Content Team

From criminal investigations to candidate psychology, these are our top SOSUEU 2019 takeaways

October 29, 2019 by Content Team

Hudson RPO sourcing experts Aniq Butt, Marjorie Gaume, and Jessie Caudron, are back from SOSU Europe (aka SOSUEU, or the Sourcing Summit) which took place in Amsterdam earlier this month.

They wrote last month about what they were most looking forward to from SOSUEU. Here, they reveal their first impressions and strongest takeaways from the event.

1. What did you think about this edition of SOSUEU?

“This was the first time for Aniq and myself (Marjorie) to be part of a sourcing event, and it did not disappoint me at all!” Marjorie said.

“I found this edition really diverse. There were different type of presentations: some for junior sourcers, others for people who have some IT abilities, and some speakers were also outside of the sourcing/recruiting field. It was clearly super inspiring and made us think a lot about what we could implement in our own way of working in order to improve ourselves.”

2. Which were the most inspiring talks?

Every presentation offered something unique. Below, our team share their views on some of their favourite sessions.

‘See me, feel me, touch me, hear me: how to become a super sourcer, starting today’, presented by Frans Reichardt

As Frans said: “Most people are able to hear, but not everyone is able to listen.”

Frans talked about the difference between hearing and listening, and how to improve our listening skills was one of them. It’s important as a sourcer to be able to listen to what the candidate is telling us, to understand what they are looking for and if they could really be a good fit for the position.

It’s important not only to find a candidate for the open position we are recruiting for but also that the candidate is genuinely interested in the company and position. It should be a good match on both sides. This talk was also more general and we can use those tips in our day-to-day talent sourcing.

Frans shared five easy tips that will help improve your listening skills:

Listen consciously
Ask questions and stay curious
Show that you listen
Pay attention to body language
Listen without judgement

‘OSINT case study: Netherlands Police’, presented by Lisette Abercrombie and Maike Borst

This talk was given by two police officers who were explaining how they are using open sourcing intelligence to investigate criminal cases. They went through a real case of abduction, explaining each step of the process to trace the missing person. It was really interesting to see that sourcing skills could be used in real-life investigations.

‘Hacking human brain: a neuromarketing approach to sourcing’, presented by Guillaume Alexandre

Did you know that 70% of decisions are influenced by emotions? That’s a big deal when it comes to building great connections for talent sourcing.

Guillaume Alexandre talked about this and much more, as part of another favourite presentation from this year’s edition.

He chose to explain how the human brain works. With this knowledge, we can adapt our approach to help secure a candidate’s attention.

Here are three of Guillaume’s tips for building emotive connections:

Use ! and 😊 (don’t overdo either)
Format your text to make it stand out
Don’t overload or guide them to read

‘Sourcing psychology’, presented by Laura Gonzales, a sourcing alumna of Hudson RPO

Laura Gonzales, a sourcing alumna of Hudson RPO, spoke this year about using psychology to improve sourcing power. This talk was really inspiring. She explained how to use psychology in our candidate outreach.

Laura applied six psychological concepts to recruitment, explaining how she used them in her everyday recruitment style: reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, liking and consensus.

The results are there: she manages to not only fill her open role, but also create a long-term pipeline with exceptional candidates by being honest and transparent with them.

3. How was the Hackathon?

For those who don’t know, the Sourcing Hackathon is a series of live sourcing questions made to challenge recruiters and sourcers.

We woke up at 3am for our flight to Amsterdam, and the Hackathon was the very last thing we did that day before going to rest at the hotel. We were probably a bit tired at that point!

The questions were varied, some easier than others. But it was overall really cool to participate and to compete surrounded by some of the best sourcers in the industry!

IR35 private sector changes: companies start to make their call

October 9, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles

IR35 private sector changes: companies start to make their call

Content Team

October 9, 2019

IR35 private sector changes have HR leaders watching closely. Many businesses are adapting their strategy for a robust contingent workforce powered by managed services.

Barclays recently communicated internally that it will cease to engage contractors who provide their services via a personal services company, limited company or other intermediary. Instead, the bank will engage contractors on a PAYE basis only for new or extended contracts from 1st January 2020.

The decision has been attributed to the forthcoming changes in the way HMRC will apply rules for off-payroll working.

Barclays’ strategy follows a similar course taken by other high-profile British employers, including Lloyds, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, and GSK.

When it comes to IR35 private sector changes, those organisations have adopted a one-size fits all approach. They’ve effectively declared all contract roles ‘inside’ IR35. Some are offering the opportunity to transfer to a permanent employment contract or to work via an umbrella company — but with considerable consequences to their contractor population.

IR35 is influencing the supply and demand of skilled talent in many ways. What are the consequences to the market? Miles Stribbling, Consultant at Hudson RPO, explores the latest news from IR35, and how it may affect your business as well.

Which IR35 changes will affect the private sector?

Currently, HMRC requires contractors to self-assess their employment tax status and pay the appropriate taxes. This means that many workers have been able to engage in off-payroll working contracts when they are actually carrying out the role and being managed in the manner of an employee.

From 6th April 2020, HMRC requires that the end user of the services (client) takes on the responsibility for determining the tax status of the worker and communicate the decision to the worker and agency/intermediary. It is the expectation that both parties will work in consultation, taking ‘reasonable care’ when making assessments and resolving any disputes. It is not intended that hiring teams make blanket IR35 assessments.

Additionally, the end user (client) assumes liability for unpaid taxes if HMRC fails to collect these from the ‘fee payer’ or from other parties in the supply chain. Claims and penalties can be applied retrospectively.

What options are available to end users of contractors?

The approach taken should not be determined by the size of an organisation. However, a company with 1000+ contractors will naturally experience greater issues than those with 10.

A thorough audit of the contract workforce should be undertaken. Employers should conduct an individual assessment of the assignment, skills required, and conditions of work.

With this information, the following options are available:

Contractor remains outside of IR35
Contractor works via an umbrella company
Contractor converts to PAYE
Contractor delivers project via a Statement of Work (SoW)
Contractor works under Deemed model
Contractor is offered permanent employment

This presents a considerable amount of work. Understandably, large organisations will consider all options before committing money and resources to tackling the challenge.

Many organisations will have contractors falling into several different categories. The added complexity is likely to require specialist skills to get the correct contracts in place.

Employers adopting this approach will not necessarily keep all of their contractors happy. But, they will have followed the HMRC guidelines and should have remained engaged throughout the assessment process, providing clear communications.

The audit process should provide the company with a far greater understanding of their contingent workforce and offers them the opportunity to make strategic decisions using this information. It certainly lends itself to those looking to reduce their cost base via benchmarking or other activities

Those companies that have made the decision to solely offer PAYE contracts from 1st Jan 2020 have likely weighed up the costs of rolling out a large-scale assessment programme, as well as legal and procurement costs.

Furthermore, they will have considered possible reputation risks. They will have deemed the risks too great. In effect, by not starting the assessment process, they are not taking a ‘blanket’ approach to the assessments.

What is the impact of IR35 private sector changes?

Apart from companies having to prepare for legislation change and all the associated work, there is considerable unrest within the contractor community. After I recently wrote about IR35 and the digital skills shortage, I was contacted by an anonymous contractor who made their thoughts clear:

I’m usually pretty optimistic about most things, but despite having skills and experience that was until recently in very high contract demand, and serving multiple clients, I’ve already had a number of my clients terminate the arrangements; each have cited IR35 as the reason. Work has been either cancelled or moved to offshore providers. I am facing an immediate existential threat to my business (despite some careful financial planning over many years).

I have two options: take a permanent position with a very significant downsize adjustment whilst drawing down from earlier financial planning; or, move overseas. Initial enquiries suggest few employers want to take me on as a permanent member of staff (age, experience, and long-time contracts history is “off-putting”). Yes, that’s discriminatory but also my reality. Overseas interest and flexible contract opportunities are proving stronger, so I’m actively exploring that.

So, UK will likely lose my skills, experience, and taxes; and I’ll likely work for a company that probably competes against UK companies. I never wanted this.

I have been unable to follow up directly with this individual, but it is a sentiment shared widely in online contractor forums and communities.

For many people, the financial cost of working ‘inside’ IR35 on a PAYE basis is unacceptable. It is not clear to what extend the day rates of contractors will be benchmarked against permanent employees. However, it is highly unlikely that the banks will want to create a two-tier pay structure. With that in mind, contractors will have to seriously weigh up the options of a permanent salary with benefits against the uncertainty of future contracts and HMRC hard on the tails of non-compliant employers.

There is little doubt that many people will look elsewhere. In a strange twist of fate, there are reports of IR35-friendly contract opportunities in the public sector (for example, at HMRC, where the roles were originally classified inside of IR35, only to be outsourced to a third party now seeking contractors to complete the work).

Many organisations will embrace the new changes and follow the assessment process.

They will have the comfort of being compliant and correctly engaged with their total workforce.

Many contractors run their own successful businesses, providing services to clients that legitimately sit outside of IR35.

It would seem shortsighted not to retain these services, where possible.

The potential cost of replacing critical skills to deliver projects in a market that is already short on skilled talent leads me to believe that the clients will end up paying more in the long run.

There is the opportunity to find middle ground during the assessment process: it may benefit both parties to resolve matters before market conditions change.

Can the private sector see a positive outcome from IR35 changes?

There are plenty of lessons to be learned from the roll out of changes to IR35 in the public sector in 2017.

With more than 51% of hiring managers reported as having lost skilled contractors, and more than 70% reported to have struggled to retain their off-payroll workers, companies should try to avoid similar scenarios when planning for 2020.

A reliance on the UK Government’s Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) online tool caused massive confusion, as it still does today. Blanket ‘all caught’ assessments saw a mass exodus of contractors from key projects leaving almost 80% of projects failing to meet deadlines or having to reset expectations. Large-scale outsourcing of the projects has barely managed to fill the gap. Cost savings have not materialised.

Some would argue that there are no winners, with employers paying more, contractors being paid less or losing jobs, projects failing, and HMRC making far less tax revenue than anticipated.

Even the large consultancies are struggling to the find the right talent at the right price, which is eating into their profits.

Despite this, organisations that manage the process diligently and with reasonable care, are more likely benefit from a flexible but firm approach to assessment.

Off-payroll workers provide a huge variety of services. They should be engaged appropriately.

There is middle ground in the majority of circumstances, and the key to success is finding it.

Organisations that choose not to assess will lose contractors. Organisations that fail to assess correctly or leave it until the last minute will lose contractors. Even those organisations that do everything by the book may lose contractors unless they are able to help make up the differential in pay after April of 2020.

Traditionally, one of the tax key benefits for contractors has been the ability to claim for daily travel expenses and sustenance. This made the long commutes to jobs in large cities more affordable. Perhaps one positive outcome will be the affordability of highly skilled talent on a more local basis. It should certainly help accelerate the drive to more flexible and remote working practices.

Preparing for IR35 private sector changes and Brexit

With the Brexit deadline of 31st October rapidly approaching, there is a real possibility that a further six month extension could coincide with the IR35 rule changes deadline of 6 April 2020. This is concerning.

To make matters worse (or better), lobbying groups continue to challenge HMRC on the objectives of the new legislation. The rules could still be changed, beyond what we know today. Perhaps they will be delayed or withdrawn completely. Anything could happen when it comes to IR35 private sector changes.

While Brexit commands so much media attention, it is possible that some of the consequences of a delay are being missed. Our recommendation is to be be informed, be prepared, and take action.

With the above in mind, Hudson RPO are global leaders in recruitment process outsourcing and managed services provision.

Since 1999, customers have trusted us for innovative, customised recruitment outsourcing, and talent solutions.

We offer an exceptional ability to source and hire candidates with hard-to-find skills on behalf our clients. We also support our client with IR35 and SoW solutions.

Our approach is highly consultative, professional and, above all, honest. We may not have all the solutions to the challenging times ahead, but we would welcome the opportunity to talk to you to see how we can help.

Hudson RPO

Content Team

The Hudson RPO Content Team is made up of experts within the Talent Acquisition industry across the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions. They provide educational and critical business insights in the form of research reports, articles, news, videos, podcasts, and more. The team ensures high-quality content that helps all readers make talent decisions with confidence.

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Saint-Gobain’s talent strategy: blend RPO with an in-house team

October 8, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles

Saint-Gobain’s talent strategy: blend RPO with an in-house team

Content Team

October 8, 2019

If you could avoid paying for extra headcount when times are lean, or when hiring volumes are down, would you?

For many HR leaders, the answer would be yes, of course.

The leaders of manufacturing giant Saint-Gobain are among those who have chosen to mitigate that risk. They’ve put in place a blended RPO / in-house recruitment model, selecting Hudson RPO as their partner.

“Because we can flex up and down, we can build them an in-house team which they can’t get headcount for,” says Jared Massey, Hudson RPO operations manager serving the Saint-Gobain account.

“For many companies, it can be very difficult to get extra headcount on an urgent basis,” Jared explains.

“If they all of a sudden get busy, most companies will have a short-term or long-term plan that has been agreed, and it becomes virtually impossible to get sign-off beyond that agreement. When you work with an RPO, the risk is on the RPO to take on extra headcount when required.”

The Saint-Gobain partnership is based on adding value to the in-house operation.

Jared explains: “They’ve got an in-house team, and we’re an advancement of that. We essentially provide an in-house team on top of their internal recruitment team.”

Building long-term capacity from a blended model

Prior to Hudson RPO entering the scene, Saint-Gobain took a different approach with another RPO vendor: A role would come through to the in-house team. They would try to fill it. When they couldn’t, they then gave it to the RPO team, who had one week to fill the vacancy. If they couldn’t, the role went out to an agency.

But the arrangement didn’t perform well enough, so Saint-Gobain appointed Hudson RPO.

The understanding shared by both partners is that all recruitment functions can be brought in-house within two years.

Jared says: “Once we build the optimal systems and processes for them, they plan to bring it all in-house. That’s the beauty of a blended recruitment model.

“From D&I, to recruitment technology, and beyond, the right RPO partner offers best-practice expertise across the recruitment spectrum. Our recruiters are poised to pass this knowledge and capability to the in-house team. Being embedded — sitting alongside your counterpart and sharing experiences, knowledge, and resources — is an invaluable opportunity for blended-model clients.”

Designing a value-added RPO partnership

Before Saint-Gobain pursued the RPO route, internal recruiters would be tasked with filling a set number of roles per year. They would deal with some of those roles, while others, such as HR vacancies, went to agencies.

Now that the partnership is in place, Hudson RPO fills as many roles as requested at any given time.

“In addition to roles that would have previously been delegated to agency,” Jared says, “we can also deal with peaks and troughs, freeing their in-house recruiters to focus on other key initiatives.”

He explains: “For them, it can work in two ways. First, it means that their current in-house team can get involved in more initiatives, because we’re taking care of a range of time-consuming tasks in the background. Second, we can also provide specialist expertise which they may lack, for example around HR technology, developing an employer value proposition, or building a graduate scheme.”

Delegating work between in-house and RPO

While Saint-Gobain operate a fluid model, the in-house team tends to look after filling easier placements, such as internal roles.

“Apart from in-house roles, everything else tends to come into their in-house recruiters or our in-house team,” Jared says. “Generally, the more difficult roles come to us.”

Hudson RPO collect and process data around hiring demand. With enough data, the team will be able to advise on which roles should be handled by either team.

“Once we build the right systems and processes for them,” Jared says, “they plan to bring it all in-house.”

The role types currently filled by Hudson RPO include many within manufacturing, such as:

Engineering
Production
Quality
Mining and other specialist roles within the UK

The teams also recruit for central services, including:

Marketing
Procurement
Finance
Sales
Customer service

Building trust in the RPO with clear communications

Hudson RPO currently supplies three recruiters on-site, and one off-site. They are all branded as Saint-Gobain.

From the start, Jared says, “the communications needed to be absolutely right.”

He explains: “In all contexts, but certainly blended environments, we’re not there to threaten the essential roles of in-house recruiters — we’re there to help.”

Across the business, Jared says, Saint-Gobain employees understand the purpose of the partnership and have bought into the concept.

Saint-Gobain’s financial model also supports the spirit of partnership. Jared explains: “Because the costs of their recruitment are all centrally costed within Saint-Gobain, outsourcing a role doesn’t cost their team any more than filling it in-house. Whether you look at it with a focus on finance, or the way in which it adds value to their HR team and in-house recruiters, the blended arrangement is designed to propel Saint-Gobain to the next stage of talent acquisition maturity.”

Hudson RPO

Content Team

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AI, recruitment, and the essential role of strategic talent sourcers

September 25, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles, Video

AI, recruitment, and the essential role of strategic talent sourcers

Content Team

September 25, 2019

Paired with strategic talent sourcing, artificial intelligence (AI) elevates recruitment strategies. Want to know how? Watch our mini video now, or read more below.

When properly aligned, AI and human talent skills help you find stronger candidates. This combination enables you to attract niche candidates and other star talent.

But what are the key considerations for integrating AI into your talent acquisition processes? We talked with three of our global sourcing leaders about what works and what doesn’t.

Read on to discover how:

AI elevates the role of talent sourcers
Fairness must be entrusted to recruiters, not AI
A human approach can offer tremendous creativity

We’ll also explore which parts of recruitment should and should not be automated, before digging into how to best leverage tech with strategic sourcing, for short-term vs. long-term hiring.

By the end, you’ll discover how to fine-tune a talent process that successfully bridges AI benefits with the extraordinarily wonderful human competencies of experienced sourcers and recruiters.

From a talent sourcing view, AI is your biggest ally

Let’s be clear: AI has not replaced talent sourcers, and it won’t be doing so any time soon.

The process of sourcing great candidates includes far too many touch points that require a meaningful human connection.

As talent leaders, we must display emotion, establish trust, share humor, and more. And, it almost goes without saying, we must exercise our uniquely human ability to convey empathy.

Typically, when you’re recruiting for specialized roles, you need technology solutions that enable high-touch (human-led) recruitment.

Conversely, when you’re dealing with high-volume recruitment, you need to consider solutions that are more technology-based, rather than recruiter-driven.

While technology can automate much of the traditional administrative work associated with finding and sorting resumes and CVs, it can also elevate the role of talent sourcer from junior contributor to strategic partner.

Think of it this way, says Cameron Davidson, Director of Strategic Sourcing for Hudson RPO in APAC:

“Where AI drops off, the strategic sourcer picks up, thanks to the talent sourcer’s ability to represent the company’s employer brand, to begin building a strong relationship and to gauge the quality level of the candidate.”

With AI tools powering different parts of the recruitment process, sourcing now depends heavily on the ability of talent specialists to drive engagement with preferred candidates.

George McRobbie, Service Delivery Director for Hudson RPO in EMEA, explains: “Talent sourcers put significant energy into candidate management and opportunity marketing to build strong talent pipelines. Great talent sourcers play a vital role as business partners to recruiters and hiring managers.”

Technology and sourcing: maintaining fairness

If you’re going to embed AI into your talent processes, then you need to consider fairness and objectivity within the design of AI.

So, can AI be biased?

Yes, just as much as any person can.

Any kind of AI can be biased, depending on the biases of the original coder or coding team.

“Tech isn’t smart enough to teach itself,” says Cameron. “Talent sourcers need to teach it by applying augmented intelligence.”

Bias does happen. It’s up to recruiters and talent sourcers to call it out.

For example, an AI tool was found to be using data patterns to eliminate female candidates from Amazon opportunities.

George explains: “In the Amazon example, the tool was responding to patterns in resumes submitted during the previous decade. Given most resumes were from men, the tool began rating female candidates lower. It was an imperfection, which required a human being to catch. As talent professionals, we need to monitor results of the tools to check whether the tools learn bias in recruitment.”

There are many tools available to help recruiters eliminate the potential for bias. One example is the gender bias decoder tool, which scans job adverts for gender-coded words. It’s a free tool, based on a research paper that appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The strategic sourcer: flexible, creative, resourceful

The human touch enables a wider view of candidate potential, sometimes more than AI can offer on its own.

Upon reviewing a candidate’s potential, Tara DePeau, Recruitment Consultant for Hudson RPO client GSK, regularly considers whether they might be suited to other roles within the company.

Tara says: “If the candidate is targeting a director-level title, I’ll see if there’s an associate director role available, so the candidate might grow into the role. This approach is also better for candidates because it gives them a stronger chance of securing a role with the company.”

She explains: “Advanced sourcing is the difference between 10 solid candidates, vs. 100 candidates who are mostly not interested. This is particularly important if you need to quickly fill many specialized or senior roles. Done right, it’s like having a personalized salesperson promoting the opportunity.

“For example, I read candidates’ resumes and personalize the outreach to include a specific reference to their background. I also network with the hiring manager and their team. Does the candidate’s background share similarities with theirs? For example, did they attend the same college? If so, the college should be a good source of candidates.”

While technology allows sourcers to be more productive, the human factor enables them to be strategic.

George explains: “Sourcers are also the face of your employer brand. They’re usually the first human representative of your employer brand that a candidate engages with. The marketing department proactively pushes the brand, but the sourcer needs to represent your brand well, sharing key talking points with authenticity.”

What parts of sourcing should be automated?

AI in recruitment can’t build key relationships the way that humans can. But it can reduce time spent on administration, for example.

But even before that, or perhaps alongside, there exist other talent functions that are best served by people, or at least, by a combination of machine and human.

These tasks are often well-served, at least in part, by automation:

Screening
Sourcing
Candidate assessments

But many talent professionals still recommend an element of human input into these processes.

For harder-to-fill roles, strategic sourcers will look for transferable skills, says Tara. Sourcers are well-equipped to spot potential in a more junior candidate, she adds.

Tara recommends personalized sourcing. This means personalizing communications based on relevant qualifications and other details that a recruiter has picked up on while researching the candidate.

“Whichever side of the hiring table on which you sit, people like the personalized experience,” Tara says. “This multipronged approach is a higher level of recruitment.”

Resume software is another grey area, where machine learning benefits from human oversight.

Cameron says: “AI and technology tools do provide easy access to talent. AI can leverage keywords and filter groups of candidates. However, it doesn’t fully understand the nuances of CVs. Some CVs are better written than others.”

Tara has also observed the limitations of resume software.

She says: “I agree, not all CVs are equal. Some may not have the right keywords included to be detected in automated search. For example, certain consulting roles have general analyst titles, but their resumes don’t speak to the specific industry experience.”

Leveraging AI in recruitment for different hiring needs

Of course, the point of all this is not to use technology for technology’s sake.

But, there are a multitude of administrative, repetitive steps that go into recruitment and talent sourcing. Augmented reality can help you reclaim time from these resource-diverting projects.

This approach offers short-term as well as long-term benefits. Expediting or automating low-skilled tasks enables your HR specialists to add value to other key business opportunities and initiatives.

Longer term, if the business is considering a market expansion, you should absolutely seek talent sourcer input. This is likely to include technology-assisted talent mapping.

Sourcers can research the available talent and compensation requirements. Decisions based on these insights can make or break a company’s market expansion plans.

Knowing whether key talent exists in a geography is also critical to new market success.

George says: “Particularly in a competitive market, talent sourcers advise the business on candidate expectations around salary and other career incentives. We’re often trying to tempt people out of their current jobs. Collecting and sharing candidate feedback can help inform the business strategy on how to effectively attract elusive candidates.”

He explains further: “The ideal scenario involves the recruiter serving as a project manager, taking a business partner role. In addition to looking after active vacancies, the recruiter supports the longer-term strategy. Knowledgeable recruiters can be consulted on all matters pertaining to the candidate market.

“Talent sourcers can use human- and tech-based insights to provide market intelligence to the business. This enables proactive sourcing and strategic marketing of the employer brand.”

Want to learn more about AI in recruitment?

When it comes to using technology in recruitment, best practices are often found at a local level. Moreover, data protection laws will also vary by country and region. Learn more about our recruitment technology services or contact us for more information.

Hudson RPO

Content Team

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Digital skills shortage: IR35 and Brexit create the perfect storm

September 24, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles

Digital skills shortage: IR35 and Brexit create the perfect storm

Content Team

September 24, 2019

In many ways, the digital skills shortage is the result of a perfect storm striking the UK.

Every day, businesses in all sectors are launching large-scale digital transformation projects. Yet, they often struggle to attract and retain the skills to deliver them.

The storm that could derail these projects is composed of several elements.

To begin, the integration of big data, cloud computing, and AI presents a complex challenge. These forces are fuelled by the development of robotic processes, cognitive recognition, and blockchain technologies.

To make matters more interesting, business leaders must also plan for the effects of IR35 and Brexit, discussed in more detail below.

These forces create a perfect storm looming over UK enterprise, and all businesses which seek to maintain competitive advantage must be mindful of its potential impact.

After all, the ability to attract investors and key talent may be at risk. Miles Stribbling, Consultant at Hudson RPO, shares his observations and insights.

IR35: a threat to contracted digital skills

If it isn’t hard enough to compete with Google, Goldman Sachs, Apple, and Amazon, HMRC have decided to play a trump card by extending Intermediaries Legislation (IR35) legislation into the private sector.

Presenting significant changes to work rules and contractor rights, IR35 comes into effect in April of 2020. These rule changes apply to companies with 250 or more employees.

IR35 is not an entirely new concept, of course, with changes to the legislation first being introduced to the public sector in 2017. A 2018 study by CIPD and IPSE revealed that more than 50% of managers lost contractors when HMRC implemented new IR35 legislation in the public sector. More than 70% of managers said they struggled to retain skilled contractors due to tax changes.

When Her Majesty’s Government first introduced IR35 in 2000, it was designed to address the problem of contractors working through personal service companies to avoid paying employment taxes. However, the door was left open for employers to take a blanket approach and refuse negotiation about terms of engagement with individual contractors.

Unsurprisingly, this was poorly received by the contractor population.

To add insult to injury, it marked the beginning of a major shift towards outsourcing significant chunks of back office support and development work to the other side of the world.

Over time, much of this work has been ‘near-shored’. The contractor workforce has recovered and provides significant value and flexibility to companies that don’t have either the budget or headcount to employ the skills it needs permanently. That is, until now.

Currently in the private sector, companies are turning to their IR35 readiness playbooks and realising that, this time, there is little place to hide. They must take their employment responsibilities seriously.

As for the contractors, they have long memories and are not going to make it easy for their beloved clients (ie employers) to get off the hook so lightly this time.

Suddenly, the offer of full-time employment, employment rights, employee benefits, employee bonuses, and job security seems a fair trade-off for self-assessment, timesheets, and uncertainty. But it won’t come cheap! The average cost increase to convert a day-rate contractor to a permanent employee is the cost of employers’ National Insurance, at 13.8% (see note 1), plus the additional costs of payroll and benefits. And that’s before you’ve even got to the negotiating table.

Highly sought digital skills come at a premium, and those who have them are in the driving seat.

The role of Brexit in the digital skills shortage

Brexit represents the crashing waves and gale force winds of this perfect storm.

Of course, nobody knows what to expect occur over the coming weeks and months.

However, many employers are concerned that the UK is becoming less attractive to candidates who offer high-demand digital skills. These are the candidates needed to deliver digital transformation projects.

Many of these highly skilled employees hail from European countries. To an extent, it’s still unclear how Brexit will affect these workers and their appetite to continue working in the UK. Many employers are concerned about whether key digital skills will be widely available post-Brexit.

In times of uncertainty, stay upbeat about innovation

While the immediate future may look bleak, there are many things to remain positive about. The Brexit situation will eventually resolve. Businesses can then make decisions based on the UK Government’s direction.

There is a huge amount of support available to organisations that are struggling to find their way during these tumultuous times. The UK remains at the bleeding edge of financial services, fintech, technology, innovation, and data management.

Dylan Thomas, deputy director of technology, entrepreneurship, and advanced manufacturing at the Department for International Trade, recently observed: “In human history, when it comes to technology, innovation almost always occurs at periods of crisis, uncertainty, and adversity.”

By providing in-demand skills and knowledge, contractors are key contributors to corporate innovation. Yet, many companies may struggle to retain contractor services, following Brexit and the imminent changes in tax law. The right managed services provision (MSP) enables a robust talent pipeline, even when uncertainty abounds.

Creating a strategy for the digital skills shortage

So, where do you go to find the required talent at an affordable price?

Perhaps we can help. Hudson RPO are global leaders in recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and managed services.

Since 1999, customers have trusted us for innovative, customised recruitment outsourcing, and talent solutions. We offer an exceptional ability to source and hire candidates with hard-to-find skills on behalf of our clients.

Our approach is highly consultative, professional, and above all, honest. We may not have all the solutions to the challenging times ahead, but we would welcome the opportunity to talk to you, to see how we can help.

Notes

1. HMRC: National Insurance rates and categories. https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-rates-letters. Accessed 24 September 2019.

Hudson RPO

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SOSUEU heats up with Hudson RPO talent sourcers attending

September 17, 2019 by Content Team

Sourcing Summit Europe (SOSUEU) showcases the latest thinking in talent sourcing. We’re incredibly delighted to announce that three of our multilingual talent sourcers will be attending.

The team representing Hudson RPO includes Jessie Caudron and Marjorie Gaume, who source French- and English-speaking candidates.

Jessie specialises in pharma recruitment, while Marjorie supports the Toyota account.

Also representing Hudson RPO is Aniq Butt, who can source talent in English, French, and Urdu.

Taking place in October, SOSUEU is one of the industry’s biggest events for talent sourcers.

In the run up to the event, Jessie, Marjorie, and Aniq, have participated in a virtual SOSUEU sourcing competition. For several weeks, they have vied with talent sourcers from around the world to complete a variety of complex sourcing challenges. The race has proven tight, and it will be exciting to see who wins.

Regardless, it’s proven good practice for our skilled and dedicated talent sourcers, who share their thoughts on participating in the challenge and the wider experience of SOSUEU below.

Which presentations are you most excited about?

Aniq: I’m excited to hear the SOSUEU presentations on ‘sourcing blue-collar workers’ and ‘using psychology to improve sourcing power’.

Marjorie: ‘Finding talent in unexpected places’ will be interesting, as the sourcing world is always evolving. It’s important to adapt and to always find new way to find candidates.

Jessie: Every year, Irina Shamaeva shares her best hacks of the year at SOSUEU. Last year, her presentation was mind-blowing, so I’m really looking forward to see what she’s prepared this time! The OSINT case study with the Netherlands’ police sounds very interesting as well.

Is there a particular sourcer you hope to meet?

Aniq: Florian Bonnet! He’s a popular Hudson RPO talent sourcing alum.

Marjorie: There are so many well-known sourcers present at this event. It’s difficult to name just one!

If pressed, I would say Laura Gonzalez as she has previously worked at Hudson RPO, and it’s quite inspiring to see that you can become a reference in this industry.

Jessie: As Marjorie says, there are so many good sourcers who will be present! It will be really good to be surrounded by the top sourcers in the world.

I’m looking forward to meeting Morgane Dalbergue. I follow her on Twitter and absolutely love her candidate-centric philosophy!

Tell us about participating in the sourcing challenge.

Aniq: It’s great, I wouldn’t change a thing about this. I might book a few days off to do this next year. You end up spending hours doing this.

Marjorie: This is a really interesting competition. The questions are really diverse. Some are easier than others.

But, as there were several of us within the team taking part, that made the competition more interesting.

We were trying to compete with our own colleagues. In the end, my two main goals were of course to win a free ticket, but also to try to beat my colleagues.

Jessie: I absolutely love that challenge! It’s a great way to learn and practice tricks that you wouldn’t really use every day.

Plus, it’s a good team-bonding experience as the first thing that we did every morning at work was discuss the latest question and how tricky it was! It’s also nice to see that even our Centre of Excellence (CoE) director is competitive and willing to give it a try.

Stay up to date with SOSUEU!

Follow us on Twitter for all the latest coverage from #SOSUEU. We’ll have live coverage featuring the hottest sourcing tips and insights.

Content Team

1. What did you think about this edition of SOSUEU?

2. Which were the most inspiring talks?

‘See me, feel me, touch me, hear me: how to become a super sourcer, starting today’, presented by Frans Reichardt

‘OSINT case study: Netherlands Police’, presented by Lisette Abercrombie and Maike Borst

‘Hacking human brain: a neuromarketing approach to sourcing’, presented by Guillaume Alexandre

‘Sourcing psychology’, presented by Laura Gonzales, a sourcing alumna of Hudson RPO

3. How was the Hackathon?

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