What makes Hays a great place for me to work?

Hays Ireland are endorsed by the Great Place to Work Institute as a 'Best Workplace 2013', so I thought I’d let you know what makes Hays a great place for me to work.

I've just passed the sixth anniversary of my first day in Hays. Do most people remember the date when they started a job?  Up until then, I wouldn't have had a notion of the dates I started in other companies, but I guess I subconsciously knew this one would be special.

Six years is a long time to stay in a company in today’s culture. Up until that last week in September 2007, the longest I had spent in one job was two years. For a number of reasons, including freelancing, I was like the ‘Littlest Hobo’, turning up somewhere for a while, then moving on. I worked in a wide variety of marketing roles in all sorts of companies and was fortunate to have only one bad experience. However, I had a good feeling about Hays from the moment the consultant rang me about my application.

Even my two interviews, with the MD and another director, were enjoyable experiences. And I must add this was not something I usually felt in interviews. On my first day, throughout my first week and through what I call ‘the full bedding in period’ (six months), everyone was really friendly and supportive. I was waiting for the catch - the horrible department or the nasty colleagues who had been putting on smiley faces because I was new – it didn't come.

I’m lucky, in that I really enjoy what I do as a career. In Hays, I got a chance to put all my skills to the test, which was great. I also have a boss, the MD, who really values marketing as a function and values my input, to the point I was invited to join the senior management team a few years ago. Couple this with the friendly, supportive staff and you have an environment where I was looking forward to get back to work after my honeymoon. And that is in no way a reflection on the relationship with my lovely wife!

As I mentioned before, I've worked in a lot of companies and one thing I've learned over the years is that the salespeople are always the kings and queens of the company, as they bring home the bacon. In my view sales is completely complimented by marketing, but I’m pragmatic enough to know which one most companies prioritise.

To be honest, my biggest fear when I was deciding on whether to join Hays, was working in a company comprising 80% sales staff. I had worked with sales people before and my friends and family had told me some interesting stories from their own companies about these brash, rude, ego types. That’s not my experience with Hays. Maybe it’s because it’s their mission to find the right person to transform an organisation and the right job to change someone’s life, that our sales people are incredibly warm and friendly, whether juniors just learning the ropes, or directors with over a decade in the job.

But yet they are still sales people, which means they need a certain environment to thrive – targets and rewards. I've always understood this, which is why I never had an issue organising prizes for incentives schemes that included exotic safaris and the US Open tennis final in New York. The way I looked on it was, if I wanted those types of prizes, I’d need to do that type of job.

Nonetheless, other non-sales staff had a different view, some felt as though they were inferior members of the company. When the task was set by my MD to analyse this view and how we could rectify it, I put my hand up for the project team.

So a team of marketing, finance and administration staff set about devising a survey to understand the needs of people who worked outside the sales function and began the journey to rectify it.

For just over a year now, we have been running the ‘Hays Ireland Ladders Programme’. Devised for all non-sales staff, it is a scheme for recognition and reward. It is available for all members of the company to say thanks to someone in HR, administration, finance, facilities or marketing, who has went above and beyond the call of duty to help them out.

It comprises a Ladder of three Steps. It starts with the process of making a nomination. For example, I can nominate a member of any team, including my own. The proposal is then reviewed by a non-biased party for suitability. Upon approval, the nominee receives a mail informing them they have a Step on the Ladder, the mail includes why the nominator thinks that person deserves a Step and the nominee’s manager is cced on the mail.

On Step 2 of the Ladder, the process above is replicated, but the recipient gets a treat of their choosing, worth up to €25. On Step 3 of the Ladder, there is the added bonus of a luxury meal with other staff members and entry into one of the incentive scheme draws, in this case, a glamorous trip to Paris for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse-race. After Step 3, it reverts back to Step 1, where you start building for your second ticket into the draw.

There was much excitement when the six names were pulled from the tombola in June and since then I have been beavering away, organising the trip. Then one of the lucky winners had to pull out at the last minute, so we got the opportunity to draw a new name.

This is where it gets a bit awkward. I am eligible for the Ladders Programme and was fortunate enough to get three nominations that were approved. However, with my involvement on the organisational side of the Ladders Programme and the prize, I didn't feel right putting my name into the hat.

And sure wouldn't you know, my name got pulled out of the blooming hat! I felt incredibly uncomfortable with it all, but that was eased by the fantastic support of people throughout the company. It would have been easy to shout ‘fix’ but they cheered my name and sent me congratulations - staff across the company, from junior to senior. And that to me is what makes Hays a great place to work!

Anyone have any tips for Sunday??                                                                                                  Tweet

Stephen Flanagan
Senior Marketing Manager

Ireland

HAYS Recruiting experts worldwide
16 Fitzwilliam Street Upper
Dublin 2

T: +353 1 619 0580
F: +353 1 670 4738　
E: stephen.flanagan@hays.com

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Hays is the Official Recruitment Partner of Manchester City Football Club.

Hays Ireland is proud to be endorsed by the Great Place to Work Institute as a 'Best Workplace 2013'. Click here for more.

"A Great Place to Work” – work out what is ‘Great’!

The definition of a great workplace from an employee’s viewpoint is one you trust the people you work with, you have great pride in what you do and you enjoy the people you work with.

I have to say when I first came across the Great Place To Work Institute’s description of what makes a great place to work its simplicity and insightfulness resonated with me strongly and from the start of our journey in autumn 2011 these simple principles have been at the core of everything we've tried to achieve. I can’t begin to tell you how happy I was when it was announced that we were chosen as one of the Great Workplaces in Ireland 2013 by the Institute. It was the official stamp of approval on what has been a very rewarding journey for all staff at Hays in Ireland. Our employee survey comments suggest that Hays is a very enjoyable place to work, with high levels of camaraderie and pride and also a place where people are encouraged to perform to the peak of their abilities and progress in their careers.

One of the biggest learns for me has been the opportunity to see the impact of the many initiatives we've undertaken over the last number of years and to see which of these have made a really defining difference to how people feel about work. We've introduced lots of improvements and changes - big and small - and it seems that while staff are happy with tangible improvements to their workplace, what they really want is a place where they can give their best performance. If we can provide an environment that makes them successful at their jobs, then there is a greater sense of satisfaction long term.

So the real challenge is to have a culture that promotes and supports high performance opportunities for everyone and that also gives people space to develop and flourish individually. At the outset we tried to strike a balance between the commercial realities of a business - profits, KPIs and targets etc with a workplace that people enjoy, trust and have pride in. A place where they feel that can make real and valued contribution, putting them at the heart of the business. We found that the two were inextricably linked.

Everything seems easy in hindsight but there were quite a few lessons learned along the way. Believe me, we did all sort s of things, everyone had lots of ideas, lots of enthusiasm and wanting to be the best of the best within the first month. It’s very easy to get carried away.

I also attended quite a few Great Place to Work events and listened to successful companies give their views. I personally filled several notebooks full of great sounding ideas. While you can pick up some relevant ideas and insights you need to be careful that they don’t lead you away from what’s going to make real and lasting impact. It’s much more important to take time to get to the essence of what’s important for your business – what ‘Great’ means to you.

What we found really worked for us at Hays was focusing on the “3 C’s” Communication, Caring and CSR with a special focus on recognition and thanking And this was the results:

High Impact Initiatives

• Considerable increase in CSR participation
• Broader recognition programmes for all Hays staff
• Improvements in communications including more regular Town Halls and sharing views and suggestions though the ‘bottom up’ teams
• Flexible working hours 

Other Good Stuff

• Enhanced maternity benefit, educational grant, new voluntary benefit schemes
• Improvements to office facilities

What the journey has taught me is that it’s not about the badge of honour, but the journey to find out what ‘Great’ really means to your staff and then ensuring you consistently imbed those values.

My Top Tips on the journey to becoming a great place to work.

• Engage with all staff: make the message loud and clear that everyone has to do their bit to help a company become a great workplace
• Be realistic on what you can do, don’t try and be too ambitious and end up not delivering due to cost, time or complexity
• Keep it simple, don’t try to do everything, pick around three subjects to tackle
• Don’t get too distracted by what makes other companies great
• Get managers on board & have a consistent message
• Communication – use a variety of approaches – bottom up emails through to MD town halls
• Use & share survey feedback in a timely fashion
• Be prepared for the work and time that it takes – get commitment from your GPTW team(s).
• Celebrate and promote the value that your business brings to society
• Patience and persistence – it can take time for initiatives to embed but once they do, you see the impact
• Embed a culture of high performance

www.hays.ie/great-place-to-work

Michelle Waters

HR, Hays Recruitment

Dublin