Six of the Best - Issue 1 Attracting Talent and Reducing Churn

Introduction

Welcome to the first issue in our series Six of the Best.?In this episode we focus on people.?People are vital in any organisation, none more so than those with an operational focus on service delivery.?Here, Jade Donohue takes us on a journey of recruiting and retaining our most valuable asset.

Jade is the Head of Human Resources at First Locate.?Hardly a Rising Star, more an Established Superhero, Jade has been with the business for 18 years, the last 13 within our People Services team.?Over this time Jade has been a central part of the transformation that has seen First Locate become an employer of choice for more than 300 people having oversight on all things recruitment and staff retention.

Attracting New Talent and Reducing Churn – Jade Donohue

As organisations in all industries move beyond the pandemic into a post covid landscape, we find ourselves faced with unprecedented challenges with employee attrition and retention being one of the biggest for People Services and HR professionals. As with most organisations, First Locate are working incredibly hard to review how we can stabilise these areas and understand exactly how to move ahead.

News headlines have sounded the alarm about a significant shortage of workers which has impacted on the ability to recruit significantly. ?The labour market is flooded with new opportunities, and it is even more difficult than ever for SMEs to compete with the larger more attractive packages of the giants. This has been something we have focussed heavily on in recent months. Whilst we are unable to offer the larger than life packages we can compete in other ways. As an employer we now recognise that it takes significantly longer to recruit someone, and we have adjusted our strategies accordingly. The things we have focussed on which has had the biggest impact is to provide a truly flexible approach to employment and our people to make sure we fit in with work/life balance and supporting people reducing cost around childcare to enable people to have more disposable income in these challenging times.

As a silver accredited investor in people employer, our people agenda has always been at the forefront of any decision making but the impact on implementing flexible working to support to such a high level has already had a fast and positive effect. We have clearly seen this initiative incentivise loyalty within our operation. The feedback we have been given from our people has been that it is a total game changer for them.

First Locate also have an unwavering focus on employee wellbeing. We put our wellbeing strategy at the heart of what we do, it’ll helps us take a positive, proactive approach to the topic. First Locate recognise the benefits of a holistic employee wellbeing initiatives that takes us well beyond statutory health and safety obligations. By helping our staff commit to improving their physical and emotional health, eating well and being active, we can reap the rewards.

Having recognised that the welfare of our team is paramount to our success. First Locate explored the idea behind providing an extra support structure, to run in tandem with, but be independent of its HR department. The outcome was the forming of People’s Services, acting under the umbrella of ‘Wellbeing’. This has led to creating a substantive position that dedicated its focus to Wellbeing and this became especially important as the Pandemic hit the world.?We now employ a Senior Member of ACCPH (Accredited Counsellor, Coach, Psychotherapist or Hypnotherapist) accredited counsellor to ensure full support for our people in practice professionally to support our team. Our counsellor is available for all our people to visit or contact at times when they are requiring support during their workday, or even outside it! Resulting from this, we have put in place structured, professional, and confidential meetings, held within a safe, comfortable setting to help put at ease those staff members requiring a level of support.

This vital role is widely welcomed, and embraced by all, the benefits to not only our team but also our client’s customers and the wider business in general.

Summary

A big thanks to Jade for sharing this insight with us all and of course, we would love to hear from anyone who wants to learn more, especially to understand how these initiatives can help us work together to improve your own collections performance. Feel free to contact our Head of Sales, Neil Burrows and connect or message for more information.

So, thanks for reading and we look forward to episode 2 shortly.