RCSA Summer Journal 2017

RCSAJournal Australia & New Zealand | Summer 2017

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Putting the unity in community

Prime Super is excited to be the new RCSA principal partner.

We believe in the valuable services that the RCSA provides to the industry and are proud our partnership allows this work to continue.

We look forward to working with the RCSA to ensure the industry’s permanent and on-hire workforce have the best retirement outcome they can from their lifetime of work.

To find out how surprisingly straightforward super can be contact Prime Super today.

visit primesuper.com.au call 1800 675 839

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Call 1800 675 839 for a Product Disclosure Statement. Prime Super Pty Ltd ABN 81 067 241 016 AFSL 219723 RSE L0000277 as Trustee of Prime Super ABN 60 562 335 823 RN 1000276.

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From the President: Robert van Stokrom FRCSA

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CEO’s Message: Charles Cameron

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A new chapter: A lesson in self-reflection

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The power of community and conferences

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Rugby coach Tim Walsh finds talent by going where many others fear to tread

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Learning the importance of cooking bacon correctly – and other lessons from Antarctica

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How the gig economy is revolutionising the workplace

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ow two CEOs succeeded in transforming their H small recruitment businesses

18 New Zealand update: John Harland FRCSA 19

Adopting the Uber approach for recruitment firms

21 Labour hire company ‘sure’ they are on the right track 23 Prime Super is the superannuation fund for RCSA

7 The power of community and conferences

25 Strategies to attract, identify and retain top talent 27 Why fear stops us from speaking up in the workplace 28 What does the future look like for recruitment technology?

29 Welcome to our new Corporate Members 29 Protect your most important asset: your staff 30 L&D Events Calendar

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From the President I have been very fortunate to work within this industry for more than 20 years. I do believe fortunate is the right word to use when describing the past two decades.

I have been fortunate to operate and lead in an industry, which makes such a large impact on the nation’s economy, the communities in which we work and live in and, importantly, in the lives of the people we have the pleasure to meet each and every day.

We will continue to increase representation, provide benefits, learn and develop and advocate for this amazing industry under the stewardship of our great and capable CEO Charles Cameron.

Charles has assembled a new, very capable and agile team which will result in continued success.

When you strip back what we do, it is simple, we provide people with jobs. We have the joy of calling people to tell them they have a job or to offer them advice and support on how to secure the next job.

As my term as President comes to an end this year, I am thankful for the opportunity and grateful for your trust. Our new President will be announced at our Annual General Meeting this November, and I look forward to encouraging and assisting wherever I can. We will continue to lead in the world of work!

These jobs change people’s lives and the lives of their wider network and community.

These jobs contribute to the economic growth of Australia and New Zealand by finding work for around 500,000 people every day.

Likewise, I am also proud of the fact, that as an industry body we are constantly looking forward to ensure we are ahead of what’s happening in the market, here and internationally, and how we can continue to be of value to our varied stakeholders.

As our recent conference showed, we are driven towards embracing technology and ensuring we are more efficient in all of our operations for candidates and clients alike.

We are also driven to learn from others, outside of our sector, to adopt both new leadership and management styles.

As our new brand attests, we are truly leaders in the world of work.

With the new brand, new direction and exciting new partnership with Prime Super, it’s a great time to be part of RCSA. I have enjoyed the privilege of serving for 10 years on the RCSA national board, four of those as Vice President and four as the President. I feel humbled and proud of what we have achieved during this time, all made possible by our amazing team of Board members who have given tirelessly over the years to make this association as successful as it is today.

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Robert van Stokrom, FRCSA RCSA President, Australia and New Zealand

CEO’s Message “It’s only mine, if I share it.”

This was a statement made during the welcome party at our recent conference in Fiji.

While it was relating to a traditional kava ceremony, it was a statement that I kept coming back to throughout the event. It’s a statement that I believe truly reflects where we, as a profession and community, should be moving towards.

For too long, our industry has operated under the pretence of keeping our information, our knowledge and our expertise close to our chests.

Traditionally, we loathe sharing our experiences, our mistakes and our wins for fear of giving too much information to our competitors or losing the market advantage.

But herein lies the fundamental problem.

We already have a number of external influences knocking at our door -such as digital platforms disrupting our business models, companies cost-cutting or under-cutting and ongoing changes to legislation. We don’t need to add to the list.

In fact, now more than ever is the time for our sector to look and grow from within. Rather than see each other as competitors, we should follow the example set by other professional services and view each other as peers.

By learning and sharing with each other we can, collectively, provide a stronger and more cohesive representation of our sector to the external market.

We also have a new team, new website and fresh new brand, which you will read about in the following pages.

This approach all stems back to our new strategy, which is to strip back everything to the basics and be more member-centric, while at the same time be a leading voice when it comes to the increasingly complex world of work.

It’s this new focus which sees us looking at today and tomorrow’s agenda, while keeping an eye on the future.

As always I would love to hear what you think and welcome any feedback you can share with us.

Until next time.

Charles Cameron RCSA CEO, Australia and New Zealand

Which sees us looking at today and tomorrow’s agenda, while keeping an eye on the future.

In turn, this will continue to show the greater value of what a professional service, like ours, can provide and how it can enrich the economies of Australia and New Zealand.

And, going by the information sharing at the recent conference, I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Following the theme of sharing, I also want to share with you the new ethos within RCSA. To ensure we continue to provide you with the best value as members, we have undertaken a full review and restructure internally. This required an open and honest outside-in approach to our organisation, which saw a much-needed restructure to put in new systems and operations.

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A new chapter:

A lesson in self-reflection The process of re-branding is one some organisations approach with dread, however RCSA’s CEO Charles Cameron insists it was a golden opportunity to re-evaluate both the messaging and strategic direction of our organisation.

Having launched a new logo and website in early September, the RCSA is speaking from experience when it says re-branding offers a valuable opportunity for self-reflection.

“Some organisations see re-branding as a necessary evil which is time-consuming and costly and, depending on your approach, it may be just that if the change is purely aesthetic,” RCSA CEO Charles Cameron said.

“For us, it was an opportunity to further evaluate what we could do better and what else needed a refresh to further empower our members to improve lives, communities and the economy.

“We re-examined our purpose as a peak industry body and looked at how we can deliver new value in the world of work where digital evolution and automation are synonymous with innovation.”

Mr Cameron said this included examining what new technologies are available and ways they could be incorporated by RCSA to continue representing the recruitment and staffing industry – the world of work in short.

As well as a new logo and renewed commitment to better promote and serve the needs of its members, RCSA’s re-branding also included a fresh new website which is easy to navigate, can be accessed on any tablet or smartphone, hosts an online payment platform and offers easier event registration.

It also meant identifying – and then focussing on four key areas to further improve the work done by the RCSA through representation, education, research and business advisory support for its member organisations.

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These four areas were: • Promote and protect the recruitment, staffing and consulting industries • Provide pathways to professionalism • Business enablement • Networking and celebration.

“To achieve this, we promise to provide a membercentric experience in everything we do and is part of an overall strategy to attract, retain and grow top talent to realise the RCSA’s value and purpose,” Mr Cameron said.

“That includes engaging and empowering members and volunteers to best achieve RCSA’s mission; enhance the delivery of services and the engagement of members and develop new partnerships and opportunities which continue to place us as leading influencers in the world of work.”

Mr Cameron said the re-branding exercise – which is a necessary evolution to remain successful in a competitive business world – allowed the RCSA to clarify for itself its aims and then to focus on delivering those.

“We have always been a self-reflective organisation because we have to be if we are going to keep pace with the changing working landscape our members find themselves in,” he said.

“The discoveries we made as part of the rebranding will inform the way RCSA operates from representations to key stakeholders such as government, media and client groups through to events and our member group engagements.

“And just as importantly, having undergone re-branding from both a commercial and philosophical perspective, we have a strong understanding of how to utilise the tools available to help us – and our members – to get their message across and grow their business.

“This new brand reflects more than just a new logo or look. It’s about an exciting new phase in our history.

“Welcome to the new RCSA.”

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The power of community and conferences Enticing industry leaders to this year’s RCSA conference beside palm-fringed beaches lapped by tropical waters amid balmy weather conditions was never going to be a difficult task. But it would always take a special collection of inspirational speakers to lure them from the pool.

And the event on 6-8 September definitely delivered.

More than 230 attendees from Australia and New Zealand enjoyed the Fijian hospitality, as RCSA set out to challenge members’ thinking, shake up leadership styles and ensure the industry is at the forefront of leading in the world of work.

Conference attendees listened to the likes of Young New Zealander of the Year Sam Johnson, NSW’s Australian of the Year Deng Adut, the leader of the 58th annual expedition to Antarctica, Rachael Robertson, gig economy expert Marina Pullen, Australian Rugby coach Tim Walsh, rugby player Ellia Green and who could forget the bearded academic rogue Dr Jason Fox, to name a few.

To help jog memories and assist those who couldn’t make this year’s conference, please find following a few features on the key takeaways from the many talks.

RCSA President Robert van Stockrom officially launching the 2017 conference with Prime Super CEO Lachlan Baird.

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Next year’s conference will be in Noosa and will look at the Art of Work – Recruitment and Staffing for a Changing World. To register your interest for an early bird ticket deal email: rcsa@theassociationspecialists.com.au

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Rugby coach Tim Walsh finds talent by going where many others fear to tread Ellia Green was running late for a rugby sevens talent identification day in the southeastern suburbs of Melbourne.

In fact, she didn’t even want to go.

Her cousin had asked Ellia to drive her to the training session, then convinced her to take part.

Initially reluctant, Ellia gave in and stretched her legs on the field with the other athletes, completing some basic drills and tests. By the end of the session it was obvious to the coaches - Fijian-born Ellia was exactly what they were looking for.

The now 24-year-old had never played rugby, she didn’t know the rules and wasn’t particularly interested in learning them. She was a sprinter, and it was her natural speed and hard work that could one day land her a spot in the Australian Olympic team. It did. Just not on the track and field team.

That training session was in 2012. In 2016, Ellia and her Australian Women’s Rugby Sevens teammates proudly raised their Olympic gold medals on the podium in Rio. Their success was the brainchild of former Australian representative Tim Walsh. This professional rugby journeyman, who plied his trade as a player in New Zealand, Italy, England and at home for the Queensland Reds, now boasts the enviable honour of coaching Australia’s most successful rugby team.

Ellia Green and Tim Walsh at training.

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It seems astounding then that 90 per cent of the history-making team that captured the hearts

and minds of the nation, had never played the game before.

“There were many challenges to begin with. One was to attract these athletes and sell them the dream. The next was to actually coach them to do it,’’ Tim said after his address at the recent RSCA conference in Fiji.

Tim employed a two-pronged recruitment drive to form the initial squad. Firstly, there was the volume recruitment model, employing talent scouts and recruiters to find good rugby players. It was the tactic employed by every other country vying for a big finish on the world’s greatest sporting stage.

The second was looking beyond the traditional pockets, focussing on the core skills that Tim and his coaching group believed would be the foundation for a tilt at Rio glory.

“Speed was the non-negotiable. We wanted to get speed athletes into the game and then teach them how to play rugby,’’ Tim said.

Tim and his team ran a series of talent identification sessions, designed to see if athletes with different backgrounds and different skills could be guided along a different vocational path.

“The whole point of it was seeing the potential of the athletes and what they could bring. I guess they’re already coded to be athletes and have that understanding of what it requires to be an athlete.

It was basically then just training them up to be a rugby sevens player,” he said.

Although Tim admits it was a high-risk strategy, the rewards speak for themselves, and he is convinced the leap into the unknown was what set the Aussie women apart in Rio. “It was somewhat risky in terms of the 2016 scenario because (we were unsure) how quickly the athletes could pick it up? Was there enough time, compared to girls who have been doing it and playing it for so long?”

But Tim also had an ace up his sleeve.

“The point of difference we had against a lot of other sports was the fact that we were going to

the Olympics and it’s pretty desirable for any young man or woman growing up.’’

His other strong consideration was to ensure those chosen had the right attitude to go with their aptitude.

“We got good people who wanted to be there, and then they had the intelligence to learn quickly, and it actually happened a lot faster than we anticipated.

You hear a lot about athletes being bigger, faster, stronger.

“Ours are smarter, faster and stronger. ‘’ Tim found the key factor in finding and keeping the right team was simply by interacting with them individually.

“It’s interactions, observations and just talking to them. Then, when you are travelling the world and you’re under fatigue and under stress, your true character comes out and that’s when you see.’’

Tim’s leadership style also had a big role to play in binding the group together, ensuring the players performed at their optimum as individuals and cohesively as a team. It was something that transcended tactics and evolved naturally for the gifted coach, a combination of “servant” and “transformational” leadership.

“The autocratic kind of buy-in to this thing didn’t really work. I found myself just being a servant leader because I was really trying to get them to a point that was going to give them the best opportunity to perform.

“The transformational one is that I have a real passion to make the program a better place, to leave a legacy and ultimately honour these girls.

I respect them so much that I want to make their lives better.’’

It was the perfect environment for Ellia, whose 80-metre try during a sevens exhibition match on the Gold Coast in 2014 was viewed over 200,000 times on social media within four hours of being posted. She found that training for sprinting and

training and playing rugby sevens, while similar, had some key differences.

“I really enjoyed just learning all the new skills that rugby has taught me, not only on the field but off it as well. Being a team player and being part of a community, a family.’’

Family is important to Ellia and so is giving young women someone to look up to.

“To realise that we are role models now to a lot of young women is amazing. I truly do believe that what’s even better than winning the gold medal is what was done for Australian sport, and what was done for women in sport because it’s going to be an ongoing thing.’’

Smarter, faster, stronger.

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Learning the importance of cooking bacon correctly – and other lessons from Antarctica Rachael Robertson had a taste for knowledge and understanding so when she saw an advertisement recruiting for Expedition Leaders to Antarctica, she recognised a golden opportunity to understand the recruitment practices of a large organisation.

After all, she reasoned, it could help her improve the role she was doing in leading customer service teams.

Little did Rachael know her application to venture to Antarctica would be the catalyst for a year-long professional and personal journey of discovery in temperatures, which tumbled as low as minus 35°c, and how to manage the “Bacon Wars”.

“Initially, I only applied to learn their recruitment processes because I was fascinated that they recruited for personal attributes more than technical ability,” Rachael said of her application to lead a 2005 expedition to Antarctica.

With 15 years of corporate leadership to her name – and the right personality traits - Rachael landed the job and found herself at an isolated research station in Antarctica.

In the peak summer season, the research station hosted 83 people before dwindling to a team of 18 in the harsh winter months. As the Expedition Leader,

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Rachael was on duty all day, every day in an environment she describes as ‘intense.’

While the lessons of the role were immeasurable, Rachael says there were two key takeaways from a leadership perspective: the little stuff matters and a lot of issues arising in a workplace come down to perceived or actual disrespect.

Leading in a crisis Rachael says there were two decisive moments in Antarctica which changed her understanding of being a leader and these two moments could not have been more different.

The first was launching a search and rescue mission in hazardous weather conditions following a plane crash.

“It taught me so much about the role of a leader during a crisis,” Rachael said. “Every leader will encounter a difficult period when things get tough…a financial crisis, a merger, natural disaster, a product recall.

“We’re drilled on how to manage these events, but what is your leadership role? The role of the leader remains the same, no matter what the crisis is.”

Rachael said this means three key things: • Visibility: be seen about the place; you need to be seen to be leading.

• Verbal Palette: Choose your words carefully: during the plane crash I spoke about retrieval, not a rescue. Different words convey different messages.

• Composure: Be calm and poised. Carry yourself confidently and it will instil confidence in those around you.

• Communicate: Provide all available information, all the time. If you don’t send regular updates people will fill in the gaps themselves, and often these ‘gap fillers’ are worse than the reality.

Why the bacon matters The second significant incident Rachael dealt with initially appeared to be trivial but nearly brought a $20 million research station to its knees. Tensions among staff reached boiling point over how crispy the bacon should be.

“What this taught me was that it is the small, seemingly unimportant incidents in a workplace, which have the capacity to create the largest problems,” Rachael said.

“I call these the ‘Bacon Wars.’ They are the seemingly insignificant issues that pop up in any team,” she said. “They seem like a really small thing, but they are not and instead are a symptom of the deeper issue, which is usually a lack of respect.”

Most people who have spent any time working in an office understand the ‘Bacon War’ triggers - staff leaving dirty dishes in the tea room, people consistently late to meetings, returning a shared office car with no petrol.

“The reason these small things irk us so much is that they are not about the small issues; that’s just the symptom,” Rachael said. “The issue is with a lack of respect because this behaviour implies the person is thinking ‘my time is more important than your time, so I’ll let you clean up my dirty coffee cups after me.’

“Rightly or wrongly, that’s how it’s perceived.

You need to manage the Bacon Wars.”

The no triangles approach Since leaving Antarctica, the MBA holder has forged a career as an inspirational speaker sharing her experiences and lessons.

Attendees of this year’s RCSA Conference had the pleasure of hearing from Rachael and her many leadership tactics such as the ‘No Triangles’ approach to management, which means a practice of having direct conversations with staff about their work.

“We had a simple rule in Antarctica that went ‘I don’t speak to you about him and you don’t speak to him about her’,” Rachael said. “It was about having no triangles and encouraging people to go directly to the source and it resulted in very high performance.

“During the Antarctic winter, the equivalent of a long slog between project milestones, interpersonal pressures increase and the focus can quickly turn from the work to the people. In these situations it’s even more crucial to have No Triangles.

“It is a powerful tool that reduces conflict and clarifies accountability. The practice of No Triangles ensures your time is spent dealing with issues that matter. Those that have the most impact on the organisation, not handling personal disputes that simply burn energy.”

inspirational leaders – leaders who can see the big picture and take a company in that direction – it is important to have leaders who stop to look at the smaller picture and details as well.

“The big stuff matters, the big stuff is important,” Rachael said. “But what makes the difference is the small stuff. It’s showing big leadership in small moments.”

Clearly when the recruitment process for Expedition Leaders was underway, the skills needed to provide this big leadership in small moments was in mind.

Rachael explained recruiters looked for people who demonstrate resilience, empathy and integrity, while knowledge of Antarctica was considered less important; knowledge can be acquired more easily than empathy and resilience.

“The most important lesson I learned in terms of recruitment, was the importance of choosing people who are a strong cultural fit,” she said. “Technical skills are important, but choosing a team that shares the same values is critical.

“The other crucial factor is selecting people who have the personal attributes you need.”

And most importantly, Rachael said, is her golden rule of management: “respect trumps harmony every time”.

“I hold grave concerns for any team that, explicitly or implicitly, expects harmony,” she said. “It’s dangerous [because] dysfunctional behaviour still continues, it just goes underground so the illusion of harmony remains; and it stifles innovation because people don’t want to rock the boat.”

While there are clear lessons for the recruitment sector here in terms of ensuring a person is a right fit with an organisation in terms of values rather than skills and qualifications alone, there are also lessons we can pass on to our clients to help them better manage their own expectations and ‘Bacon Wars’.

On being a leader Rachael said her experience taught her that while many companies are looking for SUMMER 2017

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How the gig economy is revolutionising the workplace The evolution of the gig economy is “probably as big as the industrial revolution” in terms of how it changes the landscape of traditional working conditions and environments, a speaker at this year’s RCSA conference in Fiji told attendees.

Marina Pullin, Managing Director at MCBI, a business improvement, resourcing and project delivery organisation, was emphatic that the gig economy – where staff are employed on an as-needs basis– was only going to get bigger.

And staff, recruitment and employment organisations who ignore it, do so at their own peril.

Marina offered the following definition of the gig economy: “A labour market characterised by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs.”

She explained that both the workforce and workplace were in perpetual states of change with the gig economy just one of the latest iterations of this.

Outsourcing and technological developments have supported the development of the gig economy and facilitated organisations to move some tasks out from under their own roof.

At the same time, staff are choosing jobs which offer them flexible working arrangements, including the ability to work remotely or part-time.

Marina said recent data indicated that almost one-third of US employees are currently in ‘contingent’ arrangements such as being employed by temp firms, in part-time positions or as day labourers. This is expected to increase to 40 per cent of the US workforce by 2020.

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Without realising it, many of us are already trading in the gig economy through online platforms and apps including Airtasker, Airbnb, Upwork and Uber.

And as with all major changes in the structure of the workplace, some will thrive in a gig economy while others will struggle.

“For people who are competitive, and I put up my hand and say I like competition, the volatile nature of the gig economy suits someone like me,” Marina said. “I think it helps people like me to flourish.

“However, not everyone is competitive and not everyone likes pushing themselves. Some people find it really traumatic and at different stages of your life, you don’t want to be pushing yourself to the edge all the time.”

Marina said the emergence of the gig economy was helping to drive efficiencies and cost savings while offering freelancers and contract workers scope to be the best professional versions of themselves.

She also said that as the gig economy carves out a place for itself within recruitment and hiring, it is even more essential that we re-think our expectations of staff and employers alike.

“A lot of our work structures now have a safety net [leave, compensation, protections] around them and I think if our whole workforce transforms into a gig economy, we will have to respond somehow,” she said.

“I think it’s a big thing. Negative discussion around the gig economy is a repelling conversation which doesn’t drive collaboration and problem-solving.

“I think there are enormous issues around safety for workers, minimum wage, all that side of it [within a gig economy], but I don’t think it will be solved by emotional talk and scaremongering.

“People need to calm down and find a way to work through the problems around this because it’s actually too important for us not to figure it out.

This is probably as big as the Industrial Revolution in terms of change.

“Corporations and business need to maintain their evolutionary and adaptive nature.”

• 85 per cent of Australians believe working nine to five office hours are inflexible.

There is no doubt that potential giggers have done just that with the emergence of hustlers or side giggers, career giggers and substitute giggers.

Another notable change Marina has seen in the workforce in recent years is a move away from traditional thinking that “the boss knows everything” to a belief more focus should be placed on the collective knowledge of staff.

Marina told the RCSA conference that in Australia, the largest category of freelancers (giggers) was web, mobile and software development (44 per cent), design and creative work (14 per cent) customer and admin support (13 per cent), sales and marketing (10 per cent) and writing (8 per cent).

Data shows that around 4.1 million Australians – or 32 per cent of the workforce – undertook some freelance work between 2014 and 2015, she said.

Research released by Deloitte Access Economics (2014) showed: • 55 per cent of Australians would accept a 20 per cent annual pay cut to work from home • 22 per cent would sacrifice 10 per cent of their income in return for working flexible hours

“The collective brain of your organisation recognises that we’re not all cookie-cutter factory workers,” she explained. “Everyone has a native genius which might be writing and mine might be data or what have you, but we have to bring out the native genius in people.

“A ‘servant leader’ is someone who serves those geniuses and we then turn it into something that can be acted upon for the benefit of all. A servant leader is one who is able to get the best out of people and create an outcome, by serving them.”

While there is no doubt a gig economy allows organisations to find efficiencies and reduce costs by only employing staff when it needs them, there is also a duty of care towards employees which needs to be addressed.

“Worryingly, nearly one in three young Australians are currently unemployed or underemployed,” Marina said.

“Entry level roles for young people are disappearing and 70 per cent of youth are currently undertaking training for jobs, which will be lost or radically affected by automation in the next 10-15 years.

“This is supported by the OECD who notes that although technological innovation is positively associated with employment in all groups of occupations, artificial intelligence is already replacing mid-level skilled jobs.”

There is no doubt the gig economy has the potential to radically change the way we work.

The challenge for the recruitment and employment sector is to adopt this model to entice the brightest minds while acting ethically.

How this will be done is yet to be fully realised.

How two CEOs succeeded in transforming their small recruitment businesses

By Rob Davidson, founder of Davidson and business advisor

It is possible to transform a small recruitment firm in just a few years, provided you know how.

In this article, I share the key points from a session I facilitated on this topic at the recent RCSA conference.

The aim was to present two contrasting approaches to growth. The first Harrier Human Capital, shows what is possible if you’re prepared to ‘buy’ talent from a global competitor. And the second, intelliHR, illustrates what’s possible when a founder is prepared to scour the world themselves to find the knowledge he needs to transform his business.

Kelly Quirk, CEO of Harrier Human Capital and Rob Bromage, CEO of intelliHR, generously shared their stories of two impressive business transformations.

Prior to joining Harrier, Kelly was based in London where she led Ranstad’s global

outsourcing business, Sourceright. Tired of the stresses and strains of running a EU3 billion business, Kelly was persuaded to travel to Perth to conduct a review of Harrier.

The brief was to review the business and to make recommendations to improve its performance. The owners were so impressed with Kelly’s approach they offered her a controlling interest in the company and the role of CEO if she would lead the transformation.

At that time Harrier was generating $4m in gross profit and was in a precarious financial position. Six years later, gross profit has grown by $50m, the company is highly profitable and debt-free. It has opened offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Manila and Singapore and is poised for further expansion. continued on page 17 SUMMER 2017

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Kelly Quirk, CEO of Harrier Human Capital

By contrast, Rob Bromage transformed himself from a banking and finance recruiter to a technology entrepreneur and in so doing transformed his recruitment business, APRG, into a human capital management technology platform, intelliHR. While APRG still operates as a successful recruitment firm in its own right, intelliHR has spun out as a separate entity, which successfully competes against many global brands in this field. intelliHR is poised to list on the ASX later this year to raise the funds needed for further expansion.

The seed which sparked Rob’s transformation process lay in his desire to better understand the value he delivered to his clients. Rob educated himself in the emerging science of predictive analytics and built rudimentary tools to demonstrate to clients how his recruitment process led to superior hiring outcomes and better performance by his candidates once employed.

Rob started working with developers on small process improvement projects that then led to building a smart phone timesheet system, which gave him the confidence to go on to bigger technology projects, including and culminating in intelliHR.

Rob Bromage, CEO of intelliHR

The key message from both Kelly and Rob is that transformations of this magnitude are within reach of many business owners, but be careful what you wish for as growth is expensive, takes enormous effort and will be more difficult than you anticipated at the outset.

There is nothing wrong with running a best-inclass niche recruitment business in your home town. These businesses are often highly profitable and provided your brand is strong and your service is good, you will do well. If this is where you are at today, don’t let ego drive your strategy; is good so long as it makes strategic sense and often it doesn’t.

If, however, the urge to do more is strong, Kelly suggests owners make sure their business is built on solid foundations as growth this journey is not easy; it will be three times harder than you think, take three times longer and cost three time more than you planned for. She suggests you first review your Strategy, Structure, People, Processes and Technology, in that order.

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The problem, she observes, for most recruiters is that they tend to default straight to the people component because that is what they know. They can’t resist employing great people when they find them and neglect to how ask does this hire enhance our strategy and improve the organisational structure we need to execute that strategy.

Both Rob and Kelly stress the importance of surrounding yourself with good advisors. Seek out the best advisors both within the recruitment and consulting industry and from the commercial world; people who have previously grown larger businesses themselves and can help you navigate the road ahead.

Of particular importance is gaining access to an experienced CFO either as an employee or as an advisor. Few small consulting businesses possess the depth of financial expertise required to run a much larger and more complex organisation.

Overall, the message from both speakers was a positive one. As the founder of a recruitment company and a growth coach, much of what they said resonated with me as it would have been impossible for me to grow Davidson in the way we have over the past few years without the input of good advisors.

It does make strategic sense to grow your business; both the talent you need and the knowledge you need to do so are available on the global stage.

It’s up to you to travel the world and seek out the people and the knowledge you need to succeed.

Do this and anything is possible – not easy but definitely doable.

New Zealand market update with John Harland Weeks after a very closely fought election, the New Zealand Labour Party announced on October 19 it would form a coalition with minor party New Zealand First to form a new government.

It was clear within days of the election that despite the ruling National Party securing a majority of the popular vote, no party was in a position to govern without the support of one or more minor parties.

The New Zealand First party, under the leadership of Winston Peters, found itself in the position of Kingmaker holding the balance of power and determining the ruling party based on which major party it would form a coalition with.

Under the deal, Jacinda Arden becomes New Zealand’s third female Prime Minister. Peters has been offered the position of Deputy PM. In the lead-up to the election, both NZ First and the Opposition Labour Party publicly committed to reducing the number of immigrants allowed to enter New Zealand.

NZ First, which had about 7.5 per cent of the popular vote the day following the election (September 23) is often referred to in New Zealand’s popular press as an “antiimmigration” party.

What we cannot know at this stage is the impact NZ First holding the balance of power in Parliament will have on the future workforce of New Zealand.

If policies are introduced restricting the import of skilled labour into New Zealand, there will be more pressure on an employment market where there is already a skills shortage and for some sectors, this could have a major impact on their ability to grow and remain productive.

Whether the Labour Government would support such changes is an unknown quantity.

We had expected the status quo to remain if the National Party was re-elected.

and low wage growth.

Outlook for the labour market

The Labour hire industry is coming under greater scrutiny because of this trend while recent ongoing investigations into exploitation by labour hire companies in both New Zealand and Australia do not do our industry any favours.

The NZ labour market appears robust with record high participation rates, an unemployment rate below 5 per cent and strong job growth with 137,000 new jobs created in the year to May 2017.

My reports are indicating that the recruitment industry in New Zealand is doing well but we all continue to have difficulty attracting talent with the right skill set for our clients.

Typically this environment favours our industry as our clients also have these issues but do not have the resources or time to build candidate/ talent communities to fill roles in a timely manner when they become vacant or when new roles are created through growth or change.

The future for recruitment and labour hire remains robust but there are a few factors which could prove detrimental.

There is growing debate on whether these unemployment and job growth figures really show a strong economy and a strong workforce. The impact of the “gig economy” is still not fully understood and debate is raging on the extent of poverty driven by a growth in low-paid work combined with insufficient working hours.

In New Zealand under-employment and under-utilisation have outstripped unemployment by as much as 300 per cent.

This is a global trend which has led to a new classification of staff termed the “Precariat”, a group consisting of second-class workers who are struggling to find decent work with a fair wage. They basically live in poverty.

In New Zealand, it is estimated that one in eight staff in the current workforce are unable to secure enough work. The largest group affected by this is young, low paid, Maori and Pacific Islanders. There are growing concerns among unions and other lobby groups about the growth of the Precariat and the impact of immigration on maintaining an environment which supports low wages, insufficient hours

RCSA lobbying this year The RCSA has been lobbying on behalf of New Zealand members on a number of fronts in the past year including: • Strongly criticising “zero” hours • Supporting the Human Rights Commission and its “Say no to Racism” campaign • Working with appropriate government departments to identify malpractice in the industry • Working with MBIE and ACC to promote diversity and safer workplaces • Pushing toward the introduction of licensing for industry participants • Providing commentary on the future of work and the positive role on-hire can have in providing a genuine pathway to sustainable employment.

The extent of advocacy work the RCSA does is not widely publicised but it is important in protecting our industry from actions which threaten the way we do business.

Unions use every opportunity to portray labour hire as exploitative and destructive while providing no positive contribution to the workforce. Contracting is seen in much the same light as well as being considered by some as a means for companies to divest themselves of normal employment responsibilities.

This does not recognise the global shift to move towards more flexible contract positions which also increases the mobility of workers.

Nor does it recognise that contracting/labour hire is both a genuine pathway to sustainable continued on page 19 SUMMER 2017

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employment and an increasingly popular lifestyle choice.

The “education gap” In recent years, there has been a lot of publicity around the issue of a gender gap with women less represented in leadership positions.

However, I think there is another significant gap which must be addressed – the education gap.

This gap represents the disconnect between the skill sets learned in the education system as opposed to the skill sets employers are looking for in employees.

Recent publicity in New Zealand around National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) levels makes encouraging reading but the statistics indicate there is no correlation between NCEA results and employment.

Youth unemployment, both in New Zealand and globally, are at unacceptably low levels and there is no sign that this is reducing despite an aging workforce.

Those youth not in employment education or training (NEET) are unemployed at historically high levels.

Major improvements in the pass rates amongst Maori and Pacifica are not reflected in the NEET rates for this demographic. And yet despite all this evidence, educators insist on teaching material which does not prepare young people for employment.

I believe there is a major opportunity for our industry to take leadership in this area and provide some focus on youth employment.

The Youth Charter initiative tried, but unfortunately failed, to gain traction but there is a lot of upside in focusing on the employment of younger people.

The recruitment industry is in a unique position to mitigate the risk for employers in taking on untried talent while also providing the same protection for youth to get into full-time sustainable employment.

Adopting the Uber approach for recruitment firms

By John Nurthen

In business today, there is no doubt that companies are scratching to find every efficiency they can and, with the introduction of a new recruitment software allowing organisations to adopt a ‘just-in-time staffing’ approach, some niche recruitment markets need to embrace this if they don’t want to lag behind.

Just-in-time staffing is the ‘uberisation’ of the recruitment industry, efficiently matching clients and workers online in much the same way that freelance platforms provide an efficient, low-cost and low-touch service to source talent in this space.

It would be easy to dismiss this innovation as something which would appeal only to the Silicon Valley types, replete with hoodies and youth on their side. However, the development of a new crop of software – known in the industry as ‘online staffing enabling technology’ (OSET) - now allows traditional recruitment firms to offer similar services without the capital expenditure of developing their own technology.

Using OSET, clients can post jobs, review and hire workers online as well as manage workflow and automate staff deployments.

In turn, workers can use a mobile phone or tablet to receive notifications of jobs and accept available shifts based on their location. The software can also track time, communication and document management.

This new technology has the capacity for automated candidate deployment as opposed to current systems where a staffing firms’ ability to decide whether a worker is awarded a job is typically limited to filtering built into the technology.

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Although that might make some recruitment firms feel uneasy, there are certainly some roles where pre-credentialed candidates do not need a human touch to make the match.

On-demand economy moves forward The terms ‘gig economy’ and ‘on-demand economy,’ while relatively new are quickly gaining prevalence in the recruitment sector and have been the catalyst for media discussion about how the future of recruitment and the workforce will look.

To embrace the possibilities presented by new technology and an evolving workforce, staffing firms which have felt left behind by the introduction of new technology can use OSETS have the capability to reduce the need for recruiters, while cutting personnel costs and improving margins.

It could even open opportunities for new business such as markets where assignments are so short it may otherwise not be costeffective to fill them.

We are finding that just-in-time online staffing solutions are typically used for hiring in industries where there is a high volume of repetitive work and in sectors which have a high staff turnover such as hospitality, retail, event marketing and warehousing.

Should you be using OSETs? The recruitment sector must be conscious of the fact that automated OSETs have the capability to reduce the need for recruiters and other personnel cutting costs and improving margins for organisations who would – and now can – do recruiting themselves.

When considering the introduction of OSETS for your recruitment business, there are a number of factors which should be taken into consideration including whether it is suitable for your clients and what investment in the new technology and training will be needed.

A recruitment firm placing R&D professionals on two-year assignments would not likely find value in the mobile or scheduling features of an OSET. It is also not practical where client

and candidate engagements are of a more consultative nature and it’s safe to say most high-level professionals would likely not accept a lengthy assignment based simply on a text message.

The introduction of an OSET can take as long as six to 12 months to reach the ‘critical mass’ required for the service to become selfpropagating in a local market.

No doubt other staffing firms will follow Adecco’s lead. That said though, there are enough OSETs out there that staffing firms don’t have to go to the trouble of building their own solution. Those who don’t address this risk being left behind.

Of course, such technology may also feel alien at traditional recruitment firms where executives are accustomed to operating in certain ways.

Our research has led Staffing Industry Analysts to identify at least four vendors who offer standalone OSET solutions including NextCrew, TempBuddy, WorkN and Natural Insight.

The oldest of these is Natural Insight, which is focused on the retail industry, was founded in 2004 and is now the largest global OSET provider.

John Nurthen, Staffing Industry Analysts executive director of global research.

TempBuddy was founded in 2013 and was acquired by the same firm that now owns Bond Adapt staffing software. TempBuddy is available as both an add-on to that software and as a stand-alone solution.

In addition, some online staffing firms license their software platforms to recruitment firms to use on a software-as-a-service basis Examples of this include Allwork Now, Field Nation, Gigwalk, Shiftgig, Wonolo and Work Llama. Randstad recently reported its Japanese division uses Gigwalk’s technology.

While the benefit of OSETs is that they allow staffing firms of all sizes to provide an online staffing offering, some larger staffing firms have gone the route of developing their own online platforms.

Adecco launched its online platform, Adia, in May of this year offering temp staff for food and beverage outlets, hotels and the catering, events and promotions sectors. It was launched in five cities across Switzerland which, probably not by coincidence is also the location of Coople, the largest just-in-time staffing provider.

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Labour hire company ‘sure’ they are on the right track One of Queensland’s largest labour hire companies AWX Pty Ltd was among the first to recognise the importance of a new national certification program aimed at stopping illegal labour hire contractors exploiting vulnerable workers.

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StaffSure, the new industry-led certification initiative, developed by RCSA in conjunction with international certifiers SGS has just completed an expansive pilot program, which included AWX, Agri Labour Australia and four other labour hire companies from other states.

“We put our hand up to be involved in the pilot program due to the fact we are ISO accredited and we wanted to ensure the standard of this program was set as high,” AWX Regional Manager Cameron Abrahams said at the signing of the StaffSure agreement in September. “The process was specific to the industry, which is critical.”

RCSA and SGS have worked closely with industry bodies in agriculture and horticulture, government, unions and contractors to develop the program, which recognises and rewards legitimate providers, while revealing and penalising unscrupulous operators.

“StaffSure ensures a national level is set and that rogue operators are identified and found out,” Mr Abrahams said.

The September announcement followed the Queensland Government passing legislation to licence all labour hire companies.

The South Australian and Victorian governments are committed to introducing similar legislation and it is highly likely the Western Australian and ACT Governments will follow.

RCSA understands StaffSure will be mutually recognised within the new labour hire licensing scheme in Queensland. This will recognise the efforts of professional firms to operate ethically and legally and AWX Regional Manager prevent them from getting wrapped Cameron Abrahams, up in red tape designed to target contractor John Bolton and criminal operators.

RCSA CEO Charles Cameron RCSA CEO Charles Cameron said this went some way to allaying fears that the Queensland law could target the wrong businesses and leave loopholes for labour contractors to walk through and avoid the need to be licensed.

“While any attempt to protect workers from exploitation should be supported in principle, licensing programs have been proven to tie lawful firms up with unnecessary red tape while not dealing effectively with illegal or unscrupulous operators,” Mr Cameron said.

“We know this because other industries have been subject to government licencing for years, and exploitation of workers remains an ongoing issue.

“The StaffSure initiative is wider, deeper and more targeted to getting results.’’

SGS are recognised as setting a global benchmark for quality and integrity and the rigorous and

transparent StaffSure certification, which is open to all workforce services providers, assures compliance across six key areas, including work status and pay, safe work practices and suitable accommodation.

Compliance will also be checked with greater depth and scope than the new law.

A national database of certified providers will be created, providing employers and employees with the opportunity to check company credentials prior to engagement, ensuring they are choosing a legitimate provider.

Mr Cameron said the StaffSure certification would allow buyers of staffing services to make an informed choice about the quality and legitimacy of labour contractors: protecting workers and business and using market power to change behaviour in a rapidly changing employment environment.

“StaffSure, backed by buyers of labour hire in high-risk industries, will hit unscrupulous and illegal labour hire operators where it most impacts – their back pockets,’’ Mr Cameron said.

“Simply put, the certification of employment service providers will result in a market where buyers only buy from clean sellers and dirty sellers cease to exist because nobody is prepared to fund them. The good guys will be rewarded with contracts and the bad guys will be passed over.’’

The importance of the StaffSure program came into sharp focus during a recent Queensland parliamentary inquiry into the labour hire industry.

The inquiry found that “it is clear that labour hire has become a significant feature of working arrangements in Queensland’’, and as of September 2014 approximately 103,900 people in Queensland found their job through a labour hire company or agency.

Mr Cameron believes mutual recognition of StaffSure and the licencing scheme is the only way to achieve real results in the expanding industry.

Mr Abrahams also said it was vitally important that the government recognised StaffSure during the licensing process and said AWX was cautiously optimistic about the new law.

“We think it is a very positive move as long as it’s not used as a political tool,” Mr Abrahams said.

“The main thing is that it is focussing on rogue operators and those not complying with obligations, especially in the horticulture sector.”

In November, a StaffSure pilot program will be also be rolled out in New Zealand. For more information about StaffSure contact info@rcsa.com.au

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Prime Super is the superannuation fund for RCSA A

s Principal Partner of the Recruitment & Consulting Services Association, we’re excited to be involved in one of Australia’s most vibrant and important industries. Our promise is to always be surprisingly straightforward. Whether you’re an employer or a member, we’ll always help you get the most from our fund. Prime Super is excited to work with RCSA as Principal Partner and we look forward to building a long and mutually rewarding working relationship.

Prime Super is an independent profit-tomembers super fund who has provided super and retirement solutions to Australians for over 20 years. Our aim is to help our members get the best retirement outcome they can from their lifetime of work.

Shared values At Prime Super, we look to align ourselves with partner organisations that are leaders in their industry and share the same fundamental values that we do.

Prime Super and the RCSA share the same values – as member organisations we both put our members first and we both understand the importance of personal relationships.

Additionally as the peak body for the employment and recruitment industry body, the RCSA is certainly a leader in the industry and we look forward to working with RCSA members and their extended workforce on the importance of superannuation, and to provide straightforward solutions that deliver efficiencies for their businesses.

To this end we have a team of relationship managers across the country (metro and regional locations) who are committed to providing your industry with the level of personal service they need. We have also invested in two dedicated relationship managers in Melbourne and Sydney to service your members.

Superannuation solutions Although this is our first official partnership with the recruitment industry, we have always had temporary and contract worker members and are aware of the difficulties that this creates with getting people to engage with their superannuation. We also know that the 23

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superannuation system favours full-time consistent employment.

When a casual or contract worker starts a new job they are generally assigned a superannuation account with the default superannuation provider for that employer. Given the many jobs these types of workers will have over the course of their career, it’s not hard to imagine the number of superannuation accounts they are likely to accumulate.

Multiple super accounts means multiple fees and insurance premiums, which over time, will reduce these balances to nothing. And once the money has gone, there’s no way to get it back. This equates to billions of dollars unnecessarily lost, and a reduced standard of living in retirement.

Our challenge, and certainly one we are looking forward to dealing with head on is to engage with individuals and talk to them about the importance of superannuation and the benefits of having just one super account.

If Prime Super and the RCSA can work together to help on-hire workers make Prime Super their super fund and take their Prime Super account with them every time they change jobs, it will go a long way to improving their retirement outcomes.

Contact us – we’re here to help If you’d like more information about Prime Super or help with your super obligations, please contact one of your dedicated Prime Super relationship managers.

Billie Atanasova - 0403 714 606 batanasova@primesuper.com.au Gil Seebag - 0468 308 820 gseebag@primesuper.com.au email: administration@primesuper.com.au Visit primesuper.com.au or call 1800 675 839, write Locked bag Locked Bag 5103 Parramatta NSW 2124 This information is provided by Prime Super and is general in nature. It does not take account of your personal circumstances. You should obtain personal advice where appropriate. Prime Super Pty Ltd (ABN 81 067 241 016, AFSL 219723) is the Trustee of Prime Super (ABN 60 562 335 823). A Product Disclosure Statement is available from primesuper.com.au or by calling 1800 675 839.

About Prime Super We are an independent, profit-to-members super fund open to all workers. We manage more than $3.5 billion for our 115,000 members, and we’ve been providing super for more than 20 years.

From humble beginnings in rural Australia, we have expanded to represent a diverse range of workers across multiple industries.

Our ‘surprisingly straightforward’ solutions take the complexity out of super and investments for our members, helping them grow, manage and protect their wealth.

Benefits of choosing Prime Super for your business • Here for you and your employees – We are straightforward, plaintalking and responsive.

• Committed to the recruitment sector – We’ve built a team of people who understand your industry intimately, and know its opportunities and challenges.

• Top performers – Strong investment performance and industry-leading insurance look after the financial future of your people.

• Focused on making it easy for you – Our team and technology make things seamless for your HR, finance and payroll teams. This includes straightforward payment systems and a superannuation clearing house.

RCSA International Conference It was a pleasure meeting some of you at the RCSA International Conference. As the new principal partner it was lovely to get to know some of the members of your vibrant, energetic and above-all-else friendly industry. Our experience at the conference makes us even more excited about our partnership.

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SAVAGE SELL

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Sophisticated Selling for the Modern Recruiter

A new masterclass series across 9 cities in Australia and New Zealand in March 2018

Greg and Chris Savage are back with a powerful new session, all about ‘selling’. The ability to market and persuade will underpin success in an increasingly automated recruitment world and Savage Sell will teach you best practice.

The Savage Sell format is a fast-paced 4-hour intensive yet fun workshop. Featuring entirely new content it will deliver a proven blueprint on every facet of leading-edge sales.

Combining the best global sales techniques with the latest recruitment ‘insider’ tactics ACT 7 March

SA 8 March

NSW 16 March

WA 9 March

CHC 21 March

VIC 14 March

WEL 22 March

QLD 15 March

AKL 23 March

EARLY BIRD & GROUP SPECIALS OPEN UNTIL 31 JAN Visit www.rcsa.com.au for more information & to register VIDEO PARTNER

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Strategies to attract, identify and retain top talent

By Danny Lessem, Elmo CEO

For those working in the recruitment sector, the challenge of identifying and retaining top talent is not a new one and most certainly shows no signs of abating.

While organisations already understand the value of high performing employees in terms of efficiency, innovation and output, there are three questions which continue to linger for some recruitment organisations: • How do we optimise our strategies and processes to meet the needs of top talent?

• How do we identify future high potential employees from our workforce?

• How do we ensure great talent will not only join our ranks, but remain engaged?

Attracting top talent You don’t have to be a large organisation to build a reputation as an employer of choice. To improve your attractiveness to potential quality candidates, there are three key areas which should be considered:

1. Employer brand The way an organisation is perceived by prospective candidates is crucial. Promoting who you are, what you stand for and what you can offer your employees, all impact the public’s perception and draw in potential candidates.

Company branded careers pages not only provide a platform to advertise open opportunities, but also to promote your employee value proposition.

Benefits like flexible working arrangements, ongoing training and internal promotions all help build your brand attractiveness.

2. Employee advocacy Your biggest advocates are the current members of your workforce providing the opportunity to leverage off engaged employees to help sell your organisation’s value as an employer.

Create staff video testimonials and when actively recruiting, encourage your workforce to seek out eligible candidates from their own professional networks. The endorsement of your existing workforce adds credibility and helps cement your reputation as an employer of choice.

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3. Great candidate experience A great candidate experience is vital to maintaining candidate engagement throughout the recruitment journey. Invest in a userfriendly recruitment platform and be transparent with what candidates can expect through the process.

It helps to have a clear vision of what you are looking for in a candidate and to articulate this well. Maintain regular communication with candidates and provide feedback where appropriate.

Once you have found your new staff member, maintain the good experience with a well thought out on-boarding program. This will set them up for success and help them feel connected to your organisation from day one.

Identifying future leaders and high potential employees Interestingly, current high performance by a candidate is not always an indicator for future potential. If you are going to invest in creating career paths for your top talent, there are three key attributes to look for: ability, engagement and aspiration.

Without these attributes, current high performers are often not well equipped to step up into bigger roles.

Ability – To be successful in progressively more important roles, employees must have the intellectual, technical, and emotional skills (both innate and learned) to handle increasingly complex challenges. The performance review process, using performance technology tools, can help to capture, measure and compare ability levels among your workforce.

Engagement – Just asking your employees if they are satisfied with their jobs isn’t enough.

Use employee satisfaction surveys across the workforce and ask your high potential employees direct questions. A probing

question could be “What would cause you to take a job with another company?” This query prompts people to share their underlying criteria for job satisfaction and to list which of those elements are missing.

Aspiration – This can be difficult to measure and it’s important not to make assumptions.

Often asking pointed questions can be the most effective approach: How far do you hope to rise in the company? How quickly? How much recognition would be optimal? How much money is your ideal? These responses should be balanced against the “softer” objectives of the individual around work-life balance, job stress and geographic mobility.

Shortcomings in even one of the three attributes can dramatically reduce a candidates chances of success and the cost of misidentifying and developing the wrong talent can be high.

Engaging and retaining top talent

If a high performer perceives that their employer is not living up to their expectations, their contribution to the organisation can be greatly reduced. High performers are also generally confident in their ability to find new jobs that will meet their needs, so if their current organisation no longer lives up to expectations, they are likely to actively seek greener pastures.

Employee satisfaction surveys are great tools for measuring ongoing engagement levels across the company. Feedback from these surveys can identify useful trends in what the organisation is doing well and where there are opportunities for improvement.

It may seem obvious, but senior management must do what they can to keep their employees, particular those identified as high potential or future leaders, engaged.

If you want to retain the top talent you have brought into your organisation, you must look at how they are engaged.

Recognise them early and often, seek feedback on what matters to them, explicitly link their individual goals to corporate ones and let them help solve the company’s biggest problems.

Not recognising what’s important to employees during their tenure with you can result in job dissatisfaction, lower productivity and higher voluntary turnover, even if those employees were originally highly engaged.

While the strategies to attract, identify and retain talented individuals and future leaders might seem daunting, it is important for organisations to consider these activities as an investment of the future of their companies.

Today’s workforce wants to do interesting work, to feel valued and to know they have made a difference. They also want to be treated with respect, which includes being paid based on the value they bring to the organisation.

When it comes to your highest performing employees, they have even higher expectations.

Because these employees often work harder (and better) than their peers, they set an incredibly high bar for their employers. They expect their organisations to treat them well, provide them with stimulating work, lots of recognition, compelling career paths, and the chance to prosper.

An organisation’s most talented employees can have a meaningful impact across the entire business. But when burgeoning talent is misidentified, unchallenged, or unrewarded, it can have a negative impact on overall business performance. Even worse, their disengagement and eventual exit can lead to depleted leadership ranks and damage employee commitment and retention across the company.

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Why fear stops us from speaking up in the workplace

By Amy Towers, Health & Safety Risk Management Expert | Risk Cultures & Worker Engagement

A long time ago in a faraway land, a young lady was given a first-hand introduction to what it was like to undertake risky behaviours in the workplace because of a fear of losing her job.

That young girl was me and it was my first job.

I worked in the deli counter of a local supermarket and soon found myself a slave to the meat slicer.

It would be fair to say that the slicer was the main hazard of my work environment where I was trained to use it “properly” by two senior staff members. I have a vivid memory of them explaining that the shavings of meat would build up behind the guard of the slicer.

To ensure it was cleaned correctly, I had to remove the guard from the slicer, turn the slicer on and hold a cloth while the blade was rotating at a very fast pace and with enough power to remove the hands of those less dexterous.

I remember putting on a brave face and agreeing to clean it that way, knowing full well that it had the potential to cut my fingers off. On the inside I was feeling something like this…

Why didn’t I speak up?

I really did want to speak up, but it was a new job and I didn’t want to seem incompetent or question those more senior than me so I keep quiet even though every fibre of my being wanted to point out how dangerous their cleaning method of the meat slicer actually was.

Being a natural problem-solver, I entertained the thought that I could clean the slicer without removing the guard but I was too nervous I would get caught not doing it “properly” and feared losing my job so I took the risk and did as I was told.

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Amy Edmondson, Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School explains this is actually quite a natural phenomenon with individuals often reluctant to speak up in the workplace and ask questions because of a fear of being perceived in one of three ways: • Ignorant – Stemming from a belief they may be expected to have knowledge of an issue or product when they don’t, deterring employees from speaking up; • Incompetent – Generally developed from a fear of making a mistake when trying something new and being concerned of seeming incapable; • Negative – A concern of being perceived as someone who gives negative feedback and is the “bad guy”.

Professor Edmondson explained that many individuals in a new workplace, in particular, may also shy away from asking questions needed to understand their duties because of a concern they are imposing or interrupting others while they are working.

The Brisbane Court of Appeal recently heard a case against retail giant Woolworths where an injured worker was paid more than $230,000 in compensation after the court ruled the demands placed on staff working in a warehouse exacerbated a pre-existing shoulder injury the employee had.

In his ruling, Justice Phillip Morrison explained that workers at the centre were expected to meet performance targets and the injured worker “became very concerned about achieving” the targets set for him.

“He was unable to achieve it for some time,” Justice Morrison said in his ruling. “Because he was a casual worker he feared that should he not achieve 100 per cent he would lose his job. That was not an unreasonable fear.”

This fear meant the worker felt compelled to work faster and skip his requisite breaks.

Justice Morrison added that this pressure to meet KPIs and fear of losing his job, meant the

employee “likely took short cuts such as leaning across a pallet rather than walking around it, or carrying more than one item; other workers did exactly that”.

Experience has shown time and again that encouraging your team to speak up can have huge benefits to individuals and the organisation.

Through her research, Professor Edmondson noted that the best performing teams are those who feel “psychologically safe”. She describes a psychologically safe workplace as one where team members feel it is safe to take risks and be vulnerable in front of each other.

Creating a psychologically safe workplace can result in: • a happier place to work • less absenteeism, presenteeism and workers’ compensation claims • increased productivity • avoiding litigation.

It’s a win-win situation The real question here is can you afford to not have a psychologically safe workplace?

For most people and organisations, the answer is quite obvious.

What does the future look like for recruitment technology?

By Chris South, Prominence Social

A great part of our role, as recruitment marketing partners, is that we get to work closely with lots of different businesses.

As a result, we get to see the issues that many recruiters struggle with from a technology perspective. We also get to hear their concerns about the technology that is changing the sector from the outside. While there are lots of different opinions on what is good and bad, there are a lot of recurring themes.

Cloud everything The number of agencies running server-based technology for any of their core systems is declining rapidly. This includes databases, payroll, accounting, emails and document management. There are a few exceptions for agencies that need highly bespoke solutions to uncommon problems, but these are rare.

We’re seeing a lot of previously dominant technology providers failing to adapt and scrambling to maintain business, while newer technology organisations are trying to enter the market with payment plans that are closer to recruiters’ hearts, and offer no setup costs and low monthly fees.

The big risk with these, is that due to the lower up-front investment, recruiters are spending less time on due diligence. We’ve seen several businesses fall into this trap recently, only to then have to go through an expensive divorce or struggle through with a solution that isn’t fit for purpose.

New agency solutions We’re seeing an era where new technology aimed at recruitment agencies is being released every few weeks, often providing solutions to problems that we didn’t even know we had. These technology companies are snapping up funding from the recruitment sector itself and some are even being founded by agencies as side projects.

There is a bubble feeling to it, but I don’t expect it to slow down for a while; there is simply too much excitement and plenty of well-off recruiters supporting it. It is a good idea to pay attention to these new products and experiment to find the best solution for your agency.

However, anything invested should be carefully monitored for ROI.

New external solutions This is the bit that drives most recruiters mad.

New solutions that have the potential to threaten our very existence. Most new products or companies are now wise enough not to promote themselves as a tool that is going to kill recruitment, it hasn’t happened so far and is unlikely to. That said our sector is definitely still very open to disruption, with many elements changing rapidly before our eyes.

Who are the people coming up with these solutions?

Well, again they are often side projects for recruitment agencies, ex-recruiters with funding, or more recently some of the already-dominant recruitment sector suppliers who are looking to diversify their offerings and futureproof.

Summary Is all of this change good or bad? It depends who you ask, but I think most agree it is incredibly important at the moment to be aware of where opportunities and threats may come from. Also, be wary of the high number of places where cash can quickly be wasted in hope of the ‘next big thing’.

In order to remain competitive, keep track of both local and international competitors, in particular what their back office is doing. We are also beginning to see technology consultants entering the recruitment industry. These people have a wealth of knowledge, which is often available for free, or at a comparatively low cost – especially when compared to the cost of making a wrong technology decision.

It’s an exciting time for our sector. My advice to agency owners is to spend more time getting to know your peers. The community is surprisingly close and helpful. There is no need to have to learn everything through trial and error, instead get involved with the sector, network and tap into their knowledge so your business can avoid similar mistakes.

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Welcome to our new Corporate Members »» First People Recruitment Solutions »» TVCV Enterprises Pty Ltd »» People Equity Pty Ltd »» Workhub Services Ltd »» Utilis Pty Ltd »» Praxis 2000 Pty Ltd t/as A.B. Dental Employment Agency »» Talent Army Limited »» Appoint Recruit Pty Ltd »» New Venture Recruitment Pty Ltd »» MYG Group Pty Ltd »» Ensure Recruitment Pty Ltd »» Nobul Trades Pty Ltd »» Classic Recruitment and Business Services Pty Ltd »» ProCare (AUST) Pty Ltd »» Greenstaff Medical Pty Ltd »» TRS Resourcing »» Australian Workplace Strategies Pty Ltd »» Ivory Group Pty Ltd »» Turbo Staff Ltd »» Executive Risk Solutions (Australia) Pty Ltd »» Staff Australia Pty Ltd »» First Grade Group Pty Ltd »» Capital Recruit Pty Ltd »» Henderson Recruitment Pty Ltd »» Oz Global Recruitment »» National Nurses Plus Pty Ltd »» Australian Chef Migration Pty Ltd »» Labour Revolution Pty Ltd »» MineSet Recruitment Pty Ltd »» Australian Industry Gropup Employment Pty Ltd »» Buffalo Investments t/as Buffalo Recruitment »» Supreme Nursing Australia Pty Ltd

By Mark Laudrum

Having recently attended the RCSA conference in Fiji, it was immediately apparent that not all the delegates and their guests had a smooth start to the trip.

That’s one of the most exciting parts of travel; not knowing what is around the corner.

While unexpected problems travelling can be a cause of serious frustration (and some great travel yarns) during a holiday, it was clear this was not really a “just roll with it situation” with some delegates at the recent conference arriving without their luggage, corporate clothing and marketing materials.

Experience has taught us that the unexpected can and does sometimes go wrong when you are travelling and for this reason, we strongly encourage our clients to take out a Corporate Travel Policy.

This type of policy ensures your staff – and organisation – are covered for emergency expenses such as buying a new set of clothes when their baggage goes missing. And should the baggage not be recovered your staff would be entitled to the replacement cost of the baggage and contents including electronic gadgets.

Corporate Travel insurance provides a wide range of benefits to organisations that have staff travelling domestically or internationally for business.

When your organisation takes out RCSA Corporate Travel Insurance, all private travel for a company director and their family is automatically covered under the policy.

Below is a list of coverage offered by RCSA Corporate Travel Insurance:

While we hope anyone travelling under RCSA Corporate Travel Insurance will not require major medical treatment or experience the hassle of having flights cancelled, missing luggage or lost items, the reality is it does happen.

I recently had the experience of travelling with my wife and twin three-year-olds to Europe and Thailand. One hour before our flight to leave, my son took a tumble and split open his lip which clearly needed medical treatment.

We checked our RCSA travel insurance policy and found we were completely covered for all his medical costs, additional flight charges and an extra night’s accommodation if required. Having that insurance policy gave my wife and I the peace of mind we needed in that moment.

Under RCSA Corporate Travel Insurance, employees are covered for any business trip which is more than 50km away from their usual work location.

From just $610 for up to 10 overseas trips and 50 inter/intrastate trips, a corporate travel policy is a cost-effective option giving you and your employees the coverage they need should the unexpected happen while they are travelling.

To learn more about RCSA Insurance, call 03 9233 8505 or email rcsa@ardrossaninsurance.com.au.

RCSA Corporate Travel Insurance Coverage Overseas medical evacuation expenses

Unlimited cover

Loss of deposits

$20,000 per person

Cancellation

$1 million

»» PRN Healthcare Pty Ltd

Personal baggage

$20,000

»» Dynamic Box Pty Ltd t/as Blue Nest Centre

Electronic equipment

$10,000

Money & travel documents

$50,000 cash and document replacement costs

Rental vehicle excess

$10,000 for any hire excess (accident of collision)

Cover for pre-existing medical conditions

included – provided not travelling against doctors’ advice or unfit to travel

»» Populus Performance Pty Ltd t/as Perth Recruiting »» National Workforce Pty Ltd

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Protect your most important asset: your staff

RCSA JOURNAL

L&D Events Calendar Angela Cripps Angela is an experienced trainer, management consultant, executive coach, mentor and performance specialist who has worked in recruitment since the late 1980s. She helps companies become more successful and profitable through the development of their people and processes. She has worked with over 150 SMEs throughout the world.

NOVEMBER 15 V ideo Workshop: Creating a no-blame Culture (AU & NZ) 21 V ideo Workshop: Setting Up & Building a Recruitment Business Today (AU & NZ) 24 Introduction to Recruitment (Mel)

DECEMBER

Alison Lalieu Alison is a brain-based neuro leadership coach, who is passionate about blending emotional Intelligence (EQ), conversational intelligence (C-IQ) and life balance concepts into a holistic, transformational and life changing executive coaching experience. As the only certified Six Seconds EQ Practitioner in Queensland, Alison brings invaluable experience to transform the leadership qualities of her clients.

1 V ideo Workshop: Build your Business in an ever changing market (AU & NZ) 8 Strategic Sales Planning Masterclass (Mel) 15 Introduction to Recruitment (Syd)

UPCOMING Michael Parson

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Michael is a management consultant, business coach, facilitator and sales professional with an outstanding track record in growing businesses, exceeding budgets and managing and developing staff, client and supplier relationships.

He has extensive experience in the Australasian market and has worked within recruitment (over 15 years), HR, strategic planning, personal and leadership development, Salesforce effectiveness and sales training.

The Recruitment Consulting Certificate on-line program is recognised as the foundation for entry level professionals involved in the recruitment and onhire sector in Australia and New Zealand, now delivered on-line through the RCSA eLearning Platform.

Insurance tailored to meet your business needs In an ever-changing industry, now is the time to review your insurance cover, and save.

Why choose RCSA Insurance: //Expert commercial contract advice //Over 14 years recruitment experience //Guaranteed premium reductions Insurance Protect yourself and your business!

Contact us for your insurance review 03 9233 8505 rcsa@ardrossaninsurance.com.au rcsa.com.au

Insurance RCSA Insurance on behalf of Ardrossan Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd

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