Recruiter - January 2018 by Redactive Media Group

www.recruiter.co.uk

Business intelligence for recruitment and resourcing professionals

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January 2018

INCORPORATING Recruitment Recruitme Matters

Revealed: the UK recruitment firms earning the highest gross profits per head

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C R ONT ENT S

INCORPORATING Recruitment Matters

COV ER | R IC H AR D GLEED

NEWS

05 HOT 1OO’s Productivity Top 20 are ‘best of the best’ This year’s Recruiter HOT 1OO is again supplemented by the Productivity Growth Top 20. 06 Monroe office opening heralds new targets in US The new South Carolina office brings new clients and talent to the recruiter

19 THE BIG STORY Recruiter’s HOT 1OO

Who are the 1OO most profitable recruitment firms in the UK?

28 Rullion: not resting on its laurels

07 Start-up of the Month: Source Liane Hartley and Sharron Clow on their new venture 08 This was the month that was... 10 Contracts & Deals

TRENDS

12 Insight Exclusive interview with NHS Improvement

Tech & Tools Recommendations to find the right candidates

C 16

One of the HOT 1OO’s most consistent performers looks to cover new ground

07 New recruitment fund hits the mark for Parsons Arrows Group Ventures will support innovation

FEATURES

E COMMUNITY 35 Social Network 36 The Workplace: Guy Hayward 37 Community Careers: Tara Lescott 38 Business Advice: Alex Arnot 40 Employability 44 My brilliant recruitment career: Warren Barry, TXM Recruit 46 Recruitment Advertising 48 Movers & Shakers 49 Recruiter Contacts 50 The Last Word: Alan Furley, ISL Recruitment

INTERACTION Viewpoint Adam Sheekey, Dutton Recruitment Soundbites

32 I M AG E S | I STO C K / H O ME G RO UP / PAUL STUART / AK IN FALO P E

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UPDATE

WE LCO M E

LEADER ntering the new year on the heat wave that is Recruiter’s HOT 100 gets 2018 off to a sizzling start! You’ll find some hardy perennials in the list; also joining the ranks of the most profitable on the 2017 list are some newbies. That’s great news for those businesses individually and for the sector – welcome to an efficient and forward-thinking elite. And of course, multiple huzzahs to the wonderful Agile Intelligence for their painstaking research in creating one of the highlights of the year! The featured HOT 100 company in this issue is Rullion. And speaking of forward thinking, Rullion’s CEO James Saoulli has a lot to say about the company’s new direction. Recruiter’s Colin Cottell had a stimulating conversation with James recently; we know you’ll find it stimulating too. When I had the chance to chat with Martin Innes of NHS Improvement about NHSI’s relationships with recruiters, we explored a variety of issues, of which we couldn’t fit everything in this issue of the magazine. So be sure to follow us online at recruiter.co.uk for the rest of the story from this key market for many of you. What a surprise-filled year 2017 year has been. Personally, I can’t wait to see what 2018 has in store! All the best!

“Multiple huzzahs to the wonderful Agile Intelligence for their painstaking research for the HOT 100!”

DeeDee Doke, Editor

Productivity Growth Top 20 companies ‘the best of the best’ BY COLIN COTTELL

FOLLOWING ITS INTRODUCTION LAST YEAR, this year’s Recruiter HOT 100 is again supplemented by the Productivity Growth Top 20. This ranks the top 20 UK staffing companies by growth in gross proﬁt per head/employee (GPH) when compared with the previous year. Sue Dodd, director of Agile Intelligence, who compiled both the HOT 100 and the Montreal Associates (Systems) 53.7% Productivity Growth Top 20, told Recruiter Harvey Nash Group 43.5% that unless companies were raising Modis International 33.1% their GP by cutting staff, inclusion in the Productivity Top 20 was a sign “they were Ajilon (UK) 32.9% doing some big things right, and proves Opus Professional Services Group 32.5% they are among the most productive and Fawkes & Reece 29.7% efficient companies in the industry”. SEC 27.3% Where companies had kept their headcount the same or even increased it, ITHR Group 25.6% being included in the table “proves they are Marlin Green 24.3% the best of the best, both in their operations Cornwallis Elt 22.8% and getting the most out of their internal employees”. The Bridge (IT Recruitment) 19.4% It also suggests that “a lot of those Gemini People 14.8% companies are some of the best employers Odgers Intermediate 14.5% in the industry because they look after Phaidon Holdings 13.6% their employees”, said Dodd. The top-ranked company in the Mayday Healthcare 13.5% Productivity Growth Top 20 was Montreal RIG Medical Recruit 13.1% Associates, which saw a 53.7% rise in Hays 13.1% productivity, with each employee delivering £107,589 of GP up from just under £69k last PPF 12.8% year. Two companies – RIG Medical Recruit Day Webster 12.6% and The Bridge (IT) – made the table for the Rullion Engineering 12.3% second consecutive year. ●

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36,325 FOLLOWERS AS OF 9 NOVEMBER 2017

Monroe office opening brings new targets in sight

Other potential South Carolina locations for Monroe include Greenville, home to Michelin’s North American headquarters and next-door city to a full BMW production facility, and state capital Columbia. Briand says Greenville, BY DEEDEE DOKE for example, would provide significant opportunities in the professional services market. THE OPENING OF A NEW OFFICE in Fort Mill, South Carolina in “We’re really excited,” Briand said. the US will position Staffing 360 Solutions subsidiary Monroe Downtown Atlanta is a current location for Monroe Staffing Solutions within reach of more than 300 target clients sister company, firstPRO Georgia. Staffing 360 acquired the in retail and manufacturing, according to Monroe president accounting, finance and IT specialist in September, as part of and CEO Matt Briand. its global buy-and-build strategy. y Speaking exclusively to Recruiter,, Briand said that the newlyMonroe also has offices in the US states of Connecticut, arolina’s fastest gr rowing cities Massachusetts h tts, New Hampshire a launched office in one of South Carolina’s growing Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. 36 executive chairman will also provide access to a large candidate pool. Staffing 360 nted in F Monroe previously was represented Brendan Flood told Recruiter there oncord, coul be “quite a tie-up” the Southern US with offices in Concord, also could betwee its UK acquired Salisbury and Winston-Salem, all in between e. The recruit North Carolina, north of Charlotte. recruitment business, engineering xpand recruit CBSbutler, and its US Fort Mill office sets the stage to expand recruiter ern busine Monroe and Staffing 360’s Southern businesses down the line. Brendan Flood (left ft) and Matt th UK, Staffing 360 also owns presence, down the Interstate 85 corridor In the t Briand (right) tlanta, recrui through South Carolina toward Atlanta, IT recruiter JM Group and finance & ntly accountan and law recruiter Georgia, where Staffing 360 recently accountancy siness. Longbrid 360. ● acquired another recruitment business. Longbridge

Saoulli’s big dreams BY COLIN COTTELL

JAMES SAOULLI, THE CEO OF MULTISECTOR SPECIALIST RECRUITER RULLION has told Recruiter of his long-term ambitions for the privately-owned

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company. “I want Rullion to have the professionalism and scale of a Plc – like Hays or Michael Page International – whilst retaining the advantage of being a privately-held business,” he said. Saoulli took on the role of CEO at Rullion, whose IT business was ranked 8th in this year’s Recruiter HOT 100, in January 2017 following a major restructuring. Despite the company doubling its turnover to £460m in the last seven years, he has embarked on a series of radical changes to keep it relevant to the changing needs of the

market, while helping it to prepare for and shape the future of recruitment. Saoulli said he also had his eye on overseas markets. “We will start looking at overseas in earnest next year, and I would hope by the end of 2018 we will have developed a game plan to start building our international footprint.” However, he said that at the moment no decisions had been taken on locations, business lines or the pace of international expansion. ● For more on how Saoulli is transforming Rullion, please see pp28-30.

Find more daily news stories at recruiter.co.uk/news

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THOUGHTS FROM…

UPDATE

MARTIN INNES NHS IMPROVEMENT

“A computer can’t recruit somebody. The best recruiter is a recruiter”

JA M E S S AO U L L I CEO, RULLION

“The market doesn’t wait for you to be a nice organisation and bring everyone along with you: it runs to its own timeline.”

SIMON WALLIS D O M INO’S PIZZA GROUP ’S CHIEF OPER ATING OF F I CER , SPEAKING TO THE PRESS ASSOCIATION

“We need to properly consider how we’re going to supply our economy with the legions of team leaders who keep the tills ringing, the wheels turning and the pizzas coming.”

New fund hits target for Parsons COLIN COTTELL

JAMES PARSONS, CEO AND FOUNDER OF GLOBAL WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS provider Arrows Group Global, is launching a capital investment fund for the recruitment sector, which he told Recruiter “he would have bitten your hand off for” had it been around when he started in recruitment. Parsons said the aim of the new fund, Arrows Group Ventures – to be launched formally in January – is to support “the next generation of innovative businesses in our sector”. Tapping into the growing trend for recruitment to be automated, Parsons said the fund focused on “the sweet spot of the tech enablement space within HR and staffing”. He said the fund will look to invest in two types of businesses: those providing technology to the recruitment market, such as AI-based talent management platforms providers, and niche recruitment businesses “that are leveraging technology”. The fund into which Parsons is putting £500k of his money will provide seed capital, advice and infrastructure support. Parsons said he will be looking for a minority stake in the businesses in which the fund invests, with a view to growing the business and exiting “at some stage”. He said it was likely he would take up an advisory board role in each of the companies. Parsons said two or three other people are interested in investing alongside him. “The fund will lend itself to start-ups and incubator type businesses,” said Parsons. “I want to attract the sharpest young recruiters who have something worth investing in.” Parsons co-founded Arrows Group with Adrian Treacy in 2003, going on to co-found ICG Medical with Treacy as well in 2006. Parsons exited from ICG Medical in May 2017. ●

STA RT-UP OF THE MONTH LIANE HARTLEY AND SHARRON CLOW HAVE SET UP SOURCE, AN AGENCY THAT ETHICALLY RECRUITS PEOPLE FOR PROJECTS IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT. According to Hartley, the agency has been launched with the mission of effecting “dramatic” change in the diversity profile at all levels and disciplines within the built environment sector. “We collaborate with organisations dedicated to removing barriers to employment for traditionally excluded

groups including women, BAME, ex-offenders and ex-service personnel. We provide recruitment services and also directly employ people for placement into projects and organisations. This is across a broad range of roles, skills and levels of experience. “Our motivation is to tackle unethical practices and unfair employment conditions. We partner with clients, contractors, labour providers and social enterprises to provide pathways to employment, and training for diverse and local people. We also

offer consultancy and advisory services for clients looking for social sustainability requirements, and to contractors and suppliers looking to meet those requirements and perform well.” Looking ahead, Hartley says the agency is seeking to extend its business model to other sectorss including hospitality, care and transport. “We see huge potential for developing a recruitment and employment mechanism that focuses specifically on social sustainability and ethics as this is a new frontier of working.”

Sharron Clow (above) and Liane Hartley (right) WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 7

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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 December issue of Recruiter was published N O V E M B E R •‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒→

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INDUSTRY SIDELINED BY PARTIAL HMRC-COMMISSIONED OFF-PAYROLL RESEARCH

TUE, 28 NOVEMBER 2017

GOLDSMITH FINED £5K AND ORDERED TO ATTEND REHABILITATION SESSIONS Gary Goldsmith was given a 12-month community order with 20 rehabilitation sessions and ﬁned £5k for an attack on his wife that was described by the Chief Magistrate as one carried out “like a nasty drunk – not the happy drunk your friends and you describe”. Goldsmith was also ordered to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £170. In sentencing Goldsmith, Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot, said the purpose of the rehabilitation was “to ensure that this kind of loutish behaviour does not reoccur”. Before Goldsmith was sentenced, Jane Humphryes QC representing Goldsmith argued in mitigation that a caution should be imposed. “Had it not been for his high proﬁle it would never have been dealt with in this way. Had it been anyone else out at a charity event, it would never have come to the attention of the CPS, the court or in this case the media.” Humphryes told the court Goldsmith “has done all he can to ensure there will be no repeat of this behaviour”. He had already had six sessions with an independent counsellor, with further ones “diarised for up to a year”. “They are usually a very happily married couple,” she added of Goldsmith and his wife Julie Ann. More: http://bit.ly/2i5ygto

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HMRC-commissioned research into the impact of controversial off-payroll rules introduced across the public sector in April has been criticised for not taking into account the views of the recruitment sector. The contract to carry out the research came to an end on 30 November without any input from any of the organisations or bodies contacted by Recruiter [correct at time of press]. Some industry bodies say as a result it will only provide the government with a partial picture of the effects of the reforms, and they say it has fuelled fears that the government has already made up its mind to implement the changes in the private sector. The research was mentioned in the Treasury’s Red Book that accompanied the Autumn Budget as part of the government’s efforts to consult “on how to tackle non-compliance with the intermediaries legislation (commonly known as IR35) in the private sector”. The contract to carry out the research was given to IFF Research at a cost of £84k. More: http://bit.ly/2Ao3174

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ECJ HOLIDAY PAY RULING HAS ‘ENORMOUS IMPLICATIONS’ The European Court of Justice ruling on holiday pay has “enormous implications” for employers and those who engage self-employed contractors, an employment lawyer has told Recruiter. Jacqueline McDermott, an employment lawyer at Keystone Law, told Recruiter that following the ruling employers could potentially face having to give holiday pay to workers going back more than 20 years. She said that recruiters and employers who engage self-employed contractors should take steps to ensure they are genuinely self-employed, as should it turn out they are in fact workers then they could face huge bills that could even put some of them out of business. McDermott’s advice follows 29 November’s ruling that a worker claiming holiday pay is not precluded from doing so even though the worker has not sought to take the holidays to which they are entitled. The court also ruled that there should be no time bar on the leave for which a worker can claim holiday pay. The previous time limit had been two years. McDermott said the implications of the ECJ ruling “are enormous, especially [for] those who employ selfemployed contractors, who turn out to be workers”. More: http://bit.ly/2Bxk2Ju

IM AGES | ISTOCK / REX / SHU TTE RSTO C K / AL AM Y

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CSI SLAMS ARMY RECRUITMENT TACTICS S Charity Child Soldiers International has criticised the British Army for its latest recruitment campaign, which it says is appealing to an alarming number of vulnerable under 18-year-olds. More than 19,000 under-18s have applied to join the army since the launch of its award-winning ‘This is Belonging campaign’, according to the Guardian newspaper. CSI’s director of programmes Rachel Taylor said the army wanted young people to sign up because they were “more psychologically malleable”. More: http://bit.ly/2ns7gtq

DAYS

←‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒‒• D E C E M B E R

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MON, 4 DECEMBER 2017

NEW ZEALAND COPS PROVE THEY’RE HARD TO BEAT

RECRUITERS MAKE THE SUNDAY TIMES FAST TRACK 100

New Zealand Police’s viral recruitment video is gathering global momentum and appears to be justifying its claim to be the “world’s most entertaining recruitment video”. The humorous video has taken social media by storm, with around 3.7m views, 49,000 likes and 53,500 shares. It’s an all-action affair with police officers seen running across the screen chasing an unknown suspect, while at the same time telling potential candidates the type of training and roles they could get involved in. A spokesperson for New Zealand Police told Recruiter there have been 1,288 new proﬁles created on the New Zealand Police recruiting website since the video aired on Sunday 26 November. Kaye Ryan, New Zealand Police deputy CEO – People, says: “NZ Police made the video to target Kiwi audiences, so we have been blown away by the international response. Importantly, the video is working for us, with a huge surge in interest and recruit applications.”

Six recruiters have made the cut in this year’s Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 list of fast-growing private ﬁrms.

More: http://bit.ly/2ArP1Y7

MON, 4 DECEMBER 2017

X FACTOR WINNERS RAK-SU BOASTS A RECRUITER IN THE LINE-UP After years of trying, the recruitment sector finally has an X Factor winner. Since the launch of the ITV singing competition back in 2004, the sector has had two high profile finalists in the form of 2009 runner-up Olly Murs and Honey G, who defied the odds week after week to make last year’s quarter finals. This year, recruitment finally has a winner in Myles Stephenson (above, second from right), who alongside fellow Rak-Su band mates won the 2017 competition in early December. Recruiter can reveal Stephenson worked as an NHS team leader at healthcare recruiter Concept Care Solutions (CCS) up until October. A spokesperson for the agency told Recruiter Stephenson joined the agency six years ago, working his way up through the ranks before leaving the business in October. The spokesperson revealed Stephenson’s band mate Ashley Fongho (above, far right) is the son of the owner of CCS, with the two band mates first forming a friendship at secondary school. According to the spokesperson, balancing work and music never proved a challenge for Stephenson. “Myles used to tuck himself in the training room making music, so we have seen the journey over a long period of time.” And while Stephenson has had the support of the agency’s nurses and staff through their weekly voting for Rak-Su to win the competition, he will always have a home at CCS, the spokesperson added. “This is home to Myles. He is always welcome.” Maybe if he gets bored of all the singing, recording and touring he can give CCS a ring…

The list reveals the agencies on the list ranked as follows: TFS Healthcare (3) Opus Professional Services Group (43) Globe Locums (53) X4 Group (74) Madigan Gill (92) Frank Recruitment Group (97) Recruiter will publish its annual FAST 50 league of fast growing recruitment ﬁrms, complied by Clearwater International, in our February edition. And look out for Recruiter’s HOT 100 list on p19 of this issue. More: http://bit.ly/2jdmyxw

More: http://bit.ly/2BwjCTq

Find more daily news stories at recruiter.co.uk/news

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CONTRACTS

CONTRACTS & DEALS

Hesketh James Manchester-based hospitality recruiter Hesketh James has secured a £90k investment from Business Finance Solutions, part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and the finance arm of The Growth Company and partner of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. The £40k funding from UK governmentbacked Start Up Loans and £50k investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund will be used to create seven new jobs and invest in IT and marketing. This will enable Hesketh James to expand and develop its services, both in the North-West and across the UK, including a recently launched accountancy and finance recruitment practice.

Berry Recruitment Berry Recruitment Group has acquired South-East London-based Joy Recruitment – bringing its number of branches to 36. Founder and owner of Joy Recruitment Andrea Lach, who left Berry Recruitment in 2007, will stay on at the agency. Joy Recruitment in West Wickham specialises in the construction, white collar, commercial and rec-to-rec sectors.

NRG North-East headquartered recruiter NRG has been chosen to partner with the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) to recruit senior executives. NRG’s Scot McHarg, executive managing consultant, is leading the search and selection for two strategic roles – a director of strategy, business development and a director of finance & commercial services.

Heart 2 Heart Staff Solns Healthcare recruiter Heart 2 Heart Staff Solutions has purchased the assets and business of Heart to Heart Recruitment after it entered into administration. The business has relaunched under the name Heart 2 Heart Staff Solutions with the same directors and management and will continue to provide the same services as previously offered. The move follows nationwide insolvency practitioner SFP completing the sale of the business and assets of the business.

Workday Recruitment software provider Workday has announced that software technology firm Software AG has selected its Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) to optimise HR operations and processes globally. Software AG says it selected Workday technology due to its ability to provide a single, unified cloud HR system to standardise core HR processes and streamline HR operations across the organisation.

Hiring Hub Online marketplace Hiring Hub has raised a £1.4m round of investment led by investors Maven Capital Partners, on behalf of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund. The firm says the investment will enable it to develop its proprietary platform, invest in marketing activity to fuel growth, and strengthen its leadership team.

DEAL OF T HE MONT H

Trust Tech Japan-based staffing business Trust Tech has paid £20.1m for 75% of shares in UK recruitment agency gap personnel. gap personnel’s existing management team, led by Mark Roberts, who is also a shareholder in the business, will continue to lead the business and work closely alongside

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Trust Tech to support its growth strategy. Gary Dewhurst, CEO and founder of gap personnel, said the deal would enable the agency to accelerate expansion plans and identify and work with growing businesses that could be added to gap’s portfolio. The agency provides

temporary and permanent staffing and training solutions across the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), warehouse & logistics and manufacturing sectors across 39 UK locations. Carl Swansbury, partner at Ryecroft Glenton Corporate Finance (supported by corporate finance manager Alex Simpson),

advised gap personnel group on the deal. Tax advice was provided by Ryecroft Glenton’s Simon Hopwood and Charlie Burton. Legal advice was provided by Simon Herbert from Bevan Rose Solicitors. Trust Tech was advised by PwC Advisory and Osborne Clarke.

More contract news at recruiter.co.uk/news

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RECRUITERS, WORK WITH US

involves ensuring more agencies comply with the requirement when invoicing their NHS clients and paying their workers to break down the rate paid and outline what Innes calls “the seven pillars” of the total charge for a worker’s services: the rate paid for the service, holiday pay allowance, agency fee, framework fees, other fees, employers pension and employers National Insurance.

A move toward collaborative staffing banks, rate transparency and achieving continued cost-cutting targets for agency expenditure and temporary staffing costs overall are 2018 priorities for the NHS, a senior official at NHS Improvement (NHSI) says. BY DEEDEE DOKE

Be transparent

n an exclusive interview with Recruiter, Martin Innes, NHSI senior operational agency data and Intelligence lead, outlined recent successes and his ‘wish list’ for continuing efficiencies in the health service’s temporary staffing environment. Agency costs, Innes acknowledges, had previously been “out of control. We’re quite honest about that”. In 2015-16, agency spend was £3.65bn. “If we had done nothing about it,” Innes says, “it probably would have been £5-6bn this year. It wasn’t good for the health sector, and it wasn’t good for the economy.” But today, Innes can point to cost-

“It brings transparency. The worker immediately knows what they’re earning,” says Innes, and trusts understand what their spend is paying for. Some agencies still “want to use the old style … but I think we are making progress”, Innes says. “If I could ask them for one thing,” Innes says of agencies, “it would be for more transparency. Put your transparency out there. Then that shows the worker and the trust you’re open, you’re honest, you’re prepared to work with us. The best agencies will get the best staff because you’re transparent. And it also helps identify where further reductions in the NHS could be had.” One example is in unnecessary provisions for employers pension,

cutting success: since 2015-16, agency spend has fallen by “just over £1bn”, with the percentage of agency spend in the total pay bill having dropped from over 7% in 2015-16 to under 6% in 201617. The percentage is expected to fall further to 4.2% by the end of 2017-18. He attributes some of that success to recruitment agencies that have been willing to co-operate with NHSI’s drives to bring “sustainable temporary staffing” to the health service. “I’m proud of the work agencies are doing, working with me, wanting to support trusts to reduce their expenditure,” Innes said. “Is there more they can do? Absolutely.” Achieving rate transparency is an ongoing priority. At one level, this

NATIONAL AGENCY SPEND (£M PER MONTH) Monthly agency expenditure and trajectory towards £2.5bn 17/18 target Agency expenditure (£ million) 300 Agency expenditure Agency ceiling 200

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Source: NHS Improvement.

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which Innes says “a lot” of agency staff have opted out of. “On many occasions,” he says, “the NHS is still being charged for that element even for the workers who have opted out. On the flip side, we’ve got agencies that have tried not to charge that but the trusts’ systems reject their invoice for being too cheap. We’ve got to do some work on the other side too, while we’ve got agencies trying to work with us and some agencies still overcharging. We’ve got to work together.” Innes and NHSI see agencies helping to move forward the concept and practice of collaborative banks across local footprints, while hospitals are being guided to look more widely across their entire organisations internally to fill temporary vacancies. “We’re working in a more progressive way,” Innes says. “We’re looking at rostering and job planning, so we’re asking the hospital a very simple question: do you really need this temporary worker? Previously, if they were short on one ward, they may have just brought in a temporary worker. Now, if we’re short on this ward, is there a resource elsewhere that is surplus to requirements that we can bring in?” Administration offers an example of where Innes sees increased potential efficiencies, such as in filling temporary vacancies in very senior manager (VSM) positions. “What I ask agencies and trusts is, why do we always go for a VSM? Why are we not looking for the one at the band below who can be promoted temporarily? We can still bring in an agency worker but maybe not at the most senior level.”

Staff development At the same time, Innes argues, the NHS will face staff development issues if it does not provide opportunities for its internal staff to step up to take on such vacancies on a temporary basis when they arise. The development of shared, collaborative staffing banks that cover localised footprints will be crucial to delivering the sustainable temporary staffing the NHS needs, Innes says. “That doesn’t mean agencies won’t be there – they’ve got a key role to play,” he adds. “What do agencies do well? Recruitment, retention, compliance, referencing, ﬁlling shifts. Recruiters know how to get people in those shifts a lot better than NHS staff because that’s their day-to-day job. So we envisage agencies helping with a new service provision going forward with the medical locums in particular,” Innes says. A new temporary staffing model could be ready to examine or test early in the 2018-19 ﬁnancial year, Innes says. To agencies, he says: “We want to work with you to lead, modernise, develop and integrate into a new society. We would ask you to work with us, and help us deliver a sustainable temporary staffing model.” ●

↗

Source: NHS Improvement.

8.0% 7.0% 6.0% 5.0% 4.0% 3.0% 2.0% 1.0% 0.0%

MARTIN INNES is NHSI senior operational agency data and Intelligence lead

WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 13

p12_13_recruiter_insight.indd 13

07/12/2017 11:52

Launching the GDPR Test Are you ready to test your GDPR Knowledge? A Solid Partnership

Looking Ahead

Recruitment testing specialists, ISV Software, and recruitment software experts, Voyager Software are pleased to announce WKH Ã&#x20AC;UVW RI WKHLU QHZ VXLWH RI *'35 WRROV GHOLYHUHG WKURXJK WKH ISV Online platform.

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REC.01.18.014.indd 14

01/12/2017 15:45

T R E N DS

TECH & TOOLS

Building relationships Making the right recommendation SUE WEEKES

Every recruitment platform seeks to connect candidates and employers. As technology and business models evolve, how they do it becomes the differentiator. Indeed, the proliferation of social and business networks has meant most candidates are ﬁndable, in theory, but in practice locating them can be time-consuming. “Companies are constantly generating copious recruiting data through their activities but making sense of it all is daunting,” says Leela Srinivasan of talent acquisition software ﬁrm Lever, whose software automates a list of candidate recommendations from its respective database and allows the recruiter to contact them direct. Meanwhile, Anygood.com also works on recommendations but in this case from a human being. “Moving forwards, we will leverage technology further and continue to combine systems and human intervention in a way that maximises the efficiency and quality of the outcome,” says AnyGood? co-founder Juliet Eccleston.

RECOMMENDED BY EXPERTS AnyGood? is a disruptive recruitment model, which is based on reputation and has a network of subject matter experts at its core, called members. Typically, they have had hiring experience but are not recruitment professionals. “Someone who is experienced enough in their field to know what good looks like,” explains Eccleston. “They are likely to have hired people before and are well-connected within their community. This means they often have between 5-10 years’ worth of experience.” When a role is posted on the network, the experts recommend someone they believe is right for it and who is also available. AnyGood? provides a shortlist of these recommendations for the

employer to review. If they appoint an individual from this selection, they pay a one-off fee, which is shared with the member.

RECOMMENDED BY ALGORITHMS Lever launched its software for direct recruiters, which make up the majority of its customer base but it has also been adopted by boutique agencies. Nurture Recommendations sits within its Nurture Lever product and helps recruiters recognise the talent that is already residing in its database and makes it easy to rekindle a relationship with a candidate. The intelligent Recommendations engine, based on a proprietary algorithm, automatically generates a list of recommended candidates

for the new job posting. The algorithm takes criteria such as interview scores, why a person was archived rather than appointed, previous job postings, how far they got in the process and date of last contact. The recruiter can then reignite a conversation with the candidate from within Lever Nurture.

TRUSTED SOURCES What these platforms have in common is that they deliver the recruiter suitable candidates from a source they can trust. Lever’s software was built from the ground up to preserve candidate history in a single source of truth. “Lever does the legwork to intelligently surface your best-fit candidates all based on trustworthy data you’ve already fed in,”

WHEN ATS MET CRM Traditionally, applicant tracking systems (ATS) have been aimed at employers and candidate/client relationship management (CRM) systems at agencies. Lever Nurture was built from the ground up as an ATS with CRM embedded, which means that in-house recruiters have some of the same relationship building and fostering functions that have previously been afforded to agencies. I M AG E | I STO C K

p15_recruiter_techandtools.indd 15

says Srinivasan. AnyGood? proactively ‘curates’ its network of experts to ensure it has the right balance of experience and locations for clients. Eccleston adds: “But more importantly to ensure our network is a good representation of society. We either meet new members personally, or ask for a reference. In terms of maintaining quality, the client has the ability to rate the quality of each recommendation made by a member.”

EXPOSING NEW AND ALTERNATIVE CANDIDATES Both platforms help to give exposure to candidates that might otherwise be missed in traditional recruiting processes. In the case of Nurture Recommendations, for example, it can provide an opportunity for good second or third place candidates to re-surface. “Imagine if a recruiter followed up with you after many months, or even years, and remembered your strengths, motivations, why the opportunity didn’t work out before, and any

other important context,” says Srinivasan. AnyGood? says candidates are often recommended from industries and backgrounds from which traditionally employers may not have considered. “Being open to candidates from different talent pools can bring new skills and experiences a client may not have expected,” says Eccleston.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS The recruiting process is built on relationships, and while undisputedly a human function, the new tools have an important part to play, whether it is at the introduction or nurturing stage. “When a candidate applied, it was a very linear, one-and-done relationship,” says Srinivasan. “But winning today is about building and nurturing your candidate relationships to connect the right talent, with the right opportunity, at the right time. The recruiters who get the most out of Recommendations will be the ones who take this long-term, strategic view to recruiting.” WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 15

07/12/2017 09:41

INTE R AC TIO N

VIEWPOINT

Consistent growth Future-proofing in recruitment BY ADAM SHEEKEY

rowth is the holy grail in any business – not increasing profits or the number of clients. It’s all about inciting all-round growth within your business. The thing I find most frustrating about growth such as this is that it is not formulaic – you cannot directly attribute it to something you have done. More likely, it is the result of many actions and decisions over a long period of time. So once this growth is gained, you don’t want to say goodbye to it any time soon. This is where future-proofing comes in, something which plays a major role in my decision-making. Our business, like all businesses, is not perfect. We have made mistakes in the past, and when I took over as CEO a year ago, there were many things to tidy up. This in itself makes up a large part of future-proofing. Ensuring that your business is running a streamlined, consistent and efficient operation is crucial; mostly because the opposite will quickly cut any growth short. For example, as a business we had become too focused on our image within our specialised industries, and neglected the bigger picture. Though this didn’t upset our clients, it meant that our growth as a business was being limited. Our image on a national scale was being neglected through a mixture of lack of investment and training. To combat this, we invested in our marketing department, adding new staff to ensure that this crucial avenue got the attention it deserved. I noticed our online presence had become stale, and we hadn’t been developing awareness of our brand – both

“I also strongly believe in diversiﬁcation”

ADAM SHEEKEY is CEO, Dutton Recruitment.

things that have improved greatly. I also increased my interaction with all of our consultants, spending large parts of my time on the road visiting our branches for one-to-one interactions. Through this I wanted to build a new culture – one that looked after the client, but also considered the bigger picture. I wanted to encourage our consultants to undertake new challenges, interact with new clients, raise their online presence and feel encouraged to share ideas on the business. If our employees were growing as recruiters, it would in turn aid the growth of our business, but most importantly help to sustain any growth that occurred. As well as investment, I also strongly believe in diversification. Part of ensuring your growth is consistent is ensuring that it is guarded against what the future may hold: all your eggs in one basket comes to mind… So over the past year I have been working tirelessly to strengthen the bonds with our sister company Portland Training. Being able to provide a training and recruitment service enables you to upskill candidates and then also place them in the appropriate role. Not only is this an excellent service to offer clients, but it is also rewarding. Specifically, the interaction between our construction team and Portland Training has been greatly improved, and we have found that the ability to promise candidates access to training and the qualifications to help them progress has been hugely beneficial. In all, future-proofing can sometimes feel like a guessing game. I have found that operating with conviction and a belief in the direction I am going, has really helped the process in practice and also the results. One thing is certain however; future-proofing is almost as crucial in recruitment as the growth itself.

16 RECRUITER

IMAG E | ISTOCK

JANUARY 2018

p16_17_recruiter_agency_soapbox.indd 16

07/12/2017 09:42

I N T E R AC T I O N

SOUNDBITES

WEB CH AT

SELF-EMPLOYMENT IS ONLY OPTION AT A CERTAIN AGE I’m writing in response to your article ‘Centre for Ageing Better calls on recruiters to get older workers in jobs’ (recruiter.co.uk, 14 November). [Because of the high unemployment in the 50-64-year-old age bracket] loads of people of my age attempt to work self-employed. Unfortunately the DWP’s Universal Credit system believes that if the money we can bring in is less than about £12k pa then benefit is cut. This monthly target is based on a bogus use of the minimum wage and should never have been allowed. For me, at 52, my best shot is to be selfemployed and ‘do what I can’. This offers best work security and allows people my age to work at a rate that is do-able and employs their skills. I could not be a Deliveroo driver. The DWP system has meant I have needed to sell specialist equipment and has greatly distracted me from working. The whole process undermined me as it will many others. The age range kept out of work by the Tories under [Margaret] Thatcher are now being knackered by the Tories under [Theresa] May. SAM WELBOURNE

TRAINING HELPS US STAND UP AGAINST SLAVERY I read your story on the arrests for modern slavery offences with interest (‘Three arrested in Kent in modern slavery operation’, recruiter.co.uk, 2 November). We talk about this in our Mandatory Training. If we are in a position to recognise it, we can support people in meeting their human rights. CHRISTINE GRANGE, LOCAL CARE FORCE

“What plans do you have for your business in 2018?” PAUL ATKINSON EX ECUT I V E CH A I RMA N , TA R A N ATA G RO U P

“Acquisition will form a large part of our forward strategy, alongside strong organic growth. Taranata Group companies already have some of the best players in the talent space, and we will hand-pick more to join us, ensuring that our values of shared ambition, dynamic operation, honesty and passion hold strong – and are shared by future partners. At the same time, we are looking inward, providing new opportunities for individuals and teams. We will identify new specialist areas and apply innovation smarts to our business model and the way we work with clients in a new era of client service.”

CARL BAGSHAW S A L ES & MA RK ET IN G D I REC TOR , ECS RES O U RC E G RO U P

“It’s been another exciting year for us at ECS and we can only look forward to what next year brings! Our aims for 2018 are to continue with our growth and development, working in partnership with new and existing clients, increasing our teams of talented consultants, operations and marketing divisions. At the same time we will use our niche services to ensure our clients and contractors come ﬁrst. Alongside this progression, we will always maintain our core values, which we believe set us apart from other resource partners.”

NOEL HOARE A REA MA N AG ER , S OUT H -W EST ACORN

“Acorn ﬁnished 2017 on a high, following the opening of four new branches in Manchester, Bournemouth, Bridgwater and Baglan, so these are, of course, a huge priority for 2018. In addition to geographical growth and continuing to deliver temporary recruitment support and on-site staff management, a key priority is to develop and expand our specialist divisions, which supply permanent, executive search and international recruitment support within a number of thriving industries. We will also be working in new industries to support companies within nuclear, energy, oil & gas and aviation & defence.” WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 17

p16_17_recruiter_agency_soapbox.indd 17

07/12/2017 09:42

Sometimes things arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always quite what they seem

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REC.01.18.018.indd 18

01/12/2017 15:20

RECRUITER HOT 100 COMPANIES 2017

The recruitment companies in this year’s HOT 100, compiled by Agile Intelligence on behalf of Recruiter, can proudly claim to earn the most proﬁt per head in the UK

p19 Hot 100 2017 intro.indd 20

07/12/2017 14:09

RECRUITER HOT 100 COMPANIES 2017

ince last year's HOT 100 the uncertainty that was already dominating the political-economic landscape has not stabilised. If anything, it has heightened even further as fresh geo-political concerns have also developed in tandem with a new US administration, continued tensions and conﬂict in the Middle East and other regions, and a rise in the popularity of non-mainstream politics. While all these factors affect the global outlook, in the UK there are the added ingredients of a minority government following the unexpected June General Election, and the very pressing need to negotiate for Brexit. This all serves to deter investors to some extent, and affects both business and consumer conﬁdence. While recent data suggests a slowdown or even slight reversal in employment levels, overall jobs growth of one type or another has continued through most of the 20 RECRUITER

p20-27 Hot 100 2017.indd 20

past year. However, there have still been challenging conditions for the recruitment industry through subdued activity, employer costs, individual sector difficulties and the diverse range of technological change. Throughout this, the industry strives to meet the needs of employers and candidates through ever-sophisticated ways of matching skills with organisations. But more than ever before, they do this by ‘simply’ attending to the basics and deploying their own people to ‘do a good job’. Over the years the HOT 100 analysis has enabled an understanding of past trends, while mapping likely future ones. This single key performance indicator (KPI) of gross profit per head/ employee (GPH) encompasses so much about how a company operates – measuring its ability to extract, sustainably, the optimum performance from its own people. We have again singled out the top 20 percentage gainers in productivity, giving an insight into new entrants and those with improving efficiency measures, providing an alternative perspective on the HOT 100 group of companies, which does not rely unduly upon a high value specialisation to maintain their ranking (see News, p5). Since its inception in 2006, as the HOT 100 has evolved, so too have the constituent companies. Business models have changed, often substantially, since those relatively simple, mainly branch-driven sales models of early years. It is increasingly obvious that separately operated sister companies are now benefitting from shared cost centres – anything from finance to marketing and much in between. A few of these unconsolidated companies are commanding elevated positions in the HOT 100, as their ‘parent’ or a sister organisation takes the brunt of some support service costs, reducing support

staff numbers and thus increasing productivity. Likewise, others are simply outsourcing support functions, again boosting top line productivity. It does not quite make for a level playing field but all companies can choose to outsource if they wish, thereby suppressing their in-house staff numbers. However, to exclude major sector specialists on this basis would weaken the core dataset and ignore so many of our best industry operators. So the HOT 100 continues to thrive and GPH remains one of the best all-round measures to compare companies across regions and sectors. For the second consecutive year the gap between top and bottom has widened as the bar for entry or ‘cut’ has fallen. The entry threshold for this particular HOT 100 stood at £85,283, which is 1.9% lower and more than £1.6k below last year’s group of HOT 100 companies. Aggregated average productivity growth of this HOT 100, like for like, rose 6.7% as gross profit (GP) gained 9%, while employee numbers expanded by just 2.1%. Companies have spent the year capitalising on the headcount expansion of the previous year, while displaying a more cautious approach to any further internal hires. This is in line with previous cycles of people numbers and productivity, with an expected lag before any payback on the investment. Some of the largest recruiters have remained – SThree, Hays and Robert Walters are all ranked in the lowest quartile of the HOT 100. Together with higher-placed PageGroup and Harvey Nash, these companies, by nature of their size, do have an influence on the aggregate average GPH. But the large scale and reach of the HOT 100 ensures an extremely diverse list of recruiters, spanning a wide range of sectors and delivery models and with individual productivity growth ranging from +54% to -22%.

JANUARY 2018

07/12/2017 14:10

RECRUITER HOT 100 COMPANIES 2017

There have still been challenging conditions for the recruitment industry through subdued activity, employer costs and technological change engineering and construction subsectors became more subdued, to achieve a 2.1% growth in GPH. Public Sector, however, lost many of the gains of the previous year, driven down more by frontline services but with shortfalls across most suppliers including executive level, and could only stand still on GPH, given an equivalent decrease in its headcount. On aggregate the 2017 HOT 100 saw individual growth in net fees posted by 60 companies. The average size of the 2016 HOT 100 member rose a little higher than the previous year to 344 employees, with many of the same largest players included through their group accounts. Similarly, 60% of constituents also oversaw some net organic expansion of their internal workforce. Gross margin was held overall within the HOT 100, at a level above and also slightly outperforming the wider industry as estimated from further analysis.

9% gain in gross profit in this HOT 100

2.1% Rise in HOT 100 companies’ in-house headcount

↗

Calendar 2016 was again a year of very modest growth on average across the whole UK recruitment industry with its sales value rising by just 3.2%, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Excluding payroll inﬂation (especially with National Minimum Wage rises), additional employer costs etc. would indicate that the industry experienced zero growth in 2016. Comprising mainly calendar 2016 results, the 2017 HOT 100 list grew its sales at 9.3% but individual company sales growth ranged from +81% to -45%. Overall growth came from a mixture of domestic growth at close to twice the national average and an even greater rate of growth from overseas operations (with increased fees derived from both UK-based sales to overseas customers and also from overseas branches), including some beneﬁt on translation from the sharp depreciation of Sterling. Among the specialisation HOT 10s, there was something of a change around from last year. Both the HOT 10 IT and Professional sector recruiters each posted GP growth of 6.2%, albeit lower growth than the previous year, and GPH gains of 6.5% and 3.4% respectively. Professionals was the only one of these four HOT 10 sectors to expand headcount. By contrast Public Sector and Technical each suffered a sharp decline of 9.2% in GP. The HOT 10 Technical recruiters did cut back heavily on headcount, as the oil & gas downturn persisted during 2016 and other

As mentioned gross margin, aggregated across the whole of the HOT 100, was unchanged. With some permanent growth estimated overall among HOT 100 members, at least in the ﬁrst half of the year, this implies further loss, probably very modest, in temporary/contract margin. Around one third of the HOT 100 still reported an actual rise in gross margin, believed mainly to be driven by improved permanent fees. Nevertheless, there remained 29 (versus 27 last year) of the 2017 HOT 100 earning gross margin below 15%, indicating predominantly temporary activities for these companies with little scope for compensatory gains through the permanent market. This all relates to the 2016 accounting years. Market indications since then suggest a turnaround in 2017, with temporary business outperforming the permanent market. The dream growth combination of both employees and productivity remained historically low, achieved by only 27% (29% last year) of constituents. This indicates the caution of recruiters, perhaps reﬂecting the wider mood, expanding only when absolutely necessary and succeeding at squeezing more productivity from existing staff, while building the return on the investment in newly employed staff. Which companies derive most

Agile Intelligence Agile Intelligence has compiled the HOT 100 report on behalf of Recruiter to determine which companies are best at leveraging their intellectual assets. By rigorously measuring the gross profit (net fees) per head/employee this indicates how effectively

an organisation uses the skills of all its own people to generate a profitable return for stakeholders. All in-house employees (excludes temp workers or contractors) are included in the calculation – not just feeearners; this is a standard senior management key performance indicator

(KPI). Notwithstanding wild cards, companies emerging strongly from this analysis, especially if featuring regularly, are primarily those that operate the most productive organisation, balancing the need for good, well-trained, directed and motivated staff against the need to minimise costs. WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 21

p20-27 Hot 100 2017-NEW.indd 21

07/12/2017 14:25

RECRUITER HOT 100 COMPANIES 2017

↗

‘added value’ from their own employees (before allocating overheads) yet still nurture the right atmosphere over the long term to encourage a proﬁtable and sustainable sales approach? Take a look at the 2017 HOT 100 list of companies (pp23-24).

HOT 100 group sales turnover rose 9.3%, almost three times faster than the wider recruitment industry

KE Y FIN D I N G S

60% of HOT 100 firms expanded their workforce either organically or by acquisition

27% achieved a simultanious growth in productivity and internal headcount

of HOT 100 companies rose by 6.7% over the year to an aggregated average £102,592 to stand 4.1% above last year’s HOT 100 group average. However, a simple average of each of the GPH figures, negating the lower quartile high-weighted skew of those large employers across both years, stood at £111,753 and 1.5% ahead of the 2016 HOT 100. ● HOT 100 average gross margin was unchanged for this group of companies at 20.6%, with a small shift in the business mix towards permanent offset by temporary margin pressure. ● This HOT 100 group in their past financial year added £290m in net fees with an additional 706 staff at an incremental gross margin of 19.9%, making an incremental £410,764 additional GPH. This incremental margin was balanced by a permanent fees presence and an incremental GPH reflecting the

strong focus on productivity. ● Entry level GPH (ranked 100) to the 2017 HOT 100 was £85,283, standing £1,627 below the prior year threshold for the ‘cut’, which was at £86,910. Extending beyond the HOT 100, the average GPH only begins to fall away, below £80k, at 116th, illustrating the closeness of the ‘following pack’. ● Just 27% of HOT 100 companies achieved the dream combination of expanding productivity simultaneously with increasing their internal headcount. This compares with a similar 29% last year but just two years ago it was 49%. There was also a strong bias towards larger companies. Company trends: productivity (GPH) growth less certain as recent years’ expansion policy not yet paid off As mentioned, the bar for HOT 100 success this year dropped again to

↗

2017 HOT 100 group sales turnover rose 9.3%, almost three times faster than the wider recruitment industry sales turnover growth of just 3.2% reported for calendar 2016 by the ONS. Like for like, comparing this group against their own ﬁgures for the previous year, overall headcount rose just 2.1% but a much greater 9% rise in GP was achieved as productivity pushed upwards to post GPH rising by 6.7%. Gross margin was unchanged at 20.6%. Like for like: ● The 2017 HOT 100 companies collectively reported an increase from their previous year in latest available sales of 9.3% to around £17.1bn. ● HOT 100 combined GP exceeded £3.5bn, a gain of 9% versus their prior year. ● HOT 100 companies’ in-house headcount rose 2.1% to total 34,398 employees. ● Productivity (GPH) for this group

Methodology The data has been rigorously filtered by turnover, gross profit and employee numbers. The companies featured in this edition employ over 34,000 in-house staff and generate £17.1bn of industry sales revenue; very many more were evaluated as part of the overall analysis. Latest available accounts have been used — dated 2016 or 2017 for all companies – a few companies are excluded due to filing timings. Companies filing abbreviated accounts 22 RECRUITER

p20-27 Hot 100 2017.indd 22

and not providing their full figures separately are excluded. Increasingly, with the internationalisation of many UK recruitment firms, group accounts are now used for UK corporations where these prove more up to date — examples would be Hays, Harvey Nash, Robert Walters, Page Group and several IT recruiters. Companies operating primarily overseas have been excluded, although UK engineering specialists placing talent

worldwide are included. Overseas-based groups eg. Adecco, Randstad or Hudson may be included, using their UK operating companies or group disclosed divisions. Two prominent exclusions from the analysis are Manpower and Reed due to accounting differences, which invalidate comparisons. Furthermore companies combining temporary employees in their employee count are not included as

this grossly underestimates their performance. The most specialist of search or ‘headhunters’ are omitted for a variety of reasons – incomplete disclosure, overseas business, incompatibility and a shortage of data for peer group comparison. Disclaimer: while every effort has been made to ensure accurate reporting and analysis no guarantees are made regarding the information portrayed in this document.

JANUARY 2018

07/12/2017 14:11

Company/ trading n ame

193,227

173,375

Falcon Green Personnel

▼

181,142

190,858

SSQ

▲

177,415

156,375

▼

168,421

182,813

▲

166,716

▼

▲

152,908

144,341

Rullion IT Plus

▲

151,586

132,415

Odgers Intermediate

▼

151,091

152,598

WA Consultants

148,183

119,182

Marlin Green

▲

145,090

109,041

Modis International

143,865

132,186

RIG Locums

3.2

3.8

Anaesthetic & physio, junior docs, medicine, rapid response, A&E, paediatrics

▼

137,288

147,007

Morgan Law

8.2

9.0

Healthcare, central & local govt, charities/NFP, education, Housing Associations

▲

137,193

134,484

Red Commerce

19.2

16.7

–

135,048

137,778

NES Global Talent

74.7

84.6

Technical/engineering into oil & gas, infrastructure, chemical, life sciences, rail

▲

130,396

131,681

Resource Solutions Group

IT, business change, corporate services and government sectors

▼

129,743

145,344

Workforce People Solutions

▼

128,605

152,518

SystemsAccountants

▲

125,731

116,026

Investigo

20.6

18.9

Accountancy/finance, change management, property, procurement

▲

123,864

113,584

People Source Consulting

5.5

5.6

IT/Technology

▲

123,711

116,762

Cognitive Group

2.5

2.3

▼

123,191

130,375

The SR Group

36.5

32.1

Legal, compliance, HR, marketing, digital, tax, Treasury & executive search

▼

122,862

131,615

Penta Consulting

11.5

12.2

IT & telecoms, software engineering and consultancy

▼

121,481

129,327

Walker Hamill

6.3

6.7

Accountancy/finance, debt & structured finance, private equity and M&A

▲

117,794

88,640

Ajilon (UK)

8.0

12.1

IT plus office/admin, HR, non-clinical healthcare, supply chain & logistics

▲

115,627

102,509

PPF

10.2

9.3

Drivers, logistics

▲

113,573

92,518

Cornwallis Elt

3.9

3.1

Technology, operations & change roles within banking, insurance, digital & media

▲

113,475

108,414

Caritas Recruitment

▼

113,322

125,704

GatenbySanderson

▲

112,543

110,523

Shorterm Group

▼

111,618

124,219

Randstad Technologies

111,227

87,365

▲

110,847

▲

110,774

–

110,741

▲

110,440

101,821

Oakleaf Partnership

5.9

5.3

Human resources

▼

109,647

140,235

Interact Medical

7.6

7.3

Locum doctors including niche technical skills

▲

108,927

105,050

William Alexander Recruitment

2.6

2.7

IT and business change

▲

108,559

103,499

Goodman Masson

15.5

14.3

Financial services, commerce, compliance, public sector audit

▲

107,968

95,437

RIG Medical Recruit

6.4

6.9

Reporting, diagnostics, radiography, pharmacy, ultrasound, physio, SLT

▲

107,639

101,674

First Call Contract Services

7.0

5.7

Industrial

▲

107,353

100,667

Parity Professionals

7.3

6.0

IT – digital, data, info security; public sector, health, education, financial services

107,160

69,738

Montreal Associates (Systems)

4.5

3.3

ERP, SAP, CRM, BI & Big Data, development, infrastructure, cyber security

▼

107,149

105,684

McGinley Support Services (Infrastructure)

12.4

13.3

Track labour, protection + warning, trades + labour

▲

107,089

74,618

Harvey Nash Group

Technology,CIO, digital, finance/banking, HR, exec search, interims

▲

106,589

102,210

Resourcing Group

▼

106,520

114,719

▲

105,466

▲

104,451

Key:

▲

Parent gro (where d up if name) ferent

Gross pro head/em fit per previous ployee year (£)

▲

Rank 1

Change

Gross pro head/em fit per latest ye ployee ar (£)

Gross pro latest ye fit ar (£m) Gross pro previous fit year (£m) Sector coverage

RECRUITER HOT 100 COMPANIES 2017

4.1

3.5

Construction

22.6

21.6

Legal

Mayday Healthcare

18.1

24.9

Healthcare

Green Park Interim & Executive

6.4

5.9

Public sector/charities/social enterprise, retail, HR, financial services

162,312

LA International Computer Consultants

18.3

16.6

157,597

132,009

The Bridge (IT Recruitment)

3.8

3.2

153,595

174,537

Sheffield Haworth

19.2

22.7

Financial services: executive search, interims

11.2

10.8

72.3

70.4

Executive search, interims

3.5

3.7

IT/Technology

▼

Down

p20-27 Hot 100 2017.indd 23

prev. Shilton Sharpe Quarry

Rullion

Adecco SA

prev. Euroforce People Solutions

Adecco SA

nGAGE Specialist Recruitment

3.7

2.1

IT – SAP, business intelligence, Big Data

9.7

10.7

IT – dev, SAP, infrastructure, BI, aerospace, defence/engineering, digital

28.9

28.4

3.1

3.3

Skilled staffing into furniture, textile & automotive manufacturing and transport

5.4

5.5

Finance systems, finance transformation, EPM, BI, ERP

6.9

7.6

Social care into public, voluntary & private sectors

12.9

13.3

Executives in health, education, government, NFP

14.3

12.3

Engineering – aerospace, automotive, aviation, construction, rail, electronics

3.8

4.0

IT & telecoms

SEC Recruitment

6.6

5.0

Pharma/life sciences; IT/Technology & analytics within SAP, ERP, BI and JDE

97,543

Phaidon Holdings

32.7

25.7

Banking/financial services, engineering, life sciences, procurement, technology

107,143

Airswift

75.2

90.0

Oil & gas/energy

110,855

Randstad Education

17.9

18.4

Education

Randstad Holding NV

Parity Group

97.9

90.3

10.1

10.2

Built environment, public sector

Henderson Scott

4.4

IT, sales & marketing, financial technology

101,899

Orion Electrotech

5.9

5.3

Technical

99,971

Venturi

4.0

2.9

IT: business intelligence, development, infrastructure, quantitative analytics

– Unchanged

N New

nGAGE Specialist Recruitment

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Gross pro latest ye fit ar (£m) Gross pro previous fit year (£m) Sector coverage 4.0

Engineering

5.0

4.2

Technology & change, risk, financial services, energy, digital & commerce

8.1

7.9

Engineering and infrastructure

PageGroup

621.0

556.1

Finance/accountancy, legal, IT, retail, sales & marketing, oil & gas, HR, construction

79,859

Fawkes & Reece

5.2

6.1

Construction, built environment, civil engineering, residential

96,959

PSD Group

23.4

Executive, finance, engineering, HR, technology, supply chain, retail, hospitality

103,556

92,917

The Oyster Partnership

4.8

4.0

Building consultancy, construction, General Practice, quantity surveying

103,145

111,303

Minstrell Recruitment

3.1

2.4

Eng, construction, trades & labour, rail, FM, FMCG & manufacturing automation

▼

102,979

119,020

Options Resourcing

4.1

4.6

Construction, building services, maintenance, office, sales, business support

▲

102,328

99,032

Prime People

13.1

12.3

Real estate, built environment, energy, environmental, insight, analytics

▲

102,210

94,384

Petroplan Holdings

9.7

10.6

Oil & gas, energy

▼

101,544

101,653

Interim Partners

4.1

3.7

Interim executives

▼

101,488

103,359

La Fosse Associates

12.7

9.1

IT and digital

▼

101,423

104,890

Randstad CPE

30.4

29.6

Construction, property, engineering

▼

101,123

119,137

Redrock Consulting

5.7

5.0

IT & telecoms

▼

100,941

106,165

Next Ventures

7.9

7.8

SAP, digital, data, business apps, development & Integration

▲

100,896

92,494

Eden Brown

14.5

15.5

Built environment, public sector

▼

100,064

109,663

Coyle Personnel

15.8

15.9

Tech, constr, medical, rail, highways, energy, pub sector, commercial, industrial

▼

100,022

126,115

NRL

8.2

9.8

Engineering, construction, oil & gas, nuclear, petroleum energy, technical

▲

100,015

94,941

Experis

39.4

40.0

IT, finance and engineering professionals

▼

99,866

106,635

Advantage Resourcing UK

21.2

22.4

Engineering, banking/financial services, professional services, technology

▲

99,578

96,924

Morson Group

68.5

64.9

Engineering/technical, IT, scientific

▲

99,025

87,572

Hays

954.6

810.3

Finance, construction, healthcare, pharma, educ, IT, legal, oil & gas, professionals

▲

98,238

93,363

Tangent International Group

7.1

6.3

IT & telecoms, technology, engineering

97,471

99,262

Randstad Public Services

8.5

8.3

Social care, nursing, allied health professionals

▲

96,622

103,913

Eames Consulting Group

11.9

11.4

Actuarial, audit, broking & underwriting, change, compliance, risk, technology

▼

96,553

98,264

Hallam Medical

6.3

5.3

Primary care & community nursing

▼

94,678

96,847

Angela Mortimer

10.7

Executive and office support

94,503

86,665

Forrest Recruitment

5.4

Office, accounts & commercial staff

93,436

83,509

Futureheads Recruitment

3.2

2.7

Digital media

92,677

69,926

Opus Professional Services Group

18.4

11.7

IT & telecoms, financial services, public sector, energy

▲

92,211

89,390

Contract Scotland

3.8

3.4

Technical professionals into construction & engineering

92,071

84,601

Robert Walters

278.3

234.4 Financial services, legal, HR, IT, sales & marketing, supply chain, tax, Treasury

▼

91,908

104,327

Badenoch & Clark

25.9

32.9

Finance, accountancy, banking, legal, IT, HR, marketing

▲

91,388

93,459

CD Sales Recruitment

4.1

3.9

Technology and sales staff

▲

91,252

89,502

IDPP Holdings

2.5

2.6

IT & telecoms, executive, technical sales, project management

▲

91,181

86,123

SThree Group

258.7

235.7

ICT, banking & finance, energy, engineering and life sciences

▼

91,178

99,322

Oliver James Associates Group

24.3

21.1

Financial servicescommerce & industry, actuarial, ARC, change management

90,935

84,327

Eximius Group

5.4

6.2

Energy, financial, legal

90,833

80,634

Day Webster

16.0

11.6

Healthcare

▼

90,774

102,830

G2V Recruitment Group

13.2

12.9

IT, engineering, construction, pharma, rail, town planning, oil & gas

▼

89,265

102,240

Oil Consultants

2.6

5.1

Oil & gas

86,554

93,921

Impact Recruitment

2.1

2.2

Temp & perm placements in logistics, manufacturing, commercial

86,463

85,449

Teacheractive

10.4

7.4

Education

86,443

86,856

Extrastaff

6.1

5.5

Driving & industrial – supply of temporary drivers and industrial workers

▲

86,289

86,910

Office Angels

Adecco SA

29.0

30.1

Secretarial, admin & office staff

▼

85,749

93,752

GCS Recruitment Specialists

nGAGE Specialist Recruitment

6.9

7.4

STEM

85,553

68,095

ITHR Group

4.0

4.3

IT, communications

85,543

74,537

Gemini People

3.9

4.0

Advertising, digital, NGOs, fashion & media

100

▼

85,283

98,643

Gattaca

74.7

73.0

Engineering, technology, IT & telecoms, professional, education

Gross pro head/em fit per latest yeployee ar (£) Gross pro head/emplfit per previous oyee year (£) Company/ trading n ame

2.9

Change

Adecco SA

Rank

Parent g (where droup if ferent name)

RECRUITER HOT 100 COMPANIES 2017

104,429

119,818

Roevin Management Services

104,294

108,569

Twenty Recruitment

▲

103,901

92,490

Rullion Engineering

▲

103,782

97,323

103,611

▲

103,575

▼

24 RECRUITER

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Rullion

Randstad Holding NV

nGAGE Specialist Recruitment

Manpower

Randstad Holding NV

Adecco SA

Key:

▲

▼

Down

– Unchanged

N New

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RECRUITER HOT 100 COMPANIES 2017

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£85,283 GPH, as previous expansion failed to deliver quite sufficient return before further headcount increases were undertaken during the 2016 reporting period. Across the HOT 100 companies 60% expanded their workforce either organically or by acquisition, compared to 76% previously, signalling greater caution. A fairly similar ﬁgure of 57% increased GPH, an improvement on last year’s low point of 47%. However, that elusive dream combination of expanding workforce and rising productivity was achieved by just 27% of the 2017 HOT 100, versus 29% last year and 49% the previous year. Of these 27 companies, 21 employed over 50 people, as these larger recruiters punched above their weight, while there were just six of the 30 ﬁrms employing below 50 employees. A breakdown of these 27 companies shows Technical/Engineering/Science gained relative ground against the other key sector groups, with Public Sector much reduced and Technology also losing ground. The numbers this year compared to last year are: Professional 9 (8), Technical 7 (5), Public Sector 2 (5) and Technology 8 (10), with the remaining company being an Industrial (blue collar) specialist, First Call Contract Services. Among the leaders, the HOT 10 sees just two companies achieve productivity growth while at the same time expanding headcount – top ranked Falcon Green and 5th ranked

That elusive dream combination of expanding workforce and rising productivity was achieved by just 27% of the 2017 HOT 100 LA International. This is far fewer than previous years and indicates the caution displayed even by the best performers in the industry. Among ﬁve companies included in both the top 20 of the HOT 100 and the productivity growth top 20 table, Marlin Green is the stand-out performer, with over 24% productivity growth while simultaneously expanding its sales, GP and headcount. The only other company making both lists without making substantial cuts to headcount is The Bridge (IT), which held headcount and expanded both sales and GP.

9.3% Rise in 2017 HOT 100 group sales turnover

Sector profile ● In the top 20, there were five Professionals listed, unchanged from last year, three of which are in the HOT 10. Eight IT staffing companies are listed in the top 20, and four also make it into the HOT 10, while the top 20 balance comprises four Public Sector firms (two executive and two healthcare providers) and just two Technical recruiters and one blue collar skills.

Calculations ‘temp’ employment costs. The mix of business between temporary and permanent placements influences the level of gross margin as does the trend in temporary pricing and employment related costs. With larger contract

business notoriously competitive compared with SME or ad hoc placements, the type of business and delivery model/cost structure play a crucial part both in determining temporary margin and also bottom line profitability.

Job type proﬁle ● The HOT 10 proﬁle still retains a good mix of permanent and temporary recruiters without any of the major multi-sector or generalists. SSQ, Sheffield Haworth and Odgers are the three recruiters heavily biased towards perm placement (all estimated at over 80% of net fees). Falcon Green, LA International, Rullion IT and

↗

Gross margin is the gross profit (or net fees) as a percentage of sales turnover. Gross profit is a combination of permanent fees (at virtually 100% margin) plus the profit on temporary supply after subtracting payroll and other

● The HOT 10 by sector comprises a varied mix of specialised recruiters. Employing just 21 staff, Falcon Green (construction), being a strong contender in Recruiter’s FAST 50, has shot to the top pushing last year’s winner, legal recruiter SSQ, into second place. Mayday Healthcare at 3rd is the top frontline public sector provider, albeit present due to substantial headcount reduction. Also with a strong public sector/not-for-profit presence, Green Park eased to 4th. LA International remained stable as the top-placed Technology recruiter completing the top five places. Falcon Green and Green Park are small companies relative to the other three but even the largest, SSQ, employs only 125. The Bridge (IT), Rullion IT and Odgers Intermediate all moved into the HOT 10 alongside regulars WA Consultants and Sheffield Haworth, the latter dropping to 7th. Odgers, employing 477, is by far the largest constituent of the HOT 10 but like Mayday has significantly reduced headcount thus boosting productivity.

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RECRUITER HOT 100 COMPANIES 2017

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WA Consultants are all biased towards the temporary/contractor market with the others offering a greater mix of both permanent and temporary business. Size proﬁle ● Among the large corporate groups in the HOT 100, where it makes sense to separate out the UK subsidiaries these have again been listed individually – Adecco

and Randstad have ﬁve and four respectively. The nGAGE (formerly HCIG) ‘stable’ now has four companies in this year’s HOT 100. Manpower’s Experis also retains its presence. Overall, 20% of HOT 100 companies employ more than 200 staff just shy of last year’s level, while those employing from 100 to 199 staff stood unchanged at 21% of constituents. A slight drop was seen in the very smallest ﬁrms with 12%

(13% last year) employing between 20 and 30 staff. The 30–49 band remained at 18% and the employee band 50 to 100 rose slightly to 29% from 27%. Overall this implies little change in the employee size proﬁle of the HOT 100 this year. Office/Industrial/Trades/General Staffing This ‘sector’ has held onto last year’s revival, again helped by a lower

Gross margin breakdown Margin distribution of 2017 HOT 100 versus previous issues has a different feel this year. While there is still movement across the middle ranging margins, from 15% to 40% margin, there was also a sharp drop in the near purely permanent recruiters. In the 15% to 20% range there was a complete reversal of last year’s gains. At the same time a strong rise in both the 20% to 30% and 30% to 40% margin bands was seen. The long-term

trend on the chart shows overall growth in constituents in the lower margin bands (up to 30%) with mainly a mix of both temporary and permanent market presence. Higher margin (>40%) is driven mostly by perm and has now universally lost ground. Twenty-eight agencies in the HOT 100 now achieve gross margin below 15%, with still 10 of these below 10%. Most represented group (28

companies) has moved back up a band to those companies with margin between 20% and 30%, ie. temporary biased but with a strong permanent fees presence. This band also saw most gains: from 23 to 28 companies. Biggest losers: the over 50% margin band shed more companies in the HOT 100 – from 14 down to just nine constituents; historically this represents a sudden shift

downwards. Four of the nine are almost exclusively permanent recruiters/permanent specialists, while the remaining five companies exhibit a highly predominant permanent mix. Permanent market in 2016 once again believed in recovery as it posted more growth in the first half of the year, but then a slowdown especially in the more senior permanent markets appeared to follow the EU Referendum result.

H O T 1 0 0 C O M P A N I E S B Y G R O S S M A R G I N B A N D (in accounting year)

30 2007 2008

2009 2010 20

2011 2012

2013 2014 2015

Source: Company accounts

2016 5

0 less than 10%

10% to 15%

15% to 20%

20% to 30%

30% to 40%

40% to 50%

more than 50%

Gross market band range 26 RECRUITER

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RECRUITER HOT 100 COMPANIES 2017

entry threshold. There was a definite migration into and up the HOT 100 rankings, with eight companies in the main HOT 100 albeit only one left in the next 10 up to 110th. At 18th sits Workforce People Solutions (previously named Euroforce), specialising in sourcing tradespeople mainly from across Europe into furniture, textile, automotive & transport sectors in the UK. Drivers specialist PPF shoots up to 27th from 51st, First Call Contract Services (packaging, processing, logistics, print & mail) advanced to 42nd (last year 56th) and office specialist Angela Mortimer was close to prior year at 78th. Forrest Recruitment enters at 79th, Impact Recruitment comes in at 93rd alongside Extrastaff at 95th and Office Angels at 98th. Champion Employment sits at 106th close by in that following pack of 10. The reasons for inclusion were varied. Most posted similar overall productivity to last year but with slightly fewer people and in some cases lower GP, although newcomer Impact expanded actively on both counts. First Call made notable advances in productivity as it expanded headcount but achieved even greater GP growth. PPF reported strong GP growth from a fairly stable workforce. Workforce People meanwhile slid down the scale as GPH dropped by over 10% due to a small decline in GP contrasted by a slight headcount expansion. The first of the major national recruiters, Pertemps, stood at 116th closely followed by Impellam – these companies both have a varied mix of ‘generalist’ recruitment and professional sector specialisations. Given the financial reality of the office and industrial markets, companies in this ‘sector’, perhaps above all others, needed to adapt and evolve to survive and prosper. Those that have stayed in or are now reentering the HOT 100 have done very well indeed in this respect.

Conclusion and outlook Last year we suggested that the recruitment industry might slow its expansion further and look to improve the productivity of previous hires. This has indeed occurred on the evidence of this HOT 100 analysis. The HOT 100 profile has also changed a little this year, with notably fewer dedicated permanent recruiters but a definite rise in those recruiters cutting their cloth in both directions – perm and temp. Meanwhile, on aggregate it has out-performed the wider market with gross margin held firm but there is a hint of further slow erosion of the temporary margin as evidence suggests that perm business on aggregate looked to be slightly stronger in 2016, driven by a first half recovery ahead of the EU Referendum. Other findings show incremental growth to be particularly strong – with additional headcount ‘on paper’ bringing in substantial productivity, which may well relate in part to technological advancements. It suggests that in future fewer new heads are needed to expand business levels and this will be cemented by further improvements in staff training and professional development. Sector fortunes also changed with net fees growth in the HOT 10 sector specialisations at both Technology and Professionals but a sharp decline for each of Engineering/Technical/ Science (ETS) and Public Sector. Only Professionals increased their headcount and productivity. Cuts in staffing still ensured increases or, at worst, unchanged productivity from ETS and

the Public Sector categories, while Technology excelled with careful management of headcount to ensure full translation of fee gains into GPH. Nevertheless, there remain challenges beyond the control of this industry… The rapid response from the Bank of England last year to counter recessionary pressures post the EU Referendum may have helped to sustain economic growth, albeit somewhat lower than pre-Referendum forecasts. More recently, the Bank’s rise in its base rate perhaps implies that the threat of inflation now

low sales growth trend has persisted through 2017, all despite the benefit of sharp increases in some elements of the NMW. If it were possible to put aside the Brexit issue – both its economic and mobility of labour impact – and consider other influences on recruitment, demographics and technology loom large. Each offers opportunities and risks. Demographics is still tied up with EU mobility – the ability to tap into the wider pool of talent has muted the effects of an ageing workforce in the UK but this will be affected by recovering EU economies retaining more of their own talent and by any agreement on migration. Technology is a many tentacled creature – AI, automation and disruption will all play a part in the future of the global economy and the world of work, and recruitment companies need to adapt their strategy both to lead and innovate where possible and best fit elsewhere. The trends outlined in this report formed the baseline for the recruitment industry as it entered 2017 and now attempts to seek visibility going forward. The economic and political backdrop remains challenging, particularly in the UK, and industry constituents will need to bring all their strategic skills to bear if they are to achieve continuing growth. With these well documented obstacles combining with the structural changes in society, technology and mobility it is hard to imagine few companies better than many of those in the HOT 100 capable of meeting the challenge.

Nevertheless, there remain challenges beyond the control of this industry outweighs the threat of recession. That may be seen as one better signal amidst a mixed digest of economic indicators. So much of the future economic and workforce landscape remains hinged upon the outcome of the Brexit negotiations and those talks are themselves dependent upon a politically weakened government and how receptive are the EU 27. It does not make for an ideal backdrop for the recruitment industry, so dependent upon confidence, and it is unsurprising that the temporary market now appears to have outperformed the permanent recruitment market during the second half of 2016 and thus far in calendar 2017. The lowly 3% growth in official industry sales turnover from 2015 was repeated in 2016 and this

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RULLIO NOT RESTING ON ITS LAURELS James Saoulli insists he hasn’t quite made it yet because he’s too busy planning the next 100 years for multi-sector specialist recruiter Rullion. Colin Cottell went to meet him ad UK recruitment bosses been in Rullion CEO James Saoulli’s shoes last year they would have been reluctant to step out of what was a very comfortable zone. Why would they? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Not Saoulli though: he can’t stand still. The multisector specialist recruiter posted record profits in successive years between 2013 and 2015 and its CEO is looking to push on. Beginning in 1978, as a traditionally structured company made up of six separate legal entities, each with their own MD and overseen by a company chairman, Rullion grew to become one of the UK’s largest privatelyowned recruitment companies. A consistently high performer in Recruiter’s HOT 100 – the definitive ranking of the UK’s most profitable and efficient recruitment companies – Rullion’s IT business is ranked 8th and its engineering business is 53rd in this year’s HOT 100 rankings. While many recruiters in such a situation

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would have settled for the status quo, it is clear from the very start of this interview at Rullion’s office in the bustling City of London that Saoulli is not that person. After all, what other CEO of a £460m turnover recruitment company would deny they had ‘made it’ in their career, wouldn’t consider the company a recruitment company at all and would be planning ahead 100 years to 2117? Oh, and in an almost throwaway remark, would express annoyance he hadn’t created LinkedIn? It is clear that Saoulli, who took on the position of CEO at the family-owned business at the start of 2017, taking over as boss from Rullion’s founder, company chairman and his father Themis, is very much his own man, exhibiting an independent streak, as well as a desire to leave his own legacy. Asked later for the secret of his own success, he responds: “I don’t want to answer that question. The journey is just beginning. I remember someone saying to me ‘oh, you are CEO, you have arrived’, and I remember thinking ‘I have barely begun’. The day you think you are successful that’s the day you need to retire.” That day looks a long way off, as Saoulli embarks on a five-minute explanation of why despite its powerful market presence and strong financial numbers Rullion can’t afford to stay still. While he acknowledges that the original vision and strategy initiated by his father nearly four decades ago based on separate companies focused on separate markets worked “very well”, he contends that for the scale of expansion he has in mind for Rullion, that old business model and way of working it is no longer fit for purpose. “The numbers were good,” he says, but in his view “they were being derived from past glories”. “The question that any organisation needs

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RECRUITER HOT 100 COMPANIES 2017

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to consistently ask itself is ‘how do we remain relevant to our customers?’. That is the question we at Rullion always pose ourselves.” It is a question that Saoulli, a graduate of the London School of Economics and INSEAD Business School, who prior to joining the family firm worked for General Electric, has been grappling with since becoming a board director five years ago. “Around 2013 it became obvious that unless Rullion changed its ways it would stop being relevant to its customers, because what they needed was different from the past,” he explains. Saoulli says the first plank in this ongoing quest to remain relevant was completed earlier in 2017 when Rullion was restructured from “a chairman-led model with six independent companies each with its own MD, to a CEO model, of one consolidated group working more collaboratively”. “The world of recruitment has changed in my estimation. If you want a 10, 15, 100-strong organisation, even up to a 500 headcount, the model of an all-powerful MD who runs the organisation with an iron fist can work,” he explains. However, beyond that size of organisation this model falls down. “I am not interested in being a recruitment company with a 500 headcount. I am interested in being a recruitment company with 10,000 across the globe, and that requires a completely different approach,” says Saoulli. He later goes on to qualify this by saying this is “a statement of intent rather than a concrete goal”. He explains that by having an executive team that meets every week, made up of experts in process design, technology and branding, Rullion now has the capability to scale up the business in a way that just wasn’t possible before. But this is by no means the only change that Saoulli is driving through. “Within our managed solutions, it is not enough to fill the roles, it is about recognising that we must be perceived as partners of choice for the journey they need to go on. And that is a big change for them [staff ].” Similarly, changes to the company’s commission schemes so they are based on customer satisfaction “has had a big impact on our people”. Another major shift has been to a more candidate-led approach focusing on niche markets, such as cyber security, driven by a specialist team based in Manchester. WWW.RECRUITER.CO.UK 29

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RECRUITER HOT 100 COMPANIES 2017

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Saoulli acknowledges that pushing through internal change is hard. He admits staff attrition “is higher than we would like it”, and the company has “had to part company with staff who can’t make the adjustment or are not up for it”. However, at the company’s highest levels, the new vision has struck a chord. “In the old world we had six MDs,” he continues, “so think about the conversation telling them ‘you are no longer an MD’.” Yet he says all six former MDs are still with the ﬁrm. Saoulli acknowledges that as Rullion continues on “this very exciting and ambitious journey” constant change is a necessity, but at the same time he says, “a balance needs to be struck”. “We don’t want to lose what makes Rullion a very special place to work” – what he describes as ‘the soul’ of the company. “I think we are pretty good at thinking analytically about where we need to position ourselves. But that is only 20% – 80% is winning hearts and minds,” he continues. Faced with this battle to win hearts and minds, Saoulli says his favourite pitch internally is what he calls “the theatre pitch” in which he likens Rullion “to being a really good regional theatre company that occasionally has gone to the West End and put on a really good performance”. However, “to go to the West End and perform six nights in a row is something else and requires a huge commitment, passion and skill set”. It is clearly a pitch that Saoulli will need to call on in again, as there are no signs that he has any intention of slowing down or downsizing his ambitions for Rullion. “I want to emphasise something,” he says with some force. “What I really have my mind on is transforming our industry and making sure Rullion is at the forefront of that transformation by creating products and services of the future. That is where my ambition lies.” Saoulli continues: “What I always tell people who join is, I am trying to create a company that is here in 100 years’ time. Our mindset must be about making long-term investments and looking at the long term. “It’s all about having a disruptor mindset. If we don’t disrupt and cannibalise our market and think about remaining in the forefront, someone else will,” he explains. LinkedIn – “a great idea, but a very simple idea” – is a 30 RECRUITER

Philosophy of life: “When you wake up in the morning you need to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and be proud of what you see” James Saoulli prime example, he says, and one he is annoyed (although he uses a ruder term) “we didn’t create”. Saoulli then rushes through some of things that Rullion has embarked on, adding “we have been working on them for several years”. They include machine learning, as well as projects to provide real-time management information on everything the company does. Rullion’s business improvement team is focusing on how good organisational design can give large employers such as Rullion a competitive advantage. At the heart of much of this – indeed “a prerequisite” – is technology. While using an external provider, with the best tools on the market, has its place, he says the alternative “is that technology can give you competitive advantage, and therefore you want to be doing it yourself”. In a hint to how he sees the Rullion of the future, Saoulli says he envisages a world “where we will create many different products and services – what they are yet I don’t know – we’re experimenting with a number of different ideas”. Indeed, he continues: “I don’t see Rullion as a recruitment business, I see us as an organisation that operates within the market of getting things done. That’s how I see it, and one of our product lines is recruitment.” In the same vein, he doesn’t define himself as a recruiter either, because “as soon as you define yourself as something, you are in trouble ... I see Rullion as an intermediary and that gives us much more flexibility in terms of how we look at designing solutions. As soon as you define yourself very narrowly that is a recipe for disaster”. With the independently minded and forward-thinking Saoulli at the helm that doesn’t look at all likely. ●

C O M PA N Y

1978 Rullion founded by Themis Saoulli 1981 enters engineering 1988 enters IT 1992 goes into construction 2010 myRecruiter SaaS recruitment software launched 2010 £228m turnover 2016 Year-end Dec 2016 Turnover £460m GP/Net fee Income £27.9m Staff numbers 320

JAMES SAOULLI Jan 2107- present CEO, Rullion 2015- present Director, Rullion 2010-14 Director, Rullion Solutions 2008-10 Director, Rullion Management Services 2007-08 Pricing leader, General Electric

JANUARY 2018

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Issue 57 January 2018

RECRUITMENT MATTERS The View and The Intelligence Recruitment Industry Trends 16-17 p2-3

Big Talking Point

Legal Update

IRP Awards 2017

Ruth Penfold of Shazam p4

What lies ahead in 2018? p6-7

All the winners

FALL IN NET MIGRATION “CONCERN”

genuine skills and labour shortages lie alongside employer efforts to address these shortages. CIPD research has shown that some employers are still unable to

FOR EMPLOYERS A fall in net migration to the UK is concerning for employers, says the REC. The latest migration statistics published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the first full-year set of data since the EU referendum. It shows a fall in net migration, driven by a fall in immigration and a rise in emigration by EU citizens. REC’s director of policy Tom Hadley says businesses will head into 2018 knowing that talent will be harder to find. “Our data shows that candidate availability has

@RECPress RM_JAN_18.indd 1

been falling for four years. Employers will find roles even harder to fill as fewer people are coming to look for work. We need warehouse workers to pack up our deliveries, drivers to transport goods, and chefs and waiters in our restaurants. Employers will be hit hard at Christmas and no doubt the consumer will feel the effect as they end up paying more for products and services,” he says. “The UK currently has a vibrant temporary labour market but as EU workers no longer feel welcome here it

is under threat. We need d this ive country to be an attractive place to work and live, which means the government needs to ramp up efforts on a Brexit deal that provides clarity for EU workers and assures them that they are valuable to this country.” The REC’s concern is echoed by the CIPD. Its senior market analyst Gerwyn Davies says EU citizens in the UK are starting to vote with their feet. “Looking ahead, the data underlines the need for policymakers to conduct a thorough analysis of where

fill unskilled or semi-skilled roles despite their best efforts to recruit local applicants through widening recruitment channels, investing in skills and raising pay, which suggests that future government policy should avoid the dogmatic ‘brightest and best’ approach,” he says. The REC has published a research report about the effects leaving the EU will have on sectors reliant on EU workers. You can read it now at www.rec.uk.com/ readywillingable

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Leading the Industry

THE VIEW

A nod to a busy year, says Tom Hadley, REC director of policy and professional services

2018 will be a year of change. Let’s embrace it, says Kevin Green, REC chief executive As we head into the festive season, I think it’s the right time to reflect on where the industry finds itself and also take a peek into 2018. This year has been a good year for recruitment, one where we have made steady progress. The government has been preoccupied with Brexit but it has continued to bring in policies that affect the labour market and recruitment industry without having clarity on what it is seeking to change. This means that the REC has had a big job and a busy year fighting our corner. I am delighted that this year, we have again published some leading-edge research. The ones standing out are ‘The Scale up Workbook – How to deliver customer service excellence’ as this defines a proven approach to creating a sustainable and commercially successful recruitment business. The second and by far the largest project we have ever undertaken was our summer report on immigration, ‘Building the Post-Brexit

2017 AND ALL THAT… Immigration System’. This has opened many doors for us in Westminster – the REC has also been invited to No 10 twice – to put forward the recruitment industry’s point of view. We also launched new qualifications, developed new training programmes, as well as strengthened our sectorial and legal offering. Next year will see someone else become the REC chief executive. The organisation is in great shape with an excellent leadership team and a new chair. I would like to say to you all, get as involved with the REC as you possibly can as this makes the industry collectively stronger. Before I depart in March I will be holding six or seven events and I would love to see as many of you as possible. You really are at the heart of the REC. Have a great Christmas, let’s hope that 2018 will be a fantastic year for you, your business and the industry. Follow me on Twitter @kevingreenrec

ALL NEW SCALE UP IN THE ROUND DATES FOR 2018: 10 JANUARY - NORTHAMPTON 11 JANUARY - NOTTINGHAM 28 FEBRUARY - PETERBOROUGH 1 MARCH - EDINBURGH 6 MARCH - MANCHESTER VISIT WWW.REC.UK.COM TO BOOK 2 RECRUITMENT MATTERS JANUARY 2018

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This has been another tumultuous year on the political and public policy front. There have been significant challenges but also some important steps forward for us at the highest levels of government. The Matthew Taylor review into modern working practices was a major centrepiece. The government is still considering its response but our work on the government’s review was an opportunity to underline the key role that compliant agencies play and to raise awareness of existing rights and regulatory requirements. Job done on that front! What else was hot in 2017? GDPR, public procurement, IR35 and the Apprenticeship Levy are just some of the latest challenges for our industry. We have continued to fight our corner – in particular, on the need to extend the levy into a broader training fund that can benefit all workers. This message is gaining traction and was picked up in the Taylor report. We will continue to drive this in 2018. 2017 has been a bumper year for political engagement. We met with secretaries of state, ministers, shadow ministers, special advisers and over 50 MPs and peers including Brexit Minister Robin Walker, and twice visited No 10. We participated in all major party conferences and used our research and data to feed into Brexit debates. We also built a good working relationship with the new director for labour market enforcement, which will further boost our work to ensure that compliant agencies can thrive. 2017 was also the year we went back to the future with our Future of jobs commission, an REC-led coalition of employers, think-tanks and labour market experts, chaired by former employment minister and current deputy chief whip Rt Hon Esther McVey MP. This has enabled us to articulate a clear vision for the jobs market we want to create by 2025 and a roadmap for making it happen. The report signals the start of a series of future-facing activities that we will continue to drive into 2018. It also positions our industry’s voice at the forefront of the future of work debate. Plenty to build on in 2018. As ever, our best lobbying tool is the positive role that REC members play in driving compliance and in providing a great service to employers and individuals. You can follow Tom on Twitter @hadleyscomment nt

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THE INTELLIGENCE WITH REC SENIOR RESEARCHER, MARK HARRISON Earlier this month, the REC released its annual ‘Recruitment industry trends’, giving an overview of the state of the industry in 2016/17. The data shows that recruiters helped almost 1 million people find a new permanent job in the past year with permanent recruitment now accounting for one-eighth of the industry by turnover. On any given day, there were on average nearly 1.3 million workers on temporary agency payroll, of which 1.1 million were on assignment. On top of helping a wide range of employers to source candidates for their organisations, the recruitment industry itself employs over 100,000 people in the UK. The report demonstrates that recruiters help employers source permanent and temporary candidates for all sorts of roles in every sector

PERMANENT INCOME REMAINS CHALLENGED The latest information from the Recruitment Industry Benchmarking Index (RIB Index) shows that, for the median recruiter across the first three quarters of 2017, the average monthly permanent billings were lower than in the same period in 2016. Whilst Q2 showed a 5% improvement year on year, permanent fees levels at -12% in Q1 and -1% in Q3

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of the economy. However, recruiters’ time is taken up more by sourcing some types of candidates than others. Employers rely on recruiters to source secretarial and clerical roles more than any other, with these roles accounting for roughly a sixth of both permanent and temporary roles by volume. In temporary recruitment, industrial and blue collar roles account for another sixth, followed by medical roles and teaching roles, which each account for around a 10th of temporary placements. In permanent recruitment, technical and engineering roles account for 15% of placements by volume, followed by accounting and financial roles and professional and managerial roles, which each account for 11% each. Looking to the future, the report anticipates an industry that will continue to grow despite uncertainty over the UK’s economic future. Unless the government commits

1.3M ON ANY GIVEN DAY, THERE WERE ON AVERAGE NEARLY 1.3 MILLION WORKERS ON TEMPORARY AGENCY PAYROLL, OF WHICH 1.1 MILLION WERE ON ASSIGNMENT.

to a dramatic U-turn on its policy aims, we are likely to see reductions in immigration exacerbate an already present skills shortage in many sectors of the economy. The latest immigration figures released at the end of November show a statistically significant reduction in EU immigration and a statistically significant increase in EU emigration in the year since the vote to leave the EU. This reduction in net migration due to EU citizens choosing to leave or not come to the UK is likely to increase in the run up to the UK’s exit from the EU in 2019 and the end of the proposed transition period in 2021. Beyond 2021, an excessively restrictive immigration system could damage the UK’s recruitment industry

Figure 1. Permanent billings versus last year (%) – quarterly average 30% 25% 20% 15% 10%

HOWEVER, RECRUITERS’ TIME IS TAKEN UP MORE BY SOURCING SOME TYPES OF CANDIDATES THAN OTHERS. EMPLOYERS RELY ON RECRUITERS TO SOURCE SECRETARIAL AND CLERICAL ROLES MORE THAN ANY OTHER WITH THESE ROLES ACCOUNTING FOR ROUGHLY A

6TH

OF BOTH PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY ROLES BY VOLUME.

and the wider economy. However, with candidate shortages likely to continue for the foreseeable future, next year is a year of great opportunity for those agencies that can source ever scarcer candidates for employers keen to recruit and grow. To access the report in full and get the most up to date and detailed analysis of the industry going into 2018, visit www.rec.uk.com/newsand-policy/research. is set fair to continue, the importance of benchmarking performance against other recruiters to maximise performance cannot be underestimated.

5% 0 -5% -10%

Perm billings v last year%

-15% Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

resulted in a nine-month average performance down 2.5% on the prior year. When looking at the performance of the upper and lower quartile RIB Index contributors, the

former delivered a monthly average YOY improvement of 26% across the nine months, whilst the latter experienced a monthly average 24% decline. As market uncertainty

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.

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The Big Talking Point

RUTH PENFOLD Kevin Green: Tell us a bit about Shazam. An entertainment app is how I would describe it – but how do you describe yourself? Ruth Penfold: First and foremost, music is our heritage and we are fiercely proud of that. We love the fact that we can help you discover the song that you don’t know and the whole idea of Shazam is really we create magic for people. KG: What kind of people do you employ? RP: People either think that we’re a dude in a bedroom or that we’re Google. We’re actually neither of those things. We are a small but perfectly formed organisation of about 230 people at the moment, who are based across eight locations. So lots of those locations are in the US and that’s about 100 humans. In the UK, we’re about 100 humans. KG: Why humans and not people? You love the word humans. RP: Do you know what, humanising stuff is really important to me. We’re living in a world where we’re all having the threat of automation, and AI and technology is taking over and all that kind of stuff and that’s beautiful, right? I work in a business where most of the roles in my organisation didn’t exist 10 years ago, now they do. So rather than being afraid of the advancement of the working world, I welcome it because that 4 RECRUITMENT MATTERS JANUARY 2018

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SHAZAM’S HUMANFINDER

Ruth Penfold is the director of talent acquisitions at Shazam, the music discovery app. She tells REC chief executive Kevin Green how she gave the company a human face means that I might have a completely different new job and there’s exciting things to come. But I don’t think we should be losing the humanity out of the work that we’re doing, particularly in people functions.

KG: You’ve got 230 people, eight locations, lots in North America and the UK, plus Berlin and Sydney. What’s the big people challenges then for you and for the HR function? Is it around attraction of talent? RP: I would really say our people challenges are a tale of two halves. On one side of our business, Shazam has an amazing brand, so any corporate functions, sales all that sort of stuff, it’s actually fairly easy to hire for, because we have a significant brand that people want to be a part of. The brand still stands in the technology piece, but the market is a lot harder. So we’re hiring for very niche

skillsets and in a very, very competitive market. That means that you have to be creative about the way you approach it. The old method of sticking an advert up somewhere on the internet – well, now on the internet – but sticking an advert up somewhere and waiting to see who applies just doesn’t work anymore. You know we’re continuously looking at the way that we are looking for talent. And the other part of your question about retaining talent, the flipside of that is because we have this amazing brand it means that our people are targeted all of the time to go and join other brilliant businesses. You have to stay on your A-game as an employer and make sure that you’re giving people a great experience.

KG: What’s the average age in the organisation? I imagine it’s quite young. RP: It’s probably not as

young as you think. I would say probably somewhere in the 30s. It’s funny actually, I posted a picture of a bunch of Shazamers and they were like, is anyone there under 25? I was like, well I’m 37 for a start, and some of the other people behind me were in their 40s; just because we look young and happy doesn’t mean we’re not old and experienced.

KG: If you were successful at the end of this year for the business, what would you have done? What would you have achieved? RP: If I was successful for the business this year I would have provided the business with the life blood of humans that it needs to keep going from being good to great. My role is about attracting those humans and that doesn’t just mean physically finding someone to come in and be with us. I interview people all week long, like lots of people in recruitment do, www.rec.uk.com

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of this stuff is fixed, it has to continuously evolve. And for every satisfied person there’s always going to be someone that’s not happy. So it’s something that you can always look to improve on. My textbook example is we have an amazing sales guy based in L.A. who I first spoke to two years ago and actually we connected for a role that we had in L.A. at the time. He happened to be in London [where I’m based] so came in to meet me in London. The timing wasn’t right – it wasn’t the right combination at that time. But we then hired him six months ago for our L.A. office because now it was the perfect storm. So, him having a great experience before was the thing that paved the way for us having a great experience now having hired him.

KG: What are you proudest of?

and I ask everybody the same question, “What do you enjoy the most about the job that you’re doing?” And 95% of people say “the people”. One of the biggest things that I’ve been working on is building a culture of employee advocacy

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at Shazam. So that means our people are the best talent attraction tool we have, full stop. If your people are out there telling people about the great experience that they’re having, then the battle is almost won.

KG: If you were describing your aspiration for your candidate experience, what would that look like? RP: That’s something that I’m very much looking at the moment because none

RP: I think really it’s the general theme of humanity. When I joined Shazam there was not a single photograph of a human being from Shazam on the internet anywhere. So I have humanised the business. I have given us a face that didn’t exist before, but I’ve humanised us from the inside out by humanising the hiring process, by taking our people out there, by giving them voices, and that’s very much something that’s sort of fluid and moving and growing. The full interview with Ruth Penfold can be listened to at www.rec.uk.com/ grcpodcast

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Legal update

THE OUTLOOK FOR 2018 WHAT TO EXPECT FROM A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE IN 2018 By Lewina Farrell, solicitor and head of professional services IR35: In the Autumn Budget, the government stated there would be a consultation in 2018 on the possible extension of the off-payroll operational in the public sector to the private sector. Before the budget there was intense speculation about whether such an extension would take effect from April 2018 or later – after all, HMRC had admitted that there was now an unlevel playing field between the public and private sectors. The announcement does not give a date for any changes so we don’t know if we are looking at 2019 or beyond. REC is part of the IR35 Forum and will continue to lobby for the best possible outcome for recruiters.

Employment status review: It was also announced that the government will publish a discussion paper as part of the response to the Matthew Taylor review of employment practices in the modern economy. The paper will look at options for longerterm reform to make the employment status tests for both employment rights and tax clearer. More gig economy cases: In 2017 we saw a raft of ‘gig economy’ cases taken against Uber and a number of courier companies. In these, the individuals concerned sought declarations that they were not self-employed but should be classed as workers or employees for employment

rights purposes. We can expect more cases in 2018 while a number of others will proceed to the higher courts to overturn decisions declaring the individuals as workers entitled to NMW, holiday pay etc. Data Protection: The General Data Protection Regulation will come into effect on 25 May 2018. This grants new rights to individuals while imposing new obligations on organisations which process data. In preparation for Brexit (see below) the government has also published a new Data Protection Bill, which will import the GDPR standards into UK law. Brexit: At the time of writing, Parliament is working its way

through the EU Withdrawal Bill aka the Great Repeal Bill. This bill will repeal the European Communities Act 1972, which brought the UK into what was then the EC. It will also incorporate all EU law into UK domestic legislation to ensure a smooth transition post-Brexit, but the legislation will then be subject to review. It will also end the power of the European Court of Justice in the UK. The bill is an immense undertaking. Whilst government has announced there will be no watering down of worker rights, it narrowly won a vote not to incorporate the EU Charter of Fundamental Human Rights into UK law. Certainly, there is lots to keep us all very busy in 2018.

NICs and disguised remuneration: The NICs employment allowance of £3,000 was introduced to help small businesses offset the national insurance costs of employing staff. However, there has been concern for some time about how the allowance is being used particularly in ‘mini-umbrellas’ or personal service companies. To tackle this, from 2018 HMRC will require upfront security from employers with a history of avoiding paying NICs by abusing the employment allowance. The budget also announced a new close companies’ gateway to ensure that liabilities from the new loan charge which applies from April 2019 onwards are collected from the appropriate person.

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www.rec.uk.com

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Inspiration

BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE INSTITUTE OF RECRUITMENT PROFESSIONALS

The View

Thomas Noot ot is a consultantt with Jonathan Lee e Recruitment

Samantha Cartman tman is a technical recruitment consultant at Morson orson International

DAY IN THE LIFE

LEVEL 4 STUDENT

I’m responsible for... Driving the growth of our contracts business. We have a strategy to grow by 10% year-on-year, so my role is to make clients and companies aware of our contracting capability and how we can solve their short and medium-term staffing requirements.

Why did you choose the Level 4 Diploma in Recruitment Management? I had been wanting to do a professional qualification for a while, so when I sat down with my manager and our HR manager and looked at the options, we decided that the Level 4 was going to be the most beneficial to me and my level of experience.

My typical day… I take a structured approach to my day, making sure I prioritise the vacancies I am working on. I enjoy getting to know my candidates and clients and make an extra effort to ensure they’re up-to-date and happy, so, most of everyday is spent talking to them, arranging interviews, negotiating offers and getting the contracts up and running. My most memorable work moment… Winning the 10-cheeseburger challenge. I am proud to be the current record holder for being the fastest to eat 10 cheeseburgers from a popular restaurant chain. Challengers beware! The best part of my job… Securing placements and making candidates and clients happy. I’ve never lost the buzz that a successful placement gives me! My biggest candidate success story… One of the most memorable success stories for me was working with a lady who had been out of the job market for an extended period and was really struggling to get a foot back on the career ladder. She had become very dejected after several knock-backs but was really eager to work. I worked with her to find some suitable opportunities, gave advice on her CV and coached her for the interviews. A few weeks later, I called to let her know that she was being offered her preferred job and I was delighted and touched by her tears of joy at the news.

What was the most challenging part of the qualification? Two modules in particular stand out here and that was the module surrounding the legal and ethical requirements within recruitment, and also the module surrounding all the different types of recruitment contracts. The legal and ethical requirements within recruitment are something that all recruiters need to have a good knowledge of and this module, whilst probably the most information laden, is also one of the most useful and informative. The Contracts module is quite a revelation in that, as recruiters, we use various different contracts every day but this delves into things that we maybe don’t necessarily think about as much as we should, such as the ramifications different types of client and candidate contracts have for us as a business and for the contractor as an individual. How did you find studying while working full time? It is difficult, I don’t think anyone would ever say otherwise. Sometimes after nine hours at work, the last thing you want to do is go home and spend another two studying, but the reward and the sense of achievement, not only at the end when you receive your full Diploma, but after every exam and every successful results day, is so worth it.

To keep up to date with everything the Institute of Recruitment Professionals is doing, please visit www.rec-irp.uk.com

www.rec.uk.com

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RECRUITMENT MATTERS JANUARY 2018 7

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2017 IRP Awards winners

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS FROM THE 2017 IRP AWARDS 1

Recruitment Apprentice of the Year

Natalie Winterton, BPS World

2 Best Newcomer of the Year

Ellis Thorne, Class People

3 Best Candidate Experience

Jodie Rafferty, Rafferty Resourcing

4 Permanent Consultant of the Year

Kristy Moore, Acorn Group

5 Temporary Consultant of the Year

Blayne Cahill, Carrington West

6 Business Manager of the Year

Alison Keogh, Pro-Recruitment Group

7 Business Leader of the Year

Ed Vokes, Evolve Hospitality Recruitment

8 Best Back-Office Support Team

Phaidon International

9 Best People Development Business Award

BPS World

10 Best Recruitment Campaign

Gi Group

11 Best Corporate & Social Responsibility Practitioners

Amoria Bond

12 Best Company to Work for (up to 20 employees)

Class People

13 Best Company to Work for (up to 50 employees)

Evolve Hospitality Recruitment

14 Best Company to Work for (up to 150 employees)

Amoria Bond

15 Best Company to Work for (up to 250 employees)

Rethink Group

16 Best Company to Work for (more than 250 employees)

Serocor Group

17 Lifetime Achievement

Steve Ingham

18 Recruiter of the Year

Kristy Moore, Acorn Group

A SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PARTNER

AND THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS

VISIT WWW.IRPAWARDS.COM TO SEE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS FROM THE NIGHT.

RECRUITMENT MATTERS The official magazine of The Recruitment & Employment Confederation Dorset House, 1st Floor, 27-45 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NT

Membership Department: Membership: 020 7009 2100, Customer Services: 020 7009 2100 Publishers: Redactive Publishing Ltd, 78 Chamber Street E1 8BL. Tel: 020 7880 6200. www.redactive.co.uk Editorial: Editor Michael Oliver michael.oliver@redactive.co.uk. Production Editor: Vanessa Townsend Production: Production Executive: Rachel Young rachel.young@redactive.co.uk Tel: 020 7880 6209 Printing: Printed by Precision Colour Printing Â© 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.

Tel: 020 7009 2100 www.rec.uk.com 8 RECRUITMENT MATTERS JANUARY 2018

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www.rec.uk.com

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CO M M U N I T Y

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

From stepping up to charity challenges to posting poems to promote your positions, you’ve been busy inside and out of recruitment…

ASC STAFF STEP UP FOR BBC CHILDREN IN NEED VIA  Staff at Midlands-based recruiter ASC Connections challenged themselves to climb 96,750 steps – the height of Kilimanjaro and Mount Everest combined – as part of a fundraising effort for BBC Children in Need. The 19 employees across three of ASC’s offices raised an amazing £1,342 for the charity.

MORSON HAS A KNOCK-OUT EVENT WITH BOXING CHAMP VIA  Technical and engineering specialist recruiter Morson held a meet-and greet with former WBA lightweight world champion boxer Anthony Crolla (above right), whom the company sponsors. Crolla launched his book, Good Guys Can Win, at Morson’s head office in Salford. Staff at ASC Connections climb 96,750 steps to raise £1,342 for Children in Need

NON-STOP’S RHYMING RECRUITER VIA  When it comes to candidates, Non-Stop Pharma’s team leader George Watson isn’t short of the right word or two to entice them to apply to NonStop. In fact, as his poem says, he’s the poet that can get you a position: Worried about inflation? Or want a home working station? Perhaps experiencing stagnation? Vent your frustration, Let’s work through the equation, With no obligation, I’ll use my powers of persuasion, To find you the right organisation, Have no hesitation, Send your application!

£32,954 WAS RAISED FOR GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL

So a big shout out to the nation – any other recruiters got the inclination to pen a poem in jubilation – or frustration?!

ROBERT WALTERS GROUP RAISES A STAGGERING £33K FOR GOSH VIA 

TW I TT E R

UK employees across the Robert Walters Group raised £32,954 in the annual Charity Day for Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH). In a winning display of initiative, athleticism and creativity, staff across group offices and Resource Solutions client sites undertook challenges including a 100km triathlon and a two-man effort to cycle a lap around London.

DB Charles @DB__Charles Dec 5 Cup of tea ready, biscuits opened and now looking forward to hearing about the festive recruitment news from @RecruiterMag

 @RecruiterMag  instagram.com/recruitermagazine/  recruitermagazine.tumblr.com/

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The Workplace BY GUY HAYWARD

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Taxi ﬁrm Addison Lee’s approach to allowing employees to bring children into the office was a ﬁrst among UK businesses. And the London operation of investment bank Goldman Sachs led the way by opening an on-site office crèche. Such has been its success that the bank has opened other crèches in New York and Tokyo. These are great ideas. However, being a parent isn’t all about the newborn – it lasts 18 years. The most powerful solutions for supporting employees to be great parents are ones we can all implement without any associated cost. Your management can lead this support – for example, by making it possible to start a little later because an employee is taking their son or daughter to school, backing another who is popping out of the office to stand on the touchline for a couple of hours, or encouraging another to leave at a time when they can be home to read a story. My objective is to be home every night by 6pm. Reading a book or playing a board game with my kids during the week – I love that time. I organise a running club every Friday morning at 8am at my daughter’s school, and on Wednesdays I am indeed on a touchline between 1pm and 3pm, supporting my son. I share these examples to show

“Those early years are ones you don’t get back – children grow up quickly” that it is possible, and that I think it’s important our people see it is possible, to balance job and family. And because they see you do it, they feel conﬁdent that they can do the same. At our ﬁrm, we go on one trip a year where we bring children and partners. The year before last, 30 of us were in Iceland to see the Northern Lights. Towards the end of the year just gone, we headed for some Christmas spirit in New York. And another afternoon in December, the management team and their children visited my house, where Santa was waiting with gifts.

↗

WE ALL HAVE STORIES ON HOW the good, the bad and the ugly have played a role in influencing our careers and our styles. My fascination with the modern workplace has certainly been fuelled by the scarcity of evidence on changing and moving out of the 1980s – not least with the need to help parents play a central role in the lives of their children at the same time as building their career. Why do I raise this? Because I've seen it countless times with the people who managed me, and with their angst in having to sacrifice their role with their children to put their careers first. We know now that it is possible to balance those needs. For many, managing a career, influencing your boss and building an internal brand in the company you work for feels like a conflict with the desire to play an active role in your children’s lives, and not just see them tucked up in bed. I read a study recently that suggested that more than two-thirds of parents said they regretted not having spent more quality time with their children when they were younger. Surely we must prevent this being the case within the recruitment industry. Those early years are ones you don’t get back – children grow up quickly.

GUY HAYWARD – redefining the modern workplace CEO, Goodman Masson

The study I mentioned also found that parents did things differently with their second child, so they would avoid having the same regrets. Have no regrets with either. You can have a great career and be an awesome parent at the same time – in the eyes of your children, at least. ●

JANUARY 2018

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Change your mindset and start coaching – part 2

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

BY TARA LESCOTT

↗ TARA LESCOTT is managing director of recruitment-torecruitment agency Recruiter Republic

AS WE DISCOVERED IN DECEMBER’S ISSUE, TRAINING AND COACHING SHOULDN’T BE A FIREFIGHTING SOLUTION THAT’S LEFT FOR WHEN SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS. Agency owners, leaders and managers are by far the best people to mentor and coach their own people. Best practice So how do we go about this process? People can be put off because they think they need to have glossy, pre-prepared slides and workbooks, to put pen to paper and polish this content, and then to deliver it. This is wrong. You are at your most powerful when dealing with scenarios and having open debates that lead to an agreed ‘best practice’. So take the easy road to great team coaching with these killer action points:

I M AG E | I STO C K

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“You are at your most powerful when dealing with scenarios and debates that lead to an agreed ‘best practice’ ” ● Let your team decide the content On a topic-by-topic basis, ask them what subjects they would like one-to-one coaching, support or insight into. Take the most common topics ﬁrst. All you need in terms of preparation are bullet points, a couple of stories to tie in, and a pre-conceived idea of what you would like people to take away and implement as a result. Because your team requested the theme, they instantly become more open to receiving the coaching, they feel good that you value their request, and – because you’re making it an open debate – the generally agreed way forward is far more likely to have a high adoption rate. ● Schedule easily Make it easy for everyone. Build a time into your rota now – once a week or once a month – make it a regular thing, and

book it in everyone’s diaries. Then it’s happening. ● Appoint a note-taker Nominate someone to take notes and action points, and distribute them after each meeting. ● Set an agenda Set the same agenda format for each coaching session: your introduction to the topic, an open discussion on how this issue is felt by the team currently, your war stories, their ideas, and the group consensus on best practice for the future. ● Follow-up You now have a theme for the month – keep reinforcing what has been discussed and agreed, so that it becomes normal in your business to deal with this scenario in this way. As these weekly or monthly sessions layer up, you are building a strong common language and universally understood best practice for your team, that will be passed on to the teams around them.

Don’t sell you or your team short by denying them access to the wealth of knowledge available under your leadership, and don’t procrastinate while aiming for perfection. Take massive, imperfect action, and watch how positive the impact is on your business. Happy coaching. ●

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ASK THE EXPERT Q: How can I make performance reviews a more positive experience for the team and the business? Too many performance reviews focus overwhelmingly on past performance. While that is beneﬁcial, reviews are an important opportunity to set out both employee and employer expectations. They provide a chance to assess the relationship between the business and employees, and ensure the symbiosis continues to be mutually beneﬁcial.

Alex Arnot

● Phase 1: Company-wide preparation Before starting reviews it is important to have a vision for the company in three years’ time (number of employees, revenue from each division, etc) and a year-by-year plan on how to get there. The yearly plans should include an organogram for each phase of growth, as well as financial targets. Knowing what revenues will be generated by which teams enables you to work out the size and structure of those teams. The plan and organogram shouldn’t simply be for management. Sharing them provides the team with context during their career development discussions, giving confidence they fit into a wider plan and setting realistic expectations.

about where the individual is in regards to the skills, results and behaviours against the next step up in their career. Having reviewed past performance, look to understand the employee’s ambitions and how these could dovetail with the company’s growth. What opportunities are there for promotion? What skills does the employee need to develop? And what personal targets do they need to achieve before you commit to promoting them? Linking personal progression with the individual’s contribution to the business creates a meritocracy that brings out the best in recruiters.

● Phase 2: Individual preparation While past performance is of secondary importance to future performance, it is an important predictor of potential and an opportunity to structure an individual’s development. Before each performance review, assess how the employee performed against their targets, and get feedback on strengths and areas for improvement from their juniors, managers and peers (plus clients/candidates/suppliers if relevant). Finally, share an agenda with the employee before the review so they are less likely to feel defensive and can structure their thoughts.

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● Phase 4: Follow-up – put it in writing Targets agreed in a meeting are quickly forgotten. A formal written record with development activities, unambiguous measures and ﬁrm timescales keeps employees focused. Both management and the employee signing the printed review document creates the feel of a contract, giving the employee a physical reminder they can refer back to. While it may not be legally binding, symbiotic relationships are built on trust. If an employee honours their side of the agreement and hits the targets, then make sure you honour your side and reward them accordingly.

↗

● Phase 3: The review The agenda will normally start with a review of recent performance and feedback from colleagues. This can be used to frame subsequent discussion

The SME Coach

ALEX ARNOT is founder of MyNonExec.com and board adviser to more than 30 recruitment companies.

JANUARY 2018

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MAKING SURE CANDIDATES FEEL AT HOME BY COLIN COTTELL

ith high rates of unemployment, homelessness, various addictions, and other mental health and wellbeing problems, the residents of one of the UK’s largest social housing providers would not be the most obvious source of talent for most organisations. However, that is exactly the approach taken by national social housing association, care and support provider Home Group. With properties all over the country, but predominantly in the North of England and London, Home Group has targeted residents living in its 55,000-strong stock of social housing, as well as clients in receipt of its care and support services. Stuart Campbell, Home Group’s employability manager, acknowledges that many of the social enterprise and charity’s residents and clients face a range of barriers to getting into work. “Historically, when people have lived in council or social housing they have tended to work in industries such as mining and shipbuilding, which have been replaced with nothing, leaving people in a cycle of unemployment for generations,” he says. “To get a job, you need a reference and you need current skills – that is a big challenge for them,” he adds. However, Home Group’s policy of looking to its residents and clients as a prime source of talent ﬁts in with the organisation’s wider ethos and purpose, says Campbell. “We aim to provide improvement and aspiration for our customers, so by helping them get into work via Home Group we will help them to be independent and improve their life chances.” And despite the generally socially and economic disadvantaged proﬁle of Home Group’s chosen talent pool, Campbell says it’s an approach that works. Since Home Group launched its apprenticeship programme in 2013, 75% of those who started the programme have gone into work, with 80% moving into a job with Home Group itself.

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The number of apprenticeships provided has risen steadily from 40 in 2013 to 70 in 2017. The entry-level roles are confined to those in services that Home Group provides, such as health and social care, and housing. They include administration and customer service, as well as head office functions, such as IT and finance. Campbell acknowledges that limiting apprenticeship recruitment to Home Group’s customers and clients restricts the talent pool on which the organisation can draw. “If we are offering a service with 100 houses around it, then that neighbourhood is the one that you have to attract from, so the customers restrict the pool of available talent. We can’t just put an article online or use Facebook or Twitter – it has to be a lot more targeted,” he says. This restriction is partly why even when things go well, Home Group may receive only five applications for an apprenticeship place, says Campbell. In contrast, when it extended its applications for an architectural apprenticeship beyond its customers and clients, it received 160 applications. However, he argues that targeting Home Group’s customers and clients – those who receive its services – does have some advantages, not least because it helps to build an organisation that is representative of its customers. “They have a good understanding of the business, so they are able to live the issues they are supporting people with,” he says. With a high level of unemployment among its customers and clients, the biggest challenge for Home Group is finding people who are ‘job ready’. “The problem is literally to break down the cycles of unemployment to get people to a point where a job

JANUARY 2018

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CO M M U N I T Y

EMPLOYABILITY

Home Group apprentices in Newcastle

or an apprenticeship is the right route for them. You have to really dig deep to find people,” he says. To supplement the advertising of opportunities in its various offices, and articles in Home Group’s magazine for tenants, Campbell says the organisation’s own frontline staff have a key role in identifying promising talent. “We work closely with frontline colleagues, who know where customers are on their journey, and can identify those who are ready,” he says. The lack of work experience doesn’t just make finding people who are ready to take that step difficult, according to Campbell. It even pervades how applicants to Home Group’s apprenticeships are assessed. “It’s about assessing their desire and commitment and attitude, mindful that the skills will follow once we get them in.” However, those who successfully get through their apprenticeship, and go on to apply for a mainstream job with Home Group, are assessed through mainstream evidence and values-based recruitment, he says. According to Campbell, the hard work doesn’t stop after an apprentice signs up either, but continues during their onboarding period. A lot of attention is paid to helping newcomers make the transition from benefits to receiving a salary. “We help them understand the financials and how much better off they are going to be in work, and we also show them how to budget,” he says. Newcomers can also

draw on a fund to help them with travel to work. In addition, their start date can be adjusted so they don’t have to wait a month or six weeks before receiving their first salary. All these actions reduce the chances that new entrants will drop out at this early stage, says Campbell. Apprentices are supported in other ways too, he says. Not only does each apprentice have a manager, but they also have a ‘workplace buddy’. Home Group’s central apprenticeship team ensures that apprentices are managed in a consistent fashion, and have their personal development needs met. Patience is hugely important with this group, says Campbell. “We make managers aware that with our apprentices they need to invest a lot of time to where we would expect an entry-level colleague to be. It might take a year before they get to that point.” Those who successfully complete their Level 2 apprentice often move on to Level 3, so the whole process can take two years. During that time, he says, not only does Home Group invest in their training and development, but they also receive the National Minimum Wage for their age, a figure that is higher than the national apprenticeship wage for apprentices in their first year of £3.50 an hour. Campbell insists that the investment in money, time and effort is worth it. “Yes, we are putting in the investment, but what we invest we get back from growing our own pipeline of talent,” he says. The key lesson from Home Group’s approach is the importance “of having the whole organisation on board”, he says. “Everyone needs to be behind it and accept that a lot of work goes into supporting people who may never have worked, or not worked for 20 years, because they are homeless or have an addiction. This is not something that is ‘nice to do’; this is something in which everyone plays a part and I think that is very important.” With unemployment at record lows, and Brexit uncertainty leading to fears there will be even fewer workers around in the future, the success of Home Group’s approach could provide a blueprint for other employers on how to recruit and retain groups of people whom previously they might have ignored. One person who has benefitted from Home Group’s policy of sourcing its talent from its customers and clients John Aldridge, from Boldon Colliery in Tyne and Wear. After being unemployed for three years and applying for more than 2,000 jobs, he says his life was transformed after a conversation with Home Group’s customer service partner, Helen Douglas, at one of her weekly community drop-in sessions.

↗

“We are putting in the investment, but we get it back from growing our own pipeline of talent”

I M AG E | H O M E GRO UP

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“I had almost given up ﬁnding a job, but that conversation changed all that,” he says. After a successful ﬁve-week employability training course run by Capita, he was interviewed as apprenticeship facilities assistant. And despite some initial misgivings – “I was very nervous about my placement” – Aldridge went on to complete his Level 2 apprenticeship. ●

Power Points

1 2

To make a success of recruiting people with signiﬁcant barriers to getting into work, you need to make the process part of an organisation’s ethos and purpose Be prepared to tailor your recruitment processes and modify your internal structure to meet the needs of your target group You must support candidates at all stages of their journey, including after they have joined the organisation Restricting the talent pool reduces the number of potential candidates you have to choose from and means you have to work harder Hiring your customers will make an employer more representative of its community

3 4 5

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HEY NOW, YOU’RE AN ALL STAR, GET YOUR GAME ON, GO PLAY HEY NOW, YOU’RE A RECRUITER STAR, GET YOUR ENTRY IN, GET PRAISED

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“My father is my role model. I’m quite family-orientated, so he’s always been a bit of an inspiration inspiration” MY BRILLIANT IANT MENT RECRUITMENT CAREER What was your earliest dream job? I always wanted to be an engineer. gineer.

↗

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

WARREN BARRY, Y rail divisional manager, XM Recruit TXM

I was working as an estate agent. Then a rec-to-rec contacted me and I started my ﬁrst job in business development for a company called SCom, doing telecoms recruitment.

WARREN BARRY

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

danced on the table, so he got sacked straight away. It made me cry because it was a lot of effort getting him there.

My father, actually. I’m quite e family-orientated, so he’s always ways been a bit of an inspiration.

What do you love most about your current role?

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

The development of people – and that’s our internal people.

All of our jobs. We Al c categorise all of our jobs with all of our clients the same. a There’s no one role more iimportant than the other, so all of them at the moment. m

What would you consider to be the most brilliant moment of your career? This whole year – the whole time I’ve been at TXM and not just one moment. When I started here four years ago, it was a team of myself and one other, and now we’re a team of 10, so developing the division, as well as those individuals, over the course of those past four years. And winning Recruiter’s Investing In Talent Award [Most Inspiring Team Leader/Manager] was a highlight – it’s one of many.

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What’s the best or worst interview question you’ve ever heard? Worst interview question by far is “sell me this pen”.

What would you regard as your theme tune? Wonderwall by y Oasis.

What is your signature dish? Roast lamb.

Laugh or cry, what did your most memorable candidate make you want to do and why? Cry. Some time back I had an engineer go to Fort William [in the Scottish Highlands] from London and I had to book him on a train, a coach and a taxi. The ﬁrst night he got there, he stayed in a B&B, got drunk and

IMAG ES | ISTO C K / ALAM Y

07/12/2017 09:53

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View the latest jobs at jobs.recruiter.co.uk To place your advertisement E: recruiterjobs@redactive.co.uk or T: 020 7880 6215

Recruiter Jobs helping you to attract the best candidates for your vacancies.

Contact our sales team recruiterjobs@redactive.co.uk +44 (0)20 7880 6215

Recruiter Jobs is the online recruitment site for Recruiter magazine, the principal magazine for recruiting and resourcing professionals. You can search through a wide range of roles; from recruitment consultants to in-house recruitment, based in both the UK and International markets.

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View the latest jobs at jobs.recruiter.co.uk To place your advertisement E: recruiterjobs@redactive.co.uk or T: 020 7880 6215

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E CAREERS CO M M UNITY

THE ADECCO GROUP The recruitment giant has made a number of changes within its executive committee. Ian Lee, as regional head Asia Paciﬁc, and chief information officer Rob James will join the executive committee from 2018. Sergio Picarelli will become additionally responsible for the brands Lee Hecht Harrison, Spring Professional and Badenoch & Clark globally. In a nonexecutive committee role, Christophe Duchatellier will become globally responsible for Spring Professional and Badenoch & Clark, reporting to Picarelli.

principal consultants Stuart Manderson (right) and Murray Simpson (left) to sales manager for the whole of its UK IT business and Scotland team leader respectively.

CLEARSTAR The US-based ﬁrm has appointed Robert Martin vice president of sales and business development.

EAMES CONSULTING GROUP The executive search specialist has made Jamie Card partner & manager, insurance change management.

Jo Davis has joined strategic outsourcing and energy services company Mitie Group as group human resources director. Based in London, she will join the group in January 2018 from healthy eating retail chain itsu, where she was group HR director. Prior to itsu, Davis held several senior HR roles at Sainsbury’s including HR Director of Netto, its discount retailer, and head of people and operations for Asia, based in Shanghai. Before joining Sainsbury’s, Davis worked in ﬁnancial services at Santander and Kleinwort Benson.

BULLHORN The cloud computing company has appointed Ian Scott as director of global accounts.

of Pippa Wicks and Paul Harrison, who retired as nonexecutive directors at the end of its annual general meeting held on 15 November 2017.

GATTACA The specialist recruitment solutions group has made Grahame Carter managing director of its engineering brand Matchtech.

HAYS CATHCART ASSOCIATES The IT recruiter has promoted 48 RECRUITER

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The recruitment giant has announced the departures

HEIDRICK & STRUGGLES The executive search provider has appointed Carlos Garcia to lead its supply chain and operations practice globally, alongside his role as partner in charge of the ﬁrm’s Los Angeles office.

Toronto-based Dominique Hansen joins as new head of investment management in the Americas, and Renee Neri in New York as new head of asset management for the Americas.

HSBC The banking giant HSBC welcomes Aaron Boland and Craig Parrett as relationship directors within its recruitment sector team.

Email people moves for use online and in print, including a short

07/12/2017 15:20

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

CONTACTS EDITORIAL +44 (0)20 7880 7606 Editor DeeDee Doke

HOWGATE SABLE Mark Iliffe and Noreen Curtin join the executive search ﬁrm as partner and associate partner.

THE RECRUIT VENTURE GROUP (TRVG) The recruitment investment provider has made Mike Watts a support director.

ZACHARY DANIELS The UK specialist retail recruiter has appointed Sam Parkin as associate director for its hospitality and leisure division.

ZRG PARTNERS HUDSON The global talent solutions business welcomes Elizabeth Basten as a UK board director.

The global executive search ﬁrm has appointed Melissa Oszustowicz as managing director in Minneapolis.

MORGAN MCKINLEY The banking and ﬁnance recruiter welcomes Ian Barker as UK director of professional services and Kathryn Swan as UK lead for accountancy practices. The pair previously worked at recruitment giant Hays as directors.

NRG The North-East headquartered agency has appointed Leanne Chamber and James Carss as director of client solutions and group business development director respectively. Joining the duo on the board is Mark Smales as ﬁnance director.

SPENGLER FOX Lone Roervig joins the global talent consultancy as global head of its life sciences practice group.

YOUR NEXT MOVE A selection of vacancies from recruiter.co.uk Recruiter Republic Senior recruitment consultant IT London £35k-£45k + relocation + comms Recruiter Republic Recruitment consultant Change & Transformation London £30k-£42k + comms Recruiter Republic Associate director London £40k-£60k + comms + bonus

Reporters Colin Cottell, Graham Simons

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PRODUCTION +44 (0)20 7880 6209 Production executive Rachel Young

Contributing writer Sue Weekes Production editor Vanessa Townsend vanessa.townsend@recruiter.co.uk

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07/12/2017 15:20

E THE LAST WORD CO M M UNITY

Alan Furley Gaming the system

We had a recruiter who wasn’t doing well. She’d been with us for a while, and although she was certainly working hard, she wasn’t making money. She knew it, too. And I felt for her, because struggling at work is hard on anyone. So what did she do to make it work? Did she ask for help? Approach her director, team leader, coach, peers? Pipe up at our daily scrum board, weekly team meetings, monthly oneto-ones, ad hoc check-ins? No. She gamed the system. She spent time on pointless ‘busy work’. In some cases doing things blatantly intended to give the appearance she was being useful. Things such as making calls to switchboards and pressing buttons to improve call times, adding data but doing nothing with it. I recognised the gaming for what it was because it wasn’t the ﬁrst time I’d seen it. When I was team leader at a former employer I’d have what, I felt, were decent conversations with my team and as a result got a real sense of how they were going to make a success in the next month.Moments later, I’d get a strip torn off me in the director’s office because

the team’s phone time wasn’t where it needed to be. It was no good saying “but they’re doing good work” because as far as the director was concerned ‘good work’ meant meeting phone time KPIs [key performance indicators]. I would trudge back to my desk, take a deep breath, and tell them to pick up their phones. Who did they call? The speaking clock, for all I knew. But because of the prevailing philosophy, we lived with it. The team met their phone time KPIs. Did this translate into so much as a single sale? It may well have done – but left no room for innovation, autonomy or ﬂexibility in achieving goals. Did it reduce morale in the team and make me want to leave? Yes. Creating a system that can be gamed doesn’t work for employer or employee. It’s a dead hand.

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Here are some examples of gaming the system:

● Irrelevant manager data, no follow-up – KPI hit: ‘managers added’ ● Calling switchboards/ speaking clock – KPI hit: ‘phone times’ ● Sending poor CVs to hit a metric – KPI hit: ‘CV sent’ ● Resending CVs – KPI hit: ‘CV sent’ ● Adding interviews that aren’t real – KPI hit: interviews ● Poor data, such as ﬂower sellers, PAs/secretaries – KPI hit: ‘managers added’ ● Getting a candidate to tell their life story – KPI hit: ‘phone times’

If someone’s gaming the system, it’s because the system isn’t working for them. As an employer, we

ALAN FURLEY is director of ISL Recruitment

have a responsibility to learn from experience and create a model that is fair, as well as proﬁtable. We always want to do better for our people, and try to recruit only people who wouldn’t game the system in the ﬁrst place. We don’t bombard them with ‘busy work’ KPIs. Instead, we set them achievable targets and give them the freedom to achieve them in their own ways. ●

The team met their phone time KPIs, but this left no room for innovation, autonomy or ﬂexibility in achieving goals

07/12/2017 09:54

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06/12/2017 16:28

Recruit

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