Odgers Berndtson and SurePeople Join Forces to Revolutionize Executive Onboarding with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Prism Psychometrics, and World-Class Content by Harvard Business Publishing

New York, 26th September 2023 – Odgers Berndtson and SurePeople are reinventing Executive Onboarding with the launch of a ground-breaking new program leveraging SurePeople’s award-winning platform, powered by the Prism^® psychometric algorithm and Harvard Business Publishing content. This revolutionary program accelerates the onboarding process, improves team alignment, and accelerates cultural assimilation, thereby enhancing an executive’s effectiveness during the pivotal transition period into a new leadership role.

“Our Executive Onboarding program complements the Executive Search process by blending the experience of our Human Capital Practice with robust psychometric data to generate actionable insights that help new leaders, and their teams, during the first 120 days,” says Jon Barney, Industrial Sector Practice Leader at Odgers Berndtson. “Powered by SurePeople’s patented technology and Harvard Business Publishing’s world-class content, this innovative program leaps beyond conventional offerings.”

The Corporate Executive Board reports that 50% to 70% of executives fail within 18-months of taking on a new role, regardless of whether they were an external hire or promoted from within, with Harvard Business Review estimating that the cost of this failure equates to 400% of the executive’s salary.

“The key to successful onboarding is that critical moment of truth – the early alignment of the executive with their new team and their effective assimilation into the organizational culture,” says Niko Drakoulis, Founder and CEO of SurePeople. “This innovative new Executive Onboarding program helps to deliver a frictionless transition for executive leaders and their teams by optimizing relationships, accelerating team alignment, and speeding the cycle-time from orientation to productivity.” 

The program achieves this by blending SurePeople’s AI-driven technology and integrated premier learning content from Harvard Business Publishing, with the skills and experience of the accredited coaching professionals and business psychologists in Odgers Berndtson’s Human Capital Consulting practice to support new executives and their teams.

“This Executive Onboarding program aligns perfectly with our objective to be a progressive, technology-enabled leader in the global executive search landscape,” says Kennon Kincaid, CEO of Odgers Berndtson. “Effective onboarding is crucial for the success and growth of organizations. By combining powerful insights from SurePeople’s Prism with Harvard Business Publishing’s academic excellence, we are reshaping the onboarding landscape, making it evidence-based, purposeful, and tailored to the needs of individuals and teams. Our new Executive Onboarding program allows executives and their teams to embark on their journey with a shared vision and reinforces Odgers Berndtson’s commitment to being the change-drivers in our industry.“

“Our team at Harvard Business Publishing is excited to integrate our world-class content and thought leadership, leveraging the remarkable depth and breadth of Harvard Business School, Harvard Business Review, and an unrivalled network of industry experts into SurePeople’s patented platform,” says Douglas Beimler, VP Global Sales at Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. “This synergy enhances executive and leader onboarding by accelerating speed-to-relationships and enriching cultural assimilation. It amplifies leader effectiveness and fosters a cohesive, engaged, and agile team environment. Together, we’re enabling executives to enhance their people skills and perform at their best during critical onboarding and leader transition processes.”

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About Odgers Berndtson

Odgers Berndtson delivers executive search and human capital consultancy to businesses and organizations of all sizes and maturity. We work across 50 sectors, whether commercial, public, or not-for-profit and draw on the experience of partners and their teams in 33 countries. odgersberndtson.com

About SurePeople

SurePeople empowers organizations to build and sustain a people-centric culture. Our patented software platform integrates people science, powered by the Prism^® psychometric algorithm, with the latest advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). SurePeople’s solutions include executive onboarding, team alignment and optimization, people skills development, and change management. Our platform has been recognized for innovation and impact by leading research and analyst firms such as Brandon Hall Group, Deloitte Consulting, and Training Industry. Learn more at surepeople.com.

It is no secret that the public sector is struggling to attract and retain talent. Attrition is increasing and workers across the US, UK and beyond are engaging in strikes over better pay and better working conditions. The public sector is taking a huge hit when it comes to talent.

As an HR professional, these can be murky waters to navigate. Our role is integral when it comes to recruiting, onboarding, and embedding the best talent; the turbulence of current affairs can make this noticeably more difficult.

In the midst of this highly visible talent crisis, however, we see some significant underlying challenges that are further hindering public sector employers. One such factor is the significant risk of institutional brain drain.

Institutional brain drain occurs when a large group of employees retire or leave their roles, taking with them huge chunks of knowledge and expertise that have not been successfully captured in an accessible form for other workers. This creates knowledge deficits in these roles as more than 80% of a company’s information exists in individual hard drives and personal files. Pair this with the fact that employees get 50%-75% of their relevant information directly from other people, and it’s easy to see a resource gap in the public sector. The focus on acquiring new talent is important, but if institutions are not successfully capturing and storing the knowledge of their best talent before its gone, they find themselves in a downward spiralling cycle of attrition.

HR professionals working in the public domain can mitigate and manage this drain by integrating attraction strategies, retention strategies, and creation of a knowledge management culture.

Attraction

A great place for employers to start is the factors of decent work[1]. Decent work is work that may not be someone’s life calling and passion, but it will fulfil their basic needs. These five factors include offering access to adequate healthcare, offering adequate compensation, offering the opportunity for work-life balance, having organizational values that align with a person’s personal values, and having a work environment that promotes interpersonal and physical safety. If employers focus on these five factors and create strategies to ensure that most, if not all of these, are being met, they will become a much more attractive place to work.

Retention

As an organization attracts talent, it must immediately dedicate time and energy to retain it. Once the standards for decent work can be provided, focus on creating strategies and policies that reflect the six most common reasons why workers stay in a job. These stay factors are 1) exciting, challenging or meaningful work, 2) supportive management/good boss, 3) being recognized, valued, and respected, 4) learning and development opportunities, 5) flexible working environment, and 6) fair pay[2]. What is worth noting is that when employers are successfully supplying the first five, employees are more likely to feel they are receiving fair pay.

Knowledge Management

Creating a culture of knowledge management is a great way of ensuring that the experiences, knowledge, and skills developed while working for the company are shared amongst new hires. Today’s workers are accustomed to ‘squiggly careers’ (a non-linear career path), and this often results in five- to seven-year tenure rather than the traditional thirty-five year public service career. Building strategies for knowledge management and storage is extremely helpful in light of this trend, as the movement of employees has become much more fluid. Public sector agencies that can adapt to squiggly careers are more likely to succeed today and in the years ahead.

Placing intentional focus on these three approaches simultaneously makes public sector organizations better able to address talent shortages and institutional brain drain.

This is where we can help. With a team of experienced HR consultants specializing in private and public HR strategy, we can assist in building these strategies into your agency, strengthening its foundations for sustainability. If you would like to discuss the services we offer, please get in touch with me at amanda@orgshakers.com

[1] Douglass, R., et al. (2019) The psychology of working and workforce readiness: how to pursue decent work. Workforce readiness and the future of work. Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, New York.

[2] Ann, K., Hidi, S. (2019) Supporting the development of interest in the workplace. Workforce readiness and the future of work. Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, New York.

Companies who make a point to support and work with charities are not only contributing positively to the wider community, but are also making a smart business move.

It was discovered that those businesses that donate over 0.5% of turnover were twice as likely to report enhancements in company reputation, and were nearly 50% more likely to see it help recruit and retain staff. This is all without mentioning the interpersonal benefits that doing charity work offers employees; it promotes collaboration and cohesion, and helps to break down social barriers by offering employees something to talk about and bond over that isn’t work-related.

Adopting this corporate social responsibility mindset is a great way of enriching the Social element of your ESG agenda (and it can also touch into your Environmental strategies depending on the charities employers opt to support!). However, in order to reap these benefits, employers must understand the best ways to actually engage their teams with their chosen charitable cause.

How can employers do this?

Firstly, getting employees involved in actually choosing the charities that the company should support. If the cause that the employer wants to support aligns with the mission and values of said company, as well as aligning with the values of the team, then this will immediately foster excitement and engagement. This could take shape as potentially supporting a charity for a cause that has personally touched a member or multiple members of staff. Either way, figuring out the mission is the first step to deciding what direction to go in, and encouraging employees to get involved with that will really bolster their enthusiasm!

Equally, when recruiting and onboarding new team members, it is great to highlight that charity is a value that the employer holds dear. This can be demonstrated by having a set number of volunteer days in their benefit package, which carves out dedicated time for the employee to volunteer while still being compensated. As well as this, getting them involved in a charitable project in the first few weeks of onboarding can double-down as a great ice-breaking and assimilation tool.

And, importantly, find ways to make it fun! Collaborate with the charities that you choose to work with and find out by what means they typically raise funds. If they do charity runs like Race For Life or fun challenges like growing a mustache for Movember. Whatever they do, make an effort to sponsor some (or all!) of your team to take part so that they can be actively engaged and have a change of scenery from the workplace.

This can even be taken one step further and managers can organize fundraisers of their own that are more tailored towards their staff. As you’ll see below, I was once at the mercy of a dunking booth!

But there are so many innovative ways to make giving back enjoyable for staff (although, humiliation of managers seems to be a fan-favorite from my experience). Knowing how to successfully engage your teams with fundraising and volunteer work will give you access to all the business benefits that come with it – all while doing a little bit of good for the world.

If you would like to discuss how we can support you in engaging with charities and philanthropy, please get in touch with me at Brittany@orgshakers.com

One of HR’s key functions for employers is implementing strategies to optimize productivity in the workplace.

By now, most employers will know the basics on how to go about this – but there are a growing number of innovative productivity strategies that organizations may not have considered before. They may sound counter-intuitive, but hear us out!

1. Napping on the job

Yes, you heard that right. Napping at work can be a great way of boosting productivity. Humans were originally biphasic (we slept twice a day) but now we have become monophasic (we sleep once a day), but biologically our bodies have a dip in the middle of the day where body temperature decreases, and cognitive processes are not as strong. Having a nap during this time can help improve one’s mood, engagement levels and productivity!

2. Microbreaks

Having been proven to improve engagement and productivity levels, microbreaks are when an employee takes a five-minute break between tasks and actively takes a moment for themselves. Normalizing this idea and encouraging employees to do this can have a noticeable effect on their productivity levels, as their brains are being suitably rested to keep them working at their optimum.

3. Listening to music…

The link between music and productivity continues to be investigated, but one thing that psychologists have confirmed is that music that someone likes can cause the brain to produce dopamine. This stimulates the prefrontal cortex which is responsible for planning, organizing, inhibition control, and attention. Therefore, a lot of people find that they are better able to focus and be more productive when listening to the right music (this being music that they enjoy on an individual level, so hand out some headphones!).

4. …or playing music!

What is an even more interesting way of boosting productivity is encouraging staff to actually play instruments. Neuroscientists have discovered that when a person plays an instrument, multiple areas of the brain light up and are simultaneously processing different information in intricate, interrelated, and fast sequences. This way of thinking can be translated into other areas, meaning that the individual will be able to engage more of their brain when working.

5. Pets at work

Studies have shown that when people interacted with dogs, their ability to think, plan, and concentrate was enhanced. And even more interesting to note was that this effect lasted up to six-weeks after contact. This is why many employers are now considering pet-friendly policies as a means of attracting talent and boosting productivity levels.

Crafting a working environment in creative and innovative ways can reap unexpected benefits. Even though taking your dog to work or taking a nap in the middle of day sounds like a productivity nightmare, these things – when done properly – can actually make all the difference to a team’s productivity levels. If you would like to discuss how we can help you find the best productivity strategies for your organization, please get in touch with us!

Many of us that work remotely or in a hybrid setting are accustomed to working in the same environment as our pets. In fact, more than 23 million American households adopted a pet during the pandemic, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

With in-office work having returned, some are now anxious about leaving their pets at home. This has seen many companies develop pet-friendly policies for their office spaces, including big names such as Amazon, Google, Airbnb, and Salesforce.

So, if your organization is currently a pet-free zone, should you consider welcoming our furry- (and possibly even our feathered- and scaly-) friends into the workplace?

On the plus side, a study by LiveCareer found that 94% of people were supportive of having pets in the workplace – and 52% of respondents cited pet-friendly benefits and policies as important when considering an employer.

In addition, studies have found that when people are engaged in petting either dogs or cats their stress levels are reduced. It has also been discovered that when people interacted with dogs, their ability to think, plan, and concentrate was enhanced. And what was even more interesting to note was that this effect lasted up to six-weeks after contact!

Pets also offer a sense of emotional support for employees; in research conducted by the University of York and the University of Lincoln, it was discovered that pets help reduce stress because they tend to be tuned into humans and so can successfully supply emotional support. There is also the added element of increased connectivity amongst staff, as having pets at the office means people are more likely to get to know each other with their pets acting as an icebreaker.

However, employers must take into account certain factors before introducing pet-friendly polices into their workplaces. For example, there may be one or multiple members of the team who have allergies to certain animals, and some may find certain animals frightening.

So, whilst it is clear that for the most part a pet-friendly workplace improves productivity and mental wellbeing, any shared spaces must still meet the needs of every employee.

If you would like to discuss how we can help you design pet-friendly policies in your workplace, please get in touch with us on our contact page!

Move over Gen Z – Generation Alpha will soon be knocking on the workplace door!

Set to be the largest generation to date (it is predicted that there will be over 2 billion of them globally!), Gen Alpha are the children who will be born to predominantly Millennial parents between the years of 2010-2024.

This is also a time when we have seen continuous technological strides, the increasing adoption of AI, and the dawn of the metaverse, so it wouldn’t be surprising to assume that their expectations of the working world will be vastly different to the ones previous generations have grown up with.

Now, at the turn of the century, the author Douglas Adams offered a set of rules about these kinds of change which I would like to apply to this new generation of talent:

1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.

So, what might this tell us about the expectations of Alphas as they enter the workplace – and what we should be building into our evolving People strategies?

• They will learn digitally – this next generation of kids include the ‘Covid-kids’, and because the majority of them had to go through school during the pandemic, they have had early access to learning online. With some schools still continuing this hybrid learning, and nearly a third of university courses adopting it, this will see a digitally native generation like never before. While we’ve seen some growing pains as hybrid and remote working styles continue to gain popularity, these new workers will likely thrive working remotely, as they are already well accustomed to it. Therefore, they will most likely be attracted to jobs that offer this flexibility, as it will be entirely familiar to them.
• They will specialise earlier – due to their access to technology, Gen Alpha will find themselves being able to specialise earlier and heading into more niche jobs – some of which don’t even exist yet. It’s likely companies will be seeing a rise in jobs like drone pilots, user experience managers, life simplifiers, and virtual reality engineers as this new generation herald in a new technological age. From this perspective, innovation will be at the heart of these young people, and so employers who can create opportunities to job craft are going to be very attractive to this new wave of workers. It is also thought that they will have a significant lack of engagement with deskless jobs, and these hands-on careers will likely be less attractive to a generation who have grown up with automation and assistance at their fingertips.
• Digital networking – Growing up with social media means that Gen Alpha are the most interconnected generation to ever have existed. 65% of them aged 8-11 either own or have access to a mobile phone, as well have having designated messaging apps to communicate with each other, such as Roblox chat and Messenger Kids. Another survey found that 43% of them preferred to speak to their friends online over the weekend instead of see them in person, so it isn’t shocking to hear that this digital communication reliance will translate into the working world. They will want to network digitally and globally; the idea of working across time zones will be a desirable and normal one, as they are already very adapted to communication across the world. If companies can create the space for this globalised platform to take shape, the results could see different sectors of work combining to create new, innovative products not yet even thought of.
• Virtual assistants – research has found that Generation Alpha started speaking with their smart devices at the age of six. It will come as no surprise then to discover that they will most likely expect to have a virtual assistant of some sort when they start working. Growing up with Alexa, Siri, and Cortana to answer their questions and conduct their ‘admin’ tasks will create an expectation to have access to this assistance in the workplace. The Work 2035 Report reflects this notion, as it found that by 2035, 83% of professionals believed that technology will automate repetitive low-value tasks, freeing up time for Alphas to focus on more meaningful and skilled work.
• Recognition will retain – it is more than likely that validation and affirmation will be a driving force for Gen Alphas. After growing up with social media and having digital validation drilled into them, a company’s recognition and rewards strategies are going to play a huge part in retaining key Alpha talent.
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) and Sustainability – these are going to be the driving forces for attracting future talent. As we’ve already seen with Gen Z, those growing up now are going to be well versed in being socially conscious, moral, and understanding the long-term effects of climate change. This will mean that an organization’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) agenda will be more important than ever, as Alphas will be looking at what organizations are doing to better the planet. And from a DEI standpoint, as companies continue to see increasingly diversified C-suites and people in positions of power, the idea of having a diverse workforce will almost be a given to these young people. If employers are ensuring that these factors are being optimized, they will gain access to the top talent that the Alpha generation has to offer.

The evolution of the workplace has accelerated exponentially over the past few years. The structure of work has become much more elastic in nature, and it continues to evolve in all sorts of unexpected directions as time goes on.

The next generation of workers are set to make a huge impact in the working world, so if we start to prepare for them now, their assimilation and onboarding will be a smooth and productive process.

If you would like to discuss how to start planning and preparing your workplace for the generation to come, please get in touch with me: andy@orgshakers.com

Over 1 in 4 of the population are struggling to access the services and products they need … that’s around 18 million people in the UK!

And although the term ‘accessibility’ is nothing new, it can be hard to pin down exactly what it means to your organisation or business. 

This is because when people hear ‘accessibility’ they tend to think ‘disability’.

It is, however, important for employers to get beyond this ambiguity and focus on creating inclusive experiences that can be accessed by everybody. 

So, the first step is to understand what accessibility really means: ‘Ensuring people can do what they need to do in (approximately) the same time as someone who does not have an accessibility need’.  

Secondly, leaders need to understand what their consumers and employee’s accessibility needs are so they can work out how best to accommodate for them. To do this we have identified 8 potential barriers to accessibility that need to be considered:  

• Hearing – 12 million adults are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus, which is estimated to increase to 14.2 million by 2035.  
• Speech – This includes those with speech impediments, those who are physically unable to speak and those who are non-verbal.   
• Dexterity – 22% of working age adults in the UK have issues with dexterity.  
• Vision – Over 2 million people in the UK have sight loss, and 1 in 5 will live with sight loss in their lifetime. 
• Language – There are over 300 different languages spoken in schools across the UK, with many people not speaking English as their first language. Therefore, it is likely that for many people applying for jobs and using services, there may be a potential language barrier that is making these things inaccessible.  
• Cognitive Processing – This includes those that suffer from memory disorders, or those who process information at different speeds due to many factors (such as proficiency or neurodivergence). 
• Digital Competency – Technology designers work hard to ensure that the user experience is easy to grasp as possible – for example many of the icons we use every day have been inspired by their traditional ‘physical’ counterparts; folder, camera, mail, etc. However, some of the most basic elements of tech may not be as intuitive – for example, if you didn’t know the symbol for the On/Off button would you be able to guess?!
  As a result, more than 1 in 5 in the UK still lack the means or skills they need to effectively operate in today’s digital world.
• Care and Commitments – There are as many as 10.6 million unpaid carers in the UK, and these people find themselves dealing with an array of accessibility barriers, especially from a cyber security perspective. For example, they are an acting representative for someone where often data security makes it hard to complete tasks.

Without doubt, accessible services are widely underdeveloped from a business perspective. But there is a huge opportunity to both impact the bottom line and positively impact brand image and consumer loyalty. 

Marketing experts will tell you that 95% of consumers say that customer service has an impact on brand loyalty and that 41% of consumers will abandon a brand after two bad digital interactions. To put a figure on this, it’s estimated that £17.1 billion a year is lost due to people abandoning online shopping because of accessibility barriers. 

Now apply this mindset to accessible consumers who will, more often than not, struggle on a day-to-day basis with life’s basics. When they are treated with care and consideration and are able to achieve what they set out to do with relative ease, they naturally form strong emotional bonds that go beyond logic and rationality. This phenomenon has been dubbed ‘loyalty beyond reason’.  

The truth is accessibility is a broad term that encompasses many more factors than many employers realise, and of course no one-size turnkey solution exists. But if you take time to look, you will see that all big software providers are now providing accessibility features on their platforms. Not only is this a sign that they have recognised both the issues (and the potential) surrounding accessibility, these changes also provide the rest of the business world an opportunity to utilise these tools to their advantage. 

The key is stepping back and taking time to understanding the context in which a consumer or employee with accessibility needs is operating. Once you have this and begin to apply it to your business context, then you can begin the journey of incremental steps steadily adapting your ways of working and service provision. 

If you would like to discuss the topic of accessibility in more detail and how it can make your business brand stronger, more profitable and sustainable, please get in touch with me at gavin.jones@orgshakers.com  

The effectiveness of an employer’s hiring process is often overlooked. And yet, this is the first real interaction a potential employee has with your company – in many ways, it echoes the setting for a first date.

Both parties are trying to present the best versions of themselves, in the hopes that there is enough of a connection for the relationship to progress further.  

Therefore, like dating, hiring someone is a two-way street – while the candidate will be doing everything they can to impress the employer, the employer needs to know the best way to present themselves to the candidate, honestly, in order to make them want to join the team.

And yet, candidates have recently been expressing their frustrations with elongated hiring processes, and shared how this has been a deterrent for pursuing opportunities. But these extended processes have emerged because employers want to be 100% certain that a person is the person for the job.

So how can employers create a hiring process that considers the interests of both parties?

The stages of a hiring process can differ depending on the role – a senior role will often involve multiple stakeholders and will naturally have a longer hiring process. But for entry-level and midmarket roles, employers should be looking at no more than three interviews.

Put it this way – after three dates, you can usually tell whether or not this could blossom into something more, but if you’re creeping towards date six and either of you are still unsure, oftentimes this is not a good sign.

The same can be said for interviews; having one after the other, with no clear end in sight for the candidate, will likely see their desire to work with you dwindle with every hoop they jump through. An unending process can lead to companies losing out on top talent due to another employer having a more efficient and effective process.

It is important for employers to remember that they are most likely not the only company the candidate is talking to. Just as people date different people in search of a connection, looking for a new job is no different. That’s why it’s always good to keep in mind that as much as a candidate would like to be hired, an interviewer needs to be clearly demonstrating why their organization is the best one to consider.

Lastly, being candid and clear about what your hiring process is going to look like with the candidate from the offset is going to calibrate their expectations right from the start. This means having a fully-formulated process that is understood by your hiring managers so that it can be shared with potential new hires and keep them in the loop for what this process will look like for them. Doing this will already lend to your attractiveness as a company, as it demonstrates that you are organized, and that you value the time of the candidate and hold their interests at heart while also fulfilling your own.

Perfecting this process is a crucial tool when seeking out the best new talent; recent research found that two thirds (65%) of employers globally had lost their preferred candidate to a protracted hiring process. Understanding how to optimize the candidate experience means that a company can reduce its convolution whilst still feeling assured that they have gained meaningful insight to make an informed decision.

Some top tips for hiring managers to remember:

• Values matter!
• Ghosting is for Halloween.
• Respect is a two-way street.
• Make them feel special.

At OrgShakers, we understand and can help you find that balance between employer and employee needs. By training hiring managers to optimize the current process, we can help you solidify this so that it can be communicated to each new candidate to avoid any misleading feelings.

If you would like to discuss how we can help your company, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at lauren@orgshakers.com                        

Now, I’m sure we have all been guilty of talking to an ex before.

The two of you have history, you understand each other on a fundamental level, so sometimes, you find yourself considering whether that initial decision you made to leave was the wrong one.

Well, this social trend seems to be translating into the working world as well. A recent international survey found that nearly 20% of workers who quit their job during the pandemic have since returned to their former employers.

However, there is some hesitation from employers to re-hire past employees. Robert Walters conducted a survey which found that more than two fifths (44%) of managers were reluctant to hire a former employee, despite that same survey finding that 71% of professionals would be open to returning to their previous role.

From my experience, there is no right or wrong answer here. Companies shouldn’t have a strong stance in favor of or against re-hiring a previous staff member. Instead, this person should be measured against the same talent acquisition criteria as a potential new candidate.

An employer’s talent management process is going to be key when it comes to deciding whether to re-hire a boomerang employee. There are some things that they should take into consideration when making a decision to bring on board someone who has previously worked with them:

• Check previous performance reviews and exit interviews – establish the context around why this employee left in the first place; if it was for cultural reasons, have those things changed/evolved since they left? Or will these clashes simply happen all over again? If they didn’t work well with a certain team member, is that person still there? Or did they simply leave to pursue a new career path and have decided that they were more satisfied where they were before? Understanding why someone left in the first place will be a helpful indicator of whether it is worth reinvesting in them.
• Still doing a thorough interview process – this is an important step to remember to take. Re-hiring a previous employee shouldn’t mean that the process is sped up and they are treated specially, especially if a company is enticing someone to return by offering them promoted responsibilities and a higher wage. Harvard Business Review conducted their own study which found that boomerang employees were more likely to be managers than non-managers, and this was assumed because organizations often entice workers back by offering them a promotion. However, this can cause friction with employees who would consider themselves loyal as they didn’t depart but are still being overlooked for promotional opportunities. By conducting the interview process like you would for any candidate, this helps to establish that the decision was made fairly and that all options were considered.
• Avoid elevated expectations – an obvious pro for re-hiring someone is that they already have a familiarity with the company and are trained. While this is a cost-effective hire, leaders should still be sure not to make the assumption that this employee will be able to jump straight back in all guns blazing. Boomerang employees should still undergo an onboarding process to get back in the groove, and be trained with any potential cultural and strategic changes that have occurred since they last worked there.

In summary, employers should consider re-hiring someone in the same way they would consider hiring a new candidate. With everything there is going to be pros and cons, so assessing the former employee on an unbiased and informed scale will ensure that they make the best decision for their company.

To discuss your talent management strategies and onboarding processes, please get in touch with me at Brittany@orgshakers.com

If you’re wondering what ratatouille has to do with employee engagement, here’s an alarming statistic … in their State of the Global Workplace 2022 report, Gallup discovered that only 21% of employees were engaged at work.

Flipped on its head, this means that almost 8 out of 10 workers worldwide are actively disengaged.

So, time for employers to start being more innovative in their approaches to increase engagement levels.

Which is where we need the ratatouille.

Because unlocking engagement is rooted in an organization’s Meaning, Values, Goals, and Responsibilities.

Or, more memorably, by Making Very Gooey Ratatouille!

Meaning – As Simon Sinek famously said, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why do you it”. While he was talking about consumers, this ideology is very applicable to employees, too. As a leader, knowing how to demonstrate the purpose of your work to your team highlights its importance. Motivating and inspiring passion in people about what they do is the best way of engaging them. This rings especially true when you look at the results of one poll which found that 90% of respondents said that work should bring a sense of meaning to their life. If leaders are actively supplying that meaning, and highlighting the value of what each individual employee does and why they are doing it, this will no doubt lead to a more engaged workforce.

Values – This is in reference to the way in which leaders train people to create and deliver output. Leading with purpose requires a methodology that reflects the values that the company holds, and so it is important to ensure that the way the products and services are created and delivered highlights their purpose and need.  

Goals – Employers need to be able to depict the bigger picture to their teams, and this means being clear and concise about how the company is going to achieve its goals. This requires leaders to be mapping out what needs to happen in order to get from point A to point B smoothly. By doing so, they will be instilling faith in their abilities and bring their ‘leading with meaning’ mindset to life as their staff will be able to see the end result.  

Responsibility – Lastly, members of a team need to know who is responsible for doing what. Each employee will play an integral role in the success of an organization, but in order to do so their responsibilities must be made clear. Leaders have to make a point of ensuring everyone knows what is expected of them, and then apply this ‘meaningful mindset’ to those responsibilities. This will result in each member of staff being fully engaged and prepared to do what is needed of them in order to fulfil their part in reaching the end goal.

By combining these four ingredients together, employers are sure to be making very gooey ratatouille that will see employee engagement skyrocket, as well as the production of high-quality output, and an increased likelihood of retention!

To discuss how you can start implementing this strategy into your leadership team, please get in touch with me at andy@orgshakers.com

There’s no sting quite like being stood up. After exchanging various messages, scheduling in a date, and rigorously readying yourself the day of, it can be disappointing to discover that the other person is not coming.

While this sounds a lot like the makings of a romantic date, this is in fact in reference to those potential job candidates who ultimately don’t show up to their arranged interview. According to USA Today, various businesses report anywhere between 20% to 50% of their candidates are no-shows for interviews. One business owner even found that only 10% of his total applicants actually replied when he tried to schedule an interview, and of those who he did set one up with, only 5-10% showed up.

This can be disheartening for employers and their recruiters. Having to go through the process of narrowing down potential candidates only for them to ‘ghost’ the interview (which is just a Gen Z way of saying not show up despite being present during the initial hiring process) can result in a lot of wasted time and effort on the employer’s side.

In light of this, I wanted to look at what employers can be doing to mitigate the risk of potential no-shows:

• Get a sense of the candidate – on the first point of contact with the candidate, the best thing for a leader/recruiter to do is try to gauge the level of seriousness from the potential hire. This could simply be asking what they are looking for right now, as from this it can usually be understood whether they are passively looking or more actively looking for a role.
• Ask their preferred method of communication – with a multi-generational workforce at play, different people will prefer to be contacted in different ways. Whereas older candidates may lean more towards phone and email correspondence, younger workers typically incline towards communicating through text. Establishing their preferred method will heighten the chances of consistent responses.
• Share what the company’s timeline is – sometimes a deterrent for candidates is the amount of time a hiring process actually takes. If employers are being upfront and open from the offset and able to give a sense of how long this process will take shape to be, this is more likely to set realistic expectations for the candidate. But ideally, scheduling next steps as promptly as possible can help to avoid those lulls in between these processes and reduce the risk of a potential hire losing interest.
• Make time to babysit – it may sound strange, but recruitment should be making time to do some handholding in the lead up to the interview. This would take the form of consistent check-ins (asking them if they feel ready, if they’re still interested, this sort of thing) through their preferred method of communication. This will help reinforce that as an employer you are keen to interview them, and reduce the likelihood of ghosting.

There is no guaranteed way of avoiding those potential no-shows. An employer can take all these precautions and it can still occur, but at least this way they will be doing everything in their power to mitigate that outcome. The key thing to remember is that hiring is a two-way street; the type of respect an organization shows a candidate will be the type they are more likely to receive in return, so being transparent, honest, and communicative is the best way forward.

To discuss these strategies in more detail and how we can help optimize your hiring process, please get in touch with me at stephanie.rodriguez@orgshakers.com

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) plays a pivotal role for their organization – they are typically seen as the second most important person in a company, and oftentimes find themselves having to juggle enterprise transformational dynamics, lead functional business partner teams, as well as pursue their own personal goals.

The problem that many companies end up facing, however, is that when they hire or internally promote a leader to CFO, there is an expectation that this person will already know how to do everything that is required of them. However, in reality, while their technical knowledge is no doubt there, having the skills to actually be a strategic transformational executive do not just appear overnight.

My consulting research has found that the average tenure of a CFO is only 4.4 years, which is alarmingly low. And a reason for this is because over 60% of CFOs are first-timers, with nearly two-thirds of those being internally promoted. What this suggests is that a lot of those entering into a strategic CFO role are doing so for the first time, and with limited day-to-day thought partnering. In order to ensure their success and foster the organization’s strategic objectives, companies need to be investing in them from the offset and continuously.

Organizations need to create formal support strategies that are aimed at professionally developing their CFOs. By having structured support for those first-timers, the overwhelm and eventual plight of becoming a strategic CFO will be mitigated significantly. This will make the executive better at their job in a faster manner, and increase the likelihood of retention in the future.

The fact is, gaining an in-depth understanding of the company’s priorities, its investors, external stakeholders, fellow senior leaders, and their team – as well as proactively building relationships with all these parties – can be a lot for someone who hasn’t before navigated the complexities of the CFO experience. Employers need to let go of this predisposition that being promoted to an executive automatically means someone knows how to be a successful strategic CFO– there is a gap between the two, and the way of bridging this gap is specialized advisory support.

And this doesn’t just mean generalized support on leadership skills, but rather specified advisory being provided by someone who understands the intricacies of a CFO role. Someone who has a grasp of the dynamics and challenges that will be faced on a day-to-day basis.

Finding the perfect CFO for your company is an important decision, so when you do find that person, be sure to take the time to invest in them to ensure the success of them and of your business. This will lead to a stronger leadership team with a confident and successful CFO who will go on to do great things – companies just need to be creating that foundation for them to build on.

If you would like to discuss the CFO Success advisory support services we can offer for your CFO, please get in contact with me at ken.merritt@orgshakers.com