TRUST!
The beauty of working within talent management is being able to analyse the ‘Who-Why-How’ of success stories across the commercial world.
We are currently witnessing one of the most transformational shifts of the average UK workforce in recent memory and there are a couple of external factors that could underpin such an evolution:
- Ever-changing customer behaviour (personal vs digital business transactions)
- External investment / Acquisition
- Preparing for Bre***
There are more start-up organisations in the UK than ever before. The consequence of shifting towards an entrepreneurial population is the ability to not only hire the RIGHT talent but have faith in humanity to be able to TRUST those colleagues to work effectively in any environment, and not be afraid to throw out the rule book when it comes to the working schedule!
The nine to five model is dead…
Whether your team has a long commute / personal situation effecting a 9am start or you might be wanting to tap into the incredible talent within the Maternity / Paternity network that is overlooked by so many employers – BE FLEXIBLE.
Offer adjusted working hours, be open to part-time or contract workers depending on your business goals. Need more business leads but don’t have budget for 4/5 full time employees?… work with self-employed or contract sales organisations. Most of the time those professionals will have a wealth of experience at the right level but may just want to work on their own terms after a successful career.
More and more entrepreneurs are reaping rewards from employing an agile workforce!
Of course… there has to be a level of structure, communication and reporting in order to maintain consistent growth, however flexibility, diversity and trust in a workforce built upon proven skill and ability will always outperform an over KPI’d, skilled workforce but with an inflexible approach and a revolving door policy for genuinely strong employees who fail to see effective working through being chained to a desk for 9 hours per day.
I would even go as far to say that such a mantra will increase employee engagement, client retention and brand awareness within the employment market.
Our client base sits predominantly within the technology/professional services markets. With fluctuations in the strength of the pound, foreign investors from the likes of the US and Asia are becoming increasingly interested in embryonic tech start-ups and unicorns alike! Such investment creates natural growth alongside a 3-5 year plan typically installed on the back of such acquisitions or cash injections.
Aside from huge foreign investment into our UK born businesses (something rarely reported in today’s media!), candidates seem more determined to ride-out the political storm and focus more towards personal growth in both career development and earnings.
The average candidate relevant to our business (experienced front line / management / leadership) is choosing to stay with an employer for – on average – 12 months longer than our 2016 data. an incredible change in such a short space of time considering we are in a candidate driven market.
The takeaway from this… be bold, be ambitious, offer something attractive, and don’t be afraid to believe in alternative ways of hiring. Most importantly, TRUST in that talent and be willing to structure the workforce with efficiency and ability in mind, not just the picture perfect idea of a 9-5 office which could be filled with a workforce operating at 60%.
Let me know your thoughts – kurt.wagner@logicalresources.com