Prosper Autumn, Black Country Chamber of Commerce magazine

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BUSINESS VOICES: PERTEMPS ON HR THE GREAT RESIGNATION A quarter of businesses have already lost valuable talent unnecessarily, so Prosper asked Richard Bourne from recruitment experts, Pertemps for his thoughts on the subject. The equivalent of 1.3m UK SMEs have unnecessarily lost talent this year by making employees feel undervalued. Research commissioned by digital gifting company Prezzee highlights that 24 per cent of UK SMEs have lost undervalued talent in the past 4-6 months, directly feeding into the ‘Great Resignation’, which has seen people leaving their jobs at the highest rate since 2009. In organisations of more than 250 staff, four-in-10 HR directors say they’ve changed or are looking at alternatives to reward staff – regardless of the changes to where their staff work. Despite the Great Resignation, over a third (35%) of SMEs say all employees get the same rewards, regardless of location, job title or other contributing factors, despite differing hobbies and passions. Much of the budget laid aside for rewarding staff isn’t used to its full potential as two-thirds (66%) said their team didn’t attend events or rewards weren’t received how they would like. The research also highlighted why so many employees don’t engage with reward schemes and events, as 80% of HR directors acknowledged that they don’t understand their interests well enough. The data also highlights that there’s too much impetus put solely on the shoulders of HR directors to get this right. Only 16% of SMEs use a team within the business made up of employees at multiple levels to decide the rewards and incentive strategy to drive increased happiness and staff retention. Richard Bourne, regional manager at Pertemps Network Group told Prosper, “employee engagement, retention and motivation are the most important factors for the success of any business big or small. “People are the cornerstone of any successful business, and it is important to reward and recognise accordingly. We have experienced an extremely turbulent jobs market over the last two years which has led to an ever-increasing number of vacancies and increased competition between companies to secure the best talent. “A heavy emphasis is currently placed upon pay rates with the cost of living at the forefront of the news. However, salary and pay rates are not the only factors for employers to consider. To achieve the goals of retention, engagement, and as previously mentioned, a motivated workforce, a more holistic approach is key. “The overall package on offer should include a competitive basic salary but also consider other financial rewards such as ‘‘ To achieve the goals of retention, engagement and a motivated workforce, a more holistic approach is key... ‘‘ company shares schemes, perks such as discounts, potential bonus and commissions. “Tailoring packages to fit an individual’s needs will help boost engagement between employee and employer to cover a number of factors which motivate and appeal to your workforce.” He added: “The workplace culture determines longevity of staff and engagement levels. A friendly, workfocused culture gives a sense of teamwork and camaraderie, which people value as an important factor when choosing a long-term position. Team socials, collaborating well with your colleagues day-to-day and management support are all part of the ethos nurturing a fantastic workplace culture.” Perhaps that’s why Pertemps has been listed in the Times’ Top 100 companies for 16 years running. “At Pertemps we offer learner-led training and development for our staff which empowers employees to recognise what support is needed. A development and training programme allows staff to structure progression within the company in a way that is suited to the individual. Opportunities are achievable for individuals to progress quickly and own their career path with the business. Responsibilities and personal development empower our staff to increase earning potential. “Open communication between line managers and staff is important to identify what key motivating factors and rewards matter most to enhance staff welfare. It’s important to ensure it is in line with an overall strategy, enabling the flexibility to address the cost-of-living crisis and the support you as an employer need to offer. An example of this would be whereby naturally an employer thinks financial support is the only benefit they can offer. However, in some instances, an employee support line offering direct links to trained counsellors to deal with stress may be a more viable and welcome option.” 14 PROSPER AUTUMN 2022
Businesses have had a tough time over the past couple of years, but unfortunately this trend looks set to get worse not better as we see the impact of the cost of living hitting the economy and our customers hard. To survive, and thrive in an increasingly competitive market, businesses need to be investing in their customer experience (CX), as the value of service and the importance of making a human connection with customers has rarely been starker. What is CX? CX is the overall perception – the thoughts and feeling – a customer gets from interacting with your business. We can all think of positive and negative experiences we have had as customers. Good or bad, these interactions shape our opinions of brands, products, and services we interact with. Why is it so important for a business to get it right? Delivering a positive customer experience will make your customer(s) happy but also increases the likelihood they will return, remain loyal or recommend you to others. Crucially for businesses, great customer experience will positively impact the bottom-line. You don’t know what you don’t measure We know that 94% of customers will look at a businesses reviews before they purchase so I always start by asking a client; are you passive, proactive or reactive in asking customers for feedback? Most will look at me rather blank! Proactively asking for customer feedback and then actively managing the responses – communicating back to customers and making positive changes – is a great place to start on your CX journey. Without quality insight and data, you can’t truly understand how your customers view your business and if you are delivering on the promises you make. Your local CX specialist Having lived, studied and worked across Wolverhampton and Telford my whole life, I know the business and customer landscape very well and I’m looking forward to working with faces new and old. I’m a leader and motivator by trade and love to help people meet and exceed their business goals. I’m looking forward to helping businesses develop and grow through improving their customer experience. CX is one of the best and simplest ways ADVERTORIAL SPOTLIGHT The best investment a business can make right now is in its customer experience (CX) We asked our local customer experience specialist, Ian Phillips, for his views on the outlook for businesses over the next 12 months About the author Ian left a long career as a regional manager within the financial service sector to help businesses across the Black Country improve their customer experience and convert more leads. to improve any business. By taking people out of the day-to-day and helping them to see their business through the customers’ eyes, we can pinpoint any blind spots and implement new mechanics. Want to find out more? If you would like to find out what your customers think about your business or improve your CX strategy, speak to me about insight6 and its world-class review platform, instantinsight or leading CX Reviews. • Contact Ian on 07808 064134, email ian.phillips@insight6.com or visit www.insight6.com for more details. PROSPER AUTUMN 2022 15
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Prosper Autumn, Black Country Chamber of Commerce magazine

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