Interviews with: Adele Swift

The Immersive. team led by Neil, our resident Employer Brand expert is doing some research around 'what next' in talent acquisition. It's partly looking back to how talent leaders and their organisations have survived Covid, what have we all learned and what the future holds.

Neil interviewed Adele Swift from Toolstation, here is what she had to say:

NH – What for you have been the key organisational and people-based learnings from Covid?

AS: I think we have seen a real societal re-appraisal of the importance of what might be termed key-worker roles. Pre-Covid, whether we are talking about people working in retail, the NHS, care workers, the people who empty your bins, we took these people for granted.

Not any more. These are absolutely critical, essential roles – as are the people doing them. I think in terms of pride, much of that can be gauged by how an organisation handled furlough. How it communicated. How it kept people in the loop. How it considered them as still being key parts of the business. A lot of people felt isolated as a result of how their organisation dealt with furloughing. Suddenly, out of sight meant out of mind and consideration. Such approaches, I think, were the cause of a lot of anxiety – just when no one needed any more of that.

At Toolstation, I think the organisation should be most proud of the sense of purpose and intent that it inspired in its people. Like many places, we furloughed some roles, but at the same time, we topped up salaries and ensured we communicated regularly. This sense of connectivity meant we were able to hire quickly and effectively into our stores. The pace andthe agility we went about this says a lot about the engagement we created.

NH – How would you contrast today’s talent acquisition market with that of pre-Covid early 2021?

AS: It’s hard to imagine a more different market over the course of less than two years. Prior to the pandemic, we largely used free of cost advertising options and it worked. Fast forward to today and our applications are down by up to 75% for certain roles. The market has shifted so much. We are having to look at far more creative ways of attracting talent and paying more to do so. We are really having to think about the proposition we go to market with.

NH – Are candidates looking for anything different today?

AS: I think they are. Before Covid, people tended to work because of the pay they received and what it enabled. Whether that was a mortgage, a night out, Molly’s piano lessons, whatever. They worked for the money. Did they really question why they worked? I don’t think so. I think the pandemic and its effects will be huge. People, in some cases, have got used to not working. They’ve got used to being at home and not commuting. They have got used to having much more leisure time. They are not rushing back to work. Simply flicking a switch and returning to a pre-pandemic relationship with work isn’t going to happen. For organisations such as ours, the simple details of the package you offer isn’t enough today. You have to give them a more compelling reason to join. You need to work at creating a culture of belonging. Of ensuring that people enjoy their working environment. Not rocket science and the sorts of things every organisation should have been providing anyway. But probably weren’t. I think the organisations that are able to provide a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging will really stand out.

For instance, right now, we are working towards creating a new set of group-wide values. We are also launching a brilliant learning and development Academy, so that training provision is accessible for everyone. We also use our apprenticeship levy to upskill our people. Through our recently launched Toolstation Academy we are seeing a real increase in the training provision that our people can access.

NH – What is the biggest challenge that you and your function faces?

AS: One of our key challenges is simply being heard in a really congested, competitive market. We’re not the sort of organisation that likes to simply throw money at situations. We are about creating a distinctive voice amongst the noise. We have to work really hard to compete alongside organisations that are throwing money at the problems – whether through golden handshakes, loyalty bonuses and the like. Our proposition is about career development and having a sustainable career. We don’t hire and fire. We want our people to develop and grow, just as we are doing so. Development that is appropriate for the individual, not something that is forced on them.

Our challenge is to get this message in front of people and not spend a lot of money doing so. It’s about creating a big noise with a small budget.

I think maybe we could be clearer about emphasising to candidates that we are looking for in terms of transferable skills. That so many different and diverse backgrounds will have given people the right preparation to start a career with us. But we shouldn’t assume that of audiences.

The same thing applies to older candidates. We get that they feel invisible to some employers. We are absolutely not an employer that is interested in dates of birth. Do our candidates know that? Maybe not. We are beginning to look at audiences that we wouldn’t have in the past – rehabilitating offenders, for example. People who have been long-term unemployed, perhaps the homeless or those people who have experienced challenges which have prevented them from working in the past. However, before we go down thisroute, we need to make sure that the working environment in which such people find themselves is ready for them. It has to be supportive of and empathetic to them. So, we need to upskill our managers first to provide the level of support that such people might need.

“I think we can learn a lot from the likes of James Timpson – he’s a hero of mine. I’m eternally impressed by the work they do. He is their employer brand.”

Over the next few weeks we’ll be interviewing more people about their Covid experiences, be sure to bookmark this page.

About
Neil Harrison is recognised as a leading employer brand specialist, creating insights and actionable intelligence around key people audiences. Internal employee communities as well as external talent pools. These are insights which will help drive informed EVPs and their associated employer brands. Factors such as Brexit, as well as a tightening labour market, mean that organisations serious about talent acquisition need to act based on knowledge rather than guesswork.