Content Team

Nailed it! Five tips that help lead RPO implementations to success

February 20, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles

Nailed it! Five tips that help lead RPO implementations to success

Content Team

February 20, 2019

Implementing recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) on a global or multi-regional scale can be mega-complicated.

But with the right approach, it can also be wildly successful.

You’ll likely encounter legal, cultural, operational, and commercial variations. To smooth the process, think glocally. By combining a global mindset with local awareness and sensitivity, consistent and custom service can be delivered.

A single project management methodology and framework can also help align regional processes and establish standards.

An implementation toolkit and a phased implementation approach — one which draws on prior learnings — can help drive best practice. We call this flexibility within framework.

This approach does mean a heavier reliance on the necessary resources to achieve local engagement and global process alignment. But it pays off.

Discover five tips for RPO implementation success.

Top 5 tips for your global RPO implementation project

#1. People must be your No. 1 priority. From selecting your project team, to identifying who will provide ongoing service delivery, great people will help unify your team. Selecting the right-fit team will help ensure cultural alignment, commitment, capability, and collaboration.

#2. Governance creates clarity. This defines the what, whom, when, where, and how. Who is responsible for what activities? In what time frame?

#3. Contracts take time. You need to account for different legal jurisdictions. You should also factor in for the different legal expertise and styles of people involved. This may include non-legal staff, in house council, or external legal advisers.

#4. Trust is earned. It can sometimes be difficult for trust to be given in an implementation where there is often no track record, nor an existing relationship. Quickly forming a joint project team, and mastering early-stage implementation on the first attempt, can help you build track records and earn trust.

#5. Strong communication and change management skills drive implementation. Global projects sometimes require you to do things in person. Take these opportunities to begin nurturing solid relationships.

RPO implementation leaders on the Baker’s Dozen list

As of 2019, we rank No. 1 for RPO implementation in the HRO Today Baker’s Dozen Customer Satisfaction Ratings. The ratings reveal that 100% of our clients describe our RPO implementations as on time, on budget, and acceptable in terms of disruption to the business.

When it comes to successful RPO, a great start is the only start.

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.

What is RPO?

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What is MSP?

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A poor workplace culture? Talent leaders take note: danger ahead

February 10, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles

A poor workplace culture? Talent leaders take note: danger ahead

Content Team

February 10, 2019

Workplace culture drives employee engagement. It can send a company performance skyrocketing, or nosediving.

A great workplace culture cultivates highly engaged employees. Without a motivated workforce, productivity suffers. Your bottom line suffers. Employees and customers suffer.

A poor workplace culture? The ramifications are huge.

“Having a 1-star higher rating on Glassdoor predicts about a 1 percent higher annual return on company assets,” according to statistically significant research on Glassdoor.

But the results don’t end there.

The same research identified an annual alpha (or, extra stock market return) of 16 percent on average for an equally-weighted stock portfolio at companies with higher employee satisfaction.

Shocked? Surprised? Dismayed? Delighted?

Whatever your reaction, if business leaders look the other way when corporate culture is crumbling, your talent function will suffer in a big way. The wider market will take notice. Your vacancies will remain vacant longer, and when you do manage to fill them, they won’t stay that way for long.

Is your workplace culture hiding some stinky secrets?

Here’s the thing: a poor workplace culture can no longer be contained within the walls of your business premises.

Thanks to sites such as Glassdoor, the stench of a bad place to work wafts well beyond the domain of current employees, and into the minds of prospective candidates.

So, for example, if bullying is commonplace, and no one’s doing anything about it, you’d better believe the wider talent pool will be quick to catch on. These issues, if indeed they hold an element of truth, tend to reveal themselves in recurring themes on employee reviews.

Even a smattering of reviews throwing up red flags can be enough to scare away some of the really great people who would otherwise help rocket your business to the moon. There must be enough good stuff in these reviews to balance any overtones of a poor company culture.

Prospective candidates, whether they come from active or passive pools, will evaluate these views and ask: do I want to find myself in the same situation as the writer(s) of these reviews?

Top candidates tend to have the luxury of choice, particularly in competitive markets where key skill sets are niche. There would have to be a seriously compelling incentive on the table to counteract the detracting vibe of a negative work culture.

After all, the digital representation of a negative workplace culture can spook candidates into ghosting the application process.

Unfortunately, when you’re responsible for attracting and retaining top talent, a stinky workplace culture is bound to hamper your efforts and add a certain amount of unnecessary strain to your life at work. It’s so desperately not cool, isn’t it?

Except, at least, it doesn’t have to be desperate.

And, as an incredible people leader, you can definitely do something about it.

Workplace culture: the path towards change

Workplaces can change. They can improve. They can reform.

But you need to first understand the change required. Speak with your employees. Survey their views. Assess their priorities. But — and this is key — only do so if you plan on doing something about what you’re about to learn. Anything else is a waste of everyone’s time and effort. If we fail to take action on these valuable insights, we risk causing serious harm to our departmental image across the business.

While it’s true that some people simply long to have their views heard and acknowledged, it’s just as important that they understand the role that their views have played in shaping a brighter future. If, as a result of this process, nothing of consequence changes, they need to understand why that is as well.

The process of participating in a transformation of workplace culture is critical. If we do it right, and if we do it before an employee posts a public review of the workplace, then it’s entirely possible that the review will reflect your workplace in a more positive one.

At a minimum, the reviewer may be more inclined to project a certain perspective of understanding. The review may also include more reflection on the merits of your workplace.

Workplace culture: we’ve got to get it right.

Depending on the maturity of your business and other factors, it may not happen overnight. Nonetheless, identify the levers you can pull, and begin pulling them today.

Both the near-term happiness of your people, and the long-term success of your enterprise, are at stake.

Hudson RPO

Content Team

What is RPO?

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What is MSP?

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Building a conscious organisation at HRD Summit 2019

February 5, 2019 by Content Team

What a memorable day at the HRD Summit! It’s been a privilege to participate in this phenomenal annual event.

So many passionate members of the talent community sharing wisdom and discovering solutions through deep discussions and interactive sessions — it’s truly fantastic.

I’ve been inspired on a personal level, which is why I wanted to share my initial thoughts at the end of the HRD Summit’s first day.

Following on from a tremendous keynote speech from Ruth McGrath, I am already identifying the reds from the greens. We’re talking about challenging business issues which need to be addressed in order for an organisation to survive and prosper.

After the keynote, I had the honour of chairing four fabulous presentations from some extremely inspirational individuals.

Here are a few highlights from that experience.

Fostering a creative and productive culture: Bruce Daisley

I first introduced Bruce Daisley who I think was basically saying I am doing pretty much everything wrong in terms of maximising my creativity and productivity! Bruce is an inspirational author and VP at Twitter.

He is telling me that I need to eat more lunch, for heaven’s sake get to bed earlier, hang out more with the friends that make me laugh, lie down and don’t stand up whenever possible and don’t be tempted to take the stairs ever!

I’ve got to tell you, it makes perfect sense to me!

Thank you Bruce Daisley. I have signed up to “Eat, Sleep, Work Repeat”!

Employer branding: Eurostar

Following this, and a sprint to the Blue Theatre, I introduced Gerard Jacques. Wow! What a brave position he has taken with his graduate intake at Eurostar! If you want to see and hear about a unique and novel approach to employer branding, you need look no further.

Gerard Jacques has recognised what Ruth McGrath described as the “insight and change from the edges”. In other words, the snow effect.

He recognised that in some respects the least qualified are the most qualified. By allowing fresh external perceptions to impact how the employer brand is represented, the messaging carries forward real honesty and excitement.

The grads themselves were clearly empowered and excited about their task and the results are mind boggling! Congratulations Gerard Jacques and your team.

Technology: SpeakAp

Now in a firm base, and having got my breath back, we moved to a piece of tech genius. Genius really in its simplicity. Guy Chiswick is the MD of SpeakAp.

We were presented with some clear and concise research. The numbers really did speak for themselves and the loud and clear message to me was that we are all using “consumer” social media at work to enable communication as we just don’t engage in the same way with business apps.

The question is, is this a risk to business? If I am honest, I think the jury is out but what is clear, SpeakAp provides a genuine, consumer-centric alternative. Integrating with all your HRIS / ERP tools, this is a fabulous way to control comms with your remote workforces, and in my opinion your non-remote workforces as well. There is a lot to this piece of tech and the development road map is very exciting.

Data: Anglo American

My final session of the day was quite close to my heart. My career began in mining, Consolidated Goldfields in fact, and it was my huge pleasure to introduce Dominic Podmore who is the Head of HR Analytics, Data Governance and Talent Management at Anglo American.

Dominic Podmore is all over the data, but what came across most in his presentation was the care that he was taking to ensure the people in his organisation understood the value and how to interpret the information this new way of working was driving.

By implementing Visier, he has been able to consolidate data from multiple sources into a single data pool. And that is where the excitement begins! We weren’t showered with stats, this was a human conversation. This was all about making informed decisions that impact on the lives of their employees.

It was heart-warming, inspiring and I think we were all left thinking that to hear about some of the outcomes in a year’s time, would be fascinating.

Final thoughts as chairman of the talent stream

That’s my summary. I have thoroughly enjoyed my day of chairing. I have met some amazing people as a result.

It was a little nerve-racking and I think I stumbled over a few words, but I really enjoyed my stream and I am very much looking forward to the second day of HRD Summit UK.

If you’ll be at the summit tomorrow, please do stop by and say hello to us at stand 90.

Stock up on Fox’s biscuits, courtesy of our partnership with 2 Sisters Food Group, and don’t forget to grab a free umbrella. (It is after all raining talent at Hudson RPO!) Top your visit off with a great variety of inspirational talent case studies, gorgeous red pens, and more.

At HRD and beyond, in pursuit of the ‘conscious organization’

February 4, 2019 by Content Team

The concept of a ‘conscious organization’ captures the imaginations of top HR leaders near and far. Most recently, it featured as the key theme of HRD Summit 2019.

For those of us in the talent world, what does it mean to be part of a ‘conscious organization’?

Here’s what it means for us at Hudson RPO.

The conscious organization

If we look at this subject in terms of a list of principles guiding our business at Hudson RPO, the message focuses on five key objectives:

Empower performance through learning and team building
Encourage autonomy and an entrepreneurial mindset
Support professional growth and develop leaders
Appreciate and uplift
Nurture the innovation and creativity that produces result

These five statements guide our corporate culture, which seeks to provide opportunities for excellence in everyone’s career.

The principles contribute to our overreaching objective to present our employees with an opportunity to lead exceptional careers. If we succeed in this endeavour, then our customers and even the wider reaches of our industry can reap the associated rewards.

Those principles help guide new joiners (and indeed, prospective applicants) in terms of what you can expect from a career at Hudson RPO. They remind each of us of what we’re here to do, day in and day out.

They also help ensure the long-term vitality of our organization. If we’re not thinking with the mindset of nimble entrepreneurs, celebrating the milestones which mark our journey, and creating unmissable opportunities for personal and professional advancement, then we’ll never understand the hunger that drives sustainable growth for both early-stage businesses, as well as established enterprises. They live and breathe by these moments. So must we.

The HRD Summit 2019 affords us an opportunity to dig into the nitty-gritty of what it takes to power a conscious organization. But at a macro level, when you’re developing an organizational culture and unifying a team, it’s useful to identify your hero messages, and to then focus on defining the ethical and practical strategies that will drive those objectives to measurable success. It’s certainly working for us.

HRD Summit: get inspired about great talent experiences

January 31, 2019 by Content Team

In just a few days, talent specialists from across EMEA will gather to learn and debate best practices in HR and the wider talent space.

HRD Summit 2019, here we come!

As anticipation sets in, we’re delighted to reflect on what we learned at last year’s summit.

In that spirit, we asked Luke O’Mahoney, one of our top solutions consultants and a hugely passionate talent enthusiast, to share his takeaways from the 2018 HRD summit. Enjoy!

People first = purpose first: reflecting on HRD 2018

By Luke O’Mahoney

The curtains have come down on HRD Summit 2018 and having spent a jam packed couple of days meeting, networking, learning, growing and exhibiting I now find time to take stock and get some of my thoughts and reflections down to share with you lovely people.

Historically when writing blog posts reflecting on events such as this one, I have opted for something of a linear and chronological breakdown of the talks I enjoyed.

This time, however, I want to keep things a little less descriptive and a little more holistic in order to articulate what the summit as a whole made me feel and the emotions evoked as a result.

I am happy to say that I feel a tremendous sense of optimism (and excitement) for the future of our organisations, and by wider implication, our society.

Recruiting for potential

I was picked up and impassioned by the powerful personal story of Nilofer Merchant, who kicked off the summit with an enchanting and deeply personal account of her own struggles — losing her entire family and support network by revoking on cultural expectations. Nilofer refused an arranged marriage that would have forced her into a life in which she could not be the truest version of herself and become the educated, driven and empowered person she knew she was capable of becoming.

Nilofer made the link between this very personal struggle and what many organisations do to their people, force them into positions that do not match their true ability or their true potential based on predefined cultural and organisational expectations.

Organisations have a long history of recruiting based on job titles and track records rather than recruiting for people and potential. This is something that needs to change.

Whilst shocking and emotive, Nilofer’s story set the tone for the entire summit for me in a positive way: people should come first. If we want people to reach their greatest and truest potential within our organisations, we have to provide an environment, culture and network in which individuality and personal purpose is celebrated and encouraged.

This of course must be juxtaposed alongside the identification, articulation and celebration of a shared organisational purpose, acting as the ‘North Star’. Tim Sparkes brought this analogy to life in his excellent breakfast briefing on day two of the summit.

To realise true greatness in productivity, engagement and personal fulfillment, organisations must be brave enough to proudly display their North Star.

The North Star can unify existing employees under its glow, while attracting external individuals who share that purpose and want to experience a feeling of value. That feeling is the result of meaningful activity and contribution to a greater good.

Unifying followers of your North Star

As we heard in the equally powerful, if less emotive, keynote by Josh Bersin, 88% of millennials believe businesses can be a major force for positive social change. This is also reinforced when you consider that 62% of millennials would take a reduction in pay to work for an organisation whose purpose links to their own core values.

It is worth asserting a caveat here as I have used the now contemptuous generational labeling, ‘millennials’.

Look, as far as I am concerned I think everyone of any age, gender, background or generational banding ultimately wants the same thing: to feel valued, respected and connected to wider sense of purpose.

The way I see it, this has been true for thousands of years! That is why we see such passionate and often volatile behaviours displayed by otherwise subdued and ‘peaceful’ individuals of all ages, social classes, ethnicities etc. when unified under a shared identity.

Organisations (like football teams, religious groups and countries) can evoke the same level of passion (hopefully to amplify positive behavioural traits rather than negative ones) by unifying members with a shared sense of identity through a connection to a common purpose.

The organisational ‘North Star’ becomes the unifying symbol of shared identity under which its people will gather and go to extraordinary lengths to protect and progress its cause.

Embracing the power of shared purpose

Perhaps there are some unnecessarily negative connotations to the analogies I have used, but hopefully the message is clear: the power of shared purpose should not be dismissed or underestimated.

To return more directly to the summit briefly, the other key themes discussed across the two days included automation, AI, flattening hierarchies and other new world of work trends.

My choice to reflect solely on the theme of purpose here is largely driven by my own passion for promoting the People First approach and my desire to contribute to the humanisation of the workplace and society as a whole.

One thing I firmly believe which was reinforced at the summit is that in order to be a truly people-oriented organisation, you need to keep this counterbalance equation in mind:

People First = Purpose First.

The former is not achievable without the later. A purpose-driven organisation with empowered and impassioned people will be a powerful force for change, that much is for sure.

As ‘curators of the new business landscape’, HR has a tremendous responsibility and duty to ensure that organisational purpose is both identified, articulated, and then championed as a force for good.

Thanks #HRD18 – it was a blast. See you next year!

Come say hello at the HRD Summit in 2019

Thank you, Luke, for painting a picture of the kind of energy and inspiration we can expect from the HRD Summit. For everyone who will be attending the HRD Summit in 2019, please stop by and visit the Hudson RPO booth at No. 90.

From free professional photos, to a selection of surprises and goodies, we look forward to offering you the red carpet treatment! It’ll be nothing short of the high-energy, custom talent experience you can expect from Hudson RPO.

Employer branding on Instagram: candidates want to sneak a peek

January 25, 2019 by Content Team

Blogs & Articles

Employer branding on Instagram: candidates want to sneak a peek

Content Team

January 25, 2019

Building an employer brand? You’ll need a creative strategy for connecting with preferred candidates, particularly if they’re not actively seeking a new role.

You’ll want to explore the best ways to share stories from your workplace — stories that will attract and engage high-quality candidates.

We call this ‘social talent attraction’. And in 2019, it’s no longer simply nice to have.

Using social platforms to interact with star talent must be a key part of your employer brand strategy. If it doesn’t, your brand will have a harder time competing for great talent.

Leah Burdick, Vice President of Marketing and an experienced employer brand strategist, says:

“The talent market is competitive. Candidates are in charge: companies are discovering that you can’t just put out a job description and expect candidates to come running. You’ve got to charm them, much the way a consumer brand sells its products to customers.

“Social media plays a critical role in selling your brand to top candidates.”

With that in mind, let’s explore the significance of building a strong employer brand in social media. We’ll also take a closer look at one hotly recommended platform: Instagram.

Social talent attraction: why does it matter?

With more than 3 billion people using social media, and that number growing year-on-year, the time has come for employers to hang out among candidates, on their preferred platform(s).¹

So, where are many of your great candidates hanging out? On Instagram, quite likely. Interaction rates are higher here than on any other social platform.²

Instagram is a great place to connect with younger talent in particular. It’s been reported that six out of 10 Instagram users are aged between 18 to 29.³

An example of employer branding on Instagram

Want to see an example of employer branding on Instagram?

Check out our Hudson RPO (APAC) Instagram page. It’s designed specifically for our Asia-Pacific audience, but provides a feel for what types of content you might consider when building an employer brand on Instagram.

From dynamic company events to vibrant work spaces, we love Instagram for its pictorial storytelling style.

If you’ve never met us before, but you arrive at our Instagram page, you’ll quickly discover our positive and collaborative nature.

We use Instagram to showcase:

team celebrations
meet-ups
social events, and more

You’re even treated to a bit of behind-the-scenes, with still photography from one of our video shoots.

When it comes to text, we mix inspirational quotes, which do indeed capture our culture, with descriptive career opportunities.

But we mainly prefer to fill our Instagram platform with a range of images that capture the environment you can expect if you join Hudson RPO. That’s what employer branding is all about: showing candidates who you are as a team, allowing them to consider whether the cultural fit could be mutual.

Still not sure about employers using Instagram?

Whether you’re a personal user of Instagram (or any social site), the reality is: many of your candidates are. If your employer brand is serious about capturing the imaginations of truly talented people, then it’s hard to ignore Instagram.

Suzanne Chadwick, Director of Employer Brand, says:

“Instagram allows us to share employee stories of why they love working at Hudson RPO and what their career journey has been. Plus, we can re-share their images when they’re out and about with their work colleagues.

“Employer branding isn’t just about attracting new talent into your team, it’s also about engaging your current employees and making them the heroes of your employer brand. Instagram provides a great platform to do that.”

Instagram is a great place to showcase your team’s creative and social sides. It’s perhaps not as formal as LinkedIn. It’s also not as flooded with advertising as Facebook has become. And it’s not as short-lived as a tweet on Twitter.

Of course, those platforms do serve their purposes and should certainly be considered as part of the employer branding mix on social media. Different audiences hang out on different platforms. You need to ensure the right content reaches the right audience, at the right time. But when it comes to the power of visual storytelling, Instagram is a platform worth considering.

Want to learn more about building an employer brand strategy for your business?

Learn more information about Hudson RPO and Employer Branding.

Sources

1: https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/new-global-social-media-research/

2: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2017/03/28/why-instagram-is-the-top-social-platform-for-engagement-and-how-to-use-it/#3c230f1336bd

3: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/01/05/social-media-marketing-statistics

Nailed it! Five tips that help lead RPO implementations to success

Top 5 tips for your global RPO implementation project

RPO implementation leaders on the Baker’s Dozen list

Hudson RPO

Content Team

What is RPO?

What is MSP?

Related articles

A poor workplace culture? Talent leaders take note: danger ahead

Is your workplace culture hiding some stinky secrets?

Workplace culture: the path towards change

Hudson RPO

Content Team

What is RPO?

What is MSP?

Related articles

Fostering a creative and productive culture: Bruce Daisley

Employer branding: Eurostar

Technology: SpeakAp

Data: Anglo American

Final thoughts as chairman of the talent stream

The conscious organization

People first = purpose first: reflecting on HRD 2018

By Luke O’Mahoney

Recruiting for potential

Unifying followers of your North Star

Embracing the power of shared purpose

Come say hello at the HRD Summit in 2019

Employer branding on Instagram: candidates want to sneak a peek

Social talent attraction: why does it matter?

An example of employer branding on Instagram

Still not sure about employers using Instagram?

Want to learn more about building an employer brand strategy for your business?

Hudson RPO

Content Team

What is RPO?

What is MSP?

Related articles

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