Last week #blabchat returned for a special lunchtime edition which saw us collaborating with our colleagues from @BromfordJobs. This time, in honour of the subject area and also because we’re always up for an @BromfordLab experiment, we decided to try a first for #blabchat; as well as asking questions on twitter we also asked them via the Bromford LinkedIn pages. You can check out both conversations in detail by following the links. However, as usual, we’ve attempted to summarise the conversation here.
Before the chat kicked off I caught up with Andy Johnson, Talent and Resourcing Engagement Specialist here at Bromford and our guest co-host to chat about this month’s theme:
“Unemployment in the UK is at the lowest it has been since the mid-1970s. The latest official data show that the number of unemployed people per job vacancy has dropped to 1.6, down from 5.8 in 2011. Yet, despite the number of job vacancies continuing to rise, one-third of employers say the main reason they cannot fill their roles is because of a lack of applicants. If we continue to use the same old recruitment practices and techniques, we will continue to get the same results. New approaches are needed to overcome these talent shortages.”
With that in mind, here's a roundup of the conversation. . .
There seemed like there were four key strands emerging from the conversation here. Firstly, people were concerned with the act of finding work; finding the right type of work, in the right place. Secondly, once you find the right role how does the application process work and feel; what is it like from an applicants point of view and what is it like from a recruiters point of view? Thirdly, flexibility was discussed often throughout, not least in this first 15 minutes; whilst it’s increasingly important for employees, what challenges does flexibility present to organisations? And lastly, equal opportunity and equality and diversity; how can we ensure that our workplaces are inclusive and make the most of everyone's skills and talent?
Finding Work
Despite a global drive towards mobile and flexible working, it can sometimes feel like many roles remain location-specific. I note from my own personal experience that many of the Service Design jobs I see advertised on Twitter and LinkedIn are often based in London. This can often make it difficult for some people to find the right type of work (that matches their skillset) in the right place for them (where their life is).
Andy raised an interesting challenge around whether the housing sector does enough to promote itself as a prospective career option for school leavers, raising concerns over whether there is a lack of clarity about what career options are available to young people and which sectors to focus on. Alex commented that he had found networking events and away-days for students useful, particularly when organised in partnership with students, lecturers and employees, but cautioned against industry-centred events which can sometimes feel daunting to (current) outsiders.
The Application Process
Paul raised an interesting point about where the jobs are advertised and suggested that there may be too many places to look. Adam went on to suggest that inconsistent, confusing and drawn-out hiring processes could also make the customer journey more uncomfortable than it needed to be. Gaby challenged the policy of employers not accepting CVs as she felt that in a world where a greater focus was being placed on people as individuals, CVs offered a good opportunity to enable people to provide a ‘personal touch’. This was a view I also shared having once been told by a university tutor not to include colour or imagery on my CV only to be praised by employers in later years for making my CV stand out in just that way. Whilst people involved in recruitment offered reasons why standardised application forms make it easier for recruiters to compare tens of applications, it felt as if people speaking on behalf of the applicants would prefer a more person-centred approach. Gaby suggested that sentiment analysis by artificial intelligence (AI) might be applied to uploaded documents to support organisations during the selection process.
People also suggested that the way jobs were advertised often didn’t give applicants enough information and very little opportunity to gauge the culture of the organisation. It felt like this was important as it can make or break the experience a new appointee has in the first few months of employment - something that is both applicable to employees and employers too.
Flexibility
It feels like, to some extent at least, the standard 9 to 5 day is being replaced by more flexible working patterns. This tends to suit our complex and multi-layered 21st Century lives, allowing us to blend our work-life balance in a range of ways. Stewart suggests that better technology is helping to drive this. Employees are often given mobile devices and access to software such as Skype for business, which in theory at least, means that teams can work more flexibility than ever before. However, in practice, there was a feeling that there is some way to go in enabling teams to work as well in a virtual space as they do in a physical one. This was born out just one day after #blabchat when during our own team meeting (lab planning) I attempted to join via Skype from a train, Adam joined via Skype from our Chipping Sodbury office and Paul, Tom and Katie joined from our Wolverhampton office. In the end, I had to leave due to technical issues. It just didn’t work.
However, even when it works right, flexibility can still present a challenge. When we are working hours that suit us, how do we make sure that we are able to link with others who’s working patterns might conflict with our own? If feels like until employers work this out, we will never truly shake that traditional 9 to 5 place-based model, no matter how flexible an organisation says it is. Perhaps this is the greatest challenge?
Equality and diversity
Jason raised the topic of an ageing workforce and people changing careers later in life. He suggested several people who are doing interesting work in the field and urged employers to do more in order to combat ageism. Along with comments being made by others in terms of a younger workforce, it again felt like taking an empathetic and person-centred approach to employment, where everyone’s needs were understood and taken into consideration, was felt to be important by those contributing on the day.
It felt like there was a tension here between what people want from an employer and the hard cold inescapable truth of what people need from a job. The main topics of conversation seemed to focus on looking beyond financial reward, culture, recognition and development opportunities. However, lurking underneath it all remained the one thing we all really need to pay the bills - money.
Most people spoke of looking beyond financial reward to a wider set of benefits. James suggested that it is important to consider a rewarding environment and atmosphere as a benefit, rather than solely financial rewards. Sophie touched upon culture too by suggesting that if a company believes in what it is delivering colleagues are more likely to feel motivated to do a good job. People also spoke about personal development opportunities, but as Damian challenged, ‘ultimately to take a role you look at the cash first and the culture and integrity of an organisation second’. Whilst some may not wholly agree with this point, it does raise a challenge to employers that providing a good working environment and professing to have a great culture shouldn’t be an excuse not to provide competitive salaries.
Fundamentally though, perhaps what we are really looking for is to feel trusted, valued and secure. As Alex explained, communication is key; employers should ask their employees questions like: What are we doing wrong? would changes would you like to see made to the way we operate?
When I started to summarise this section it felt a lot like I was re-writing Baz Lurmans ‘Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)’. So, that’s what I did;
Image: A found poem curated by @Simon_Penny from contributions supplied by @AndyNJohnson, @BromfordGemma, @M_Walker1977, @PaulBromford, @BromfordLaura, @drgabywolferink, @Mryehbut, @BromfordJames, @tomemurtha, @aboyes, @Kirsty_V2C, @AlexSwiftWAO and inspired by the work of Mary Schmich and Baz Lurman.
Top marks for anyone outside of Bromford who spotted our Bromford DNA in there. Here is a selection contributions which you’ll also find in the poem.
I'm perhaps biased but as bots and algorithms focus more on logic tasks and big data crunching, I’m confident more innately human traits such as empathy and creativity will drive innovation. Moving to design lead organisational models now can help organisations get a head start. Andy also suggested that whilst ‘the robots might be taking over' this is where that human intervention can become most valued; ‘automation has a place but never underestimate relationship building and the power of conversation’. Stewart added context by suggesting that we shouldn't be scared of artificial intelligence as it can be useful in reducing bias in the recruitment process, but he went on to caution against the introduction of bias into the algorithms in the first place. Paul spoke about the need for organisations to help people cultivate creativity, collaborative, problem-solving and critical thinking and Gabby suggested that people who have the drive to turn ideas into action and who feel able to try, fail, get up and try again are a highly valuable resource for any organisation.
Jason once again promoted empathy, suggesting that when we listen to others and take a coaching approach - doing with people not doing for them, good things can happen. Carol also suggested that employers should be allocating time for employees to learn new skills, learn about new technology and Howard once again raised what was perhaps the hottest word of the chat ‘flexibility’ by urging employers to get behind their rhetoric and invest in process changes that truly support flexible working.
Perhaps as Paul suggested all we can really do is try to create a climate that supports diversity, empowerment and innovation – a climate that will help to sustain a future-ready organisation over the years to come, because, as Ena challenged, how does an organisation know they are future-ready? Whilst 'future-ready' may never be achievable given that the future never arrives perhaps being flexible, open to exploration and not being fixed in direction is a good indicator that an employer is adopting the right culture and behaviours?
It feels appropriate to give the last words to both our guest co-host Andy Johnson and our star tweeter Alex Swift; “I don't think there will ever be a definitive 'we are ready' but organisations should always be reviewing, sharing, learning and collaborating to ensure they are always ahead of the curve and best-prepared for change”, and “in short, everybody wants to feel valued at work. Employers can foster that by taking staff suggestions on board and giving them the opportunity to broaden their skillset and experience.”
As always, thank you to everyone who joined the conversation on Friday lunchtime. We saw lots of new faces join the chat this time and perhaps the highest number of Bromford colleagues ever! Thank you all for taking part and if you've got a few minutes, why not check out our latest @BromfordJobs vacancies.
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Image Credits: Fletcher Pride and Alex Knight on Unsplash and William Iven and giselaatje on Pixabay