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Episode 39
293 Plays11 months ago
News for the week beginning 27 November 2023 including Question of the week: 'How important are one-on-one's with your staff?'
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Transcript
Introduction to the SEEK Annual Recruitment Awards
00:00:08
Speaker
I'm Ross Clennett and this is the news for the week beginning the 27th of November 2023. The winners of the 20th edition of the SEEK Annual Recruitment Awards were announced at Agala Night in Sydney last Thursday. The 2023 SARA winners are Small Recruitment Agency, Elias. Medium Recruitment Agency, The Network.
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Speaker
Large Recruitment Agency, programmed. New Recruitment Agency, Fraser Tremble Executive. RPO, Hudson RPO. Innovation, Blake Oliver. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, programmed. Candidate Experience, People to People. Recruitment Leader, Claire McCartan of Davidson. And Recruitment Consultant of the Year, Amanda Chisholm of Kaizen Recruitment. Congratulations to all the winners.
Trends in Recruitment and Employment Expectations
00:00:58
Speaker
Last week's release by Jobs and Skills Australia of the October 2023 Recruitment Experiences Outlook survey indicated that recruitment activity has significantly eased since peaking in mid-2022. The data indicates the steep decline in the recruitment rate between mid-2022 and mid-2023 has now flattened with little change recorded during recent months. On the other hand, recruitment difficulty has continued to ease in recent months.
00:01:26
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In October, 2023, 49% of the 1,000 employers surveyed were recruiting the same as last month and nine percentage points less than in October last year. Recruitment difficulty eased by three percentage points in October, 2023, with 56% of recruiting employers having difficulty recruiting staff, 14 percentage points lower than the same time last year.
00:01:52
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The proportion of employers expecting to increase their staff in the next three months eased by 5 percentage points to 20% in October 2023. However, only 2% of employers were predicting a decrease in their organisation's staffing levels.
The Rise of the Gig Economy
00:02:08
Speaker
Revenue in the global gig economy totalled USD$3.8 trillion in 2022, according to a new report by staffing industry analysts. The research reflects data from 18 countries representing 90% of global contingent spending. Independent contractors made up the largest share of the gig economy in terms of revenue, earning an estimated 50% of the total. Temporary workers assigned by staffing firms made up 14% of the revenue,
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while directly sourced temporary workers represented 24%. Statement of work consultants represented 10% and temporary workers sourced via talent and work services platforms such as Freelancer represented 1% of the global gig economy.
Leadership Changes at RCSA
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The RCSA has announced Penny O'Reilly, MRCSA as the incoming president of the peak body for recruitment, staffing and workforce solutions after her election by the RCSA board last week.
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I have big shoes to fill. It's certainly a humbling feeling to be nominated and accepted by your peers, and I thank all involved for that," O'Reilly said. I care deeply about the reputation of our industry and those that work in it, and I want to be actively involved in making sure our industry continues to be represented positively into the future. O'Reilly replaces outgoing president Nina Mapson Byrne after four years as president and 10 years on the National Board.
00:03:35
Speaker
Maps and Bone is not only completing her leadership role on the RCSA board, she's also concluding her role as CEO of Beaumont People. In a LinkedIn post last Friday, Maps and Bone said, after over eight fulfilling years at Beaumont People, it is with a lot of emotion that I announce my departure due to unanticipated personal circumstances. As one chapter ends and new one begins, I'll be exploring consultancy advisory board positions and speaking opportunities in my next journey.
Remote Work Policies and Their Future
00:04:06
Speaker
The Fair Work Commission has handed down a landmark decision that could impact remote work arrangements in Australia when a worker from Adelaide had his request to work from home permanently denied two weeks ago. The man's employer, Maxia, a company that arranges tax efficient salary packaging services for employees in businesses across the country, imposed guidelines that staff must work 40% of the time in the office. However, the employee said his responsibility as a carer, as well as a health condition he suffers from,
00:04:36
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hindered him from returning to the office on a full-time basis. He is required to care for his child every second week under a custody arrangement and he also has an inflammatory bowel condition, meaning he needs to use the toilet with urgency and more frequently than usual, the FWC said. Commissioner Christopher Plack concluded Maxi's guidelines were not unreasonable and therefore denied the employee's request.
00:04:59
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I accept that it is desirable for there to be face-to-face contact within workforce teams," the commissioner said in handing down his decision. The FWC's decision was the first under the Labor government's new, secure jobs, better pay workplace laws, which came into effect in June this year.
Gender Bias in Recruitment
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A large-scale review of the research on gender bias in hiring decisions has revealed some surprising news.
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A meta-analysis of 85 studies spanning 400,000 fake applications in 26 countries and across 44 years revealed a significant decline in bias in favor of male applicants over the past five decades with a virtual disappearance of bias by 2009 in male-dominated and gender-balanced fields. However, bias in favor of female applicants persists in female-dominated fields without any notable change.
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Men, it seems, are just as likely to face gender bias in female-dominated fields as they were in the 1970s. The paper examining the extent of gender bias in hiring decisions and people's perceptions of it was recently published in the journal Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes. The second part of the study was a forecasting survey. The researchers asked a large group of people, both lay people and academics,
00:06:19
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to predict the results of their meta-analysis prior to crunching the numbers. The most striking finding was that the forecasters massively overestimated the extent of gender bias. They overestimated how much gender bias women face in male-dominated and gender balance fields, and they overestimated how much gender bias men face in female-dominated fields. And although laypeople overestimated gender bias to a greater extent than academics,
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lay people and academics alike were extremely inaccurate in their estimates. The conclusion? The hiring manager is apparently nowhere near as biased as people think they are.
North Korean IT Workers in Western Companies
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Using fake names, sham LinkedIn profiles, counterfeit work papers and mock interview scripts, North Korean IT workers seeking employment in Western tech companies are deploying sophisticated methods to get hired according to news agency Reuters.
00:07:13
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North Korea has dispatched thousands of IT workers overseas in an effort that has accelerated in the last four years to bring in millions of hard currency to finance the country's nuclear missile program, according to the United States, South Korea and the United Nations. Leaked documents and data reveal the significant deception undertaken by North Korean authorities to ensure the success of the scheme.
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A North Korean IT worker who recently defected also examined the documents and confirmed their authenticity to Reuters. We would create 20 to 50 fake profiles a year until we were hired," he said. He estimated there were around 3,000 others like him overseas and another 1,000 based within North Korea.
Impact of Remote Work on Company Growth
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Newly released data may shift the conversation around productivity metrics and return to the office mandates among leaders still resisting more flexible policies. From 2020 to 2022, companies without in-office requirements saw revenue grow 20%, while those in hybrid and fully in-person arrangements saw 5% revenue growth, according to a new report from Scoop Technologies and Boston Consulting Group.
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The report analyzed 554 publicly traded companies across 20 different sectors and adjusted for industry averages. Altogether, those companies employ about 27 million people. Revenue growth was normalized against average industry growth rates so that employers in better performing areas could not skew the findings. Those with structured hybrid policies, most often two or three days required in person a week,
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also perform better on revenue growth than those with full-time in-office policies. In related news, marketing and creative workers who are given the freedom to work remotely perform better than those who work on-site, according to a report by creative recruiter A-Quent. The staffing firm's talent insights report, released in early November, found that 66% of remote teams are identified as high-performing compared to only 47% of on-site teams.
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In addition, the report found that 79% of remote teams seek diverse perspectives very or moderately well compared to 61% of onsite teams. While onsite mandates limit diversity by alienating working parents, ethnically diverse employees and employees with disabilities, remote work creates more opportunities for everyone to feel valued and included in the workplace according to the report. AQUENT conducted the survey in June and July with global responses
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from 5,431 people from Marketing, Creative and Design. And you're now up to date with your recruitment news for week commencing 27th of November, 2023. I'm Adele Last.
Effective One-on-One Meetings for Management
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Question of the week this week, Adele has come from an article I've read recently about research into one-on-ones.
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And this is what the research said. Survey of 1,000 employees and 250 HR professionals found that just 15% of employees have regular weekly check-ins with their manager to discuss performance and that 76% of employees have a check-in once per month or less.
00:10:41
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and that the data clearly showed that younger people want more frequent feedback from their leaders. So 73% of Gen Z, so that is people up to about 25, want frequent managerial feedback compared to 52% of non Gen Z employees. So the question of the week this week is how frequently should a leader in agency recruitment have a one-on-one
00:11:10
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with his or her team members. So I think those stats in that article Ross shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. You know, people who are younger and less experienced, let's say in that context, requiring more frequent contact with their leader just makes sense. You know, as a leader, you would naturally do that. You would naturally think I've got to spend a bit more time with the rookies. So I think that shouldn't surprise anyone.
00:11:38
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But what does surprise me perhaps is that it's not happening. You know, 15% are only getting a one on one. It's a really low percentage. So we know this and yet we're not meeting with people as frequently as one that they would like and two perhaps as often as we know we should. So meeting with somebody monthly or less, I mean, that's a long time between drinks, so to speak. If there's an issue, if there's something that's blocking
00:12:06
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their desk or their ability or a training issue, whatever it might be. It's a long way down the road to try and do a U-turn really. So I think leaders have to consider that we have to get better at this. Certainly weekly needs to be done with people in order to do that check-in. But I think we need to get better at the efficiency of that because
00:12:32
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If you have a reasonable size team and you're talking about doing a one-on-one, and for most leaders they'd say, okay, I'm going to sit down and have a one-on-one with each staff member and they allocate somewhere between half an hour to an hour, you know, and you have a team of 15 people, that's your week gone. Half your week has disappeared in one-on-ones. So I think leaders have to be better at being efficient about what these conversations are about. Maybe there is a really specific kind of template to it so that you can get pointed around
00:13:01
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what the purpose of the meeting is for, and making sure it's as efficient as possible, focusing on the things that are going to help the person achieve their targets that week or that month. I used to always say to my staff that my job as your leader is to clear the runway. You're in the plane, you're the fighter pilot, you're the top gun, you're Maverick sitting there on the runway, and my job is out there
00:13:27
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Clearing the pathway clearing the runway and getting everything out of your way so you can take off and fly So leaders have to be better at that I think but yeah, I'm surprised to hear it so low and I'm I guess Urging people to you know, make a dent on that on that statistic 15% of people meeting only once a week is way too low
00:13:47
Speaker
What's your thought? Just to be clear, that's all industries. That's recruitment specific. So just to clarify that, I suspect if the same survey was run in the Australian recruitment industry, it'd be, you know, I'd say probably 40 percent would have a weekly one on one. I don't think it would be a majority.
00:14:10
Speaker
But anyway, my view is they're absolutely essential. And my view is the default is it should be 30 minutes for each person every week. A more experienced, high performing person, maybe once a fortnight. But here's the thing. They're as much for the other person as they are for the leader. To have the leader tease out something that might be going on with that person.
00:14:39
Speaker
And so therefore to me, there are two distinct types of one-on-ones. There's the performance one-on-one and the acronym I use for this in my training is FAB. So performance one-on-one focus. What is the person doing? What are they planning to do? And how much of that are they doing or planning to do? A, accountability.
00:15:04
Speaker
So is what they're doing enough based on their target, their KPIs, or not, and to hold the person to account? And B, is belief to ensure that the person, regardless of whether you've had to have a rigorous performance conversation or not, that they leave the meeting feeling confident that they know what to do and that they have
00:15:30
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their leaders back. So that's the first type, 30 minutes a week for almost every staff member. And then the second type is what I call check-in, where it's, for example, you're walking back from a client meeting with a consultant and you say to the person, hey, let's have a cup of coffee.
00:15:46
Speaker
And so for 20 minutes, it's just to check in. It's not a performance conversation. How are you going? Maybe there's something that the consultant doesn't want to raise in a formal meeting, but here's an opportunity over a coffee where they might raise something that otherwise they may not. And I think both of those are very important in a leader having an effective relationship with each of the person, each of the people that reports to them.
00:16:15
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and also helps them stay connected to each person and sends a clear message that they care.
Consultants as the Main Customers of Leaders
00:16:24
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Yeah, two interesting things I know you say in that walking back from a client visit and grabbing a coffee, there'll be leaders that don't do that at all. Don't go on client visits for one because they're not getting out there or don't go with their consultant, they're not doing physical visits.
00:16:40
Speaker
There's a little tip for you all if you're listening as well, right? Get back out. We've been saying that for so long. Get back out in front of your clients and see your clients. But go with your recruiters. Go frequently, you know, with their visits or on their visits with them so that you're using that as a training opportunity, using that as a bonding opportunity, understanding your client base, understanding what's going on in the market. So don't sit behind your desk is one thing I pick out of you saying that.
00:17:05
Speaker
But the second thing there, yeah, about those more informal ones is that's the chance to connect on a personal level, to have that engagement with your staff, which is so very critical because if we think about some of the best leaders that we've ever worked for and we try to define a common quality around why we thought that leader was a good leader, usually it's because we felt like they cared. They had a vested interest in us as an individual and they cared and they knew us.
00:17:35
Speaker
And so those little quick coffee catch-ups or those little check-ins, as you said, walking back from a client visit are so very critical in connecting with each person on a personal level and showing them that you care and just checking in that they're all right. So yeah, so much valuable content in there, Ross, from what you said. Hopefully people are picking up on this. And the other thing is the mindset. You know, what I was told and had drummed into me that as much as I was a very good recruiter,
00:18:05
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and my results were very good, now I'm leading people, the measure of my success is not my individual billings. It's the success of the people who report to me. And so therefore they are now my major customers, the people who report to me, not my candidates and clients. And as one leader said to me once, Ross, well, what's easier for you to find, Ross?
00:18:34
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a new consultant, good consultant or a new client or a new candidate. It's like, ah, yeah, it's like, that's, uh, that's a pretty easy one to answer. And so therefore that's what, uh, directed my focus towards my consultants and ensuring they felt the love. They also felt the, um,
00:18:58
Speaker
interest that I had in their performance standards, but ultimately they knew that I cared. Why? Because I spent time with them. That's really powerful. That might shift change that they are your customer. I love that. I think that's a really powerful takeaway from today. And in summing up the answer to the question, how frequently should one-on-ones be held? You've heard it from Russ and I, who we're both saying definitely weekly.
00:19:25
Speaker
definitely get structured about it and use your time wisely. Make sure you've got performance-based conversations as well as checking ones. That's right, because never think, oh, there's no problems with Samantha, so we'll leave the one-on-one for the week. It's like, yeah, one-on-ones that help prevent problems, not so much solve problems. So the fact that there doesn't appear to be any problems with a particular recruiter
00:19:55
Speaker
means that that's the perfect opportunity to get on the front foot with that person and have a conversation to check in to make sure nothing's brewing.