I am incredibly excited to have moved to a new role within AMS where I now lead our global Client Operations capabilities. Those operations include the candidate sourcing and administration functions that support our clients with permanent hiring as well as the teams that help fulfil contingent hiring requirements.
Spending time with my new leadership team I’ve been keen to discuss the value that we provide to our many stakeholders and the ways in which we articulate that value. It’s a topic that I wrote about last year in the context of quality of hire and a topic that I think has even more importance in 2023.
2022 was an exceptional year for those of us that work in Talent Acquisition (TA). Hiring volumes were exceptionally high, demand for talent in most sectors exceeded supply and, as a result, time to hire was consistently up on prior year.
As we enter 2023, many are expecting to see a softening in hiring activity as economic growth slows. But with some notable exceptions, the tech sector being one, that slow-down does not yet look to have materialised. As Josh Bersin states, “For the first time I can remember we’re entering a global economic slowdown yet the unemployment rate has dropped to the lowest it’s been in 53 years (3.4%). There is a shortage of people to take the jobs we have, and even though revenue and profits are slowing, companies continue to hire.”
As the article, linked below, from HBR demonstrates, layoffs in the US are actually significantly lower than historical averages. So it seems that the challenges TA leaders have faced in 2022 look set to continue in 2023 with perhaps the added burden that there is unlikely to be additional net investment in TA functions in a time of slowing revenue and profits.
So now, more than ever, is the time for TA leaders to be articulating the value that they deliver to their businesses over and beyond the simple fulfilment of hiring demand. I continue to be passionate about the fact that we need to demonstrate strategic value through talent acquisition – the value of hiring for skills, the value of hiring for potential, the value of hiring better talent for our businesses.
In addition to that strategic value, our TA teams need to be able to demonstrate the value that they provide as individuals to their businesses and business stakeholders. Our Recruiters need to be able to demonstrate the value that they provide as talent advisors to their hiring managers. Our Sourcers need to be able to demonstrate the value that they provide in their ability to access and engage with the best and diverse talent. And our Administrators need to be able to demonstrate the value that they provide in ensuring an impeccable candidate experience. That value should be evident in individual goals and objectives.
As I have set my vision for Client Operations in AMS, I have asked my leadership team to better define and demonstrate those areas of value for each of our team members. A great example of which is candidate experience. There is an abundance of research that demonstrates the impact that candidate experience has on the overall effectiveness of TA. Here are six key metrics that demonstrate that point:
60% of job seekers have reported quitting an application due to the length and complexity of the process.
75% of candidates report that they have no engagement with a company following the submission of an application and 22% would discourage others applying for a job at the same company.
80% of job seekers say they would not reapply to a company that didn’t notify them of their application status.
80–90% of candidates report that the candidate experience could change their minds about accepting an offer with a company whilst a positive experience makes a candidate 38% more likely to accept a job offer.
Nearly 60% of job seekers have had a poor candidate experience, and 72% have shared their experience on online employer review sites such as Glassdoor.com
50% of candidates will not purchase goods or services from a company after a bad job application experience
No TA leader should tolerate the provision of a poor candidate experience, particularly given the challenges of hiring in today’s talent market. Whilst candidate experience has always been a priority for AMS, I now want to ensure that it’s embedded as a key goal for every one of our thousands of team members supporting hiring processes. At AMS talent is our world. It’s a vision that we’re seeking to embed in everything that we do and a vision that will drive us to do bigger and better things every day.
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In fact, the economy in early 2023 is not being roiled by layoffs — which are currently abnormally low compared to historical standards. This means the labor market remains really tight, despite arguments to the contrary. As a result, hiring will remain tough, and it may even mean central banks will have to keep interest rates higher for longer.
Don’t let concerns about an economic downturn stall your company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) progress.
As the global economy faces a downturn, some companies may be tempted to scale back their DEI commitment. However, cutting back on DEI hurts your organization’s ability to thrive.
Many are aware of research findings that diverse and inclusive workplaces lead to increased innovation, better talent retention, and higher revenue growth. Deloitte Insights found that even during the Recession of 2007-2009, companies with inclusive workplaces outperformed those without by nearly four times. When a company is known for having a diverse and inclusive workforce, it is preferred by job seekers — with 76% of candidates saying they prefer to join a diverse workforce.
DEI actions to prioritize:
Tie DEI goals to leaders’ performance reviews to create accountability.
Create or strengthen employee resource groups (ERGs) to foster community and inclusivity across the various dimensions of identity.
Incorporate DEI into recruitment and retention strategies.
Increase representation of diverse individuals in leadership positions.
Recognize that DEI is a continuous process that requires ongoing commitment, not a one-time event. Candidates and employees want to know that a company’s actions are authentic rather than performative.
DEI initiatives are a strategic business advantage; read more in the attached article from Forbes.
One recent survey found that during the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009, companies with inclusive workplaces, as rated by historically disadvantaged groups, outperformed companies where employees lacked inclusivity by nearly four times.
It is a fairly recent thing for ADHD to be diagnosed in adults. In children, more males than females tend to be getting diagnosed. The gender imbalance in diagnosis is thought to be due to how ADHD presents in females – as an inattentive rather than a hyperactive type (you can have one or other, or combined type).
The research into adult ADHD presentation, effects and therapies is still emerging. In recent years, a range of personal bloggers, coaches and YouTubers have helped significantly increase awareness and understanding too, through sharing experiences of their own personal journeys or experiences of the condition. I enjoyed this article from Leanne Maskell (ADHD Coach and author of ADHD: an A to Z), writing for the of association of MBAs, where she explains how ADHD may show up at work.
By understanding and supporting ADHD at work, the benefits can be harnessed, resulting in an inclusive, diverse workplace, where people feel empowered to show up as themselves.
I would like to start 2023 with a recommendation. ‘Net Positive: How courageous companies thrive by giving more than they take’ by Paul Polman (the former inspirational CEO of Unilever) and Andrew Winston (published by Harvard Business Review Press), is a book that asks the question ‘Is the world better off because your company is in it?’.
As more and more employees seek purpose in their lives, more and more jobseekers around the world will be asking themselves a similar question when considering their next move……. ‘Which companies make the world a better place?’.
I’m very keen as I set my goals for 2023 to ensure AMS and our clients are on this list. Those companies that think very carefully as to how they address this question and put in place a vision to act on it will attract the talent they need, and those that don’t, will not.
The authors of this book see 5 critical traits that help a ‘net positive’ leader and I will embrace these throughout 2023 and beyond;
– A sense of purpose, duty and service
– Empathy: a high level of compassion, humility, and humanity
– More courage
– The ability to inspire and show moral leadership
– Seeking transformative partnerships
I look forward to 2023 and helping AMS and our clients make the world a better place (this is an example of me showing more courage already!).
Is the world better off because your company is in it?
One in seven of us is neurodiverse. That is roughly 14% of us who have a different way of thinking compared to the ‘typical’ brain. That’s a sizeable number. Individuals with neurodiverse conditions include those who are Autistic, or who have ADHD, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyspraxia, Tourette’s Syndrome or Dyscalculia. These conditions might be formally diagnosed, or they might not.
Some in the neurodiverse community consider that they are disabled, whilst, for a number of reasons, many do not recognise their different way of experiencing the world as a disability. It is often personal choice and more so can depend on the difficulties the neurodiverse person faces whilst living their everyday life.
The benefits in business of cognitive diversity and neurodiversity feature across many articles and pieces of research, and include improved profitability through enhanced business performance, as well as unlocking better creativity and innovation. In this article we consider some problems that exist when attracting and retaining neurodiverse talent.
The most common barrier to understanding your neurodiverse talent (and other diverse talent) can be the lifelong expertise they have developed for ‘masking’ who they are. Masking really helps with fitting in to environments that are set up for typical brains to flourish. Masking when you’re neurodiverse can take a number of forms, including:
Having to rehearse conversations to make social interactions at work easier, including small talk
Stopping yourself from stimming – may be a movement or noise you make that has a calming effect on you but can be judged as strange to neurotypicals
Making eye contact when it makes you uncomfortable to do so
Pretending not to be bothered by things that are causing you physically painful sensory overload – sounds, smells, touch
Holding back from pointing out when someone says one thing but does another
Mirroring someone’s tone of voice and mannerisms when unsure how to behave in a certain situation
Avoiding some tasks that are more difficult to do
Hiding weaknesses to avoid stigma or judgement from those around you
To some extent or other, we all have cause to mask how we feel or what we are thinking at work from time to time. We will act professionally for the most part and according to the guidelines and policies in place. Now magnify this and consider that almost every conversation or interaction you have – will require you to consider how your mask is, because it is necessary in order to fit in at work all the time. It is stressful and can be impossible to be in an environment where you must fit in at a personal level and be someone who you are not.
In today’s modern working world, there is a growing field of choice for talent, and the opportunities to build a career that suits you are also on the rise. So how can business provide the right environment to retain neurodiverse talent in this competitive world? Here are seven ideas to consider.
Where it is possible, provide the option to work from home for at least some of the time, to release some of the ongoing pressure and stress of masking
Give people leadership responsibilities to those who are assessed as being good at working with people
Eliminate as much subjectivity as possible from individual performance reviews, and allow for measurable and clear goals and targets
Freely allow any basic accommodations at work that people may need e.g. the wearing of headphones, and the ability to work in a quiet zone for focus or sensory needs, flexible working hours and autonomy on how a job gets done
Provide leadership and management training and reinforce a focus on listening, building empathy and understanding of how to get the best out of individual team members
Actively encourage and support employee resource groups (ERGs) and their activities
Encourage sharing of the lived experiences of diverse talent inside and outside of your business, so that everyone in your business can keep hearing, listening and learning.
Your thoughts
I welcome your thoughts on this article and the topics raised, and please do comment and add to the conversation, about the problems faced and how business can provide what the neurodiverse community would value most at work. Of course, if you want to know how we can help and support with these challenge please contact us here.
About me
I work at AMS, the global workforce solutions organisation who specialize in talent acquisition and talent advisory organisation. I’ve worked in the talent arena for over 20 years, and as a people leader for more than 15 years. I also co-lead one of our internal neurodiversity ERG groups at AMS. I am coming near to the end of two years of study for a Masters in Autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions.
It was an honour to be named alongside AMS’ founder, Rosaleen Blair, in this year’s SIA Global Power 150 Women in Staffing. Now in its eighth year, this annual list recognises women for their outstanding efforts and achievements in elevating the workforce solutions ecosystem.
I was thrilled to be named alongside some incredible female leaders in our industry and whilst I’m obviously thrilled with my nomination, I’m also aware that I work with a number of other incredible females in delivering the UK Government’s Public Sector Resourcing (PSR) Framework.
Through PSR we mobilised urgent contingent support across several critical government departments to support the COVID-19 response and I’m immensely proud of the work the team did to contribute to the national effort in such difficult times.
We now have over 20,000 workers on our framework supporting more than 120 UK government departments with both contingent and end-to-end statement of work procurement.
We’re continuously responsive to the needs of our customers and are always looking to innovate and adapt our offering. Most recently, we’ve introduced Recruit, Train and Deploy, a program of specialist vendors whose expertise bridges skills gaps and builds talent pipelines for the public sectors future workforce.
AMS as an organization has always sought to support and empower the women in its workforce. To be included in this list isn’t just an individual or even team recognition. It’s recognition for our entire organsation and for that, I am very proud.
“The Global Power 150 is an amazing accolade to be nominated for, so to make the list of females who are not only leaders in their field, but also helping to drive change across the staffing industry is a real honour. By celebrating female successes, we can encourage the next generation of female leaders and highlight the career opportunities available to all, regardless of gender.”
Performance reviews are essential to employee development, and when executed well, they positively impact individual performance and overall talent goals. However, research shows that bias disproportionately affects the performance evaluations of women, Black, and Latino talent. In an article I wrote for Talent Development magazine, I discuss common biases that impact performance evaluations and ways to mitigate them.
Textio, a linguistics software company, found significant demographic bias in their research of over 25,000 performance reviews written for employees. Fortune magazine refers to the analysis: “…some stark facts emerge: different groups of people do get different kinds of feedback at work—with women, Black people, Latinx people, and older workers receiving the lowest-quality feedback. These findings cut across organizations, meaning that the patterns are not specific to just one entity or its feedback culture.”
A few of the specific findings:
Women receive 22% more feedback than men about their personality vs. their performance
Black men get 1/3 less feedback than White women on average, as measured by word count — the least input of all groups
Black women receive nearly 9x as much non-actionable feedback as white men under 40
Other marginalized groups face workplace bias, as well. A series of recent studies from Yale showed that when hiring managers listened to recorded introductions of candidates of different social classes, they judged people from a higher social class as more competent and a better fit for the role. This type of bias can impact performance evaluation and hinder social mobility.
You might ask why this all matters. It matters because people with access to constructive feedback progress faster in their careers, earn more, and have more leadership opportunities.
There is no one-off solution as reasons behind bias at the workplace lie in a complex interplay of interpersonal, individual, organizational and societal attitudes. However, more equitable actions start with accepting that we all have inherent biases. On a personal level, we each must determine which biases we hold and then intentionally set them aside when writing performance reviews. I include organizational strategies to mitigate bias in the article. While it’s available at no cost to ATD members, you can find a free checklist to combat performance review bias here from the Center for WorkLife Law.
Teach managers to recognize their biases and provide guidance on setting objective criteria to evaluate performance.
I recently shared new research by AMS that shows that one in three roles within the US Life Sciences sector will be vacant by 2030 unless companies start taking different approaches to attracting, recruiting and retaining talent. As of today there are c. 85,000 open vacancies within the US Life Sciences sector. With attrition running at >20% each year and with over half of all job leavers exiting the sector completely, we’re facing rapidly diminishing talent pools. And whilst new graduates are entering the sector each year, it’s not nearly enough to stem the shortages.
You may think that 1 in 3 jobs vacant is an overly harsh assessment. Our latest paper on this topic (linked below) references research by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) that argues that 60% of jobs could be vacant by 2025. However we assess the gap, we need to acknowledge that the gap is significant and risks becoming a crisis in future years if solutions are not found.
The root cause is clear – attrition is running too high and we have a substantial over-reliance on hiring job-ready talent. Put simply, if we carry on as we are today we will run out of workers.
There is no one silver bullet to these challenges but there are solutions and they require HR and Talent leaders to think strategically and holistically about the way that they hire, develop and retain talent. Josh Bersin proposes a systemic model to address these challenges through what he calls the “Four R’s” – recruit, retain, reskill and redesign. His research on the Healthcare sector makes for compelling reading and the parallels with Life Sciences are clear.
Leading Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences companies are well aware of the challenges and many are focused on solutions. Within the detailed article linked below, Beth Keeler, AVP Global Talent Acquisition at Merck talks to their efforts to broaden talent pipelines through reducing the educational requirements for roles and attracting more diverse talent. Céline Raffray, VP Talent Acquisition at Bristol Myers Squibb, talks to the need to take a skills-based approach to talent, the need to focus on upskilling and reskilling staff as well as enhancing internal mobility.
These are not simple challenges to solve and talent leaders (be they Talent Acquisition, Talent Management or Learning and Development) can not solve them in isolation. These challenges call for an integrated approach to talent and require a strategic response. Those organizations that fail to act now will undoubtedly see the challenges grow exponentially over the coming years.
I’m proud of our partnerships with the likes of Merck and BMS that enable AMS to help our clients to overcome these challenges. Reach out to me or one of my many talented colleagues if you would like to discuss the challenges and potential solutions in the context of your own organization.
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Like all companies in the life sciences sector we’re feeling the competitive nature of the jobs market, particularly for scarce skills such as digital or cell therapy. Whilst BMS has an incredible brand to leverage in order to acquire the best talent, I am very aware the challenge will only get greater in the coming years
As such, I see the need to be more agile and flexible and turn to innovative or inhouse solutions such as upskilling and reskilling of staff, enhanced internal mobility and the need to take a skills-based approach to talent acquisition as being of great strategic importance”
Céline Raffray, Bristol Myers Squibb
In the last couple of years many global organisations have committed to increasing the representation of ethnically diverse colleagues in their businesses, especially at a leadership level. In this FT article it’s encouraging to see that good progress is being made in the Big Four accounting firms in the US, with Deloitte coming out on top with 42% of it’s 80,000 strong workforce identifying their race as other than white.
At AMS, we are also committed to increasing the ethnicity representation of our global leadership community. In the summer of 2020 we committed to doubling the representation by the end of 2021 (which we achieved) and we then re-committed to doubling again by the end of 2023, which we are on track to achieve.
It’s always interesting to understand what organisations are committing to doing differently in order to effect change. At AMS, we have implemented the following:
Adopted the Rooney Rule when hiring externally, ensuring that we have at least one ethnically diverse candidate on our shortlists
Signed up to the CBI Change the Race ratio campaign in the UK – as part of this we produced our first ethnicity pay gap report this year.
Implemented a reverse mentoring programme as way of helping our leaders to better understand the needs of our under-represented talent
Introduced a development programme to support our under-represented talent
Soon to be rolling out a new sponsorship programme
I’d like to understand what you are doing to effect change in your organisations. It’s good to see progress being made, but we all collectively need to remain focused on striving for greater ethnicity equity in our organisations.
Deloitte has the most racially diverse workforce of the Big Four accounting firms in the US, an analysis of diversity and inclusion reports shows, following a hiring spree that swelled its employee numbers by almost a quarter.
We are seeing businesses invest in tech to unprecedented levels but the question still remains about bringing the diverse views to the table to make the investments as brilliant as they could be. Further evidence in this interesting interview with Tim Cook on why diversity is not a “nice to have”, but a business imperative peaked my interest this morning.
We are seeing brilliant initiatives from the leading lights in business; Apples Founders Development programme for female founders is one great example alongside Google’s Black Founders Fund but more needs to be done. And more needs to be done at pace to keep up with the developments in technology and also in the skills deficit we are seeing in the marketplace.
Whilst progress is slowly being made, equalising the playing field requires interventions at grassroots.
"I think the essence of technology and its effect on humanity depends upon women being at the table," Mr Cook says.
"Technology's a great thing that will accomplish many things, but unless you have diverse views at the table that are working on it, you don't wind up with great solutions."
He said while companies including his own had made progress on diversity, there were "no good excuses" for the tech sector not to employ more women.
