Recruiter December 2018

Business intelligence for recruitment and resourcing professionals

INCORPORATING Recruitment Matters

December 2018

Catherine O’Beirne – Harrington Starr

Bramwith Consulting Yumi Hoshino – People First

Gravitas Recruitment Group

First Recruitment Group

Amoria Bond

David Roberts – La Fosse Associates

Sentinel

Digital Gurus Ed Vokes – Evolve Hospitality

Michael James – Darwin Recruitment

MRL Consulting Group

Major Players

La Fosse Associates

www.recruiter.co.uk

Franklin Fitch

01_COVER DEC.indd 1

STARRY NIGHT 07/11/2018 13:02

LESS LEAVING PARTIES, MORE Are your employees searching job sites in their lunch breaks, or planning to stay for the long haul?

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E: sales@growthpartnersplc.co.uk W: www.growthpartnersplc.co.uk T: 0116 248 9459

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@GrowthPartnersPLC

@GrowthPartnersPLC

@GrowthPartnersPLC

@GP_PLC

07/11/2018 16:33

C R ONT ENT S 38

INCORPORATING Recruitment Matters

18 A

D

NEWS

FEATURES

05 Marks Sattin team key in

18 THE BIG STORY

Gi Group’s future Gi Group CEO welcomes the former FiveTen Group firm to the business 06 Investing in Talent Awards 2O18 The full list of winners from the starry event 08 This was the month that was...

10 Contracts & Deals

Stars shine on the night Meet just a handful of winners from Recruiter’s Investing in Talent Awards and discover what led to their winning ways 24 Gaining the benefits edge Your benefits can attract talent and ensure you stand out from the crowd

B

E COMMUNITY

TRENDS

28 Upstart: Andrew McGeorge:

12 Insight

15

31 34

Nine defensive habits that can limit a career Tech & Tools Beating the buzz: What to look out for in 2O19

35 36 38

C 16

17

24

INTERACTION

40 41 42

Viewpoint John Hayes, employment lawyer at Constantine Law Soundbites

back on track with Carestaff Bureau Social Network The Workplace: Guy Hayward Community Careers: Simon Hunt Business Advice: Alex Arnot My brilliant recruitment career: Alex Moore Movers & Shakers Recruiter contacts The Last Word: Gregory Allen

42 15 IM AGES | ISTOCK / IKON / CARM EN VALINO / SHUT T ERSTOCK

p03_recruiter_contentsNEW-1.indd 3

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 3

08/11/2018 14:04

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07/11/2018 16:34

N E WS

UPDATE

WE LCO M E

LEADER

B

ringing together a group of titan recruiters such as EMR and Marks Sattin, among others, into a newly-formed FiveTen Group collective from the less flashy Greythorn Group back in 2007 had

the hallmarks of a glittering recruitment

Marks Sattin team ‘very much’ part of Gi Group’s future plans

BY GRAHAM SIMONS

fable. Operating in specialist sectors, it seemed as though FiveTen had great opportunity to leverage all of the brands into even more exciting territory. However, the dream is over, and the last FiveTen company, the award-winning Marks Sattin, has been sold off to Gi Group. Perhaps this was a reversal of the

“There’s little that’s more important than proactive and positive recruiting, nurturing and investing in your staff”

truism that there is strength in numbers – sometimes individuals are stronger and more agile on their own.

But how do you tell when which situation is the right course?

Recruitment is everywhere!

Reminders of this kept surfacing this week in both business and personal lives, from university students seeing careers in business continuity & resilience at a global conference to having poor recruiting practices in local theatre. As our Investing in Talent Awards underscored last week, there’s little that’s more important than proactive and positive recruiting, nurturing and investing in your employees, contractors and temporary staff. Make that a resolution for 2019 – coming to a place near you soon!

DeeDee Doke, Editor

THE EXISTING MANAGEMENT TEAM of accountancy and finance recruiter Marks Sattin will “very much” be a part of the firm’s future following its acquisition by Gi Group last week, Gi Group officials have said.

Marks Sattin was the last of the 10-year-old FiveTen Group’s brands. Its stable mates included marketing, digital and communications recruiter EMR; technology staffing specialist Greythorn; legal and compliance recruiter Laurence Simons; HR recruiter Ortus; and Antal Russia.

Commenting on the acquisition, Gi Group UK CEO Bev White said Marks Sattin, which has offices in Birmingham, Dublin, Leeds, London, Manchester and Reading, employing more than 100 staff, would give the group “instant traction” in a key target sector. She added it would also extend the group’s footprint into key cities it is not currently present in.

Meanwhile, Marks Sattin managing director Matt Wilcox described the deal as an “important milestone” in Marks Sattin’s journey.

While Gi Group would not disclose any financial information related to the deal, including how much was paid, a Gi Group spokesperson told Recruiter Marks Sattin’s existing management team would “very much” be part of the group’s future.

Corporate finance and M&A advisory firm Blackwood Capital acted as advisers to FiveTen, while professional services group KPMG acted as tax and finance adviser and Baker McKenzie acted as legal adviser to Gi Group.

Recruiter tried to contact FiveTen Group for comment, but had not heard back before going to press.

Gi Group CEO Bev White: Marks Sattin extends group’s footprint in the UK

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 5

p05 recruiter_news .indd 5

08/11/2018 14:04

i ti with In association

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR

BEST CONTRACTOR CARE

Major Players

BEST EMERGING TALENT EMPLOYER IN RECRUITMENT

Gravitas Recruitment Group MOST INSPIRING NEWCOMER

Catherine Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Beirne - Harrington Starr MOST EFFECTIVE AGILE AND FLEXIBLE WORKING STRATEGY

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07/11/2018 16:36

MOST EFFECTIVE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Amoria Bond

BEST RECRUITMENT STRATEGY FOR DISADVANTAGED AND UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS

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BEST RECRUITMENT AGENCY TO WORK FOR SMALL (11-49 EMPLOYEES)

Franklin Fitch

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Yumi Hoshino - People First (Recruitment) MOST INSPIRING TEAM LEADER/MANAGER

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Freddie Short - Opus Talent Solutions (HIGHLY COMMENDED) MOST INSPIRING DIRECTOR/SENIOR MANAGER

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Ed Vokes - Evolve Hospitality

TO OUR SPONSORS In association with:

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Sponsors:

07/11/2018 16:37

NE WS

THIS WAS THE MONTH THAT WAS… Here is a round-up of some of the most popular news stories we have brought you on recruiter.co.uk since the November issue of Recruiter was published O C T O B E R •‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒→

TUE, 16 OCTOBER 2018

MON, 29 OCTOBER 2018

LONDON RECRUITER HITS BACK AT VIDEO BACKLASH SHOWING JETSET IBIZA INCENTIVE

CHANCELLOR EXTENDS OFFPAYROLL RULES TO PRIVATE SECTOR

A London-based recruitment agency has hit back at criticism levelled against its video depicting a summer incentive in which six of its top performers benefited from an all-expenses paid trip on a private jet to Ibiza.

Old Street-based talent acquisition firm Haigh Associates’ video features its offices and its reward for six members of staff. The group was put up in two suites at the Hard Rock Hotel (below) for five days during their stay.

However, the video has come under fire from some quarters on Twitter after it was shared by Stevie Buckley, cofounder at job board Honest Work.

Hitting back at the criticism, director Jesse Gray told Recruiter he believed there had been a misconception surrounding the purpose of the video: “The video was purely focused on our summer incentive trip hitters – not a day in the life at Haigh, which it seems some may have thought.”

With regards to comments levelled against the agency’s perceived lack of diversity, Gray added a quarter of the agency’s staff are female. “Just over 30 heads is a strong ratio in comparison to the market in our opinion… Our sole focus when hiring a candidate is purely down to their ability level, irrelevant of their background.”

The chancellor has followed through on plans to extend controversial off-payroll rules into the private sector. In his Budget speech, chancellor Philip Hammond committed to the rules, which were implemented in the public sector in April 2017, being extended to the private sector.

The planned extension has been met with opposition by the recruitment industry.

There was a crumb of comfort for recruiters, with the chancellor revealing the extension will be delayed until April 2020, and only apply to individuals working for larger and medium-sized businesses.

Hammond revealed the UK’s 2018 growth forecast has been upgraded by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) from 1.3% to 1.6%, while there are now 3.3m more people in work than in 2010 and wage growth is at its highest in almost a decade.

Some of the other measures included: • Small businesses’ contribution to the Apprenticeship Levy to be cut from 10% to 5% • £900m in business rates relief for small businesses • A minimum extra £2bn a year for mental health services • A £30bn package for England’s roads, which will include repairs to motorways and potholes • A 30% increase in infrastructure spending • A renewed remit for the Low Pay Commission beyond 2020.

More: https://bit.ly/2DodUbp

W E D, 2 4 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 8

RANDSTAD LOOKS TO DIGITAL STRATEGY TO DRIVE FUTURE GROWTH The CEO of international staffing giant Randstad has highlighted the importance of the company’s digital strategy in driving its future growth.

Speaking at a presentation to analysts, Jacques van den Broek said that “next to managing the business as is on a daily basis” the company’s digital strategy was a vital element in driving its growth “for the coming three to five years”.

Van den Broek highlighted several key elements of this strategy: • Workforce planning, for which Randstad gives a workforce planning tool free of charge to its clients.

• Data-driven sales, with a mobile app that identifies sales opportunities. Begun in US, France and the Netherlands, the next stage of this development, now being used in Belgium will be rolled out to six countries.

• Candidate engagement. Randstad operated various chatbot initiatives – called ‘dialogues’ – in 12 countries, “some off-theshelf third-party, and some that we made ourselves”.

• Video assessment. “This enables our candidates to connect with us wherever and however they want, either at home or by mobile,” he said. This is active in 21 countries, “making us more accessible to candidates around the world”.

More: https://bit.ly/2SO6fYo

More: https://bit.ly/2RCK8CQ 8 RECRUITER

DECEMBER 2018

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08/11/2018 11:34

T H U, 1 N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 8

INDIVIDUALS SHINE AT RECRUITER’S INVESTING IN TALENT AWARDS Darwin Recruitment’s Michael James, Harrington Starr’s Catherine O’Beirne and La Fosse Associates’ David Roberts were among the individual winners at the Recruiter Investing In Talent Awards, in association with The Recruit Venture Group. The Awards were held at prestigious London venue The Brewery and hosted by comedian Zoe Lyons. See pp6-7 for a full list of the winners.

More: https://bit.ly/2APGwrL

31

DAYS

←‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒• N O V E M B E R

MON, 5 NOVEMBER 2018

CONTRACTORS USE U2 BAND MEMBER NAMES TO DEFRAUD POWYS HEALTH BOARD OUT OF £800K

T H U, 1 N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 8

I M AG E S | I STO C K / S H U TT E RSTO C K / G E T TY / G LA A

TWO ARRESTED AFTER MAN LIVING IN SHED TELLS OF HAVING TO WORK FOR FOOD A man and a woman have been arrested following the discovery of a potential modern slavery victim, who had been living in a concrete shed for the last four years.

According to a statement released by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, the GLAA arrested the pair on suspicion of modern slavery offences after carrying out a morning raid in Chilworth, near Southampton, on 30 October. The statement added GLAA officers acted after a frail Polish man told staff at a walk-in centre in Southampton that he had been forced to work in exchange for food.

The man has been accepted into the government’s National Referral Mechanism, a process for ensuring victims of modern slavery and human trafficking are given the help and support that they need.

Both suspects have been released under investigation pending further enquiries.

The GLAA added officers also searched the property and seized evidence that may prove critical to the investigation.

Three NHS managers, including two supplied by a recruitment agency, have been sentenced for defrauding Powys Teaching Health Board (PTHB) out of more than £800k.

As part of the fraud, claims for false employment payments were made using the names of ‘Paul Hewson’ and ‘David Evans’, the real names of rock band U2’s Bono and The Edge.

A statement released by the NHS Counter Fraud Authority (CFA) revealed Mark Evill was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, Robert Howells to four years and Michael Cope to three years at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court.

The court heard Evill, of Shirenewton, Chepstow, masterminded the fraud, assisted

by Howells of Sudbury, Chepstow and Cope of Garden City, Merthyr Tydfil. Evill and Howells were both employed through recruiter Resourcing Group as project managers for the health board’s estates department, while Cope was employed directly by the board as a senior estate manager.

Using the guise of George Morgan Ltd, Evill invoiced the health board, making over £822k using the real names of rock band U2’s Bono and The Edge.

When contacted by Recruiter, a spokesperson for Resourcing Group said: “Following the conviction of Evill and Howells by the Crown for an act of fraud committed in 2015 against PTHB, Resourcing Group condemn this well planned and deliberate deception. Resourcing Group took this situation very seriously and co-operated fully with the investigating team throughout the process.”

More: https://bit.ly/2SPj44H

More: https://bit.ly/2D7q5sj

Find more daily news stories at recruiter.co.uk/news p8_9_recruiter_NOV18_month-that-was.indd 9

MON, 5 NOVEMBER 2018

RECRUITER HARRINGTON STARR SCORES NEW SIGNING Recruiter Harrington Starr has scored a new signing with its latest consultant.

Anthony Cook (above), who has joined the financial services technology and sales staffing specialist as an infrastructure and support consultant, balances his recruitment career with playing for National League South outfit Dulwich Hamlet Football Club.

Speaking to Recruiter about his new appointment, Cook said: “I’m settling in very well at the beginning stages of my recruitment career. This has been the perfect place for me to start.

“Everyone in the business has been very helpful. It’s a very mature environment… They understand I have come over from a different walk of life and they’ve been very helpful in helping me settle in.”

More: https://bit.ly/2yXel8C WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 9

08/11/2018 11:34

NE WS

CONTRACTS SPONSORED BY RECRUITMENT MERGERS

CONTRACTS & DEALS

Acton Banks Healthcare staffing business Acton Banks has undergone a management buy-out. The transaction, which includes an equity investment from Maven and a reinvestment from the senior management team, will enable Acton Banks to continue to roll out its operating model, further enhance its service to existing clients, and expand outside its current territories of the Midlands and North-West of England.

Cielo Recruitment process outsourcing provider Cielo has agreed a partnership with German healthcare company Fresenius Medical Care. The deal will see Cielo provide end-to-end support for Fresenius Medical Care, focusing on engineering and IT positions in research and development across multiple sites in Germany.

ERSG Energy staffing specialist ERSG is to supply offshore wind developer Orsted with temporary staff for its Dutch offshore wind farm projects.

ERSG is one of five agencies selected to supply specialist staff to the energy giant and the only agency to be on supply agreements on all Orsted’s wind farm projects currently running in the UK, Germany, Denmark and Holland.

JSA Services JSA Services, a provider of professional advisory and outsourcing services to the flexible workforce, has acquired the business of K&B Accountancy Group and its sister company Cloud9 Umbrella. The deal marks JSA’s eighth acquisition transaction since 2013, with the consolidation of more than 10 brands in the sector into its operating platform.

First Recruitment Group and Talascend Two recruitment agencies – First Recruitment Group and Talascend – have joined forces. As part of First Recruitment Group, Talascend will maintain its identity and brand, retaining its clients in the rail, civil infrastructure, oil & gas and power industries. First Recruitment Group will similarly also retain its identity and brand, continuing to engage with its clients in the oil & gas, nuclear, power, technology, water, construction, aerospace & defence, chemicals, manufacturing, pharma and non-technical sectors.

The Serocor Group Recruitment and human capital management solutions provider The Serocor Group has acquired German-based recruitment firm Orson. Orson specialises in the permanent placement of engineering, technology and strategic management personnel into roles within the automotive industry across Europe. Serocor Group said Orson would further enhance its STEM recruitment capabilities, aligning to existing work carried out by Serocor’s Advanced Resource Managers (ARM), which provides engineering and IT recruitment solutions on a temporary and permanent basis.

DEAL OF THE MONTH

The Access Group Software provider The Access Group has acquired CRM software supplier Microdec.

According to a statement from Access, through the addition of Microdec’s 550 customers, Access

10 RECRUITER

p10 contract deals.indd 10

DECEMBER 2018

will now support over 25,000 users.

Microdec CEO and founder Clive Seagers is stepping back from the business to concentrate on his other ventures following the deal. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

For more information

www.recruitmentmergers.com charlie.watson@recruitmentmergers.com

More contract news at recruiter.co.uk/news 08/11/2018 11:34

RETAINED BUYER OF THE MONTH REFERENCE CW0511 LOCATION East Midlands, UK

EAST MIDLANDS TEMPORARY AGENCY SOUGHT FOR ACQUSITION

Desired business features

Overview

• East Midlands based

• Temporary focused • Turnover between £3 million and £20 million • 2nd-tier management team

Recruitment Mergers has been instructed by a Middle Eastern fund

Should you be looking at an exit strategy this could be

looking to acquire recruitment agencies in the East Midlands.

a perfect opportunity to join a growing company well versed in acquiring businesses. Recruitment Mergers

With a huge amount of M&A experience they are looking at targets

is representing the buyer so should a transaction take

for a buy-and-build scheme.

place no fees will be due by the seller.

The buyer is well financed with good cash reserves.

GET IN TOUCH...

Charlie Watson

Principal M&A Consultant +44 (0)7787 560 553 charlie.watson@recruitmentmergers.com

ARE YOU AIMING TO ACQUIRE OR PLANNING AN EXIT STRATEGY?

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TRE NDS

INSIGHT

NINE DEFENSIVE HABITS THAT CAN LIMIT A CAREER It’s a natural human reaction to perceived danger – yet if it’s left unchecked, defensiveness can hinder career progression and limit collaboration in the workplace

BY DAN HUGHES

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e’ve all met people who, when the pressure mounts, become defensive and get stuck in their behaviour.

In such situations, people might get frustrated, aggressive, withdrawn, or become over-reliant on others.

Protecting ourselves when we feel threatened is a natural human reaction in the face of perceived danger. If left unchecked, however, defensiveness can derail performance at work and hinder career progression. It can limit an individual’s drive for success, their capacity to adapt to challenges effectively, and the extent to which they collaborate and support others.

Defensiveness doesn’t just affect the person involved. It also has a big impact on working relationships and the teams they work in or lead. For example, 12 RECRUITER

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research shows that aggressive behaviour is associated with colleagues having lower job satisfaction and commitment, and increased stress and emotional exhaustion, and that it leads people to retaliate in counterproductive ways.

The impact is particularly significant in leadership positions, because leaders set the emotional climate or tone in their team and organisation. Studies have demonstrated that destructive leadership harms the performance, engagement and wellbeing of employees.

Unfortunately, this behaviour pattern is something many of us will have seen at some point at work.

Through our work supporting organisations to assess and develop emotional intelligence, we have identified nine ‘defensive habits’ – common patterns of rigid attitudes and behaviours that people revert to under pressure. They tend to be formed early in someone’s life, as a way of protecting against threats and painful emotions.

However, there comes a point where these habits are no longer helpful, and start to impede personal growth and undermine performance.

The psychological foundation for these defensive habits are core attitudes that a person holds about themselves and other people. A person may have low self-regard or low regard for others, or even both. These attitudes might be less obvious in day-to-day work when things are going smoothly, but they often get triggered under pressure.

Spotting candidates at the recruitment stage who have a high risk of displaying these defensive habits is vital to avoid a bad selection decision. It is easy to get drawn in by the experience and skills a candidate has to offer. But these probably won’t matter much if they prove to be disruptive or difficult to work with.

Most of the time, when new recruits fail, it is down to their attitude and behaviour, not a lack of technical skills and knowledge.

ILLUST RAT ION | ISTOCK

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T R E N DS

INSIGHT

POWER POINTS: DEFENSIVE HABITS

Rigid attitudes are formed early in life, to protect against threats and painful emotions

give of difficult or demanding situations they have faced. Explore how they felt about these situations and what their underlying attitudes were towards others and themselves, as well as how they actually behaved.

From a candidate’s perspective, defensive habits can be overcome – or at least an individual can learn to manage them. Following these steps will help: • Identify the defensive habit you display most, and what tends to trigger it • Unpick the reasons for these triggers • Talk it through with someone you trust • Pay attention to how you feel ‘in the moment’ when things get difficult • When you notice your defensive habit being triggered, exercise conscious choice about how you think and behave.

Defensive habits are by nature wellingrained, so this process will take effort. But overcoming these habits will free people to be more productive and resilient, as well as enabling them to build stronger relationships at work.

Detached – staying emotionally detached from other people and situations.

Guarded – being cynical about other people and assuming everyone has ulterior motives.

Avoidant – relying upon nobody but themselves and staying stubbornly independent.

Despondent – avoiding disappointment by always expecting the worst to happen.

Reactive – letting all their emotions out, and becoming over-sensitive and unpredictable.

Compliant – being overly accommodating to others to avoid disapproval or rejection.

Reliant – seeking constant reassurance and guidance for every task or decision.

Idealistic – pretending that everything is positive and ignoring the reality of problems.

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It tends to be much easier to assess experience and technical skills in recruitment than to assess defensive habits. But it is possible to measure a candidate’s emotional intelligence through a psychometric questionnaire, and to use this to highlight potential risk factors, which can then be explored in an interview.

It’s natural for candidates to try to hide their defensive habits, either consciously or unconsciously. However, you can see the signs of defensive habits in the practical examples candidates

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Domineering – seeking constant control and authority by being forceful and confrontational.

DAN HUGHES is product director at JCA Global

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T R E N DS

TECH & TOOLS

Beating the buzz What to look out for in 2019 SUE WEEKES

“We’re all tech companies now,” said a judge at the 2018 Recruiter Awards judging day, repeating a popular business buzz phrase. Indeed, most recruitment companies are as reliant on technology as any tech business so staying abreast of the latest trends is crucial. We pick five up-and-coming areas to keep an eye on in 2019.

ENTER AEO Most of us are still getting our heads around SEO (search engine optimisation) but what about answer engine optimisation (AEO)? For those with Alexa sitting on their sideboard, voice search will be familiar. Increasingly, companies will fight hard to ensure their names are among the answers given when candidates fire job-related questions at such devices. “Voice assistants are getting smarter,” says Andy Drinkwater, founder of intelligent marketing company iQ SEO. “AEO is now a ‘thing’ and site owners should be

watching and testing on these devices.”

“automatically and objectively” filter large volumes of applicants.

AI FINDS ITS VOICE Search-and-match tasks are only the start of what artificial intelligence (AI) will be handling. Global systems integrator Dimensions Data says conversational, voice-based AI is an area that companies will be prioritising.

“AI and voice-based technology are already reshaping financial services,” the company says. And its march into recruitment has begun, most recently with VoiceSense’s speech-based predictive analytics solution, claiming to

RISE OF AUGMENTED ANALYTICS Making sense of big data and turning it into insight can be a challenge but the era of augmented analytics is looming in which machine learning changes and automates the way analytics content is developed and shared.

According to analyst Gartner, augmented analytics capabilities will advance rapidly to the mainstream. Vice president and Gartner fellow David Cearley is predicting the rise of

READING BETWEEN THE TRENDS Technology predictions also provide recruitment insight into future talent trends. For instance, new value chains in blockchain could create brand-new roles, while the rise of citizen data science could help to fill the data science and machine learning talent gap, reckons Gartner: “Through 2020, the number of citizen data scientists will grow five times faster than the number of expert data scientists.”

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“citizen data science”, where those whose main job is outside of the field of statistics can extract “predictive and prescriptive” insights from data.

BLOCKCHAIN’S KILLER APP? The full impact of blockchain is not yet known, but new applications will proliferate throughout 2019. Ettienne Reinecke, group chief technology officer of Dimension Data, predicts identity management could be a killer app, especially given cyber security incidents have involved breaches of people’s personal identity information. He asks us to consider other value chains. “Perhaps allowing individuals to truly own and control their identity and its attributes,” he suggests.

SMART SPACES EQUAL SMARTER WORKING Imagine an office where you could customise ambient conditions such as temperature and lighting. Or an app that made parking a more pleasant experience for visitors. Thanks to the Internet of Things and other connected technology, all of this and more are possible.

Smart spaces aren’t just about providing a nice environment; they also save time and improve performance, becoming more than a niceto-have. A period of “accelerated delivery of robust smart spaces” is underway, says Cearley, “with technology becoming an integral part of our lives whether as employees, customers, consumers, community members or citizens”.

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C

INTE R AC TIO N

VIEWPOINT

IR35 and the private sector What does the Budget changes mean for contractors (and their clients)?

BY JOHN HAYES

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t the end of October, the chancellor Philip Hammond confirmed that he would extend the IR35 off-payroll rules to the private sector from April 2020. In doing so, he delayed, by a year, the proposed change.

The three big questions for recruiters 1. What does this mean for the recruitment industry, given the prevalence of contractors in our industry (often supplying their services through personal service companies [PSCs])?

2. What steps can contractors take to mitigate the worst outcomes from this policy change?

3. What steps can clients (often recruitment companies) take to respond?

What has and hasn’t changed The law hasn’t changed, but the application of the law has.

IR35 applies if, taking the PSC out of the equation, an employment relationship exists between client and contractor.

If this happens, then under the new rules the client (not the PSC) will be responsible for unpaid NICs, tax and penalties.

Thus, HMRC will transfer the IR35-risk from the PSC to the client. This is a big change of policy. If the contractor is genuinely self-employed, there remains nothing to worry about. The stated aim of the reforms is to clamp down on ‘bogus self-employment’.

What has changed is the operation of the policy, with legitimate concerns about how HMRC is managing the policy.

With effect from April 2020, the end-user of the contractors’ services will be deemed to be the employer if IR35 applies: in the past it was deemed to be the PSC. This will then become an issue for all large and medium-sized recruitment companies if they are engaging the services of contractors – from April 2020 it will be the end-user’s responsibility to get the ‘employment status’ tests correct. There are legitimate concerns that the online tests for determining employment status on the .gov.uk website are not accurate and not fit for purpose.

There is an issue of ‘scope’ with the changes in the exclusion of small businesses: only large and medium-sized employers are in scope. It may be that employers with less than 50 employees are exempted. Don’t be surprised to see contractors being asked to re-contract with smaller limited companies.

How to deal with the changes

JOHN HAYES is an employment lawyer at Constantine Law

Back to our three questions: 1. This depends on the size of the recruiter and the prevalence of the use of contractors. Recruiters should be alive to their clients (who may be ultimate end-user) passing on the risk to the recruiter.

2. The one-word answer to the question above: ‘diversify’. There may be a move to ask some contractors to become PAYE employees. Ultimately, if a contractor can show that they have multiple sources of income (many clients) then there should be no problem. However, if the contractor has one client, and works 50-60 hours a week for that client, and is under their supervision, direction and control, then there will be an issue.

3. Recruiters, if they are the client, should negotiate indemnities and warranties with the PSC, making the PSC liable for any IR35 costs and penalties. They may also want tri-partite agreements where the individual is also a party to the Agreement, in case the PSC is wound-up.

Recruiters are advised to ‘watch this space’ for further developments.

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I N T E R AC T I O N

SOUNDBITES

L ET T ER S/ WEB CHAT

What’s the secret to creating a great workplace environment?

DAVID ANNABLE

SHOWCASING INCENTIVE VIDEO BACKFIRES Our story about London recruitment agency Haigh Associates’ summer incentive video (‘London recruiter hits back at video backlash showing jet-set Ibiza incentive’, 16 October) also received attention from Recruiter readers.

Personally, I just think it just shows a culture that agencies should be moving away from – not actively encouraging. Each to their own.

BILLY MCDIARMID

You have to seriously worry about any recruitment company that didn’t notice how terrible the optics are on this. I wouldn’t trust them to represent my business if they are this naïve and tone-deaf.

KATOCAT3

This is everything I dislike about the industry I work in!

LEIGH KINGSTON

FOUN D ER A N D D IREC TOR , F R A N K L I N F ITCH

“Throughout my career, my opinion of what creates an excellent workplace has continuously evolved. I’ve always started with our people. All team members are encouraged to bring ideas to the table and that culture of contribution is truly believed in. I love investing my time developing our people, our working environments and eventually our business aspirations. We are open to failure, hold ourselves to account, and have a genuine growth mindset throughout the company. This has resulted in many initiatives being adopted, from the simple – such as introducing digital activity boards, through to the complex – where we collaborate to reduce our carbon footprint. Franklin Fitch’s workplace and vision is created through the combined values and ambitions of our people.”

LEE BALLEN D IREC TOR , H UN T ER BON D

“Our office is a modern open-plan work space, with junior members located most closely to the founders and senior managers to promote and support creativity, high morale, productivity and collaboration on the job. We believe in providing flexible lunch and refreshment arrangements, which are never monitored. This is to ensure each employee is given autonomy over how they arrange their work to meet their targets. Hunter Bond also has its own unique selling points – however, these are our ‘trade secrets’!”

JAN FORYSZEWSKI D IREC TOR , MA RL IN G REEN

DON’T BAN THE BOX – SOMETIMES IT’S NEEDED In response to your story ‘More action needed to Ban the Box after report reveals slow progress’ (25 October), I couldn’t disagree more.

As an employer who took a chance with a convicted criminal a few years ago by employing them, only to have a significant amount of money stolen by them, I am totally against employers being prevented from asking about previous criminal convictions.

STEVE HARDMAN

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“We believe strongly that creating a great workplace environment takes the commitment of everyone, from the leadership team to every employee of a business. We’ve been able to create a recognised ‘Best Workplace Environment’ through a commitment to shared values and team cohesion. Offering ‘allemployee’ incentives and ensuring we encourage a good work-life balance has been very successful. One big success has been intertwining people’s individual goals to the business collective goal. Employees feel like they are not only achieving but contributing, and that their contribution is acknowledged and appreciated. We are all very proud of the workplace we have created.”

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08/11/2018 11:35

THE BIG STORY

STARS SHINE

ON THE NIGHT Recruiter celebrated the fifth anniversary of its annual Investing in Talent Awards on 31 October with two firsts: the inaugural evening event for this set of prestigious honours and its first female entertainer host, comedian Zoe Lyons

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aunched in 2014, Recruiterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Investing in Talent Awards recognise the best employers and most inspirational employees, from newcomer and support person to agency leader, in UK recruitment businesses.

The Brewery in London Barbican provided a funky backdrop to the starry dinner affair, attended by about 300 recruiters. And the

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few absentees from the glittering winners and judging panel lists included a recruiter whose wife was giving birth, recruiters opening a new office in the US, a recruiter holidaying in South Africa and, impressively, a former Paralympian recruiter who was at the Invictus Games in Australia with the Duke of Sussex (aka Prince Harry).

On the following pages, meet just a few of the 2018 Investing in Talent winners!

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RECRUITER AWARDS 2018

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THE BIG STORY Yumi Hoshino: Nurturing nature shines through urturing comes naturally to Investing In Talent’s Most Inspiring Support Professional.

The judging process for the Awards involves an interview stage, and despite some “very tough” questions from four of the judges – and the fact English is not her first language – this year’s winner Yumi Hoshino’s nurturing nature shone through.

Described by the judges as an “outstanding example of what a support professional should be”, Hoshino, from People First (Recruitment), told Recruiter she thinks a true support professional must be flexible and offer support whenever and however it is needed.

In addition, she maintains that a good business is always evolving, but it can

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only do that if its support staff evolve with it. This has involved thinking of ways to improve the business – whether that be creating processes, new marketing ideas or improving the firm’s service offering.

Elaborating further, the Japaneseborn Hoshino reveals such professionals need to anticipate the needs of others before they have a chance to express them. Hoshino has even been known to ensure everyone has an ice cream in the event of the firm’s air conditioning breaking down in the sweltering summer.

She explains the people you are supporting will inevitably have different personalities and needs, and these varying requirements need to be juggled

to ensure everyone is as happy as possible, so they can do their jobs to the best of their ability.

Equally important, Hoshino adds, is to ensure internal systems run smoothly and deadlines are met so consultants and managers can meet theirs.

In reflecting on why the judges picked her out, Hoshino told Recruiter that although she works in a support role the judges may have been impressed with the sheer range of responsibilities, as

Digital Gurus: Workplace investment n emphasis on creating a fun modern environment has paid off for Digital Gurus, winner of the Best Workplace Environment award. The company, which became part of Rethink Group in 2017, spent £100k on its Manchester office alone to create an office with break-out space of 2,000sq ft that is used for meetings and networking.

“We spend a huge amount of our lives at work, so naturally it’s important that we spend a lot of attention on creating excellent environments for our employees to work in,” says Chris Cranshaw, head of marketing at Digital Gurus.

This commitment did not go unrecognised by the judges, who praised the company’s “honest application”, which they said “has been driven by the right motives – creating a great workplace judged solely by gratitude and happiness of the staff ”.

Winning the award was particularly noteworthy, given that according to the judges, “this year has seen a clear substantial investment in improving

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the workplace across the sector”.

As a result of the company’s investment, each of its six offices now has either a pool or a table tennis table, a top of the range coffee machine, Netflix subscription, smart TVs and Play Stations. Two of the offices – Birmingham and Dubai – have gyms on site, while the rest have gyms only a few minutes away.

Investment has also gone into collaboration desks, soundproof ‘horseshoe’ seating arrangements and dedicated meeting areas to encourage group working, complete with comfortable chairs and sofas. In 2017, the London team moved into a combined new office in the Bank area in the City. The company’s revamped Manchester office is also the ideal venue for Digital North, an event that brings together people from across the digital and tech community for networking and forums.

The company, which employs 120 staff in six offices across three continents, says that as a result of this investment following “each regional refurbishment/ relocation” it has seen an improvement in its retention rate of around a third.

The creation of office environment with learning labs, and other spaces for self-reflection and development has also proved conducive to staff improving their knowledge and ultimately their performance.

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THE BIG STORY Catherine O’Beirne: Developing her brand she has been involved with almost every aspect of the business from web design to payroll administration.

But Hoshino’s nurturing personality also helps. “It’s something I really enjoy too. I like dealing with people and all of my roles have involved helping people,” she explains.

“I organise the company’s social events and Free Lunch Thursdays. In recruitment, everyone works so hard that it’s important to have time to talk to colleagues.

“I also handle inductions for new employees – it can be hard when you start a new role and don’t know anyone, so I feel responsible for making sure that they settle in well and feel part of the team as soon as possible.”

fter just 14 months in the recruitment industry, Catherine O’Beirne, winner of the Most Inspiring Newcomer award on the night, has already become an inspiration and a role model for her colleagues at specialist financial services technology and sales recruiter Harrington Starr.

The judges said: “She is widely recognised as a professional with personality. She listens well, is a very genuinely inspiring successful recruiter, breaking numerous records and setting new benchmarks.”

As well as breaking all records for billings by a newcomer without any experience at

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David Roberts: training and retaining avid Roberts, winner of the Most Inspiring Director/Senior Manager award, joined technology, digital and change recruiter La Fosse Associates as the company’s first-ever graduate entrant in 2010. Since then he has played a pivotal role in taking graduates and turning them into star billers, with 80% of those joining La Fosse coming in via this associate entry-level route.

With 80% of his time managing and developing staff and only 20% spent recruiting, the judges recognised Roberts’ exceptional level of commitment to “developing and retention of talent and to building teams of recruiters that combine both the commercial responsibilities of recruitment, as well as the heart and ethics, leading to exceptional sales”.

In the current market, for any director or senior manager in a recruitment firm, “your primary focus has to be the attracting, development and retention of staff.

Today, as the

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competition for top 5% talent in the recruitment industry is increasingly fierce, it is even more important to have a talent development strategy that sets you apart from the competition”.

This is no longer ‘a nice to have’ but essential in today’s market, he says, as evidenced by his own experience of interviewing candidates. It is increasingly common for the first question for him to be asked is ‘What is your approach to training and developing staff ?’. This is irrespective of whether it is their first job in recruitment or a senior manager with 10 years’ experience.

Roberts says that what sets La Fosse apart is “having a mind-set of continuous learning – learning and development underpins everything that we do”. La Fosse delivers four core modular training programmes: new recruiter training, consultant development, future business leaders and management development, which is complemented by bringing in external experts.

the company, contributing well over £250k in her first year, the judges were particularly impressed by how O’Beirne has used social media to develop her own brand, which in turn has benefitted the company.

Starting off with articles of relevance to clients and candidates on LinkedIn, six months ago O’Beirne decided “to put her own twist on things” and started posting online videos once a week: “I try to make it funny, relevant and me – that is the main thing.”

She adds: “Developing my personal brand has helped me massively.”

Not only is it a valuable way of initiating conversations with candidates and clients, and getting herself and the company known, but it has also led to more business for the company. “My largest placement came as a result of a video,” she says. “I didn’t have to do anything. This person texted me and said that another person had seen it and told them ‘you should speak to her’.”

O’Beirne says on the back of this, colleagues are now asking her, ‘Catherine can you show me how to do the videos?’.

“It’s nice that I can pass information around and help people develop themselves. As a business that is growing you need to take on that role even if you haven’t been asked to do so.” While not attributing it to herself, O’Beirne says she has noticed more and more videos from recruitment agencies. “I am thinking ‘How do I get one step ahead of all this now?’,” she says.

For anyone joining the recruitment industry who wishes to make a mark, O’Beirne offers the following advice: “Believing in yourself is a very big thing.

Have confidence you can do a job and do it well. Hang in there, it is not going to be the easiest journey, but it is not going to be the worst either – nobody is dying.”

She also advises new entrants to “pick out someone in the business who you think ‘Right we get each other’s mentalities’, and see if you can pick up ideas”.

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SEPTEMBER 2018

08/11/2018 11:03

E M PLOY E E B E N E F I T S

Making your company stand out from others is key to attracting top talent. Colin Cottell looks into the benefits of benefits In today’s market for recruitment talent, staffing companies and resourcing departments need to find an edge wherever they can to attract, retain and motivate the best people.

While there are of course many different ways for employers to make themselves employers of choice, there is a growing awareness of the importance of employee benefits in that mix.

It’s a point recognised by Harriet Lawrence, head of talent at Your World Recruitment Group, runners up in the Most Effective Pay & Benefits Strategy category at Recruiter’s Investing in Talent Awards 2018. “It’s all of those things: attracting, retaining and motivating people,” she says of the company’s employee benefits scheme.

Like many staffing companies, the healthcare recruiter offers employees a wide range of benefits, including free gym membership and private health insurance to flexi lunches.

PICK AND MIX However, in addition to the employee benefits available to staff, Your World Recruitment Group’s package includes an enhancement that is becoming increasingly common. Described by employee benefit professionals as the personalisation of employee benefits, it boils down to allowing employees to choose more of the benefits they want and fewer of those that don’t appeal.

“Not everyone wants the same thing from an employer,” says Lawrence,

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which is why staff at the healthcare recruiter who don’t want to take up the option of free gym membership or private health insurance can choose the monetary equivalent instead.

Natalie Bell, director of people at creative recruiter Major Players, winners of the Best Employee Benefits and Pay Strategy at Recruiter’s Investing in Talent Awards, says the company’s ‘flexi perks’ employee benefits package is designed with personalisation in mind. “We employ a diverse range of people, so what appeals to people is going to vary. So if we had something as rigid as everybody gets gym membership, there will be some people in the office who think ‘well actually, I don’t like the gym’.

“In the same way that we make sure our offering to clients and candidates is relevant to their needs, it is just as important that what we are offering people who are working here is relevant as well,” she adds.

Staff can switch between the various benefits available by allocating the 20 points a year, issued to each individual staff member, with every point worth £50, according to their preferences at the time – be that access to a personal trainer, interest-free loans or help toward their phone bill. “It’s very flexible; they can choose at any time as soon as they are ready,” says Bell. Staff must use their points by the end of the year or lose them. Other innovative benefits provided by Major Players include unlimited holidays and a fourday working week (with staff paid for

five) that is being piloted by one of its teams.

Richard Morgan, a strategic consultant at global professional services firm and employee benefits provider Aon, says the trend for personalisation of employee benefits has been gaining momentum in recent years. Now “pretty much the norm for large employers”, according to Morgan, “a significant drop in the cost of technology” means that smaller employers are increasingly able to offer the same sort of tailored solutions. “You can do something really simple for £5k to £10k, and you can get a fairly decent online flexible benefits scheme for £20k to £30k,” he explains.

“Personalising employee benefits is a win-win,” Morgan continues. “As an employer with a certain budget for employee benefits, if you can allow your employees to spend that money on the things they actually want then clearly you are getting better value for money out of that budget and your employees are appreciating it.”

TAILORING TO SUIT Morgan says that rather than a ‘flex fund’, the trend is for “a default benefits package typically made up of 7% employer pension contribution, two times salary life cover and 25 days’ holiday”, supplemented by allowing employees the freedom to tailor their package to meet their individual

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preferences. “You can have more money going into your pension if you like, and you can pay for that by either reducing your salary or a few days less holiday,” he explains by way of example. “There doesn’t tend to be a pot of money to spend on benefits; it’s more, here is your starting point and you can move the dials up and down.”

Richard Veal, global leader in communication and change management at Willis Towers Watson, a worldwide consultancy whose services include delivery and administration of employee benefits, says that giving employees more of what they want is not simply about offering them more and more choice of benefits. “Beyond a certain amount [of choice] people are not able to make a choice because you don’t have the time or the emotional bandwidth to understand. The answer is to offer the appropriate choice.”

Bell from Major Players says the company carries out two engagement surveys a year, as well as running a focus group to find out what staff think of the existing benefits, and what changes they would like to see. “Each year we will vary it slightly; for example, this year we added a vacation/staycation option, as well as refreshing our company healthcare scheme.” Bell says in recent years she has noticed a trend away from the company’s enhanced pension

“You need to understand who your customers are, profile them, understand what they want, create a product and then market the hell out of it” package and towards lifestyle choices, such as life coaching, gym membership, advice from nutritionists and travel.

Aon’s Morgan says that in designing an employee benefits package to meet the diverse and changing needs of their staff, employers should adopt the approach taken from the world of consumerism and marketing.

“You need to imagine that the whole employee value proposition, and not just your benefits, are a product and your employees are your customers. You need to understand who your customers are, profile them, understand what they want, create a product and then market the hell out of it,” he advises.

There are a number of ways that employers can do this, says Morgan, including the creation of different employee personas – imaginary or better still real. For example, ‘Joanne, just married, aged 27, wants to buy a house, who has chosen financial advice and to join the gym’. Some employee benefits platforms also include a modelling tool that allows employees to create their own profile.

LOOK INTO THE FUTURE Morgan says some of the employee benefits package platforms now available on the market also allow staff to tell their employer the things that are important to them and what will be important in five years’ time, allowing the package to be tailored even more.

“We already have data about people but we can ask them to us what things

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they want to hear about and send them push notifications via an app, and in this way we are really starting to target what people want and when they want it,” Morgan explains.

Life events or changes in employees’ lives, such as having a child, can also be the trigger for employers to inform employees of particular benefits, for example, by asking them if they want to add the child to their medical cover.

Jacqueline Benjamin, director and co-founder of employee benefits provider Xexec, says technology has enhanced employers’ ability to provide a more bespoke experience. “It has become easier than ever to utilise support tools, such as cost calculators and recommendation engines to help employees select benefits and build individual benefit portfolios.

Some benefits programmes will use push notifications based on shopping preferences.”

Technology is key, Willis Towers Watson’s Veal agrees: “You can’t rely on people being patient or to follow laborious processes that are difficult to follow. If it is simple and intuitive it is more likely to get used. The trend in the market is to focus on the optimal user experience and design. It is the way it works, how much you can do from your phone, how well does it link so you don’t have to go off to different systems to make choices.”

In the end though, while technology is undoubtedly a help, it shouldn’t obscure the main point about the rewards of personalising employee benefits. “I hope it shows we genuinely care about our people, that we are forward thinking in our approach to hiring and staff engagement, and most importantly that we are helping our people to feel valued,” says Bell.

SEPTEMBER 2018

08/11/2018 12:00

THE VIEW AND THE INTELLIGENC E

Creating fair and diverse workforces P2 BIG TALKING PO INT

Making the Apprenticeship Levy work P4 LEGAL UPDATE

RECRUITMENT MATTERS

Email contracts P6-7 Issue 68 December 2018

WHAT’ S C O MING UP

Dates for your diary: training and events P8

M O D E R N SL AV E RY

REC backs Protocol to help eradicate labour abuse and modern slavery T

he REC recently joined leading names in the construction industry by signing the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA)’s Construction Protocol to help eradicate labour abuse and modern slavery in the construction industry.

The GLAA regulates the supply of labour to the farming, food processing and shellfish gathering sectors. It had its enforcement (but not its licensing) remit extended by the Immigration Act 2016 to tackle labour abuse in all sectors of the economy – recognising that serious labour exploitation wasn’t restricted only to the agricultural sector and proactive enforcement was needed more widely.

The GLAA was also given new police style powers to search and seize property as well as making arrests,

@RECPress RM_December_2018.indd 1

“By working together we can help eradicate modern slavery and labour abuse in this sector for good” which the REC welcomed at the time.

The GLAA identified the construction industry as a high-risk sector due to its high numbers of migrant workers, complex supply chains and the high rate of selfemployment. The GLAA reports that this sector is the fourth most reported sector for labour exploitation after car washes, agriculture and food processing, and referrals have doubled since April 2017.

The GLAA was quick to use its new powers in this sector and has since been able to identify victims

of modern slavery, and carry out criminal investigations, at addresses in Croydon, East London and Coventry based on intelligence received in the construction sector.

The GLAA wants to work with the sector, through the Protocol, which aims for all parties in the construction supply chain to work in partnership to protect vulnerable workers, share information where possible, commit to raising awareness in the supply chain of exploitation and abuse, and maintain momentum.

The REC proudly signed the Protocol and encourages agencies supplying to the construction sector to join us. By working together we can help eradicate modern slavery and labour abuse in this sector for good.

Phillip Campbell, REC senior policy advisor

www.rec.uk.com 02/11/2018 16:46

L E A D I N G T H E I N D U S T RY

the view...

Compliance is everything, says NEIL CARBERRY, REC chief executive

S

ince joining the REC I’ve spent a lot of time talking to members about the direction we are taking as an industry. The market is changing and now more than ever what you do is pivotal to the success of UK plc.

As clients contend with an uncertain political environment, new technologies, entrenched talent shortages and evolving workforce expectations, they’re looking for recruitment experts to help them compete and thrive. Recruitment is redefining itself as a professional service.

The REC’s role in this is to help create an environment in which the value of the recruitment industry is fully recognised and respected. Every day we champion our members in the media, in government and with companies, and we demonstrate that recruitment is a well-regulated, compliance-focused, and socially progressive part of the economy.

Jobs really do transform lives. So we need to be good at what we do as an industry, and expect high standards of each other – on behalf of our own businesses, and of clients and candidates.

At the heart of the REC message about professionalism is our compliance test, which we ask all members to take every two years to prove that they are maintaining those high standards.

Having this test as a prerequisite for membership, ensuring we investigate complaints from candidates and clients, and expelling the non-compliant, underpins the sector’s reputation. It means REC membership stands for something to the people you work with. As more clients use membership as signal of supply chain compliance, this demand is only likely to grow.

We are prepared to refuse membership because it ensures members carry a badge that is a sign of quality and confidence to clients and candidates alike. We advise people to only work with a recruiter who is a member of the REC and therefore accountable to clear industry-led standards.

If your business is due to take the compliance test before 31 December your compliance contact will have already received details, and I encourage you to complete the test as soon as possible. If you need support, get in touch.

If you want to keep up to speed with all things recruitment then follow me on Twitter @RECNeil

2 RECRUITMENT MATTERS DECEMBER 2018

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Ready for the year ahead? asks TOM HADLEY, REC director of policy and professional services HADLEY ’ S C O MMENT

Join the 40 per cent club!

With the annual circus of the party conferences behind us, now is a good time to take stock and look ahead to 2019.

Highlights this year have included positive outcomes within the Taylor Review, an initial delaying of the IR35 review, wide-ranging GDPR implementation support, positive movement on the Apprenticeship Levy, and an agreement to regulate umbrellas. We have also doubled our contact points with ministers and parliamentary groups, and increased member engagement in our campaigning work by 40%. This insight and collective drive from REC members has been crucial, as the old saying goes “the wolf makes the pack stronger, the pack makes the wolf stronger”.

What about the negatives? Candidate shortages have intensified, there has been real pressure on recruiters in sectors like healthcare and education and frustration over a lack of government enforcement resulting in an unlevel playing field for compliant recruiters. In 2019, providing scenario-planning support as we head towards Brexit will be a major priority. Here are some other areas where we want to make an impact: • IR35 – Pushing back on private sector extension and delivering implementation support when needed; • Apprenticeship Levy – Building on recent announcements so that changes to the levy work for recruiters; • Immigration & skills – Providing innovative solutions that reflect the needs of employers and recruiters; • Industry regulations – Ensuring that developments on the back of the Taylor Review are workable for the industry; • Compliance – Promoting the REC’s compliance role, and calling on government to boost enforcement and a level playing field; • Future of jobs – Positioning our voice at the forefront of the future of work debate and building on our Future of jobs commission; • Inclusion and ‘Good Work’ – Making change happen; • Sectors, regions & global markets – Driving campaigns across sectors, regions and devolved nations; working with the World Employment Confederation on global campaigns.

As well as amplifying our collective voice, campaigning work in 2019 will provide content and a regular ‘heads-up’ that members can use for competitive advantage. Get involved, join the 40 per cent club!

You can follow Tom on Twitter @hadleyscomment

www.rec.uk.com

02/11/2018 16:47

18%

the intelligence...

WITH REC SENIOR RESEARCHER, THALIA IOANNIDOU

G

ender diversity in the workplace has been high on the agenda, with the public and private sectors urged to adapt practices that promote equal opportunities for women. The introduction of mandatory gender pay gap reporting for employers with more than 250 employees, which came into effect in April 2017, is the latest effort to remove the substantial disparity in the average pay of women and men. The new figures reveal some alarming truths – the median pay gap across the economy is 18% in favour of men, one in 10 large employers have a gender pay gap of more than 30% and eight in10 large employers have more women in their lowest paid positions than in their highest positions.

At a time when demand for skills is mounting, it is crucial to secure and appropriately reward the contribution of women across sectors and occupations so that their talents and potential can be fully utilised. In fact, it has been estimated that if the country’s gender gap were to be closed and every UK region matches the pace of the fastest-improving region over the past decade, this could generate an additional £150bn to the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025.

According to McKinsey Global Institute, this would require 840,000 additional female employees and more

FEE EARNERS AS A PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL STAFF RESTORED TO 70% LEVEL

78% 75% 75% 72% 70% 71%

Median RIB recruiter

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

2017 Fee earners as a percentage of total staff, for the median recruiter, Q1 2017-Q2 2018

www.rec.uk.com

RM_December_2018.indd 3

Q1

Q2 2018

women employed in most productive sectors and occupations.

Good recruitment is central to these The new figures reveal some alarming truths – the median pay gap across the economy is 18% in efforts. Recruitment is the foundation favour of men. upon which a fair and gender-balanced to enact strategies that will improve organisation is built. Only when the gender balance and performance an open, accessible and inclusive recruitment process is in place, diversity of organisations. Asking the right questions is paramount to driving at the workplace can be achieved. change. Does the job specification As the experts in hiring strategies, appeal more to male candidates than recruiters and HR professionals have females ones? Is the organisation a invaluable insight to share with the champion of flexible working and wider business community and are enhanced maternity and paternity ideally placed to help drive change leave? Are the selection criteria used in organisations. From conscious and to screen candidates transparent, unconscious biases, poor flexible impartial and fair? Good intentions working arrangements to direct and must be translated into tangible indirect discriminatory practices action at each and every at various stages of the hiring recruitment stage. process, recruitment To find out more on professionals are in a how recruiters can good position to call support organisations out bad practice. to refine their The one in 10 large resourcing recruitment employers have strategies and industry is a gender pay gap ensure an inclusive process, best placed to raise of more than 30% download our latest awareness on genderresearch at www.rec.uk.com related biases and help

The latest real-time information from the RIB Index shows that, having peaked at 78% in Q1 2017, fee earners as a percentage of total staff within the Median RIB recruiter returned to historical 70% levels across H1 2018.

With total employee numbers 5.6% higher in H1 2017 than in H1 2016, the data suggests that

30%

much of the H1 2017 headcount growth came in the form of fee earners. By H1 2018, total employee numbers were just 3.4% higher year-on-year, suggesting that recruiters were being more cautious in their hiring and/or that the new headcount was required in support service functions.

Whilst employer

demand remains high for agency support in hiring, the REC’s JobsOutlook report also evidences a growing need for agency partners to provide insightful management information as a value add – with 64% of hirers highlighting this as a selection criterion in JulySeptember (up from 57% a year earlier).

BELINDA JOHNSON runs employment research consultancy Worklab, and is associate knowledge & insight director of Recruitment Industry Benchmarking (RIB) – part of the Bluestones Group. The RIB Index provides bespoke confidential reports on industry benchmarks and trends. See www.ribindex.com; info@ribindex.com: 020 8544 9807. The RIB is a strategic partner of the REC.

DECEMBER 2018 RECRUITMENT MATTERS 3

02/11/2018 16:47

APPRENTICESHIP LEVY

big talking point

Making the Apprenticeship Levy work More than 18 months on from its introduction, the Apprenticeship Levy has not achieved what it set out to do. So how can the system be transformed into something that offers more training to more people? Recruitment Matters explains.

If you run a business with a payroll of over £3m, you should already know about the Apprenticeship Levy. You’re probably also more than aware that time is running out to spend your first contribution under the scheme. But just like many in the recruitment industry, you might be far less clear about how to make it work for you – and, more importantly, your employees.

That’s because the Apprenticeship Levy was introduced in April 2017 as a means of bringing training and development opportunities to permanent workers. It doesn’t currently benefit those on more flexible and temporary contracts – and that is a wasted opportunity for everyone involved.

A question of time Although recruitment agencies must pay the 0.5% levy on all those on their payroll – both permanent and temporary – they simply struggle to provide any of the training allowed under the scheme to their agency workers.

An apprenticeship must last 52 weeks or more – far longer than a traditional agency worker assignment.

The REC’s ‘Recruitment Industry Trends’, published in December 2017, found the

average length of a temporary worker assignment was 17 weeks. Only 1% of assignments lasted a year or more.

Changes in sight

April 2019. The range of courses will also be expanded, particularly around STEM subjects, transport and healthcare.

“But we know that we may need to do more to ensure that the levy supports the development of the skilled workforce our economy needs,” he said. “So in addition to these new flexibilities, we will engage with business on our plans for the long-term operation of the levy. Working hand-in-hand with employers to ensure that every young person can fulfil their

In total, the number of people starting apprenticeships in April 2018 was down nearly 40% on April 2016 figures. When the government’s original target was to fund 3 million apprenticeships by April 2020, it’s becoming ever clearer that the Apprenticeship Levy is not working. So in his speech at the Conservative Party Conference on 1 October, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond recognised business concerns.

He set out measures designed to provide ACCORDING TO A RECENT SURVEY more flexibility in OF REC MEMBERS, the system. They 70% – of members that pay into the levy are SMEs, include allowing large directly employing less than 250 people employees to transfer 52% – of members view Apprenticeship Levy up to 25% (rather than payments as a tax write-off and take no 10%) of their levy further action funds to businesses in 64% – of members would fund agency workers’ their supply chain from training if the Apprenticeship Levy was broadened to a skills and training levy

THE RECRUITMENT INDUSTRY’S REACTION

4 RECRUITMENT MATTERS DECEMBER 2018

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02/11/2018 16:47

APPRENTICESHIP LEVY

potential and achieve their dreams.” It’s an invitation that the REC is keen to take up.

A broader skills and training levy “The commitment to make the Apprenticeship Levy a more flexible offering is something the recruitment sector has been consistently campaigning for,” said Neil Carberry, chief executive of the REC. “This will benefit workers by improving training opportunities, as well as helping recruitment businesses who are currently paying the levy but are unable to spend it.”

But the REC also made it clear to the Chancellor before the Budget that agency workers will only be able to benefit from the levy if it is broadened to a skills and training levy. This should be focused on upskilling all workers, and providing clearer opportunities for progression in key sectors which struggle to attract a UK workforce.

REC members have provided specific examples of shorter training courses, such as those for HGV and forklift truck drivers, or catering courses for hospitality workers, which they could offer temporary workers under a broader scheme. And when Ofqual already has over 40,000 registered training courses, it needn’t be difficult to maintain the high standards of a fully accredited system.

The REC and its members want to work with government to develop a pilot scheme for

www.rec.uk.com

RM_December_2018.indd 5

39% the fall in the number of apprenticeships started in April 2018 (24,100) compared with April 2016 (39,400)

the recruitment industry that clearly measures both the impact for agency workers and the return on investment to business.

On any given day there are on average 1.3 million temporary or contract workers who work via a recruitment agency. A new training levy would enable thousands of these workers to learn new skills and to progress through the labour market.

WHAT IS THE APPRENTICESHIP LEVY? • All employers with a payroll of over £3m are taxed 0.5% on that pay bill • The levy applies to anyone you pay via PAYE – permanent staff, as well as any contingent labour on your payrolls • You have 24 months to spend the amount accumulated in your company’s digital account, before the value resets to £0 • The levy can only be spent on accredited apprenticeship programmes

DECEMBER 2018 RECRUITMENT MATTERS 5

02/11/2018 16:47

REFERENCES

legal update What constitutes a valid contract over email?

By KATE DICKENS – REC legal executive

A

lot of the business conducted by recruiters is done via email, but it is possible for a client to be bound by a contract issued by a recruiter, either deliberately or inadvertently as a result of their conduct.

For a valid contract to exist there must be offer, acceptance, consideration and an intention to create legal relations. A contract is simply an agreement between two or more parties to do something (or refrain from doing something) in exchange for some form of consideration. At the most basic level, an enforceable contract exists if there is an offer by one party, acceptance by the other party,

DIVA LIMOUSINE VS. UBER IN MISCLASSIFICATION BATTLE DOMINIQUE THEW, PRECISION GLOBAL CONSULTING

6 RECRUITMENT MATTERS DECEMBER 2018

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“When most people think of contracts, they think of written agreements between parties, and assume that a contract is not valid unless it is on paper, and signed” and some exchange of value between them.

When most people think of contracts, they think of written agreements between parties, and assume that a contract is not valid unless it is on paper, and signed.

However, a number of contracts are not written and courts can enforce them. With this in mind, there is

October saw yet another case that has brought Uber into the spotlight for the way the company manages its workers in the US. It is now involved in a lawsuit with a limousine company who alleges that the gig economy giant is deliberately misclassifying workers to cut costs.

The Southern Californiabased Diva Limousine claims that Uber is in violation of unfair competition laws by classifying workers as independent contractors (ICs) where they should be employees. Companies

no reason why a contract entered into through email should not be enforceable.

If an email or chain of emails clearly states an offer by a recruiter to provide their services and the client responds by email accepting those terms, then there is a very good chance that a valid contract has been formed between the parties. Similarly, the consent to the contract does not have to be on the same email as the contract. It is possible for consent to be deduced from previous emails and still constitute a valid contract between the parties. Furthermore, without express acceptance of the contract it can be proven that an agreement exists by implied acceptance, which is demonstrated by any acts indicating a person’s consent or the absence of any objection to the provision of the services. Again the email thread can be used as evidence of a binding contract.

In some cases it is difficult to obtain an executed contract and unfortunately a lack of a signed contract may result in both parties having irreconcilable positions on what was actually agreed, which increases the likelihood of costly litigation. This being the peril of beginning work without definite agreement, so it is always best to obtain to agree the contract first, ideally with a signature (even a digital one via email) and then start work later!

that employ workers as ICs can see significant cost advantages from avoiding providing benefits and insurances, and Diva says that Uber is using this to its advantage, applying the savings to offer rides below the true cost and pricing competitors out of the market.

Misclassification has been a hot topic in US employment law over the last couple of years, with studies indicating that the US government is missing out on billions of dollars a year in loss of taxes due to the issue. In response,

large penalties and stricter classification methods, such as the recently introduced California ABC test, are being enforced in an attempt to prevent it. As this particular case unfolds, it highlights a wider concern beyond government standards and amongst companies offering services within the same space that there is an even playing field for all.

Precision Global Consulting operates in the US, Canada and the UK. For more information visit www.pgcgroup.com

www.rec.uk.com

02/11/2018 16:47

I N S P I R AT I O N To keep up to date with everything the Institute of Recruitment Professionals is doing, please visit www.rec-irp.uk.com

RICKY MARTIN founder, Hyper

director, VGC Group, on protecting the workforce of the future

More recruiters should be more focused on being consultants, not just sales people.

You were named in this year’s inaugural Top100 Corporate Modern Slavery Influencers’ Index.

Why should other recruiters take note?

Do something you’re proud of or don’t do it at all.

It’s my advice to those coming into the industry or setting up on their own. For those already established in the business, do more to act as an ambassador for the industry. You can take shortcuts, do a deal and fill a job. Or you can find the right person for the right company. That might be harder, but it makes such a difference.

As a biochemist that recruits for the sciences, I help pharmaceutical companies make

RM_December_2018.indd 7

CIARA PRYCE group services

Recruitment Solutions, on raising the industry’s reputation

Just as people go to a doctor to help them feel better, they come to us to help their careers, to help them pay the bills and support their families.

www.rec.uk.com

Q&A

What I know

BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE INSTITUTE OF RECRUITMENT PROFESSIONALS

medicines that save lives.

Remember about the people who don’t get the job.

Our actions to give them the best chance to find the next job are important. Candidates are spending valuable time and money on interviews. We have a duty of care to make sure they are looking at the right job and we represent them well.

Even with the REC’s ‘Jobs Transform Lives’ campaign, I don’t think enough recruiters recognise the impact that they can have.

Stop worrying about disruptions.

Whether you’re concerned about new technology or Brexit, focus instead on getting the basics right and put recruitment on the map as being a real professional service.

I have promoted ethical recruitment practices for a number of years and am proud of the quality of people we supply to the construction industry.

VGC was only the third company to achieve the BES6002 Ethical Labour Sourcing Standard.

Construction is a ‘high risk’ industry for modern slavery. But for us, combating modern slavery is about driving good recruitment and engagement processes, and training our recruiters and managers in spotting the signs and reporting any concerns.

If people are not in their roles willingly that creates risk for any business. While there are legal and commercial reasons to comply,

morally we must all do more to protect the most vulnerable in society.

You’re also passionate about diversity and inclusion…

Diversity and inclusion are up there with financial and safety targets for our board. The skills shortage means we must work harder to attract new entrants to the industry. We have focused on women, exoffenders and ex-military alongside an active schools engagement programme. We invest in upskilling and nearly 7% of our workforce are on apprenticeships.

What’s your biggest motivation?

Doing the right thing. We want to deliver a lasting legacy to our people and the communities we work in. By doing so we are creating a sustainable business for the future.

DECEMBER 2018 RECRUITMENT MATTERS 7

02/11/2018 16:47

W H AT ’ S C O M I N G U P ?

Upcoming Events

Upcoming training Last minute training courses to prepare yourself for the year ahead

Technology Sector Meeting 5 December Ensure you’re up-to-date on the latest policy and compliance changes, and discuss market trends and issues specifically facing your peers in the technology sector.

Interim Management Association Sector Meeting 10 December Hear from industry experts on key industry trends following the Autumn Budget.

Future of Learning Focus Group 12 December As the representative body for individual recruitment professionals, the IRP is seeking to engage with REC members on the future of learning for the industry. This informal meeting will provide the opportunity to discuss how new technology, skills requirements and ways of learning should align to accelerate professional development.

4 December Business Development Planning (Leeds) Perfect Client Meeting (London) 5 December Essential Skills for a Permanent Recruiter (Manchester) Management Essentials (London) Recruitment Law: Supplying Limited Company Contractors (Birmingham) 6 December Recruitment Law: Understanding the Essentials (Birmingham) 11 December Start up your own Agency (London)

Winter Networking Drinks 12 December As the festive season fast approaches, we would love you to join us from 5:15pm on Wednesday 12th December 2018, for canapés, cocktails or a glass of bubbly at the REC annual winter networking drinks reception.

For more information on these events, including timings and locations, visit https://www.rec.uk.com/training-and-events/events or call 0207 009 2100 to book your place

Upcoming Report 2017/2018 Recruitment Industry Trends Report Coming in December 2018 Recruitment industry trends (RITS) is the REC’s annual report about the shape of the UK’s recruitment industry. Use the data from our industry snapshot to measure your performance against industry-wide benchmarks. Available for REC members to download and non-members to buy from our shop.

As profiled in September’s er s Recruitment Matters, this his three-day intensive course is designed to give a comprehensive overview of how to run a profitable recruitment agency, from financial matters and the basics of business planning to your legal responsibilities.

13 December Recruitment Law: Understanding the Essentials (London) For more information, visit https://www.rec.uk.com/training-and-events/training Or call 0207 009 2100 to book your place

Keep an eye out at: https://www.rec.uk.com/research/latest-research

RECRUITMENT MATTERS

The official magazine of The Recruitment & Employment Confederation Dorset House, 1st Floor, 27-45 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NT Tel: 020 7009 2100 www.rec.uk.com

8 RECRUITMENT MATTERS DECEMBER 2018

RM_December_2018.indd 8

Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2100, Customer Services: 020 7009 2100 Publishers: Redactive Publishing Ltd, Level 5, 78 Chamber Street, London E1 8BL Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redactive.co.uk Editorial: Editor Pip Brooking Pip.Brooking@rec.uk.com. Production Editor: Vanessa Townsend Production: Production Executive: Rachel Young rachel.young@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6209 Printing: Printed by Precision Colour Printing © 2018 Recruitment Matters. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, neither REC, Redactive Publishing Ltd nor the authors can accept liability for errors or omissions. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the REC or Redactive Publishing Ltd. No responsibility can be accepted for unsolicited manuscripts or transparencies. No reproduction in whole or part without written permission.

www.rec.uk.com

02/11/2018 16:47

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07/11/2018 16:41

E UPSTART EARPIECE CO M M UNITY

Left: Andrew McGeorge with Jonathan Royston-Claire.

McGeorge says his career feels like Rocky Balboa’s (bottom), continually pulling himself up off the canvas

I GET KNOCKED DOWN, BUT I GET UP AGAIN

BY COLIN COTTELL

A

ndrew McGeorge, MD of Carestaff Bureau, says: “Just call me Rocky.”

It’s a long way from Hastings on England’s South Coast, where McGeorge has his office, to the boxing ring in Philadelphia made famous by Rocky Balboa, the fictional down-and-out boxer who makes a comeback out of sheer persistence and, literally, blood, sweat and tears.

But like the bloodied film hero, McGeorge has had more than his share of knockdowns and setbacks.

And just like Rocky he keeps on pulling himself up from the canvas and coming back for more.

28 RECRUITER

DECEMBER 2018 IM AGE | A LA MY

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08/11/2018 12:27

CO M M U N I T Y

UPSTART

E

support, McGeorge opened Carestaff Bureau’s first Today, after the recruitment business he set up in 2004 went branch in Hastings. “I knew I was well-connected “spectacularly wrong”, McGeorge is revelling in the success of in the Hastings area and I could make a success of it the staffing business he launched in 2016 – with ambitious quite quickly,” he says. plans to open three more offices. Carestaff Bureau supplies Just as importantly, “I knew I could do it properly”, registered nurses, support workers and healthcare assistants to he adds, explaining that this means “looking after nursing and care homes, hospitals and mental health units. clients and candidates – not just looking at the profit In addition to the failure of his own previous recruitment and the bottom line all the time”. business, he has found discomfort in situations Buoyed by the success of the Hastings where he worked for others, working in senior branch, this year the company opened its roles in other recruitment businesses. These “I knew I was second office in Eastbourne, managed by setbacks involved two companies that he initially well-connected former colleague Jonathan Royston-Claire, to loved working for until they decided to change in the Hastings whom McGeorge has granted equity in the direction. In both cases, what had been familycompany. “We bring different things to the owed companies sold out to finance houses, area and I could table,” says Royston-Clare. “Andy has a sound leading to McGeorge deciding to leave. make a success of business head, and I am more of a wild card.

He knew that he could give me free rein to get First recruitment foray it quickly” out there.”

McGeorge first entered the bruising world of recruitment back in 1994 by “accidentally falling into it”. “I spent all my time chasing money, doing credit Solid backing control and not any recruitment,” says McGeorge of the time he Paul Mizen, MD of Recruit Venture Group, says the spent in the mid-2000s in which he unsuccessfully tried to get failure of McGeorge’s Midlands business didn’t put Birmingham Working Class Recruitment off the ground. him off backing McGeorge. Indeed, knowing what he “Unfortunately it coincided with the time the Rover plant had been through was if anything a positive. “What shut, and a lot of my clients were connected with the Rover resonated with me about Andrew is first of all he supply chain, so it was a tough time,” he said. was brave enough to do it and to take the plunge,” But despite the failure of his business in the Midlands, and says Mizen, “which I have massive respect for, but unsatisfactory experiences of working for others, McGeorge never felt the urge to turn his back on recruitment. “I still loved recruitment; I still loved people,” he says.

Perseverance pays off So he was determined to try again. And in September 2016, with the help of The Recruit Venture Group, a company that invests in recruitment start-ups and provides back office and other

“If someone comes to me and recognises their failings and is prepared to learn from them, then it can be a real positive”

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also he was very honest in why it didn’t work out, and that he made some silly mistakes. Trying to do everything at the front end and sell while also looking after the back end is near impossible.

“If someone comes to me and recognises their failings and is prepared to learn from them, then it can be a real positive because they have been there before. Once you have been bitten once, you won’t want to be bitten again. Andrew was a classic case of learning from his mistakes.”

Lessons learned McGeorge agrees that the failure of his Midlands business taught him an important lesson. “I think you need to look at yourself and stick to what you are good at,” he admits, which he says in his case is recruitment, “and let the other people do the bibs and bobs.”

Not that he is resting on his laurels. “Just because you are the MD doesn’t mean you can put your feet up and think ‘I have made it’. You actually have to work twice as hard as you did before,” he says. All that hard work appears to be paying off, however, with turnover of £1.6m and gross profit of £450k in its first year of trading. McGeorge says he plans to open three more branches on the South Coast in the next

Time to review your PSL Make sure your service providers are FCSA Accredited

Candidates are given additional training at Carestaff Bureau's Hastings office

two years. “Absolutely, 100%, I have got my mojo back,” he says enthusiastically.

After spending a lot of his working life at a company where he was responsible for 12 branches, “stopping in Premier Inns every night and having steak, believe me it’s not as glamorous as it sounds, particularly as I had a young family”, McGeorge is clearly enjoying a new lease of life. “Everything is hunky dory now. I can take my kids to school, I can leave early. I don’t have to ask anyone’s permission, while realising there will be other times I am working on a Saturday and Sunday. It can be challenging at times but I absolutely love it.”

Rocky would be proud.

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30 RECRUITER

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CO M M U N I T Y

SOCIAL NETWORK WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO? GET IN TOUCH!

E

From raising a glass to being in a class of your own, you’ve been busy since the last issue of Recruiter…

IN A CLASS OF THEIR OWN Sta at South-West-based education recruitment Staff spe specialist Class People have been busy in this new sch school term, fundraising for its charity Women V Ca Cancer and helping out at the many schools, which are among its clients, as part of its Class People Fou Foundation. Among other events, Class People staff vis visited one of its schools in Dursley, Gloucestershire, an and took part in face painting. Class People have rai raised nearly £4k this year for Women V Cancer and CE CEO Lynis Bassett will be flying off to India on 11 No November to complete a 465km cycle ride in five da days to keep up the fundraising for the charity.

ATHONA WALKS OUT FOR ALZHEIMER’S Employees from Brentwood-based Athona Recruitment got up at the crack of dawn to volunteer at the Chelmsford Memory Walk in aid of Alzheimer’s Society, Athona’s charity of the year. Athona already has many more events planned before the end of the year, including a half marathon and an inflatable Santa run.

RED BERRY’S GINTACULAR FUNDRAISER FOR DEMENTIA CHARITY

L-r: Jonathan Viney, Simplicity director; Nick Broady, Pied Piper chairman; and David Thornhill, Simplicity managing director

SIMPLICITY SWINGS INTO ACTION WITH CHARITY GOLF DAY Simplicity, a provider of outsourced back office and financial solutions for the recruitment industry, raised more than £6.5k at a golf day for the Pied Piper Appeal, a Gloucestershire children’s charity.

Red Berry Recruitment raised £230 for dementia charity Reminiscence Learning at Gintacular – the launch of Red Berry’s new gin and vodka liqueurs.

Curated by E18hteen Gin, Berrylicious is a strawberry-flavoured gin liqueur, whilst Berrytastic is a raspberry-flavoured vodka liqueur.

Reminiscence Learning is a Somerset-based charity providing specialist dementia, activity and reminiscence support.

I NSTAGR A M

@starr_careers Nov 1 So proud of @catherine_2391 who came home last night with the Most Inspiring Newcomer Award from @recruitermagazine Investing in Talent Awards. Well done to the team for being shortlisted in 4 more categories. Let’s keep up the good work! @RecruiterMag instagram.com/recruitermagazine/ recruitermagazine.tumblr.com/

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The Recruit Venture Group Recruitment Awards 2018 From celebrating some of the most innovative and fast-growing recruitment agencies in the UK, to commending individual success stories, TV impressionist Alistair McGowan played host to The Recruit Venture Group’s biggest awards ceremony yet. Held in central London on Saturday (October 13) at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms, 15 awards were contested by nearly 50 independent recruitment businesses based up and down the country.

Attended by more than 200 recruitment industry professionals, directors, consultants, managers, trainees and other staff, the awards continue to grow in size and stature as the number of agencies competing for awards increases.

The awards are a celebration of the achievements of the agencies launched since 2011 with the help of The Recruit Venture Group, which funds and provides ongoing support to 46 independent recruitment businesses across the UK. Its tagline is ‘support, create, invest, grow’, in reference to the fact that its joint venture model breaks down barriers to enable talented recruitment professionals to launch their own businesses. Judges for the awards were Paul Mizen, Managing Director of The Recruit Venture Group, and David Head and Becky Wilson from, industry publisher Recruitment International.

Office Support of the Year Anna Thomas - Universal Personnel

Team of the Year Got People

Recruitment Coordinator of the Year Karina Jaworska - Roos Recruitment

Boss of the Year Kelly Cartwright - Jark Norfolk

Recruitment Agency of the Year (up to £3M) Thorne & Wait

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Recruitment Innovation MaK Healthcare

Best Client Service Roos Recruitment

Recruitment Agency of the Year (up to £3M ) Top Team Personnel

07/11/2018 16:43

John Buckman Award The Recruit Venture Group’s 2018 Recruitment Awards concluded with Mary Cox, Managing Director of Got People, being presented with a special recognition award – The John Buckman Award. The Award was introduced by the shareholders of The Recruit Venture Group, in memory of the Group’s Founder John Buckman, who passed away in May 2018, and rewarded the values of entrepreneurship and determination that John lived his life by.

The judges awarded the 2018 John Buckman Special Recognition Award to Mary because of the incredible resilience she has demonstrated throughout the year and described her as “someone who’s lion-hearted spirit would have made John incredibly proud”.

The John Buckman Award Mary Cox - Got People

Trainee Consultant of the Year George Venn - Jark Worcester

Consultant of the Year Irena Sabinskaite - Jark Ipswich

Team of the Year Jark Wakefield

Best Candidate Care Carestaff Bureau

Best Recruitment Agency to Work for Sutton Recruitment

Best Newcomer Vanta Staffing

Recruitment Agency of the Year (£3M to £6M ) Tomlin Personnel

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Recruitment Agency of the Year (£6M plus ) Jark Cambridge

07/11/2018 16:43

E CAREERS CO M M UNITY

The Workplace

BY GUY HAYWARD

34 RECRUITER

indeed encourage innovation and provide a creative working environment. Auto Trader magazine has real Mini cars parked on its walls; LEGO’s offices feature archways in the shape of the toy company’s Minifigures; and employees of entertainment business Mind Candy can meet in a treehouse – so these three businesses certainly think visual stimulation works.

This year’s World Mental Health Day shone a spotlight on the importance of creating ‘retreat space’, which I found thought-provoking. We are already making that change.

Having rooms bustling full of people because of Xboxes and table tennis tables may be exciting, and may work for some people. But what about room(s) for those who just need some downtime, quiet or even a nap? I’m in favour of the ‘fun stuff ’, but sometimes that ‘no phone call’ room can make a big difference. We certainly believe it can.

In a world where the modern workplace is seeking to change the age demographic inside most offices, here’s an interesting statistic: 27% of 45-54-yearolds believe that quiet spaces will increase their productivity at work.

There’s another interesting twist. Property information company Zoopla recently made it onto the Business

“I’m in favour of the ‘fun stuff’, but sometimes that ‘no phone call’ room can make a big difference” Insider website’s ‘10 coolest offices list’, because the company believed it should put as much care into what its office looked like as people give to their own homes. Zoopla built an office of themed areas including a living room, dining room, library and even a treehouse.

Take a look at the offices of accommodation firm Airbnb, file-hosting service Dropbox, charity events company Pallotta Teamworks and fashion brand Urban Outfitters. While they have spent a small fortune on office design – an outlay that isn’t possible for most firms – there must be messages for us all on the role that their office layout and space play in contributing to business performance and culture. ●

↗

FOR MANY YEARS I have been saying that work needs to be a place that challenges and inspires. On average we spend 90,000 hours of our life there, which means that in a typical week we spend more time at work than at home. So how important are the design and cosmetic appearance of the space we find ourselves working in?

I ask this not because of the trend for fun – and often gimmicky – office design, but because of our people’s need to feel they are working in open, clean and spacious communities. While a cosmetically beautiful office remains near the bottom of what is important for people when selecting their new employer – or when keeping their current teams together – it should wholeheartedly complement our approach to how we look after our people and the culture we aim to create.

The ‘Skills and Employment Survey 2017’, released this month, highlighted the continuing stagnation of productivity in the UK. It questioned the role of workplace design as a cause of low productivity, and suggested that, conversely, it can encourage creatively, health, wellbeing and engagement.

Maybe a visually stimulating office does

GUY HAYWARD –redefining the modern workplace CEO, Goodman Masson

DECEMBER 2018

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CO M M U N I T Y

CAREERS

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Find your next move in recruitment on jobs.recruiter. co.uk

How well do you ‘scrub up’?

BY SIMON HUNT

↗ SIMON HUNT is the chief operating officer of Oakleaf Partnership Executive

Diversity & inclusion I recently had the pleasure of being invited to a fantastic diversity event at Bloomberg: ‘Facing the Truth | Ethnicity, the Overlooked Dimension’.

They had a brilliant collection of leaders from industry to discuss the fact that although we are more liberal, more open and more tolerant towards ethnic minorities in the workplace, the outcomes for some ethnic minorities have not changed very much at all.

The examples of real-life experience, industry trends and changes regarding ethnicity in the workplace were brought to life and – I must be honest – left me rather astounded.

The ongoing headlines raised from gender pay gap reporting go some way to putting D&I higher on the business agenda and only highlight how much is still to be done.

As recruiters we should embrace D&I and influence key

Your drive and determination is just as important in-house as it is in the agency environment.

“We should embrace D&I and influence key stakeholders” stakeholders about the benefits that every organisation would reap with a diverse and multicultural workforce. It is clear to me that we simply aren’t doing enough!

Interview performance I caught up with a leading FTSE 100 global recruitment head and old friend, and quizzed them on the trials and tribulations of recruiting into an in-house team. What was it that they look for in new talent? How can you perform better at interview?

1. Pace/drive Their sentiment was that the longer someone has been working in an in-house capacity, the slower and potentially more cumbersome they become. Speed to market, response times and competitive edge are lost, as people become comfortable/lost in the bureaucracy and process that larger organisations are often compounded by. Ability to prove that you can operate at pace and deliver against tough timelines are absolutely key.

I M AG E | I STO C K

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2. Stakeholder management The ability to build solid and effective relationships with stakeholders isn’t a given when it comes to recruiters (although it should be): the drive and inclination to understand your stakeholder, know their business and challenges in their business areas, network and ‘make friends’ with them is an intrinsic part of a top recruiter’s skill set. Showing the extent you have gone to to achieve this and the results gained from that proactivity are often lost at interview.

3. Sales Key sales skills learnt and honed from the agency environment are invaluable to how you make an impact in the in-house world. Your negotiation skills and ability to influence both up and down will wholly impact how effective you are at getting the ‘day job’ done. The number of people who move in-house because they want to move away from sales is therefore ironic, as in-house recruitment leaders want to see examples of outstanding sales skills and will expect you to utilise these skills on a day-to-day basis.

There you go, three relatively simple approaches to interview that should help you make your mark and secure the role that you are looking for.

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E BUSINESS ADVICE CO M M UNITY

ASK THE EXPERT If you were to change one behaviour to improve recruiters’ billings, what would it be?

I’m going to interpret this question loosely, because there are three areas you can tackle simultaneously that together will increase the productivity of each consultant by as much as 75%.

1. Focus Many recruiters waste a significant proportion of every day – 25% wasted is common and 40% is not rare.

Wasted time is lost revenue, as the more calls and quality activities recruiters make, the more new roles they get on, the more candidates they get to interview and the more placements they make. While some people are naturally more productive than others, every consultant should constantly be looking to improve their time management, intensity and efficiency.

Prioritising and organising tasks into a daily time planner (see below), broken into 30-minute slots, will help ensure consultants focus on the activities that will deliver results and encourage them to move straight from one task to the next. This process will reduce the likelihood of distraction, and increase their intensity.

However, working hard delivers results only if consultants are working intelligently. As individuals and as a team, they should be constantly looking at ways to improve productivity. Measures they can take include identifying and refining wording in calls and emails that deliver the greatest return; looking at which activities are the most efficient way to generate candidates or roles; and identifying internal systems or processes that hinder productivity.

2. Contingency Too many recruiters make hitting target every month their objective. They limit their ambition, as they believe the targets you set are the limit of what

H O W TO P R I O R I T I S E YO U R TAS KS

36 RECRUITER

The SME Coach they are capable of achieving. The problem is that if they are ‘striving to hit target’ then they don’t build in contingency, so when a process stalls they miss target.

Reframe their mindset by explaining that their target is the threshold you expect them to hit every month and incentivise them to go beyond it – for example, by increasing their percentage bonus on any billings above target each month. Help them understand that there is a direct correlation between their activity and the results they will achieve. Show them the data that highlights each consultant’s ‘jobs on to filled’ and ‘candidate interviews to placements’ ratios, so they know the numbers they need to achieve each week to exceed their monthly target by a safe margin, such as 25%.

If they are constantly exceeding their targets, then you can raise your expectations and their ambitions.

3. New business focus Over the past year, I have written more about this than about any other subject. New business is the easiest activity for recruiters to put on the back burner when things get busy, but doing so inevitably results in a boom-bust cycle.

Dedicating time to new business activity every week, irrespective of a consultant’s pipeline, is critical to sustained success. The more clients each consultant has, the more efficient they will be, as they can focus their energy on the clients most likely to deliver fees and increase the proportion of candidates that they place, especially in a candidate-short market.

↗

Plan your next day’s activities the evening before. First thing the next day, go through your emails to check nothing has changed, then quickly review the plan. After lunch, quickly review it again for your afternoon’s activities, as things can move fast in recruitment. Categorise tasks as follows: • A: critical tasks you must do before you leave that day, those should get an immovable slot on the daily planner • B: important tasks that should also be allocated a time • C: tasks to spend time on if you have any capacity.

Alex Arnot

ALEX ARNOT is founder of MyNonExec and board advisor to more than 30 recruitment companies

DECEMBER 2018

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E CAREERS CO M M UNITY

‘I jumped on my bike and rode from Central to South-West London to give my candidate a brochure from the client’ MY BRILLIANT RECRUITMENT CAREER What was your earliest dream job?

What was your first job in recruitment and how did you come into it?

After university, I was encouraged by a close friend to work for a ski season. This work with the ski company led to me later working for its recruitment team in London. After a while, this experience brought me into the world of property recruitment.

Since then, I have never looked back.

↗

To be in the police – so much so that I actually ended up working for Merseyside Police for a short period.

ALEX MOORE, associate director, Macdonald & Company

Alex Moore clients well because we offer service on both a contract and a permanent basis.

Offering both is a great place to be in, and we have a good mix of people with lots to go at.

Who is your role model – in life or in recruitment?

What would you consider to be the most brilliant moment of your career?

My grandpa – having worked hard in banking for years, he retired early.

Having raised a family of four, he still has a level head (just), and he sets a fine example to follow.

The recent move has been a highlight for me. The company has provided great support to help me move into this role, and continues to develop my career.

What do you love most about your current role?

What’s your top job to fill at the moment?

I recently transitioned to lead our real estate services team. We have a team of seven. I like it because we have a spread of experienced and new hires. We can serve our

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I’m working with an international freightliner, which is searching for a senior real estate surveyor to cover its portfolio in the South-East of England.

What is your signature dish?

Chicken and chorizo jambalaya.

Laugh or cry, what did your most memorable candidate make you want to do and why?

I wasn’t laughing or crying – I was out of breath. I once had a candidate booked in at the last minute for a final interview.

I wanted her to be well prepared, so I jumped on my bike and rode from our offices [in Hanover Square, Central London] to her flat in Wandsworth [South-West London] to give her the brochure from the client. Fortunately, she got the job.

What’s the best or worst interview question you’ve ever heard?

What kind of animal would you like to be?

What would you regard as your theme tune?

Changing by Sigma.

IM AGES | SHUTTER STOCK / ISTOCK

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E CAREERS CO M M UNITY

10X PSYCHOLOGY: The psychometrics and employee performance provider has appointed Nick Shaw as managing director.

DOUGLAS SCOTT: The legal recruiter welcomes back former employee Lisa Spink, who returns as a managing consultant to head up its inhouse contract desk

joined the talent acquisition membership organisation as strategy and capability director. She comes from British-Dutch transnational consumer goods company Unilever, where she headed up its talent acquisition function.

ESCAPE RECRUITMENT SERVICES: The Scotland-based recruiter has appointed Dan Stewart to its board of directors.

FRONTLINE RECRUITMENT: Leah Godber has joined the careers specialist as a business development executive.

HAMLYN WILLIAMS: Iain O’Dair EPAYME: Laura Walsh has

and Kevin Taylor join the multi-sector recruiter as chief operating officer and finance director respectively.

joined the outsourced payroll services provider as general manager.

HEIDRICK & STRUGGLES: The

THE FIRM: Rachel Dalboth has

global executive search firm has made a number

40 RECRUITER

DECEMBER 2018

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James Ryding has left airline easyJet to join food and drinks giant PepsiCo as talent acquisition senior director.

Recruiter readers will recall Ryding, who was previously head of talent acquisition and HR services at easyJet, was the subject of Recruiter’s cover profile in May last year, where he elaborated on the airline’s ‘Orange Spirit’.

Breaking the news in a LinkedIn post, Ryding said he was delighted to be joining PepsiCo, where he is responsible for leading its Europe and sub-Saharan Africa talent acquisition team. But he also had a few words for his former colleagues.

“It’s been an incredible, transformational three years at easyJet, working with some amazing people, in a business with a unique, authentic culture. We’ve done so much, and I really feel we have made a big difference – thanks so much to all who I have worked with and for being such a great team.”

of senior appointments across the globe. Newly appointed principals are: Carlos Barros (São Paulo), Jeffrey Boyd (New York), Isabel Suarez Lozano (Mexico City), Aelf Hewitson (London), Suzana Kertesz (London), Gabino Stuyck (Madrid), Thorsten Kocherscheidt (Frankfurt), Roman Wecker (Frankfurt), Gregor McCallum (Singapore) and Robert Speers (Hong Kong). Elsewhere, Juncal Garrido (Madrid), Fabrice Lebecq (Brussels) and Richard Sumner (London) have been appointed partners.

HIRERIGHT: The global background screening provider has appointed Steve Girdler as MD for international business.

PRS SOLUTIONS: Julian King joins as regional director (South) in the construction recruiter’s newly opened Southampton office.

Email people moves for use online and in print, including a short 08/11/2018 11:09

Redactive Publishing Ltd 78 Chamber Street, London E1 8BL 020 7880 6200

CONTACTS

SAMUEL KNIGHT INTERNATIONAL: The global recruitment and project manpower specialist in the energy and rail sectors has appointed Carl Moffett as its new chief financial director.

SMASHFLY TECHNOLOGIES: The

accountant with more than 25 years of finance experience, becomes chief financial officer.

UNITING AMBITION: The technology recruitment consultancy has appointed Simon Dixon as its COO.

enterprise recruitment marketing technology provider welcomes Russ Mikowski in the newly created role of chief revenue officer.

technology and business change recruiter has promoted Jack Marsh from associate director to director.

THOMAS INTERNATIONAL: The psychometric assessment tool provider has strengthened its leadership team following the firm’s acquisition by Palamon Capital Partners.

Guy Ballantine, who was most recently MD of the arts division and group head of corporate development at Cambridge Education Group, joins Thomas as chief operations officer; Chris Jackson, who previously worked for publisher Pearson, has been appointed as chief technology officer; and Tim Newbegin, a qualified

A selection of vacancies from recruiter.co.uk Gatenby Sanderson Senior candidate researcher Rec-to-rec London £competitive salary BP HR business partner HR, personnel Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex £competitive salary + bens Collins Squared Business development manager Construction Nationwide From £37,500 + full package

For more jobs, people moves and career advice go to ● recruiter.co.uk/jobs ● inhouserecruiterjobs.co.uk ● internationalrecruiterjobs.com

biography, to recruiter.editorial@redactive.co.uk p48-49_Recruiter_MoversShakers.indd 49

Reporters Colin Cottell, Graham Simons colin.cottell@recruiter.co.uk graham.simons@recruiter.co.uk

Contributing writer Sue Weekes Production editor Vanessa Townsend Designer Craig Bowyer Picture editor Akin Falope

YOU R NE X T M OV E

RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING recruiterjobs@redactive.co.uk

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vanessa.townsend@recruiter.co.uk

WILD BERRY ASSOCIATES: The London-based recruiter has appointed Genevieve Seal as its new operations manager.

SOURCE TECHNOLOGY: The

EDITORIAL +44 (0)20 7880 7603 Editor DeeDee Doke

PRODUCTION +44 (0)20 7880 6209 Senior production executive Rachel Young rachel.young@redactive.co.uk

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+44 (0)20 7880 6245 Sales executive Jonathan Adebayo jonathan.adebayo@redactive.co.uk

CIRCULATION and SUBSCRIPTIONS Recruiter is the leading magazine for recruitment and resourcing professionals. To ensure each issue of Recruiter magazine is delivered to your desk or door, subscribe now at https://subs. recruiter.co.uk/subscribe. Annual subscription rate for 12 issues: £35 UK; £45 Europe and £50 Rest of the world • Recruiter is also available to people who meet our terms of control: http://bit. ly/RecruiterCC • To purchase reprints or multiple copies, or any other enquiries, please contact mysidekick@recruiter.co.uk or +44 (0)20 8950 9117 CONTRIBUTIONS Contributions are invited, but when not accepted will be returned only if accompanied by a fully stamped and addressed envelope. Articles should be emailed. No responsibility can be taken for drawings, photographs or literary contributions during delivery, transmission or in the editor’s hands. © 2018 Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. This publication (and any part thereof) may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in print or electronic format (including but not limited to any online service, any database or any part of the internet) or in any other format in any media whatsoever, without the prior written permission of Redactive Media Group.

Redactive Media Group accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein. The publishers cannot accept liability for any loss arising from the late appearance or non-publication of any advertisement for any reason whatsoever. ISSN 1475-7478

Total average net circulation between 1 July 2017 & 30 June 2018 – 14,837. is also sent to all REC members

Recycle your magazine’s plastic wrap – check your local LDPE facilities to find out how.

Scan here to get your own copy of

08/11/2018 11:09

E THE LAST WORD CO M M UNITY

Gregory Allen Empty chairs and empty tables

How can recruitment support business continuity and develop resilience?

In both my work life and personal life, the term ‘cyber attack’ has been omnipresent, and recently I have been asked about talent acquisition and how it supports business continuity.

Problems happen when we least expect them to and more so today when we are surrounded by terror attacks, natural disasters and fake news. Do we have the tool kits in place to prevent the outcomes becoming worse than they should be? In many cases of business continuity, you need the right people in the right place. Often this is done through internal resource planning, but often it is the external market we turn to, to find the right person to help us get out of a situation and re-establish

business operations as quickly as possible.

Often you hear a manager shout: “Oh, and I need that person by yesterday.” In business continuity, this is often precariously true – not being able to find the right person could have serious consequences for the business, for our customers and for our employees.

Business continuity management is a framework that’s embedded into an organisation to understand threats, to design outcomes and to develop a robust plan can be implemented with appropriate responses to get operations back on track. Recruitment is part of that plan. Understanding the ability to search for capabilities required to best suit the divestment of the threat and to get things back on track.

As a recruitment function,

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we should review our current cadre of recruitment tools, talent pools and technologies with a business continuity lens, asking ourselves how would these help me in a crisis, to support my company and my colleagues. Often, they are more robust, agile and powerful than we think, most being available on our mobiles tablets and phones.

This takes time, and often you can hold our technology suppliers to account through the same lens by asking: ‘How will this tool help my company if something happens?’ It is interesting how many want to work with you on this subject and help develop themselves to support an additional dimension to their sales proposition.

On several scenario plans, we have been able to use our

GREGORY ALLEN is global head of resourcing at Lloyd’s Register

current tools to find people with skill sets in specific locations and have managed to contact them within minutes of something happening, while being off the grid. On occasions when cyber attacks froze all systems internally, it has been third-party technology suppliers that could help.

For me, recruitment is business continuity management, and once more positions talent acquisition at the heart of our organisation and enables our service to our internal customer to be a linchpin in the health & safety of our people and organisations.

Recruitment has an opportunity to have another chair at yet another table.

DECEMBER 2018

08/11/2018 11:09

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CHANGING THE SHAPE

F PAY AND BENEFITS

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