Support Local
Our businesses don’t exist in a vacuum; they exist within a local economy. They exist to make money, but they also exist to do a service to clients, staff and the economy in which these clients and staff live and work.
As I’m sure you’ve gathered from my previous articles, I care very deeply about putting people at the forefront of any business plan to ensure growth and success. Communication, technology, and forecasting at 3EN are all driven by the desire to empower our people. The decisions we make on these levels impact the stability, agility and flexibility of 3EN as a whole, so we want to put the best foot forward at all times. When it comes to recruitment, then, I’m looking for more than just the cheapest available option.
The problem with recruitment drives is that money is often pumped into the wrong places. Recruitment agencies have a place, of course (many would not be able to find work without them), but a problem arises when a company’s focus is about getting an individual into any job, without considering where they would be best placed or add the most value. We need to see the hiring (and job seeking) process as something much more than just finding work. We need to see the process of recruitment as the opportunity to put people in a job for life, not because they inevitably become stuck there, but because the excel at what they do and they click with the company culture. Our priorities should be hunting down the right people or bolstering our presence in our fields so that the individuals we seek can find us organically - not hiring anyone and everyone we can. Our very own Marketing Associate Jordan found us through LinkedIn, for instance.
There’s something equally wrong with a recruitment process when the focus is simply to find the easiest way to do things and add a number to your workforce, rather than seeking the best people for the job. When we put profit ahead of people, we put our businesses on the line. We spend a third of our day at work, so our jobs need to be about more than just earning a living. There are plenty of talented, dedicated and inspiring people on our doorsteps who have learnt their craft locally and want to put it into action. They want to use their skills to help our companies grow and make a profit. Generating that revenue therefore comes with the need to be socially aware. Where is our money going? Who are we supporting? What are we doing for the local economy? By hiring people who live and socialise in their local communities, 3EN Group puts money into their pockets, and money into the pockets of other businesspeople in the society closest to us. We serve more than just ourselves when we hire local to our business.
For example, the myth that Northern Ireland only has a small pool of individuals to hire from needs to be debunked. There is a diverse, active, and exciting STEM hub at work in Northern Ireland, let me assure you. Digital DNA, for instance, showcases the best of what our country has to offer on this front. We find we have the same experience in other regions we have founded offices. By engaging with organisations who support and celebrate this work, we position ourselves as businesses who care - and we do! At 3EN Group, we want people who fit in with our company culture, we want them to stay with us, and we want them to grow with us. We want to take a sustainable approach to recruitment where we fill skills gaps from within, we support, and we teach. We have a social responsibility to sustain the local economy when we hire, and to do a service to our teams’ personal and professional development. It’s not enough just to hire anyone.We have to hire people that we’re willing to support throughout their entire career journey - no one is disposable.
3EN Group Limited wants to invest in the people and businesses of the countries we are established in to allow us to manage our social obligation as well as our professional and economic obligation. The easiest way for us to do this is by hiring those on our doorstep, be that in Holywood, London or Bonn. It may be cheaper to out-source or off-shore, but it’s not the best option. When normality returns, we want to continue to cultivate a local presence in our three home towns and cities. It’s not just having a physical presence in Holywood, for example, but by buying our lunch from beautiful Bonn cafes and taking the train to work in London, bolstering the social hub of activity in these great places, and investing in small businesses that grow with us and from what we do. It all adds up. There’s much more to think about than acquiring a new set of hands when you hire, outsource, contract - you’re investing time and money into someone who will invest their time and money elsewhere, so you better make it worthwhile. If you have staff who understand your attitude, behavior, and culture, and are supported in practicing those beliefs, you are managing clients via your EQ and IQ, not via a third party contract or the hope that sustainability, quality, and practices are at a standard you require for your clients and the community you are supporting.
Doing business is about more than just making money, it’s also about spending it strategically, sensibly and sociably.
Dale Cree is CEO at 3EN, one of the world’s leading Oracle NetSuite Enterprise Resource Management Solutions Partners, with operations across Europe and the US. Its cloud technology helps businesses to drive growth through improving efficiency with seamless integration between NetSuite and other software platforms.