Blog

With everyone currently living each day as it comes, it’s hard to imagine how our lives and work will look after lockdown and what changes we will make once we return to our “normal” life. As human beings we always seem to find a way to adapt, but let’s also use this as an opportunity to learn so that when things do become normalised, we can improve on what we had before. I have seen lots of changes already, not just in our own business at Henry Nicholas but across the lives of my colleagues, friends and other businesses too. The world has had to adjust to the ongoing situation. Here are some of my observations so far: People It’s been great to view the new hobbies everyone has started, so many have taken this time to invest in themselves and think about making significant lifestyle changes. Our team have been busy, with Jess and Phoebe taking the time to paint; Nick, John, Dan and Andrew joining our “open to all” running WhatsApp group; Tony has been putting his free time into home improvements, while I have started to learn Spanish on Duolingo. I am sure the restrictions on movement will mean even more people will look to travel and make the most of exploring our countryside once restrictions have been lifted. The world We have become “virtual” almost overnight. Who would have thought we would place bets on a computerised horse to win the Grand National, or chat to your Gran on Zoom? Social Media has been brilliant; as a country we have been online exercising with Joe Wicks, learning to cook with Jamie Oliver, seen Ricky Gervais entertain us all live each night, had our children taught maths by Carol Vorderman and read bedtime stories by Dolly Parton. Not forgetting the daily, almost hourly memes that have made us laugh and raise our spirits. There has also been a meteoric rise in virtual pubs, club nights and gigs. I do wonder whether this is here to stay. How about a virtual Glastonbury 2021 with a VR headset for anybody not lucky enough to get tickets!? Businesses In the past businesses have been reluctant and scared of change, especially when it came to topics around flexible working, working from home and remote working. This is where we might see the biggest changes of all, incorporating these changes into our ways of working will surely allow for companies to select and hire candidates from a wider pool of talent. I’ve already heard of companies providing allowances for home desks and loans on laptops. Rent is often the 2nd largest outgoing for any company (behind their employee costs), so will we see companies move to smaller offices with a large proportion of their staff working from home each week? With an increase in home working, another positive is the increase in opportunities for people with disabilities who are unable to get to an office each day and parents returning to work after maternity or paternity leave. The recruitment industry Our industry will no doubt adopt a more virtual approach. More interviews will be held over video, which will make the recruitment process more efficient, thus saving companies valuable time and money. Candidates will have to practice and adapt to video interviews, making sure they come across as enthusiastic and professional just as they would do face to face, while still looking to build rapport. More video briefings would also bring about a reduction in travel costs for recruitment businesses who have clients around the UK, while having a positive impact on the environment. Henry Nicholas Since the recommended government restrictions, Henry Nicholas has already made huge strides in adapting as a business. In moving to 100% home working, we have proven that we are able to deliver the same level of service we would normally to both candidates and clients alike. Our ethos at Henry Nicholas has always been to become experts in our field (Marketing, PR, Data, Tech and Digital). We quickly realised that we can help by sharing our knowledge within our network, so we’ve all gone behind the camera to film about topics that are important to us and have written more about current trends with the aim of helping people. We have pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone but believe this is the only way we will adapt and become a better business. Regular webinars will come shortly and any recommendations on content is always welcome. In conclusion, the virtual world is fantastic. It’s full of possibilities and will be here to stay. The technology we depend on will become more advanced and will help us in endless ways. Let’s use it to interact even more to improve our relationships with one another, never forgetting that the best relationships have always been built face to face.

Lots of us are worried about coronavirus; primarily how it will affect our health and that of our family and friends, but also how It's changing the way we work day to day and the stability of our employment and future plans. It is a profoundly difficult time all round, but there are lots of positive things we can do to ensure we’re taking care of ourselves and those around us who are adapting to this new way of living. Stay connected In these times of social distancing and isolation it’s more important than ever to stay connected with people. Think about how you can stay in touch with family, friends and colleagues and get creative about how you do this. At Henry Nicholas we’ve tried to embrace this with daily catch up meetings with the team via Zoom sharing running tips, routes and fitness successes, poker nights with video link to friends, quizzes (home-made), Spotify shared playlists, shared school resources and tips for home-based teaching and parenting support. Look after your body Working from home and social distancing measures are inevitably leading to a decrease in our physical exercise which can then have a negative knock on effect to our mental health. Adding regular physical activity into your day can reduce stress and anxiety, so try sitting less and moving more. The charity Mind has more info on this here Sleep is also important – try to maintain a regular sleep pattern and avoid screens and caffeine before bed. Maintain a balanced diet and drink enough water. Support others Helping someone else can also benefit you. There are daily examples of how as a community we are rallying together and creating good. Perhaps the biggest example of this would be the NHS GoodSAM scheme where people can sign up to provide support to the 1.5M people in England who are most at risk to Covid-19. This has had huge traction, and at the time of writing 750,000 people have signed up! There are plenty more examples of support at a local level where communities are protecting the vulnerable by picking up prescriptions and medicines, delivering food parcels and shopping, checking in on the isolated, offering goods and services for free. Keep it factual Sadly, in times like these false information and scaremongering appear on the scene. We need to stick to the facts and get our information from credible sources like www.gov.uk , www.nhs.org.uk , www.who.int Blank out the noise from social media etc. It's important that we also give ourselves time out from consuming news, as the headlines and data bombardment can take over. It's also important to give ourselves time. As Stephen Fry eloquently puts it “we need to give ourselves more time to do everything” New interests As we might have more time on our hands now is a great time to try something new. There are an increasing number of organisations who are making online learning resources available for free. We've heard of many people picking up musical instruments, learning languages, cooking more, reading more, listening to podcasts, reading blogs, online Yoga / fitness classes, art sharing, the list goes on… We need to remember that the feelings we have now are temporary and the anxiety will pass. Everyone is in this together and by focusing on the positive thoughts and actions we can supress the worry. We’re seeing the good in society where testing times bring about the best in all of us.

Like many people and brands during this challenging time, we’ve been forced to step back, take a good hard look at ourselves, and momentarily redefine the way that we help the people and businesses in our network. Amidst the uncertainty and the headlines there are plenty of positive stories and a heightened sense of community, which is great. In this blog we’d like to share some of the good stuff that for us has added some light to the end of the tunnel. These are just a handful of things that have helped us get through the last few weeks, months, decades – how long has it been again?! We hope you find this helpful. How can brands and agencies add value? Wise and reassuring words from Mark Read at WPP on what this all means for the marketing industry and brands themselves. Sammy Mansourpour at AUK published this article in The Drum about 5 key metrics which reveal the value of your brand. According to this article published in Marketing Week ‘consumer confidence is likely to plummet even further as Covid-19 continues to spread across the UK, but brands should see this as an opportunity to be noticed, rather than keeping quiet’. Should I still be trying to ‘sell’ whilst all this madness is going on? It’s a question Ben Potter (Business Development mentor helping agencies win the right clients) had been asked a lot. Here’s what he thinks and we agree. The NHS JUST EAT posted a lovely graph of traffic to their UK platform which shows visitors fell substantially just before 8pm last Thursday – a snapshot of how many people stopped what they were doing to clap for our carers and thank the nation's NHS heroes. Most of our team signed up to GoodSAM to give some of our spare time to the NHS and the community. So did over 400,000 others, massively exceeding the target of 100,000 volunteers. Well done everybody! Our senior consultant Mark speaks in this post about reminding people that there is still a need to give blood. Perhaps if you’ve volunteered to help the NHS but you haven’t yet been called up, you might like to consider donating blood. The F word (furlough) Thank F that the government stepped in and offered businesses and self-employed people some proper help to pay salaries whilst reducing outgoings so that businesses can continue operating and ensure that those that have opted for furlough have jobs to return to. We found Sean McDonough of Mogers Drewett’s post really helpful. We would also to reinforce the message that furlough is most certainly not a dirty word, it’s a positive thing and very necessary for a lot of businesses. John, our MD, tells our story and documents the 9 important steps to take when furloughing your staff in our recent blog post. For the parents and carers out there Twinkl are offering FREE activities and resources using the code UKTWINKLHELPS. Craig Graham has also put together a great list of resources of things to do with your kids. Something that made us all laugh Our favourite video of the pandemic so far – the fantastic dance class video from Joe Tracini. Can you still hire people right now? Yes, if you need the resource it is out there and there are ways to make it work despite quarantine. How to onboard staff effectively when working from home courtesy of Fast Company. Agencies and brands are still hiring. Interviews are happening over Skype, Google Hangouts, Zoom and other platforms, and candidates are either being onboarded remotely, or their start date is being handled flexibly with some candidates being instructed to hold off on handing in their notice until we’re all allowed back into the office. It seems a good way to secure the right talent whilst eliminating the risk for the candidate. Drop us a line if you’d like to hear more about how this can work, and if you’re seeking your next role you can also check out our current vacancies here. Online workshops coming soon Last but not least, we are in the process of putting together a series of online workshops with live Q&A available to anybody that wants to participate. The first will be a CV workshop but we’re keen to hear your thoughts on other content that you think will be useful. Drop Tony a line if you would like to request a subject. Maybe we can help you review salaries and freelancer rates, or perhaps we can help you write a job description or help you plan your resourcing strategy for when the fog clears. We may also be able to help in other ways too. If there is anything you can think of that would add some value to you, your business, or the people around you, then please get in touch and share your ideas.

I’ve been in business for 11 years and have faced various challenges that have been out of my control: the financial crisis, Trump, continuous rounds of elections, technology breakthroughs, war and of course Brexit. You start a business knowing there will be difficult times ahead but as your experience grows you become accustomed to being able to respond to these challenges. COVID-19 has hit all of us hard. Not since the Second World War has the world faced such disruption. I have never been so acutely aware of PESTLE, first year stuff if you did any kind of business orientated study. This acronym outlines the external influences on a business over which you have no control: Political Economic Social Technological Legal Environmental https://pestleanalysis.com/what-is-pestle-analysis/ COVID-19 affects each one of these areas regardless of what business you are in. Last week I took the decision to furlough over half of my team. With the full force of PESTLE hitting Henry Nicholas I had no choice but to accept Government help during this difficult and unprecedented time. And this is exactly what this is…help. Help for British businesses to keep their employees so that when we come out the other side, people can return to work and the economy can bounce back. It was painful. I felt as though my business had jumped back five years but we are in survival mode, as an individual business and as a country. Here’s my tips on furloughing: Do it face to face Whether you are a line manager or a business owner it is essential that you deliver the news to your employee face to face. There are many free online meeting tools out there (Google Hangouts, Zoom, Facetime, Skype, MS Team). Even if you have a large team, make the time to do this “face to face”. Your employees will be worried, they may feel like they’re losing their job, so please make time. Explain what “furlough” means Most people haven’t heard of the term “Furlough” before now, so don’t assume your employees are reading Government updates. Ask them what they know but then take time to carefully explain it to them. It’s useful to plan what you’re going to say, maybe with a list of bullet points. Here is a useful guide: Furlough is part of a new ‘employment protection scheme’ introduced by the Government designed to stop people working and interacting to prevent spread of the virus, whilst protecting their jobs through the Corona Virus crisis. Government will reimburse employers for 80% of employed people’s salaries for up to three months and will review it after this point. The current scheme is due to run until May 31st 2020. Details are still being put together by government, but what we do know at this stage is that a ‘Furloughed’ employee won’t be allowed to continue to do work for the business and is not allowed to do any other form of paid working during their contracted hours. Ask for their consent It is critical to gain consent from each employee. An employee must agree to be furloughed and agree to be paid 80% of their salary. You do have the choice to pay 100% of your team’s salaries but the Government will only reimburse 80%. The alternative to furloughing may be redundancy. This is achieved via a Furlough Leave Agreement – email me if you’d like a template. Mogers Drewett give a clear explanation here. You must give a date the furlough will come into effect. Explain why your business is doing it It may seem obvious to you, but it may not be obvious to your employee. You should emphasise that COVID-19 has bought about an unprecedented set of circumstances. Whilst the business isn’t working at all, or at a reduced capacity, we need to accept Government help. We want our businesses to bounce back after the pandemic and we need them to be back in their jobs, building our business back up. Financial impact Ensure that each employee understands the financial impact of furloughing. It’s a good idea to calculate what each employee will receive in the coming months (you can do this here https://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/ ). Give them a total amount – 80% of their salary equated to after tax, NI and Pension deductions. At the time of writing this it’s not clear what deductions will be made so I suggest you assume deductions will continue as normal. You could also outline what they would usually be paid, and the difference so it’s clear how much less they’ll receive. How will I be paid Explain to employees that they will be still be paid by you on the same day of the month. Businesses will be able to reclaim furloughed wages through HMRC. This will be reviewed by the Government at the end of May 2020. Which roles are being furloughed? For me this was straight forward (anyone who has been with the business under five years) but I appreciate this is completely different for each business. If you are furloughing your entire team this is a moot point, however if you are not you should be prepared to explain your reasons transparently. Can I stay in touch? To me this is the most important part of any discussion you have with an employee being furloughed. You must emphasise that this exercise is taking place out of necessity and is by no means any reflection on their performance. Reassure them that they are still a valued employee and that staying in touch is very important (although they are by no means obliged to). At Henry Nicholas we are setting up a weekly “drink and drop in” every Friday. I am lucky enough to say that all my employees are great mates. They are still employed by us and still very much part of what we do! Next steps Explain to each employee that they will receive a Furlough Leave Agreement. Ask them to send you an email with their personal email address stating they agree to be furloughed. As an employer you will need the personal email address to send out the Furlough Leave Agreement. Reemphasise how important they are to the business and that they can contact you at any time. I hope my experience is helpful to you, and of course, you should seek your own legal advice. I never expected this, none of us did, but we have to protect our businesses and our team’s jobs and furloughing is giving us the ability to do this. Please contact me if you have any questions or comments. Here are a few links you may find useful: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-guidance-for-employees https://www.mogersdrewett.com/furlough-leave-your-questions-answered/

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grip economies across the globe, few industries have been left untouched by the fallout, and that’s having huge implications not only for the workforce but also the recruitment process. Some companies have moved to freeze hiring until the economic impact of the virus is made clear, but many others are continuing to recruit in a bid to prevent a business slowdown. Indeed, in some instances the virus has sparked new demand for professions related to infectious diseases, according to jobs site Glassdoor, which has recorded a more than doubling of job postings with keywords related to coronavirus this month, particularly within the government, healthcare, biotech and pharmaceuticals. However, measures aimed at containing the outbreak, such as social distancing and work from home policies, have required companies to get creative with their recruitment processes, and many of our clients have turned to virtual methods, such as video conference calls. Tech giants Google, Amazon and Facebook, are among the global companies to announce a move to online job interviews for the duration of the outbreak. Video conferencing apps, including WeChat Work, Zoom and Slack, have risen nearly fivefold since the start of the year. “In an effort to reduce some of the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on their businesses, companies are turning to technology to maintain business continuity during this time of uncertainty,” Glassdoor’s community manager, Jo Cresswell, stated. The move is not unprecedented. In addition to a general uptake in video interviews over recent years, thanks to advances in technology, previous periods of economic and social duress have prompted a spike in remote hiring, for instance during the 2008 global financial crisis. “We saw rapid growth of interviewing technology during the last recession, which is why I’m not surprised we’re starting to see a spike in interest from hiring teams during the coronavirus outbreak,” noted Peter Baskin, chief product officer of remote recruitment platform Modern Hire. It does, however, mark a new era for interviewers and interviewees. Many who are used to in-person interviews will have to switch to virtual screening processes for the first time and figure out new ways to best convey themselves and their companies online. Henry Nicholas have compiled our top tips for getting the virtual job interview right. Advice for candidates Test your tech — Make sure your internet connection and video conferencing program are both working well prior to your interview. Dress appropriately — Dressing for success is no less important for remote interviews. Dress smartly, like you would for an in-person interview, and ensure your surroundings are tidy. Be prepared — Do your homework just as you would for any other interview, rehearsing your responses to key interview questions and preparing your own questions for the interviewer. Be personable — Make eye-contact, smile often and generally engage with the interviewer to demonstrate your enthusiasm for the role. Remove distractions — Ensure you’re fully engaged with the interviewer by removing all distractions, including your mobile phone. Allow for less flow – Understand that presentations might have less flow and it takes interviewers a bit more time to warm up due to the lack of body language and in-person chemistry. Follow-up — Send a follow-up note to your interviewer, thanking them for their time. Advice for interviewers Be prepared — Familiarise yourself and other interviewers with the candidate’s CV and the job description to give the virtual interview the formality of an in-person one. Likewise, keep the candidate informed on who they’ll be interviewing with so they can prepare questions of their own. And, of course, check your tech. Have a strategy — Think carefully about the skills and attributes you’re looking for in a candidate and design questions that dig into each one. Communicate openly — Keep candidates well-informed at each stage of the interview process. Without being able to give them a warm, in-person reception, it’s especially important to show them their time and efforts are valued. Remove distractions — Be respectful to the candidate and position yourself away from distractions, including your mobile phone, as you would in an in-person interview. Reinforce employer brand — Ensure interviewers at all stages of the recruitment process convey a consistent message about the company’s mission and values. Give the candidate time — Pause to ensure the candidate is done with their response, before moving onto the next question to account for time lags and lack of usual social cues. Allow for less flow – Understand that presentations might have less flow, and like yourselves, candidates may need a bit more time to warm up due to the lack of body language and in-person chemistry. Although the world of recruitment has been in many ways turned upside down in recent times, we are still helping numerous businesses continue with their key hires. If you are a business that still wishes to hire and would like our help, or you'd like some practical advice about how to adapt your interview and new employee onboarding process then please drop us a line. If you are a candidate about to embark on your next interview process we hope these tips are useful. Best of luck, stay safe and stay positive. John & the HN team.

How to do you, better. Working in marketing and PR you spend most of your day building and maintaining brands. But what about your personal brand? It doesn’t matter whether you’re actively job seeking, passively intrigued or more than happy with where you are - maintaining your personal brand is crucial for your current and future career. So where do you begin? What is a personal brand? Your personal brand is the image you present to others in person, on paper and online. It includes your values, skills, work ethic and personality. Your personal brand is important for your career because: It shapes how people see you and your ability to take on that big project; It determines whether people remember you after an interview; It sets you apart from everyone else going for that promotion; and It gets you noticed in an oversaturated market. But your personal brand is more than just “being you”. To successfully build your personal brand, you need to “promote you” too. Where to build your personal brand At this year’s Bath Digital Festival, Edward White from At Live reinforced how important it is to develop your own brand in a medium and on a platform that works for you. For example: If you’re destined for the screen, start vlogging using YouTube, Facebook Watch and IGTV. If you like the sound of your own voice, begin a podcast and start streaming it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Anchor. If you’re good with words, consider publishing your blogs on LinkedIn, Blogger and Medium. If you like to keep things short and sweet, produce micro-content on Twitter, Tik Tok, LinkedIn and Instagram. How to build your personal brand The occasional podcast or monthly tweet isn’t going to create a brand that people remember and want to engage with. The key to building a successful brand is consistency, authenticity and varied content. To get started, Edward shared his top tools for “doing you”. These include: Creative Cloud for content design, images, videos and sound Canva for custom graphics and images Unsplash for royalty-free photographs Giphy for uploading GIFs to social media Artlist for royalty-free music Lightroom for Instagram filters How to discover your personal brand If you’re only just kickstarting your PR or marketing career, then you might not know what your personal brand looks or sounds like yet. To create your brand, write out a list of your key qualities including your skills, values, personality, career goals and personal goals. Highlight the qualities you want to emphasis and experiment with the different mediums and platforms mentioned above to discover where your strengths lie. If you’d like to know more about where your personal brand can take your marketing or PR career, get in touch with one of our specialist recruiters today. Write something here...

“Move fast and break things,” is the famous motto of Mark Zuckerberg, but did he mean society, trust and human nature? Technology is developing rapidly and is said to be harming our attention, mental health, relationships and democracy in the process. Nearly half of children aged between 11 - 16 have gambled. We’re checking our emails on average 74 times a day. Uninterrupted “productive” time now only lasts a maximum of 1 hour and 12 minutes. And social media platforms are removing up to 10,000 pieces of suicidal and self-harm content every day. Yet it’s not all bad, as Dave McRobbie pointed out in his thought-provoking discussion at this year’s Bath Digital Festival 2019. Fake news, misleading adverts, extremist content and cyber crime are all examples of the inhumane use of technology. However, technology is being put to good use too. Apps are promoting better mental health, VR is supporting those living with dementia and surveillance technology is protecting wildlife from poachers. It’s examples like these that are leading experts like Dave to call not for humane tech, but for the humane use of technology instead. And it all starts with designers and developers. According to Dave, designers and developers must understand the different human sensitivities. These include emotion, attention, sense-making, decision making, social reasoning and group dynamics. With this knowledge and appreciation, we can build technology to encourage humane use and prevent negative effects. For example, many developers are now focused on minimising user engagement and maximising user benefits. UX designers are helping this cause by removing distractions, using clear language, and making it easy for users to exit apps, software and games. We’re also seeing businesses adopt a more open and honest approach to how they collect and use customer data. In addition, there’s a growing market for technology that helps people to care. More United has developed a two-way communication platform that allows users to engage with MPs about issues that matter to them. While Matmi’s gamification is helping children to care about brushing their teeth and businesses to consider their social impact. If you’d like to know more about the humane development and use of technology, then Tech for Good Live runs regular events and podcasts centred around the ethical use of technology. Previous talks have covered health tech, AI, VR, civic tech, fintech and gaming. And, if you’re looking to recruit the right technical skills to help you become a business that cares, get in touch with one of our technology specialists today.

How to go beyond the brand with video Back in the late ‘70s, The Buggles burst onto the scene with murderous accusations about video. Forty years on and video is still killing it by producing outstanding results for brands on social media and across the internet. Should you be fearful or thankful? Let’s find out. You only have to look at the stats to get excited about the potential of video content. Online videos receive 1200% more shares, 300% more clicks and plenty more attention than traditional written content. Yet many brands suffer a bout of stage fright when it comes to recording and sharing marketing and PR videos. Last year, we attended the Bath Digital Festival 2019, where Jack Cooke from Beyond the Brand delivered an insightful session on the importance of video and how to create winning content. "Your video should be customer-focused and on-brand, so customers are gaining from your content and you're bringing value to the person on the other end. Be authentic to your brand." Jack’s essential components for a successful brand video include: 1. A hook Your video has only seconds to capture attention and encourage your audience to continue viewing. Therefore, it’s essential to deliver something of value in the opening scene. 2. Context It’s also necessary to provide context at the beginning of the video. Setting the scene ensures that your audience understands what they’re about to view and how it applies to them. The last thing you want to do is mislead or frustrate viewers by making them watch something that’s not relevant to them. 3. A question Successful videos get viewers thinking about a question and holding on for the answer. You don’t need to deliver a lengthy Q&A, but you do need to identify a common problem or pain point that the viewer needs solving. 4. A silver lining What’s a video without a happy ending? After identifying all the pain and heartache through your questions, deliver a silver lining by providing a solution or answer. 5. Call to action And, as everyone sails off into the sunset, it’s time to deliver a compelling call to action. What should the viewer do now that they’ve been a part of your Oscar-winning journey? 6. Execution The humble word isn’t dead. Written content is essential for getting your video seen, clicked on and shared. Think of a short but catchy post to accompany your video on social media and don’t forget to tag the people and places featured too. In the words of Spielberg: 3, 2, 1, action... If you’re looking for talented marketing and PR candidates with video content experience, get in touch with one of our specialist consultants today.

“What if we design jobs to be achievable and flexible, create cultures that encourage open and honest communication and have an inclusive and transparent approach to progression and development?” It sounds simple, yet many tech companies simply aren’t adopting these practices. And this has significant consequences in the search for future talent. Last year, we attended Victoria Johnson’s talk on talent management at the Bath Digital Festival 2019. Talent management is a hot topic, with businesses finding it increasingly challenging to attract technical talent in this candidate-driven market. But Victoria wasn’t blaming low unemployment rates, elusive skills or even Brexit for the war on talent. Instead, she was shining the spotlight on companies. Many businesses, especially in the tech industry, are failing to recognise how their actions today directly influence their talent of tomorrow. To help, Victoria outlined three key areas that businesses should focus on now. 1. Recruitment Many tech businesses are stifling their recruitment campaigns by focusing on highly technical skills that they’ll need tomorrow. Instead, try reducing your criteria by focusing on flexible skills and development mindsets. Not only does this widen your pool of talent, but it also helps you to create a workforce that can adapt to future requirements, whatever they may be. However, attraction is still crucial. Emerging talent is still attracted to businesses offering competitive salaries, meaningful benefits, achievable workloads and remote working opportunities. 2. Retention Recruiting talent is great - retaining talent is even better. Key to employee retention is creating a workplace culture that is rewarding, engaging and caring. This includes: Delivering the benefits offered during the recruitment phase; Encouraging open and honest two-way communication; and Regularly checking in with your employees about their work and overall happiness. Importantly, everything you do to retain employees must be genuine. It’s no use saying that you offer flexible working when in reality it’s restricted to emergencies or senior positions. 3. Development Having been involved in the tech and digital recruitment industry for ten years, we know just how fast this sector moves. Employee development helps to keep your team relevant and skilled no matter what the future holds. However, employee development is more than a big training budget and annual certifications. Firstly, discover what future talent you already employ by talking to your employees about their career and personal aspirations. Secondly, create a succession plan that identifies your future leaders. Finally, upskill employees with practical skills and knowledge by implementing coaching programmes, reverse mentoring and secondments. If you’d like to know more about how you can recruit, retain and develop your tech talent for tomorrow, get in touch with one of our technical consultants today.

For some, there’s no other choice. Jobs equal security. They mean that we can pay our bills at the end of the month, progress our careers, buy that pair of shoes we’ve been eyeing up and avoid that dreaded gap on our CV. Yet, more than one in ten employees would be happy leaving that security with nothing else lined up. Recent research by TLF Research found that an average of 13% of employees would be willing to walk out of their current position for an unknown future. Even more worrying is that this figure jumps to 22% for marketing and PR professionals. Why would someone take such a gamble without lining up their next position? Common reasons for leaving a position without another job offer on the table include: Stress, anxiety and burnout Toxic cultures A culmination of bad events Bullying and harassment Prohibitive or inflexible policies. While 25 to 34-year-olds were more likely to take the jump, and 55 to 64-year-olds least likely, these figures show that no one is immune from simply having enough. But that doesn’t make it right. Is this you? Unless you’re jumping on the next plane to travel somewhere new or beginning your retirement with a map and the open road, no one should feel like they have no other option but to leave without a plan. If there are moments, meetings or days where this thought seriously crosses your mind, it’s time to find yourself a job that doesn’t make you feel like walking out - because believe us, they exist. With a variety of exciting, interesting and fun marketing and PR, data and insight, technology, digital and creative vacancies across the country, we can help you leave your job with a plan for a better one. But, if you seriously can’t hold out any longer, then don’t panic. This could be an opportunity to try a different position, begin contracting or even start an entirely new career. Is this your staff? Everyone has bad days, but if your employees’ bad days are making them head for the door with no idea of what’s behind it, then things need to change. Not only because this is bad for their health, careers and families, but also because it can have damaging effects upon your other employees, your employer reputation and your overall business. Ways to avoid employees from feeling this way include: Conducting regular one-to-one meetings to identify triggers early on Offering confidential professional and personal support Providing employees with developmental and career progression opportunities Ensuring that your policies and working patterns are inclusive and flexible Treating all employees with care and respect Jobs might equal security, but when that comes at the expense of personal or professional wellbeing, sometimes security doesn’t matter. If anything in this article has spoken directly to you, then please get in touch today.