro’s book, “The Science of Happily Ever After”, he warns against romantic partners that are highly motivated by new experiences. Ty isn’t a self-help guy, he’s a fairdinkum scientist that collects data. It makes sense that the sort of people who are motivated by new experiences are probably less likely to hang around for long, explains Thomas Taylor of Middle Office.
Thomas Taylor Director - Middle Office APSCo Affiliate Partner
relationships: clients, employees, suppliers, mates, lovers. It would be a rare client indeed that didn’t value “reliable” suppliers; suppliers that have consistent and predictable quality delivery. Your challenge is to be able to provide a quality, flexible, and yet reliable, service.
We all know couples that have been together for a very long time, the sort of people you would call “solid as a rock”. They don’t stay together because they are boring or because they have no interest in new experiences, and they certainly don’t stay together because they are inflexible. Just the opposite, they stay together because they can adapt to change whilst
being firmly grounded by hard work, compassion, and empathy. They value the relationship more than the changing experiences. They are reliable people. Judging reliability, indeed trust, is simply our estimation of how likely people, or organisations, will behave in a predictable way. We value reliable people in all our
We believe the way to do that, and we live this in our business, is to focus on what makes any relationship stable and reliable: hard work, compassion, and empathy. In our business that translates to our 3 core goals. To be steadfast about compliance To reduce complexity in everything we do To underpin our clients’ performance We are all judged on our ability to deliver in a consistent and predictable way. For that to be true, we need strong foundations. RECRUITMENT & CO | 36
Heightened focus on employee and cyber risk management With his firm BrokersOnline joining APSCo this year, Mark Laudrum provides an update on the recruitment insurance market, as well as a look at some of the key risks insurers will be focusing on in the near future.
Mark Laudrum Head of Commercial & Retail Broking - BrokersOnline APSCo Affiliate Partner
The other key insurance policies for every recruiter would be cyber and management liability (includes directors and officers). There is a larger insurer pool for these policies as they are less recruitment industry-specific although many insurers are nervous about large on-hired workforces. Market premium movement expectations 2021-2022
Insurance for recruitment agencies has and likely never will be an off the shelf tick and flick purchase nor delivered online with only a handful of mouse clicks. Your industry is certainly viewed as requiring a specialised product, and rightly so with the various forms of employment as well as client engagement models applied across the industry.
With just a small number of insurers actively targeting your industry for professional indemnity, competition is thin on the ground with each insurer having their own preferred risk appetite based on occupations or industry sectors. This doesn’t however mean that there aren’t deals to be done with many insurers still keen to win new business and grow their recruitment portfolio.
Cyber, possible increase 1525+% and with increased security practices required This is where you can expect to see the greatest changes year on year, not just with the premiums being charged but more particularly with the cybersecurity you will be required to have in place to even obtain a policy.
Insurers will be expecting you to have endpoint protection in place for all remote devices (malware protection) as well as multi-factor authentication for key IT platforms. RECRUITMENT & CO | 37
Without these in place insurance cover could be restricted or not available at all through some providers. This is not purely an insurance issue, it is predominantly a business continuity risk and one to be kept high on the agenda. Cybercrime is advancing at a phenomenal pace and every business will need to respond and adapt very quickly as new threats are encountered. Some statistics to alert/scare you are as follows: As at November 2020 over 60% of Australian organisations suffered a ransomware attack in the previous 12 months — 10% higher than the global average. Ransomware attacks in Australia cost businesses and the public sector up to $241 million in 2019. 110 million ransomware attacks globally in 4q20 (up from almost 80m in the 3q20).
Professional indemnity, possible increase 10-15% This class of insurance, in general and not specific to recruitment, has seen dramatic change over the past two plus years with Australian underwriting agencies being heavily impacted by Lloyd’s of London capacity restrictions as well as their increased premium requirements.
Ransomware attacks in Australia cost businesses and the public sector up to $241 million in 2019.
Management liability/directors and officers, possible increase 15-20% (SME), 25-100+% (larger corporate and especially listed firms) The increase in shareholder class actions against major Australian companies over the past few years has particularly affected this class of insurance and is combined with many years of low or inadequate premiums being charged for SME businesses. Insurers are now being more selective and diving deeper into a recruitment agency’s historic employee retention /redundancy trends as well as their split of employees between internal and on-hire, leading some to limit cover to internal employment-related claims only.
Meet Mark Laudrum Local insurers have suffered sizable claims from a series of unrelated industries (financial planning, construction and engineering) which has led to premium increases across the board, regardless of industry sector.
With a recruitment insurance broking career beginning in Melbourne in September 2004 and advising agencies and industry bodies over the years since, Mark has worked with hundreds of agencies across a wide range of disciplines and sectors.
To learn more about how BrokersOnline can help to review and remarket your existing insurance program, get in touch with Mark Laudrum, 0499 011 472, mark@brokersonline.co or the Brokers Online website. RECRUITMENT & CO | 38
