Columnist Peter Russell Managing Director of Telefónica Tech UK&I
Creating a Positive Vibe is Key to Attracting and Retaining Talent T
here has been much talk in the tech sector over the years about having a ‘start-up vibe’. By this, people mean an entrepreneurial spirit, a mission-driven work ethic, personal connections amongst team members, and an intimate working environment. Newly established small firms have it; bigger businesses say they’ve kept it or want it back. Even when they became behemoths, the likes of Facebook and Google did everything in their power to portray they still had it. Our company has moved from being a relatively small, owner-operated, indigenous business, to being part of a truly global operation in a relatively short space of time. Developing from Novosco to Telefónica has meant a lot of change over the past 24 months. But it has also meant that we have been able to create a company with scale and agility – by retaining many of the people, our history, and our culture, and now combining with the global power and reach of Telefónica Tech. Whilst we’re part of one of the world’s largest companies, the intimate work environment, personal connections, and relentless customer focus all remain critical to our success. These attributes will help us build a culture to retain and attract great people and that’s why we’re working hard to get our message out there about who we are and what we stand for. In short, Telefónica Tech is one of the leading global digital transformation companies. In the UK & Ireland, we provide a wide range of services and
integrated technological solutions in Cyber Security, Cloud, and Modern Workplace. As part of the wider Telefónica Tech family, our expertise also extends to IoT, Big Data, and Blockchain. One of 2022’s ‘big bets’ is a major focus on the health sector in the UK & Ireland, where we already provide mission-critical services to over 42 NHS organisations. Telefónica Tech unlocks the power of integrated technology for all businesses, bringing together a unique combination of the best people, with the best tech and the best platforms, supported by a dynamic partner ecosystem and strategic agreements with all market leaders. It does this in a simplified manner, to facilitate and accelerate tech adoption and make a real difference every day to every business. We’ve done many things to attract and retain talent in Belfast. We’ve fully adopted hybrid working, and we’ve reconfigured our offices to support this and meet the needs of work today. We’ve also looked at pay and benefits within the company, for instance, we provided everyone in the team with a significant pay rise early in 2022. We have also initiated a healthy place to work programme, in which we will build a three-year plan to transform the health and well-being of every member of staff, which is so important in the current world that we live and work in. Telefónica Tech UK&I has also continued to invest significantly in the business in Northern Ireland, including with the expansion of our office space in Belfast by 5,000sq ft in 2021 and through the investment in our new
Security Operations Centre, which is double the size of the company’s previous SOC. The investment has also seen the recruitment and training of additional cybersecurity personnel. In short, we’re creating a really exciting story and one that must be good news for Northern Ireland PLC. It’s a story that has much to excite current team members, potential recruits and more importantly, customers. There are few big global players with a substantial base here in Northern Ireland, but Telefónica Tech is here now! I expect to see significant investment continuing over the next few months that will further enhance our presence here, bringing more exciting tech, providing opportunities for growth for our team, and allowing us to deliver additional services to our fantastic customers. I personally feel that there is a great vibe about our business at present and I am truly excited about what the future brings.
“We’ve fully adopted hybrid working, and we’ve reconfigured our offices to support this and meet the needs of work today.”
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