Our latest research shows a detailed picture of the current state of skills in the global workforce and how HR leaders are preparing for the impending skills crisis
Linklaters: Attracting the Lawyer of the Future with a New Global Employer Brand
PeopleScout helped the firm create a global employer brand to attract and retain the best and more diverse legal talent across 30 global offices.
8%Boost in Glassdoor Scores
27Jumped 27 Places in Best Global Employer Brand Awards
Increase in Applications from Female Lawyers
Situation
The world Linklaters was facing was one of rapid, multifaceted and unprecedented transformation. New technologies, sectors and innovations were disrupting the world and dismantling old assumptions about business success and the role of the law.
The profile they had recruited in the past would no longer bring them the candidates necessary to secure and expand on their position as a heavyweight global law firm. Linklaters needed a whole new type of lawyer—a nimble business advisor using their legal expertise and global mindedness to help clients navigate a time of huge complexity.
The problem was that every law firm in the world was chasing this new breed of lawyer.
Linklaters approached PeopleScout to help them define, promote and manage a compelling new global employer brand, allowing the business to cut through the noise as an employer of choice in a ferociously competitive market.
Solution
Knowing, Not Guessing
We met with hundreds of professionals in 20 Linklaters offices across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific including recruitment, HR, hiring managers, associates, graduates and interns to gather insights.
After 17 focus groups in 13 international offices, we had a sense of the key themes which gave us a foundation from which to build the employer value proposition (EVP) and the framework of the employer brand which would inspire our global advertising campaign.
Linklaters is global firm with almost unmatched strength across practices and geographies.
Linklaters lawyers don’t just embrace the change, they direct it.
They are at the epicenter of work that will shape law, commerce, industry, the environment and society for decades to come.
The quality of training on offer and the caliber of colleagues to learn from means those who join will never stop learning.
A New EVP – Great Change is Here
We created an employer value proposition (EVP) that was a combination of a big picture philosophy and a Linklaters-specific selling point: GREAT CHANGE IS HERE.
In a time of unprecedented change, this EVP makes progress healthy and exciting. It serves as a foundation for an employer brand that reflects Linklaters as a modern, international, hugely diverse cohort offering employees the opportunity to have an influential voice that redefines the legal sector and sets them up for an ever-evolving career.
Global Relevance
As an international brand with diverse target audiences, we built flexibility into the brand so it would resonate widely across geographies and cultures.
We created four underlying message pillars that we could dial up or down as required to create the right combination of messages with the right geographies.
Human Experts – Collaborate with smart, down-to-earth people on complex issues.
One Team – Multi-jurisdictional work calls for a truly aligned and collaborative environment.
Innovation – Whether you’re solving client problems or setting legal precedent, Linklaters celebrates creative thinking and innovative approaches.
Career Platform – Through prominent projects, high-profile clients, training, support, early exposure, external secondments, Linklaters is investing in their employees’ careers.
Linklaters received a full employer brand toolkit explaining the EVP, the messaging behind the brand, visual design and advertising principles and the tone of voice to be used internationally. We rolled this out to recruiters across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific so that local activity could be fully supported.
Results
The project was a significant success and was shortlisted for Best Global Employer Brand in 2018. Following the launch, the firm’s reputation as a graduate employer improved significantly over several years, rising 27 places from their 2016 position to 19th place in 2021. Glassdoor scores for Linklaters have risen by 8% in the last two years and, importantly, applications from female lawyers—which was a key objective—have increased since the EVP launch.
At a Glance
COMPANY Linklaters
INDUSTRY Legal Services
PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS Talent Advisory
LOCATIONS 30+ offices across 21 countries in Europe, North America and Asia
ABOUT LINKLATERS Linklaters in a global law firm specializing in corporate practice areas including mergers and acquisitions, finance, litigation, antitrust and tax.
Maersk, a global shipping company, came to PeopleScout for a talent advisory solution that would deliver on a diverse and digital-forward new global employer brand.
Situation
Think Maersk and you think container ships. Steel giants criss-crossing the oceans. You probably think dependable and trustworthy, but slow moving. What you don’t think of is digital trailblazer. But, when they came to us, that was precisely their goal.
Already leaders in global shipping, the Maersk group was about to undertake a huge transformation to take them to the next level of their business strategy. Their vision was to become a global integrator of container logistics and digitalization of the business was at the core of this big move. Maersk no longer wanted to be seen as a shipping company; they wanted to be seen as a leader in technology.
The issue was that they didn’t have the world-class capabilities in the business to fuel this tech revolution.
The brief: create an employer brand that:
Made transportation and logistics attractive to global talent in a way it hadn’t been before – competing with the likes of Microsoft and Amazon.
Attract diverse candidates (especially STEM and digital) with the innovative mindset to bring radical change.
Change perceptions of the Maersk Group away from solid, slow and paternalistic to dynamic and pioneering.
Solution
RESEARCH
The insight phase was intensive.
Understanding the organization, the many and varied brands, the core business areas, its people and the nuances across the globe was highly complex. It was also the key to creating an employer value proposition (EVP) that would turn heads among non-traditional candidates.
We ran a very diverse, in-depth and international series of focus groups and one-on-one interviews across the group and externally.
This allowed us to:
Understand the views and vision of senior leaders within the business.
Gain deep insights into the lived experience of professionals at various managerial, technical and operation levels.
Map the competitor talent market to identify specific territories that Maersk could own with regards to its proposition and messaging.
Develop a set of core messaging pillars that we validated with senior stakeholders across the globe before developing our EVP and recruitment communications campaigns.
THE CORE MESSAGE
Our EVP message aimed to inspire, motivate and challenge employees and candidates to be part of a career-defi ning, once-in-a-generation transformation. The result is an invitation and a two-way commitment striking the kind of pioneering, adventurous and fast-moving note that you simply wouldn’t expect from a business like Maersk. It also gave us a platform to tell stories that capture hearts as well as minds.
EVP message: Let’s go into the amazing
INTERNATIONAL RESONANCE
Because our audiences were very diverse and located all over the world, we created a series of five messaging pillars. Drawn from the key insights gained at the research stage, these pillars allowed our brand messaging to be flexed in order to speak to the motivations of individuals and talent groups all across the globe.
THE PILLARS
Pioneering Candidate offer: Seize every new opportunity, pursue every experience and never be afraid to be the first.
Belonging Candidate offer: Be open, be curious and bring your whole self to work.
Societal impact Candidate offer: This isn’t just about the part you play in our business, it’s about the change you can make in our world.
Unfolding potential Candidate offer: Jump in wholeheartedly and we’ll support and invest in you to be your very best.
Global citizens Candidate offer: Broaden your horizons and make the world your workplace.
KEEPING IT ROBUST
Inspiring EVPs need strong foundations to stay inspiring. This is how the architecture of the Maersk employer brand all fits together.
MAKING IT REAL
This is how we took each of the pillars and turned it into a candidate-facing advertisement.
The Outcome
It’s still early days, but in the latest employer brand benchmarking, Maersk was delighted to see the impact the work was already having. A key measure is its ranking in The Most Attractive Employers List produced by Universum.
Maersk has seen its ranking improve. Our goal is to continue this momentum in each of the key markets and among each of the key talent segments.
At a Glance
COMPANY Maersk
INDUSTRY Transportation & Logistics
PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS Talent Advisory
LOCATIONS Global with priority markets in India, the UK and Denmark
ABOUT MAERSK With locations in every port in the world, Maersk is one of the largest container shipping line and vessel operators in the world.
Diageo: Bringing Iconic Characters to Life with a New Global Employer Brand
You might have heard of Captain Morgan, but have you heard of the parent brand Diageo? PeopleScout helped Diageo, one of the world’s largest alcoholic beverage manufacturers, with a new global employer brand that helped them both celebrate and transcend their iconic brands to attract world class talent across cultures, companies and languages.
26One Employer Brand Nuanced to Resonate Across 26 Countries
5In-Market Brand Launch Events Plus One Global Webinar
300,000+Impression on Social Media During Week of Brand Launch
Situation
Diageo has a portfolio of some of the world’s most renowned drinks brands including Guinness, Baileys and Captain Morgan. Even though its drink brands are long established, the Diageo brand itself is less recognizable, particularly in the employment space.
Our challenge was to develop an employer brand that cut through this lack of awareness and inspired people in a wide variety of commercial disciplines all across the world to see themselves at Diageo. The new brand needed to reflect their employer value proposition (EVP) to drive Diageo’s reputation as an employer of choice for world class talent globally and complement the existing corporate brand positioning.
Solution
Our mission was to create and launch a new and compelling employer brand for an employer that was being outshined by its own iconic products.
Delving into the Challenges
We dove into insights gathered from a variety of internal stakeholders—from experienced Diageo colleague to recent hires—across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, India and other parts of APAC. These employees were from several departments like e-commerce, supply chain, marketing, finance, HR, IT and customer management.
We realized that the wide variety of geographies that Diageo covers creates complex challenges for the business, from the differing strengths in consumer brands between markets to talent attraction techniques and cultural nuances relating to alcohol. So, we knew that the new employer brand had to be flexible enough to resonate in different countries and feature local employees as champions to bring it to life.
From an external perspective, a survey revealed that 58% of our target audience had not heard of Diageo. Yet, 78% said they would be interested in working there after we connected the Diageo name to their famous brands. So, we needed to find a way to link the Diageo name to their recognizable products.
A Unique EVP – Character is Everything
We anchored the new employer brand in the history of the organization: character. People of extraordinary character—like Arthur Guinness, Johnnie Walker and Charles Tanqueray—had built the business from the ground up centuries before. And their spirit lives on, driving every aspect of Diageo in the 21st Century.
The EVP we introduced—Character is Everything—was grounded in the history of their individual products as well as influenced by the characters we met at Diageo. We wanted the brand to be a celebration of their personalities, joy and enthusiasm for Diageo’s famous brands.
We took Diageo through a comprehensive journey, developing pillars, narratives and collateral that fit into their overall corporate brand.
Tailoring the Employer Brand for Global Talent
We created six brand pillars, ensuring the message was compelling and authentic for audiences divided by geography or job area and then tested the proposition globally to gain buy-in business-wide.
In our narratives and designs, we made Diageo employees the brand heroes, telling local and global stories, and showcasing their characters to bring the Diageo story to life on every channel. The brand imagery was genuine and full of depth—from the smiling faces of real employees to the bold headlines.
We fine-tuned and then launched different iterations of the brand for different geographies. For example, in various African countries, recruiters told us that candidates responded well to messages around supporting the community. We also translated our communications into a range of languages.
The brand was designed to provide enough content and materials for immature markets to roll out independently, while still leaving enough scope and space for innovation in advanced markets.
Setting Diageo Up for Success
Our Talent Advisory team supported the brand launch across the globe, promoting and publicizing the new brand. We helped the Talent Engagement Teams to understand the proposition, what tools are available to them and how to use the brand effectively to hire great talent. We also supported internal launch events in which we engaged employees in activities to explain what it means to work for Diageo and the kinds of traits and behaviors they should look for in new hires.
Results
The new EVP and employer brand creative was well received across Diageo.
Launch Events
We hosted five in-market events plus a webinar which had over 500 webinar registrants, over 200 live participants and 30 on-demand views of the recording. These events inspired huge amounts of user-generated content on LinkedIn from employees.
Social Media
Diageo executed a series of posts across their social media channels under a unique branded hashtag, #characteriseverything, generating a huge amount of activity and traffic during the first week.
329,472 overall impressions
6,257 clicks plus 2,936 click-throughs to the Diageo career site
2,986 likes
179 shares
72 comments
3.19% overall engagement rate (well above industry average)
Global Reach
Activations of the brand have now reached 26 markets. So far, we’ve worked on:
A film to support recruitment in Budapest
Brand activation project for hiring in Korea
Communications for Diageo’s global ATS platform
A revamped toolkit for employee reward
Recruitment event collateral for Venezuela
A recruitment marketing campaign for early careers within the supply chain division
An internal communication project for the Diageo’s migration to Workday
We’ve gained evidence across a number of campaigns that the new employer brand is altering perceptions and boosting awareness of Diageo. There has been a great response internally too. Not only were we over-subscribed for brand champion volunteers, focus group feedback is showing an upswing in pride around the Character is Everything message.
At a Glance
COMPANY Diageo
INDUSTRY Consumer Goods
PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS Talent Advisory
LOCATIONS The refreshed Diageo employer brand was flexed to resonate in 26 different countries including Budapest, Korea and Venezuela.
ABOUT DIAGEO Diageo is one of the world’s largest producers of spirits and beers including iconic brands like Guinness, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker. With over 27,00 employees, their 200+ brands are sold in 180 countries.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a bright spotlight on company values and culture, separating employers who truly live up to their promises from those who rarely take action where it matters. And, employees are paying attention – as well as growing more critical of organizations that they’re considering working for.
Meanwhile, according to the latest Engagement and Retention Report from Achievers Workforce Institute, 52% of currently employed respondents said they would hunt for a job in 2021 – up from 35% in 2020. But, why are more than half of employees looking for a new job this year? The short answer: They’re disengaged. Whether from lack of recognition; poor diversity and inclusion practices; remote work burnout; or a feeling of disconnectedness, 71% more employees are disengaged in 2021 than 2020.
In fact, lack of career growth is the number one factor holding employees back from feeling engaged at work – making it a key area of opportunity for employers looking to remain competitive. Plus, as organizations are in the midst of the Great Rehire, talent acquisition teams face the challenge of filling a number of unexpected open roles – and high turnover exacerbates the issue. As such, maintaining a strong retention strategy is essential to avoid overloading these already lean teams.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the benefits of learning and development programs; explain how to create an effective strategy to promote career growth; and share examples of ways that organizations are investing in their people.
Benefits of a Learning & Development Program
Launching an effective learning and development program typically requires investing in resources. However, when done right, the benefits far outweigh the costs. Specifically, not only does a strong learning and development program help employees in their career growth, but it can also improve the performance of an organization as a whole. More precisely, some of the key benefits of implementing a learning and development program are:
Closing Skills Gaps A training and development program is a great way to address skills gaps within an organization – especially if your company had to scale down during the pandemic. But, by performing a skills audit, you’ll have a better idea of which gaps exist in your organization – which can then help you determine the areas that make the most sense for reskilling your workforce. Then, as a result of improved efficiency and more highly skilled employees, you’ll also increase your ability to fill open roles from within.
Increasing Retention & Employee Satisfaction Not only will employee performance improve, but retention and satisfaction will increase, as well. That’s because employees feel genuinely cared for and valued when an employer shows a willingness to invest in employee growth and development. And, with an improved set of skills and knowledge, employees will be more likely to stick around at a company that believes in them and wants to see them succeed. This employer loyalty will then increase retention and decrease turnover rates.
Staying Competitive & Innovative Consistent investment in your employees’ growth and development will also help keep their thinking fresh and future-focused, thereby resulting in an overall culture of innovation at your organization. Plus, top talent will also be more inclined to join an organization with the perk of a strong learning and development program, as well as the opportunity to grow in a new role.
Improving Employer Brand Organizations with effective development programs can also leverage them as a selling point to attract prospective candidates. Additionally, current employees will be more likely to leave positive reviews on employer review sites and spread the word within their networks that your organization truly cares about employee career growth.
Saving Money As skills gaps close and retention is improved, your organization will also save money on sourcing and recruiting external candidates. Plus, a culture of innovation and employee satisfaction will keep your employer brand strong, as well, which has a significant effect on candidate attraction spend.
How to Create an Effective Learning & Development Program
Before you jump in to implementing a robust learning and development program, it’s important to start by planning. Below is an overview of the key items to consider:
Establish Goals The first step in planning for a learning and development program is to establish the goals of the program. This step is crucial because you’ll refer back to these goals as you make decisions along the way. In particular, ask yourself:
What are the overall business goals that our organization is trying to achieve?
How will the learning and development program align with our overall organizational goals?
What are the necessary steps needed to achieve these goals?
Identify Competencies Competencies are a particular set of abilities, skills, and knowledge that affect an organization’s success and set it apart from competitors. Some examples of business competencies include:
Business acumen
Strategic agility
Market knowledge
Communication
Decision-making
Change leadership
Driving results
Collaboration and influence
After determining the key competencies your organization wants to foster in alignment with your goals, you’ll be able to better curate learning tracks to help instill these competencies into your employees.
Determine Strategy There are a variety of types of learning and development programs, so choose the one that makes the most sense for your organization. Your selection will depend on whether you want to teach the same skills to a large group of people at once, help employees improve on-the-job performance, or open training to everyone on their own schedule. Common types include:
Classroom/workshop style
Instructor-led training (ILT)
In-house/outsourced learning sessions
Interactive
On-the-job
Skills-based
Online
Incorporate Mentorship
A formal mentoring and coaching component can also complement your learning and development program. Specifically, pairing compatible employees with one another encourages teams to build relationships and learn from each other. To that end, it’s important to match mentees with mentors whose areas of expertise match the former’s desired area of growth to ensure that the relationship is mutually beneficial. As a result, less-experienced employees can be challenged and learn, while more seasoned employees can grow from the experience as a leader and mentor.
Encourage Engagement In order to ensure the longevity of your learning and development program, it’s essential to foster strong engagement. In particular, encourage managers to suggest training for employees and create a recognition system for employees who participate in trainings. Employees can also share completion certificates and comments about different trainings internally on platforms like Slack and Yammer. This strong sense of engagement will then encourage others to participate and, ultimately, lead to long-term success with your program.
Measure Results Finally, despite the fact that it’s often overlooked, it’s extremely important to establish a way to measure the effectiveness of the learning and development program once it has gained some traction. First, determine whether those initial goals are being worked toward and met. If they’re not, identify gaps where you may need to adjust strategy by considering the following questions:
Is employee productivity improving?
Are managers noticing improved employee engagement and satisfaction?
Are there any reductions in turnover time?
Are employees feeling more successful?
Has your employer brand presence improved externally?
Are you able to quantify results based on your overall goals?
Real Examples of How to Invest in Your People
The thought of creating a learning and development program from scratch may seem daunting, but it can be helpful to know that many organizations have found success through unique approaches to investing in their people. Here are some of the organizations leading the way in this important commitment to developing people:
Yelp Yelp’s transparent, supportive culture pushes its people to excel. The user-review company invests in: career development opportunities for its employees; constant constructive feedback; goal-focused, one-on-one sit-downs; team meetings; and thank you shout-outs for a job well done. All of these strategies reinforce each employee’s achievements, ambitions and unique strengths.
Dun & Bradstreet Dun & Bradstreet – a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics – supports top-down learning, in which team members are welcome to jump on their managers’ calls. This enables them to learn about taking on more responsibility and also encourages them to pursue their own learning – whether by attending conferences or taking courses online.
WEX Inc. At WEX, every day is an opportunity for employees to ask if there is a better way – and to act on promising ideas. Through mentorship, conferences and tuition reimbursement, there’s always room to keep climbing the ladder at this financial technology company.
Amazon Amazon committed $700 million to retrain 100,000 workers by 2025, thereby allowing employees of the online retailer and technology giant to move into more highly skilled jobs within the company or find new careers outside of Amazon. In addition, Amazon’s Machine Learning University initiative helps workers who already have a background in technology and coding to gain skills in machine learning.
Verizon Communications Inc. After closing most of its retail stores during the pandemic, Verizon retrained 20,000 employees to handle new jobs, which ranged from sales to customer service. This year, the American multinational telecommunications conglomerate plans to teach 100,000 employees new skills to prepare them for the demands of 5G, the next-generation wireless standard. Additionally, Verizon is partnering with Generation USA to help train 500,000 workers throughout the next decade for jobs of the future in communities across the country.
Levi Strauss & Co. This year, Levi’s launched its Machine Learning Bootcamp, an immersive training in coding, machine learning and agile ways of working that are uniquely designed for employees of the American clothing company. Participants will master an in-demand skillset and focus on learning full-time for two months – all paid for and encouraged by leadership.
Walmart Walmart partners with Guild Education to offer employees a way to earn a high school or college degree for $1 per day. Employees of the American multinational retail corporation also get personalized coaching support from day one all the way through graduation.
PeopleScout At PeopleScout, we invest in our people through two programs. First, our Global Mentorship Program supports and enriches the professional development of PeopleScout employees. Similarly, our engagement with LinkedIn Learning also allows employees to explore professional interests and develop skills both professionally and personally. And, finally, our global ideation platform encourages employees to submit their innovative ideas for improving our business – giving them direct opportunities to work with leadership to develop ideas into tangible solutions.
Developing the Next Generation of Talent
As a talent leader, you understand the importance of a total talent mix, which means leveraging both internal and external recruitment strategies. And, with higher turnover forecasted as we move out of the pandemic, there’s no better time than now to start investing in your existing workforce. Plus, by constantly reskilling and upskilling your current team through a strong learning and development program, you’ll not only attract top talent externally, but you’ll also have loyal and dedicated employees who believe in your business and are prepared for the future of work – whatever challenges it may bring.
I frequently help talent acquisition leaders decide whether to, or not, to use an external partner for recruitment support. Through these consultations, I’ve spotted many signs where companies choose to get external help. Here are the top five most frequent ones:
1. You need a more diverse workforce.
Affinity bias, subconsciously aligning to candidates whose values match your own, has a huge impact on the throughflow of diverse candidates in your process. A recruitment partner who is measured on it’s performance in retaining diverse candidates through the process will eliminate this for you. We know this, because we do this.
2. Your hiring process is too long.
Particularly where you are hiring niche talent, you run the risk of losing the talent you need which has larger cost consequences. Addressing long processes is challenging for in house teams who are fully occupied ‘doing’ to change processes. A strategic partner who specialises in streamlining and delivering bespoke processes for clients is the ideal way to improve your process without a dip in delivery.
3. You have too many applications to process.
Technology can of course improve this for you – our HR Tech Guru David Parker – frequently advises clients on how to leverage tech for better processes. It’s not all about tech though. For example, our candidate management teams frequently stretch across to our brand experts to advise clients on changing their outreach to reduce the number of applications and increase the quality.
4. You are growing rapidly.
Growing pains are real. There’s an expertise that comes with scaling up and down in tune with demand quickly and efficiently. As a model, in house teams are static and rely on approval processes for new team members and there own recruitment processes which take time. All delaying delivering the talent the business needs. Far better to make use of an organisation who have flexible high skilled talent pools and can get you where you need to be. Even if it’s to buy you time to recruit your own team!
5. You’re missing specialist skills.
Be this in your team or for specific roles in the business. It is expensive to hire staff who have the recruiting knowledge you need. It is more cost effective to access this skill in a central resource through a recruitment partner. Many of the specialist talent you’re seeking are in demand elsewhere too and / or are not actively looking to move. We tackle this all day every day. Especially with technology hiring. We have a number of tools at our disposal to know where to find those candidates who aren’t moving or how to speak to early careers talent about your particular opportunity.
In conclusion, RPO isn’t just about getting the job done and processing candidates through the funnel. It’s about having a wider expert team who are glued to your business and dedicated to continuous improvement and innovation.
The U.S. economy gained 850,000 jobs in June. The numbers beat economist expectations and suggest the economic recovery is picking up steam. The unemployment rate changed little at 5.9%. Year-over-year wage growth was at 3.6%.
The Numbers
850,000: The U.S. economy gained 850,000 jobs in June.
5.9%: The unemployment rate rose slightly to 5.9%.
3.6%: Wages rose 3.6% over the past year.
The Good
The New York Times reports that June’s job report is another piece of good news about the economic recovery. It is the strongest jobs gain in 10 months and comes after news that consumer confidence surged in June, the stock market closed out the first half of the year with record highs and the congressional budget announced that the U.S. was on track to recover all jobs lost because of the pandemic by the middle of next year.
The most significant gains came in the leisure and hospitality sector, which was the hardest hit by the pandemic. Employers added 343,000 workers to their payrolls in the past month, and those workers saw a 7.1% wage increase compared to this time last year. Wage growth has accelerated in recent months, as employers compete for talent in a market flooded with job openings.
The Bad
The labor-force participation rate still lags 2% behind pre-pandemic levels, fueling the current labor shortage. The Wall Street Journal reports that many older workers who left the labor force in 2020 have decided to retire, rather than return. Other workers may be dealing with childcare responsibilities, continued concerns over the coronavirus or continuing health problems. Economists say the low participation rate is still holding back the recovery.
The Unknown
Economists are debating the impact several factors are having on the growing economy. Some have argued that enhanced employment benefits are keeping some workers out of the labor force. This has led 26 states to cancel the additional $300 weekly benefit in the hope that it would accelerate job growth. However, data does not show any increase in labor force participation in those states at this point.
Additionally, MarketWatch reports that workers are quitting at record levels – often to take a better paying job. Nearly 1 million people left their jobs in June. Wages have risen 3.6% over the past year, but because wages appeared to rise during the pandemic as lower wage workers were more likely to lose their jobs over higher wage workers, there isn’t much clarity about how quickly wages are rising.
Specialized Nurse Recruitment for a Not-For-Profit Healthcare System
A not-for-profit healthcare system serving the New England area of the United States engaged PeopleScout to help find specialized nursing candidates through a project-based recruitment solution.
6Weeks to Fill Vacancies that Had Been Open for Over a Year
13Week Engagement Renewed —Twice
Improved Quality of Hire
Situation
This healthcare facility is the only level III NICU and level I trauma center in the region. Offering this kind of specialized medical care requires specialized nursing recruiting. The client’s HR team had difficulty sourcing candidates who met the minimum education and experience requirements.
PeopleScout deployed a Recruiter On-Demand solution with virtual recruiters working alongside the client’s internal TA team by sourcing and recruiting specialized nursing talent.
Our recruiters developed a close relationship with the client’s hiring managers to better understand their needs and company culture. This helped us to source candidates that closely aligned with the organization’s values and expectations.
To attract nursing talent in a competitive labor market, PeopleScout positioned the client’s employer value proposition to better align with candidate expectations for career growth, sign-on bonuses and educational assistance. We also monitored the regional labor market and identified recruiting opportunities at competitors or facilities closing operations or laying-off staff.
Our healthcare experts also posted on job boards and updated content regularly on niche healthcare sites, social media and medical association sites to source both active and passive candidates.
Results
Unfilled Positions Sourced Within Six Weeks
In the first six weeks, PeopleScout sourced and hired nurses for eight vacancies that had been unfilled for a year.
Contract Renewed
As a result of the success of the program, the client renewed its initial 13-week project RPO contract with PeopleScout, not once but twice.
Dedication and a Quality Partnership
The healthcare system’s HR team valued the quality of candidates our dedicated nursing recruiting brought to the table, and the relationship continued to improve with each engagement.
At a Glance
COMPANY Not-for-Profit Healthcare System
INDUSTRY Healthcare
PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS Recruitment Process Outsourcing
About the Client This New England-based not-for-profit healthcare system operates a level III NICU and level I trauma center in the region.
In the new world of work, the global pandemic disrupted the world of talent acquisition: Sourcing, interviewing and onboarding went virtual; talent acquisition departments faced tough reductions in budget and personnel while being asked to do more with less. As a result, recruiting and hiring are the biggest concerns employers have for the coming year, according to a survey by XpertHr, as two-thirds of HR professionals expect it to be somewhat or very challenging in 2021.
Meanwhile, there are also plenty of other hurdles that can make it more difficult to find and attract talent right now. For instance, some fear exposure to COVID-19 – either from an on-site interview or in any role that requires them to leave their home. At the same time, others may be putting off their job search until the job market improves or are looking for better compensation in their next role.
So, how do you improve your talent acquisition process? Unfortunately, there’s no “one size fits all” solution when it comes to tackling the challenges presented by the pandemic. Employers across different industries and geographies face different challenges, and the type of role also leads to varied challenges. However, in this article, we provide actionable ideas and strategies that you can implement now to help you improve your talent acquisition process in the new world of work.
New World of Work Benefits & Compensation
There’s a lot of uncertainty in today’s talent landscape, but for employers, one factor remains constant: Without competitive compensation and benefits, job-seekers will look elsewhere. This is especially important in traditionally lower-wage industries that include a lot of face time with customers, like leisure and hospitality.
For employers, the difficulty in filling those roles means the possibility of having to navigate the challenges of today’s new world of work without key team members to rely on. Fortunately, that’s a risk that can often be mitigated by offering compensation that aligns with – or even exceeds – the overall market rate. This trend is particularly present in the food and beverage and manufacturing industries.
In an article with Marketplace, Spiro Pappadopoulos, CEO of Schlow Restaurant Group, said, “There is a complete lack of applicants for jobs that we have open, and have had open for a considerable amount of time … And, when we were faced with nobody wanting to come back to their job, we realized we had to do something to get more competitive.”
To attract talent, the company raised hourly pay by around $5 for entry-level jobs. It’s also offering more benefits, flexible schedules and signing bonuses – and it’s not alone.
The median hourly wage for non-medical essential jobs – such as grocery workers, delivery drivers and cleaners – has already risen nearly 2%. Starbucks, for example, issued a temporary pay bump of $3 more per hour for some workers. Similarly, grocery chain Kroger recently offered one-time bonuses of $400 for full-time workers and $200 for part-time workers.
There’s no doubt that these measures were well-deserved and vital for talent attraction and retention, and each of these factors may influence current pay rates in your local market.
The health risks presented by the pandemic have been clear, and the elderly are among the most susceptible to negative health outcomes. As a result, some workers are taking early retirement. In fact, in the New York City metropolitan area alone, 300,000 people expect to apply for Social Security, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Furthermore, many retirees work part-time jobs in retail, hospitality and other public-facing industries hit hard by the pandemic. And, as you might expect, these workers are less likely to return to these jobs as the health risks may outweigh the benefits of returning. Unfortunately, the shock of losing so many valuable and experienced workers only exacerbates recruiting challenges for employers. To help fill the gaps, employers’ recruitment strategies should focus on the next generation of leaders and talent entering the workforce.
To that end, Millennials will soon make up the majority of the global workforce and many are mid-career experienced professionals ready for leadership. On the other hand, Generation Z is just entering the workforce. Of course, all generations express different working styles and preferences, and these generations are no different. So, it’s worth bearing in mind what the next generations at your workplace want from their employers.
Top Employer Requirements for Millennial & Generation Z:
Job-seekers in these generations expect:
Regular meetings with managers; in fact, employees who have such meetings are three times as likely to be engaged workers
Ethical company behavior in all of its activities
The company to have an ambition and purpose beyond simply making money
A diverse senior management team
Flexible working options
A high-trust culture
A great company culture and workplace environment
To be treated as individuals, not as a number on the payroll
Screen Candidates In, Not Out
In the current talent landscape, your organization can’t afford to screen out candidates solely based on experience or because they lack all of the desired hard skills. This is particularly true for niche and highly specialized roles in which workers were more likely to remain in their jobs through the pandemic. For these types of positions, many employers now struggle to find qualified candidates.
To compete, employers should look for candidates with transferrable skills. This means that, rather than assessing candidates for potential and dismissing those who don’t have the requisite experience and hard skills that you may require, employers should look for job candidates who have key soft skills. These are the types of skills that may not always come naturally to some candidates, but that are valuable in the workplace, for example:
Communication – both verbal and written
Time management
Teamwork
Problem-solving
Emotional intelligence
Conflict management and resolution
Personal productivity and discipline
Trainability
Learning agility
Assessment techniques like the whole person model can help you better view a candidate’s full range of skills and abilities to determine which candidates may be a good fit for a role regardless of experience. Moreover, soft skills – like learning agility and trainability – are especially important for roles in which your candidates might not have much relevant experience, but in which they need to learn new things at a rapid pace.
Bringing it All Together with Your Employer Brand
The challenges presented in the new world of work have changed what candidates look for in employers across all industries. This means that, regardless of the strength of your employer brand prior to the pandemic, nearly all employers need to shift their employer branding messaging to stay competitive.
Additionally, to attract employees in the current talent market, you need to communicate changes you’ve implemented regarding workplace safety, compensation, benefits and remote work policies to let candidates know upfront what they can expect from your organization. Likewise, make sure you reassure candidates that their health and safety are a priority by specifying what new procedures your business has initiated to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19, such as social distancing rules, staggered shifts, reduced customer capacity, face mask policies and enhanced cleaning procedures.
Another way to help you recruit during the Great Rehire is to be completely transparent about your interview process. Can the entire interview process happen remotely, or will candidates be required to interview in person at some point? For on-site interviews, in particular, explain how you’re maintaining a safe interview environment, such as socially distanced interviews, avoiding handshakes, symptom questionnaires, temperature checks and so on.
Meanwhile, keep in mind that we live in a social world. As such, before applying to work for you, 70% of candidates will check out employer review platforms – such as Glassdoor, Indeed and LinkedIn – along with other social media networks to see what employees past and present have said about your company. So, make sure your organization’s reputation is managed properly.
You might also consider enlisting your current employees to act as brand ambassadors. In this way, employees can help refer candidates and spread the word about your organization to other professionals in their network.
Hiring during a pandemic is enough of a challenge; so, your talent acquisition process in the new world of work has to be on point if you want to get ahead of your competition. With these recruiting strategies in mind, you can set yourself up to attract more candidates, make the right hires and get back to business as soon as possible.
Modern workforce management has evolved. Increasingly, organizations are leveraging a multi-channel approach for sourcing talent to extend the reach of both their internal and external workforce. In fact, evidence of this trend can be seen in a survey conducted by the MIT Sloan Management Review, which found that 87% of global executives included some portion of external workers (contingent workers, contractors, freelancers and statement of work [SOW] consultants) when considering their workforce composition.
And, because employers are leveraging multi-channel sourcing strategies, workforce management programs are more complex – thereby resulting in the need for new strategies, proven methodologies and enhanced levels of service from outsourced providers. So, in this article, we’ll discuss how a Total Workforce Solution (TWS) can help your organization by providing a holistic approach to total talent management through enhanced strategic capabilities; precise and up-to-date workforce information; and greater visibility into the multi-channel workforce.
What Are Talent Channels?
A talent channel is a managed and repeatable source of talent and may include anything from a job board to staffing vendors and college campuses. Essentially, a talent channel is a dependable path that leads job-seekers to your open positions.
Just as marketers utilize a variety of marketing channels and techniques to acquire customers, talent professionals likewise need to utilize various talent channels to attract prospective job candidates. And, while there are a host of recruitment channels and platforms to choose from, below we’ve outlined some of the most common and effective sources:
Job Boards: Job boards (including generalist and specialist websites) – where recruiters and organizations post open positions – have long been a source of candidates. More recently, job aggregators like Indeed have provided an alternative platform where job-seekers can search and apply for jobs.
Internal Recruitment: Internal recruitment offers many benefits. For example, internal talent pools already have a wealth of knowledge about the company, the company culture and expectations. Therefore, directly sourcing and redeploying candidates who are already within the organization can also dramatically decrease time-to-hire, as well as hiring costs associated with training and onboarding.
Campus Recruiting: Campus recruiting has been a mainstay for recruiting the next generation of young talent for years. Campus recruiting involves sourcing, engaging, and hiring college talent for internships and entry-level positions, while also building a talent pipeline for an organization’s future hiring needs.
ATS Database: An organization’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is an invaluable resource for sourcing and curating top talent. An ATS offers a recruiting channel full of applicants who may not have been the best fit for one position, but who have the experience and skills needed for a current or future opening.
Events: Whether you host career events or attend networking opportunities, the power of face-to-face interactions with candidates is priceless. And, although in-person meetings have been less likely lately due to the pandemic, many organizations are still leveraging virtual events to meet and engage with candidates.
Employee Referrals:Employee referrals are an effective way to build a talent pool because they allow employees to submit candidates from their professional and personal networks for open roles. Plus, by encouraging referrals, employers can tap into a steady flow of candidates, while also providing additional opportunities for engagement and compensation for current employees.
Staffing Vendors: Organizations might also outsource certain recruitment functions to staffing vendors to curate talent pools and supply candidates. Staffing vendors help organizations with permanent placement, executive search, SOW contracting and procuring talent of all categories – both permanent and contingent.
Sometimes, a hiring or procurement manager may fill an open role from a certain talent channel and labor type simply due to historical practices or for budgeting reasons. However, a Total Workforce Solution model opens the possibilities for reassessing historic practices and identifying the most efficient labor category and talent channel to deliver better outcomes.
Why Total Workforce Solutions Are Perfect for Workforce Management
Total Workforce Solutions – also known as Total Talent Solutions and Total Talent Acquisition – are outsourced programs that blend the capabilities of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Managed Service Provider (MSP) programs by integrating the talent acquisition function for permanent and contingent workforces under one delivery team. By bringing together disparate talent functions under one centralized program, Total Workforce Solutions provide organizations with greater visibility for all workers, including full-time employees and contingent workers (such as temporary workers, independent contractors, freelancers and SOW providers). Total Workforce Solutions also provide a holistic view that leads to better workforce, sourcing channel, and demand management by deploying the resources, technology, and strategies best suited to improve talent and business outcomes. Specifically, a TWS offers:
Data Capture & Analysis: A TWS can take unstructured workforce management data from multiple sources and formats and create structured outputs, which create greater visibility into an organization’s workforce and talent channel efficacy. This enables an organization to measure the success of each recruiting channel, as well as employer brand campaigns and staffing vendor performance.
Resource & Process Control: The right workforce management view helps ensure the right work is being done by the right type of worker. Thanks to the holistic view provided by a Total Workforce Solution, organizations can track how budgets, headcount, procurement, staffing vendors and other issues are being managed across the entire enterprise.
Talent Engagement Expertise: Understanding the talent market is key to knowing how to best attract and engage job-seekers across all labor categories. To that end, a TWS provider’s ability to engage with job-seekers in both full-time and contingent sourcing channels in ways that job-seekers want to be engaged is driven by expertise in candidate experience and engagement. What’s more, TWS providers also have dedicated resources to support education and adoption of the best practices among an organization’s hiring managers and other stakeholders; this ensures that talent teams are engaging candidates from all talent channels in the right way.
Single Point of Contact: While procurement, HR, and talent teams each have their own methods, talent channels, and hiring objectives, each department strives to secure talent to meet their organization’s business needs. Fortunately, Total Workforce Solutions can help successfully align talent acquisition strategy across each of an organization’s recruitment channels by communicating between HR, recruiting and procurement teams. In this way, the TWS ensures that the right talent decisions are made for wider business goals, thereby optimizing both permanent and contingent workforces to give you a total talent view.
Workforce Management: Leveraging Talent Channels to Plan Ahead
In the dynamic talent environment created by the pandemic, employers are finding it increasingly difficult to source talent. Even so – and despite persistent hiring challenges – organizations need to be smart about the allocation of talent acquisition resources when filling roles. For example, conversations about filling open roles should begin with fundamental questions, like: What do we need to accomplish? Is the role easily managed with clearly defined goals? Is it core to the organization’s long-term strategy? Does the role require a long-term commitment, project ownership and management?
Depending on the answers to those questions, you can determine whether a full-time employee or a contingent worker is the best option. And, understanding how to more effectively fill or augment talent gaps also allows teams to scale, prioritize and be nimble – each important factors in today’s business climate.
Furthermore, different talent channels will have different advantages and disadvantages to consider. But, a TWS provider can provide insights by identifying all available sourcing channels, as well as assess where work needs to be done and what skills are needed to get it done. Then, from this evaluation emerges a talent strategy that taps into available candidates from across an organization’s recruitment channels – which then provides a high level of precision for getting the work done with the highest-quality output at the most cost-effective rate.
Candidate & Hiring Manager Experience
In talent acquisition, the human element matters. Specifically, an empowered experience on the part of workers who feel they have access to more opportunities can help boost an organization’s employer brand across its talent channels, as well as among job-seekers and the general public. At the same time, a positive experience for a hiring manager who has access to all talent types equates to higher engagement from the manager, including an increased commitment to sourcing talent from the right talent channels and at the right time and cost to achieve the desired goals.
Furthermore, the traditional employer brand is built on the idea of the employee value proposition that seeks to answer, “Why would this company be a great place to work?” And, to appeal to the growing, flexible workforce, the concept of the Assignment Value Proposition (AVP) is gaining ground as a fundamental brand component to support cases in which an organization needs to sell the value of the project just as much as the strength of the business itself. Add to this assignment value the idea that an organization provides many ways to work – through traditional employee roles or flexible assignments – and the result is a reputation that appeals to professionals of all working preferences.
Fortunately, a TWS provider can help you create compelling employer value propositions across your talent channels so you can attract the right mix of external workers and traditional employees. In particular, a TWS provider will have discussions with your team to consider the following in relation to messaging:
Work: Role versus project type and required necessity of skill; core versus non-core
Speed: Time to fill, time to contract, time to productivity and leveraging known relationships to reach candidates
Cost: Expected tenure of salary plus benefits or rate; or pay rate plus mark-up or deliverable and milestones
Worker Engagement: Classification preference or mandates, talent motivation, and talent communication
This discussion will provide you with insights into delivering precise and sophisticated messaging to job-seekers regardless of talent channel, as well as create better recruitment marketing for talent sourcing, engagement and management activities. Moreover, a TWS provider with a firm understanding of your workforce needs that is supported by the right talent technology and committed to continuous improvement will bring the value of a holistic view into your talent channels and workforce strategy. As a result, your organization will be able to make better data-driven decisions and broaden your choices from a single note to a full orchestra of talent options. While the journey takes time and dedication, the effect of this approach – in terms of access to talent, speed of engagement, cost control, and alignment of talent and business strategy – makes the effort essential for growth in today’s competitive global business environment.
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