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01 February 2023

Recruitment: bias, inclusivity, culture and collaboration

The world of work is undergoing a rapid transformation. New technologies and trends are disrupting traditional employment and changing the way we work forever.  

In this episode of our Raising the Roof podcast, our host and CEO Nick Atkin is joined by recruitment experts James Leighton, Suresh Lal, and our very own Sarah Hutchinson, to talk about the future of work and how the changing landscape is affecting businesses and workers.  

Inclusivity is a big talking point in this episode. Attracting and retaining the best people can make a real difference to our customers’ lives, which is why being inclusive is so important to us. It’s something our Head of HR, Sarah, knows all too well:  

“Having diversity in our workforce is essential in terms of how we’re supporting our customers and how we’re delivering our business strategy.   

 “We’ve been working on lots of things recently around how we make it easy for people to apply for roles. Long gone are the days where we’re asking for a long application form and a CV. We’ve had a big successful campaign recently where we’ve just asked people to register their interest and then we simply just pick up the phone and have a conversation to make sure that we’re right for them and are they right for us.”  

It wouldn’t be a recruitment episode without talking about one of the biggest changes to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic… 

Flexible working.  

With many businesses and employees adapting to remote work, our panel discuss the benefits and challenges of flexible working, and what the future of remote work might look like. James, CEO of Andersen Group, believes employment is all about choice, as he explains:  

“Some people love collaboration, and some people like to work from home. What I’m seeing most is people want to be engaged and they want to feel connected to the culture of the organisation. One thing that companies need to be better at is being clear on their offering. You can’t one minute be offering flexibility and then telling people that they need to be in the office. That’s not the right approach. Collaboration is king.”  

And finally… would you apply for a role if the salary wasn’t advertised?  

Suresh, Partner at Odgers Interim said he wouldn’t, and here’s why:  

“If you’re not advertising the salary, you’re not being inclusive, you’re not actually telling a whole story. We often see roles that say “competitive” and maybe that’s because you don’t want to tell your competitors what you’re paying for the same role – I get that. But, at the same time, I think you’re going to end up getting applications pretty much from the same people.”  

We just want to say a big thank you to our guests James, Suresh, and Sarah for joining us on Raising the Roof. To hear the full conversation head to Spotify or Apple Podcasts where you can also catch up on previous episodes.  

Our next episode is all about workplace wellbeing with some super exciting guests, so make sure you hit the follow button on our channel, so you don’t miss out!