It’s no secret that this past year has been a challenging one, both on professional and personal levels. With many of our clients now working from home, one question that we do see from most of the candidates that we speak to is, Is the client flexible on remote working?
One trend that certainly became apparent was that, at the beginning of the pandemic a whole year ago, working from home was new for a lot of professionals.
However, we found that many people initially enjoyed this new way of working, especially with the flexibility that it offered, let alone the improved commuting. I think in general, people thought that we would be working from home for a month as a maximum. A year later, here we are, still working from home.
It is safe to say, a lot of people are bored of working from home constantly and would certainly like at least two or three days in the office. There are, however, some companies that have taken this to a whole new level.
Spotify, for example, announced that they are going to introduce a policy for flexible working, so you can work from wherever you choose, whether that be in the office, at home, or presumably by the pool at a nice 5* hotel.
On the other hand, there has been a number of instances where home working has been more efficient for people. As an example, some senior Finance professionals have found that they’re more productive and able to have a better work-life balance; even small things, like taking the dog for a walk at lunch.
For the most part, recruiting has not been the main challenge that our clients have faced during the pandemic. Largely, the challenge comes with onboarding of new employees to the business, with most people starting their new journeys working from home straightaway.
Often, the only time people have met their new work colleagues and superiors has been via a video call. Initially, this might not feel like such as big issue, but simple things such as ensuring access to a system is working correctly or a quick question on process can sometimes feel like it takes forever to get an answer.
For instance, the person you need to speak with may have calls planned all day, they might be away from their desk or you just simply cannot get hold of them. Something which should only take 5 minutes can take up to an hour or more, just because you can’t just go and have that conversation whilst making a coffee or introducing yourself as a new colleague.
On the bright side, however, since the beginning of this year, people have become accustomed to these new ways of working and, even with the news of the vaccine, we’ve found that people are generally more positive that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Not only that, we think we have all become so much better at using and utilising the technology around us, which can only be a good thing moving forward.
If you have just started you new role, or are in need of adding people to your team and have any difficulties or concerns with the points mentioned, then please do feel free to reach out. We have dedicated HR recruiters, Keely Straw in Switzerland and Katie Insley in the Netherlands, who will be more than happy to help.
This International Women’s Day, we want to highlight the importance of supporting females every day. We’re using the hashtag #ItsNotJustADay to remind other organisations that championing strong women is an ongoing commitment.
We want to celebrate all the female leaders within our network that we have the pleasure of working with, through a snapshot of the past 12 months:
Read more about our fantastic events, as well as keeping up to date with future plans, here: https://www.emearecruitment.com/events
All past episodes of the EMEA Recruitment podcast are available here: https://www.emearecruitment.com/podcasts
You can also find out more about the wonderful members of our team through their profiles: https://www.emearecruitment.com/our-team-members
We’re also proud to reveal our latest initiative to promote Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace. We are supporting the Boardroom, an exclusive, members-only club for senior women leaders in Switzerland, founded by Diana Markaki.
According to a recent PwC report, Switzerland lags significantly behind the international field in terms of gender diversity; only 16% of board members at the 100 largest Swiss companies are women. the Boardroom hopes to create and cultivate an active pipeline of qualified female leaders to fill corporate board positions.
the Boardroom is a strong network that supports and encourages women to achieve their professional goals, enables companies to retain and promote senior female talent, and helps boards achieve gender parity.
Not only does the Boardroom help female leaders land a board seat, but it also helps them succeed when they get there.
Are you looking to promote gender equality in your organisation? Your female leaders could benefit from the education, coaching, networking and inspiration of the Boardroom. Please contact Diana Markaki to find out how to apply or to ask any questions you have: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-markaki/
If you have any questions or comments regarding Diversity & Inclusion, please contact Charlotte Cruise, our ED&I Ambassador.
Almost overnight, the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the work experience for millions of people across the globe.
For Human Resources (HR), the impact has been huge. Rarely has the spotlight shone so brightly on this function, and many have felt the strain as they do their best to support their employees through this incredibly difficult time.
In particular, the huge rise in remote working has exposed flaws in many employers’ benefits packages, and benefits and wellbeing management systems.
It is important to remember that such dramatic workplace changes, such as remote home working, undertaken for sustained periods, can be both isolating and not suitable for employees accustomed to coming into an office every day. So, the need to link remote working employees and look after their wellbeing has never been greater.
Flexible working is a theme that’s gained a lot of traction in recent years, but ultimately simply refers to a way of working to suit an employee’s needs. This can mean making adjustments to start and finish times, to allow an employee time to drop off/pick up a child from school, or even working from home where necessary.
This simple gesture can improve an employee’s loyalty to their employer, can make them feel more motivated and can also start to tackle some Diversity issues: with almost no geographical restriction, there will be a bigger pool of candidates to consider, it is a better option for working parents, and will benefit candidates with physical or mental disabilities.
Employers need to recognise there will be no return to ‘business as usual’ for the foreseeable future and, instead, they need to adapt to the ‘new normal’. They must ensure their employees’ changing needs are supported, no matter where they’re based.
Employees have been forced to cope with unprecedented change, but this can also be a unifying experience that helps build trust and loyalty between employers and their workers, and this must continue to be nurtured.
The current crisis has also highlighted the fragility of many employers’ existing employee benefits systems, many of which weren’t designed to be accessed or managed remotely. Employers without digital solutions that are fit for the future of work will find it increasingly difficult to cope with the demands.
Overall, it's important that, during this testing time, HR will focus on ensuring the working wellbeing of its people to ensure that they are fit for purpose in the ‘new normal’. This will sustain your competitive advantage and establish your credentials as a responsible employer.
We understand the unique challenges of Human Resources recruitment. If you require support with your HR recruitment needs, please contact Keely Straw to arrange a call on: +41 41 588 1876 or email: [email protected]
As 2020 came to an end, a lot of us reflected on what last year meant to us, especially working from home.
In March, when the majority of employees were asked to work from home, it was an exciting prospect. It gave us the flexibility that working from the office full-time couldn’t offer. We welcomed the idea of not having a commute and the luxury of being able to make your own lunch everyday with open arms.
However, as we look back on last year, there are definitely some things we want to change in 2021, in order to make our working from home environment even more productive and beneficial. One of the best things about being in the office is being able to see your co-workers.
Although we won’t be able to have office catch-ups in person for a while, planning virtual coffees has been one way of keeping in regular contact with our colleagues, where we can catch up on life outside of meetings!
This is one of the five things we want to change this year, so here are some tips for working from home that we're taking with us into the New Year:
If you have any other tips for working from home successfully, let us know by contacting Neil Cope at [email protected]
There's no doubt that 2020 was an unusual year in many ways. In the professional sphere, one of the most significant has been 'The Great Work From Home Experiment’.
For many years, despite the tools and technologies being readily available, many corporate cultures viewed working from home as code for 'Netflix & Chill’. The past year has surely demonstrated that, for most office/computer-based workers, if anything, the opposite applies.
People consistently tell us that their working day has expanded to include their prior commuting time and that, for the majority, their days are longer - accommodating colleagues and video calls across multiple timezones.
Interestingly, people for whom it is an option have also told us how much they have enjoyed the social elements of the occasional day in the office - to the extent that they often feel as if they get less work done while they are there!
We have also identified a third group, who have optimised their use of technology by relocating their WFH to cabins in the mountains - or even entirely different countries!
For us, the big question is this - what happens next?
At some point this year, we hope to return to a situation where groups can congregate more safely and so we are curious to see how corporates respond - whether their suspicion of WFH returns, whether they close offices entirely or look for some sort of meeting-hub hybrid.
Equally, we are also seeing a distinct shift with candidates, who have a far greater expectation of location flexibility than ever before.
Finally, as always, there is the caveat of too much of a good thing - if teams demonstrate that they can collaborate effectively in a distributed manner anywhere in the world, then what is the benefit for a company to continue to employ those teams in a high-cost location?
EMEA Recruitment is proud to be working in collaboration with St. Gallen University’s Institute of Cognitive Automation to bridge the gap between humans and machines.
This research intervention is working with project leaders across Switzerland’s leading businesses, who want to help close the gap between automation and human augmentation.
We know that 70% of digital transformations within businesses fail, but the failure rate has actually increased with technology. St. Gallen University has found that 85% of Data Science projects add no value to a business.
We know that the Future of Work is not solved by one company. Therefore, St. Gallen University’s Cognitive Automation Institute has worked with us to find companies who want to optimise human augmentation.
Project leaders from these businesses are now participating in research to find out where and how they’re going wrong.
The project is broken down into two phases:
Phase 1: Structured Interviews
All participants will receive the critical human and machine teaming design criterion, using a method of inquiry to identify the design challenges in cognitive automation.
Phase 2: Empirical Study
For selected companies, a human and machine solution that addresses the criterion would be defined at a pragmatic level, e.g. process level or judgment level. To impact the company on the criterion identified.
We are delighted to be collaborating with St. Gallen University’s Dr. Chantelle Brandt Larsen on this research.
We look forward to supporting the Institute of Cognitive Automation and our partner businesses throughout this research project, and to working towards a human and machine solution to change the Future of Work.
You can read more about our ongoing partnerships here: https://www.emearecruitment.com/partnerships
If there is anything you’d like to discuss with us or for more information, please contact Mark Robinson in our Swiss recruitment team.
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