Attracting and retaining talent in a rapidly changing world of employment

We recently co-hosted a breakfast with Harmonic Finance for people with HR, recruitment and team management responsibilities. Harmonic in their capacity as an HR recruitment specialist working in the creative and media agency space, and ourselves with our employee benefits background invited guests to listen to a panel of experts discussing the pertinent question – how do you attract and retain talent in an age of rapidly changing employee expectations?

In addition to our own Charlie Pitt as a panellist and Harmonic’s Oliver Gaydon as Chair, we were lucky to be joined by Christiana Coker (Group Head of People, adam&eveDDB), Holly Evans (Head of Human Resources, Journey HR) and Dom Robertson (Managing Director, RPM).

The panel tackled the question against the backdrop of ever evolving employer-employee relationships with people’s expectations of where they work, how they work and how they’re rewarded changing at an unprecedented pace. In this environment the panellists shared their personal experiences of what firms can do to stay ahead of the competition, everything from how to best project themselves during the recruitment process, to how employee benefit and wellbeing packages can be key in helping to create cultures that people want to be a part of.

One recurring and popular insight was that for HR professionals to keep pace with change, and to provide greater internal value, they should think of themselves less as executors of policies and guidelines and more as strategic partners in the direction a business decides to take. By understanding and being involved in a company’s business strategies and goals, it enables HR teams to play a more proactive role and deliver better outcomes for employees and businesses alike.

Data too was a theme that received a lot of airtime during the discussion. Christiana talked about how adam&eveDDB increasingly uses data to provide detailed insight into the differing needs of its workforce’s demographics. For example, learning what the average age is for a person to first ask for maternity leave, enables an informed positive decision to be made about future budgeting rather than a reactive one.

Not surprisingly ‘in office’ and WFH flexibility remains a core theme, but all agreed that as a service industry it was important for people to understand that flexibility worked both ways and if a client meeting for example has to happen on a particular day, then people should be expected to be available for a face-to-face meeting if that is what’s required.

To match the pace of change, regularly reviewing the package of benefits offered to employees was recognised as an increasingly important requirement. Keeping things relevant and motivating for people with different needs and at different stages of their careers is key. Ultimately all agreed that the lines between life and work are becoming blurred, and companies need to embrace this in a way that works for both parties.

As Dom from RPM said, ‘we understand and accept that employees won’t be with us for ever, but our ambition is that while they are at our agency it should be the best time of their career. Not a bad philosophy for attracting and retaining talent today or any day.