FIND YOUR PERFECT ROLE

Data Science has become an umbrella category for a number of roles. It is being increasingly recognised that the ‘unicorn’ data scientist who is a master of all the in-demand skills is largely a myth, and that data science roles need to be further specified to serve business needs. Unfortunately, job titles are still sometimes used inconsistently, which can be confusing if you are looking to pursue a new direction or find a new job. Here is a quick and handy guide to the top job roles, and a breakdown of what each one involves. Data Scientist This is probably the most common overarching job title. A data scientist’s core responsibility will be to provide actionable business insight from a dataset. Stitch Fix’s Director of data science, Michael Hochster, suggests that the roles tend to fall into two camps: analytical or building. The first focuses on the statistical interpretation of data, whereas the latter builds models based on data. The extent you’ll be expected to diversify your talents will depend on the structure and size of the data science team (i.e. your role is likely to become more focused on true data science in a larger team). Regardless, a data scientist will need to be comfortable with a range of machine learning and data mining techniques. Key skills include expertise in programming languages such as R, MatLab, SQL and Python and a strong background in computer science or related field. Business analyst / Data Journalist / Data Translator These titles refer to a number of related roles which all focus on communicating data insights and putting them in context of the wider business goals. People in these roles will need a talent for creating a data story and presenting it to people without data expertise or even without much IT knowledge. The focus will be on understanding how data trends can be leveraged to drive the business forward, whereas a data scientist may want to know the root cause of such trends. Though a statistical and coding knowledge are important, it is communication, a business background and an in-depth industry knowledge that are the key skills to these roles. Data Analyst / Statistician  Now, an analyst and a statistician may rely on similar methods to analyse datasets, but they are very different roles. Harvard Business Review describe the difference as a narrow and deep approach (statisticians) vs wide and shallow (analysts). Statisticians can estimate how data insights might hold up in a variety of circumstances by incorporating error into a model — so they are useful for in-depth insights and minimising the risk of reaching an incorrect conclusion. On the other hand, a data analyst can code at lightning speed and discover potential insights extremely quickly — they can then point statisticians in the right direction. Utilising both a statistician and an analyst can make for a highly efficient system. Data Engineer / machine learning engineer Engineering roles often fall under data science (and these roles can often be combined), but when there is a specific engineering role, these people are likely to work with data at an early stage. As a data engineer, you will build and optimise data and data pipeline architecture. Think of engineering as creating the infrastructure necessary for further analysis. As a result, a technical computer science background and exemplary coding skills are essential to this role. It will also be an advantage to gain experience with big data tools, SQL and NoSQL databases, data pipeline tools and cloud services. Machine learning engineering is an additional specialism, which focuses on identifying and applying appropriate models to big datasets. Data Architect / Data Administrator / Data Manager Big data just keeps growing, and in response many companies are hiring specialists to manage these large datasets. If you are working in one of these roles, you will be expected to create systems that enable integration, centralisation and protection of datasets. You ensure the data engineers and data scientists have an efficient dataset to work with, that it is safely backed up and can be easily recovered. Therefore, you will need to be comfortable in data modelling techniques, data warehousing and security procedures.  

QA testing is an evolving world. Digital transformation means there’s more demand than ever for high-quality software to be delivered at record speed. In addition, QA professionals are being asked to adapt to Agile and/or DevOps approaches, take an interest in AI and automation, all while working from home. It’s a lot to keep up with, so here are the web’s favourite resources to help on your QA journey. Test scenario checklist A testing checklist is an essential tool for any QA tester. Maintaining a checklist of the most useful, reusable test cases means that the most common bugs can be quickly and easily identified. Software Testing Help have provided a master list of 180 (and counting!) test cases applicable to a variety of web and desktop applications. Test scenarios include those for GUI and usability, filter criteria, result grid, a window, database testing, image upload functionality, sending emails, export functionality, performance, security and other more general functions. They recommended you continue to build a checklist tailored to your own needs, but this will save you lots of time getting started. Real-world examples The Google Testing Blog is a QA gold mine of expertise. Each article deals with a topical issue or new challenge encountered by the Google testing team and provides a breakdown of how the problem was dealt with, clearly communicated with screengrabs, diagrams and infographics. Recent articles have covered Test Flakiness - One of the main challenges of automated testing and Fixing a Test Hourglass. Keeping up with this blog is a sure-fire way to expand your QA knowledge. API automation workshop A recent TechBeacon article highlighted the need for more API-level tests — but many testers lack experience in this area, being more familiar with GUI-based automation. Bas Dijkstra offers an API workshop focusing on REST (which most modern APIs are developed by). This free workshop, hosted on Github, covers RESTful APIs, REST Assured and provides hands-on exercises to get you up to speed. It’s a great resource that has been well received by the testing community. Community StickyMinds is an active community of software testers. Signing up gets you access to a large archive of the Better Software magazine, more than a decade of TechWell conference presentations and regular articles on what’s new in software testing. Best of all, there’s a lively Q&A forum where you can ask questions about best practices, industry hot topics and more. It’s free to join but, as with most online communities, you’ll get out what you put in. Comprehensive skills boost If you’re looking to boost your testing skills, then Nikolay Advolodkin’s site, Ultimate QA, might be just what you’re looking for. It offers a combination of paid (but not expensive) and free courses covering all aspects of QA testing. Popular courses include Complete Selenium WebDriver with Java Bootcamp and Selenium WebDriver Masterclass with C#. Ultimate QA also provides a number of articles and resources — their collection of websites to practice automation is a particularly useful one you’ll want to bookmark straight away. Bug tracking systems QA testing revolves around a cycle of finding, reporting and tracking bugs (anything that stops software operating correctly). Spreadsheets and emails quickly become inefficient to manage larger projects, so you will need to turn to a bug tracking software — a good one will save you countless hours and make communication across teams much easier. Software Testing Help provides a fantastic breakdown of the best bug tracking options. Their recommendations include Airbrake, which is the most popular bug tracking software with over 50,000 users, and Mantis, which is free and one of the most easy-to-use systems.  

For many, the adaption to working from home has been a challenge. Maintaining productivity while also facing health, financial and family concerns can be stressful enough — so understandably many employees would rather not add information security to their list. However, you would have been hard pushed to have missed the sharp rise in data breaches last year. Under the GDPR and Data Protection Act of 2018, companies must protect data in a way that ensures ‘appropriate security’ by using ‘appropriate technical or organisational measures’ — and COVID-19 doesn’t provide an exemption. What can organisations do to keep data safe in such difficult circumstances? Evaluate current measures Many organisations already have remote working policies in place (93% according to a study by OpenVPN), however, 25% of these companies have not updated these policies in over a year. Hackers will easily exploit out-of-date systems, so now is the ideal time to update policy, which will also provide the opportunity to remind employees on proper remote working procedure. Additionally, ensure that existing security measures are working as intended. For example, most organisations will use a virtual private network (VPN) for employees to access company data via an encrypted connection. However, many corporate VPN’s have vulnerabilities IT teams do not regularly patch or do not allow for constraints like lack of bandwidth, which may stop the VPN working properly. Many companies, including Dell, have said that evaluating their VPN was a top priority during the pandemic. Be realistic A recent study by IBM concluded that the current workforce, who have been rushed into remote work, poses a significant risk to information security. 52% of surveyed newly working-from-home employees reported using their personal devices for work (often without new tools to secure the device) and 45% have not received any new security training — yet 93% felt confident that their company would keep personal identifiable information safe. This suggests that employees are underestimating the security risks of working-from-home and IT teams may be overestimating employee knowledge of information security. Therefore, IT may be unaware of the risks employees are actually taking, such as sharing devices with family members, which means that data could be downloaded and unknown software installed with the employee’s company credentials entered. It’s important to both enforce regular training on how to keep data safe and repeatedly communicate the business consequences of failing to follow policy. Additional security layers On a related note, being realistic about the risk employees pose to a security system means limiting the potential damage. Employing multiple layers of security, such as multi-factor authentication and encryption, will help businesses stay safe. Encryption is specifically mentioned by GDPR when outlining what constitutes appropriate technical and organisational security measures — the reason being is that even if a breach occurs, the data will be unreadable. It’s crucial that all devices used for work (including phones and tablets) are encrypted. Plenty of widely used software, such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Acrobat, also provides an option to encrypt files — it’s a good idea to get into the habit of encrypting everything. Then, in the potential situation that a device is remotely or physically accessed by an unknown person, the data stays safe. While many businesses are juggling a number of concerns during the pandemic, it’s essential that information security remains a priority. GDPR means data must be kept safe at all times by evaluating security systems, understanding the risks your employees take in home-working situations, and responding to this with training and failsafe measures like encryption. Given the financial and reputational consequences of a data breach, it’s vital that businesses are proactive in ensuring information security.  

Diversity remains a key issue for the technology industry. According to a recent BCS report, 18% of IT professionals have BAME backgrounds. BAME people are also less likely to hold senior positions — only 9% are directors and 32% are supervisors (for comparison 43% of white employees have a supervisory role). The lack of diversity becomes even clearer when considering specific ethnic groups. For example, black women make up just 0.7% of the technology industry — a representation rate that is 2.5 times lower than in other industries. Clearly, the technology industry is still struggling to achieve true diversity, so what can companies do about it?  Set targets It’s easy to say the right thing, harder to put this into action. Setting targets, continually measuring diversity and reviewing progress helps organisations to commit to change. For example, some big companies like Facebook and Pinterest have tried to use the ‘Rooney rule’ where at least one woman and one person of colour are interviewed for director positions within the company. However, progress has been limited and concerns about it being a ‘diversity tickbox’ exercise have been raised. More recently, it’s been emphasised that targets need to be set at all levels of seniority, and that there needs to be external accountability for failure to meet targets. Make a stance On the other hand, sometimes companies fail to say enough. Statements of diversity support are important to attract new staff and ensure existing employees are reassured by an inclusive company culture — both those with BAME backgrounds and beyond. For example, Unilever recently pledged their support for a campaign working to end discrimination against hairstyles associated with racial, ethnic and cultural identities. Given that this kind of discrimination often happens in the workplace, a major employer taking a stance sends out a powerful message. Outreach Many people from under-represented groups have concerns that a career in tech is ‘not for them’. This can be reinforced by a lack of people who look like them in senior positions. In addition, some BAME communities prioritise traditional jobs such as medicine, law and finance over technology careers. Companies can participate in outreach in schools and other settings to expand on what a technology career looks like and address concerns someone might have about entering the world of technology. Outreach can help to shed a light on available opportunities while also sending a clear message about the company’s commitment to a diverse workforce. Training There’s been a recent discussion about diversity training — particularly the low reliability of the implicit association test and its lack of impact on reducing real-world biases — to the extent that the civil service has stopped all unconscious bias training. However, while certain tools have been criticised, research shows that ongoing diversity training is successful when it combines a range of techniques and is complemented by other diversity initiatives. It’s clear that diversity training needs to be ongoing and not seen as a substitute for wider policy change. Seek external advice After the Black Lives Matter movement put the spotlight on diversity in 2020, many companies turned to their staff for advice. There have been several instances of people from BAME backgrounds being asked to speak about and advise on diversity practices amidst a climate of emotional trauma and, in some cases, fear of later reprisals from the organisation they were asked to defend. It’s important not to place the burden of improving diversity on individuals — especially if they are unsure how to refuse and are not being compensated for their extra work. Diversity — like any other organisational strategy — should be managed by qualified professionals and engaged with by interested employees. The technology industry’s track record when it comes to diversity is far from perfect. However, changes are being made. It’s clear that actionable, long-term strategies are needed to truly support organisational diversity in tech.

One thing I’m fortunate to have in my role is almost constant contact with other people. After all it’s my job is to talk to Finance Professionals in the market. It’s through conversations with these individuals that I have gained a real insight into the impact the pandemic has had on Finance Teams, and the challenges and adjustments they have faced to ensure a continued level of service.  The common theme amongst the businesses I’ve spoken to is that whilst challenging, Finance functions have adapted incredibly quickly to the sharp switch to remote working and have utilised video conferencing technologies to continue to operate efficiently. Whether for work or catching up with colleagues at the end of the week for a virtual wine, it’s become part of daily life. It’s clear though, that home working is not without its risks. One concern for Managers and new hires alike has been recruiting and onboarding during lockdown. I was told that at the beginning of lockdown some businesses simply didn’t have the resources to onboard remotely but have found that by re-engineering their processes they actually now find it better than before. “A video conference (VC) will never replace a face to face but you can make it work and it can be very effective” said a Finance Manager for a large retail bank, whose main concern was being able to provide support to new starters. “[In the office] you’re always near someone who can help you or provide support and I was concerned that we might not be able to offer the level of support we normally would through VC’s”. This led to her ‘Open Zoom’ policy where any of her team could call her at any time and talk through any issue (big or small). “[Again], it’s not quite the same as being able to sit next to someone but it encourages each of us to try and work out problems together and it builds camaraderie”. A video conference (VC) will never replace a face to face but you can make it work and it can be very effective I wanted to explore the other side of the coin, so I spoke with a recently employed Financial Accountant who had been onboarded in April. She told me that she had struggled joining a new company during lockdown. “My manager is great but it’s just not the same, I need the facetime. I feel like a pain calling my manager five times a day. The social side is also tough, and I did worry about fitting in virtually over Zoom”. While home working generally receives a thumbs up from the Finance professionals I’ve spoken with, one Head of Finance for a National Bank told me that concern around burnout of employees was high on the agenda for them. When lockdown kicked in, their trades trebled overnight and in addition to learning to work from home, it was a perfect storm. This led to very long hours for his Finance Team. Speaking with his team he found that like himself, his team were also allocating their morning commute time to work as well as their evening commute. Already that’s two extra hours in the virtual office every day. “So what?” some people will say, or “that’s only an extra couple of hours, that’s nothing!”. However, people by nature need a change of scene every so often and when you’re staring at the same four walls for twenty-four hours a day it can be tough mentally. My manager is great but it’s just not the same, I need the facetime. I feel like a pain calling my manager five times a day Though people may approach their day differently, chances are you need that transition period between home, coffee shop and work to wind down or gear up. People use the time to reflect on challenges, take a step back and to be able to view things holistically that can then present solutions you may not have thought of. Furthermore, going out to grab a coffee or heading to the work kitchen can be hugely beneficial to someone’s own wellbeing and motivation. The same Head of Finance also told me that employees haven’t been taking holidays because “there is nowhere they can realistically go”. A holiday is not just about the travel but the mental break, so with many people not taking breaks, this is where burnout is occurring. As a solution, he was keen to make sure his team were strict about the hours they worked and that team members could finish early or take half days as needed to ensure they were rested and motivated. “There is a huge intensity of working from home” he told me, which is something that I resonate with. I spoke with a CFO of a Brokerage who said that home working, had been largely successful but was quick to point out that not everyone’s situation is the same. “Some may own their own home; others may be in flat shares or have children. We have to be very sensitive to people’s needs”. This led to the business offering office space set-ups for people locally and paying for travel should employees wish to temporarily relocate or if younger staff members wanted to move back home with their parents. In one case the business paid for flights to fly one of their recently joined Accountants back to Australia where she could work remotely. Providing this for their staff, they saw no loss in quality or productivity but quite the opposite, they witnessed an increase in quality and productivity as well as an increase in engagement. Another Finance Director I spoke with mentioned that they had kept their offices open specifically for employees who lived in flat shares. Some may own their own home; others may be in flat shares or have children. We have to be very sensitive to people’s needs One of the CFOs of a start-up I spoke with had actually just cancelled the lease on their office “We’re only a small brokerage and we can’t see the possibility returning to the office until the end of 2021 so we paid the exit clause.” This has been common amongst London businesses as according to a survey conducted by CBI and PwC, 74% of Financial Services firms are reviewing their office space needs. Most organisations are looking to either use space differently, get rid of it, or both. And according to a report led by Professor Alan Felstead of Cardiff University most “people are as productive working from home, if not more so”. This of course has an adverse reaction on the local economies but I’m not here to talk about that – see the BBC article here that references this. While this is only a small sample of some of the conversations I have had, the themes have been consistent, it seems evident that home working can be successful if organisations are mindful of potential pitfalls and maybe office working has changed forever? My clients have been able to adapt with some teething problems but like me, every single person I have spoken with is still ideally looking for some form of presence in a physical office, just maybe not on a 5 day per week basis. After all we are social beings by nature and whether we’re introverts or extroverts we all need some degree of human interaction.   Simon Taylor Principal Consultant - Finance & Audit Recruitment  McGregor Boyall Associates Ltd t: +44 (0)20 7422 9076 e: staylor@mcgregor-boyall.com 

Next in our series of HR Insights we focus on some of the current challenges’ facing organisations around the mental health and wellbeing of their employees. When the pandemic first hit the priority for most businesses was putting robust plans and systems in place to support remote working. With working from home now pretty much the norm, we thought it would be useful to gain some insights into what longer term strategies organisations should be putting in place to support employees and line managers with their mental health and overall wellbeing. We spoke to Mike Thompson – who runs a wellbeing company that advises organisations around wellbeing and engagement. Additionally we spoke to two senior HR professionals, Anna Lees Head of Engagement & Growth at Refinitiv and Jonathan Mayes Head of HR for Technology, Operations & Central Functions and Head of ER at TSB Bank to gain some insight into what their organisations have embedded to support their employees.   Below we hear from Jonathan Mayes, Head of HR for Technology, Operations & Central Functions and Head of ER at TSB Bank. Jon is the Head of HR Business Partnering and Employee Relations for TSB. He has most recently been responsible for supporting the technology function in the design and build of a new operating model for CIO, data and digital and is currently leading the Future Ways of Working Programme for the Bank. We are moving into a new era where longer term flexible working environments and remote working is becoming the norm. What challenges is this new way of working presenting organisations when it comes to employee mental health and wellbeing? In our most recent engagement survey our colleagues perception of wellbeing support had increased since the start of the pandemic and a significant majority feel that the organisation is supporting their wellbeing and work life balance well – which is brilliant, but we mustn’t be complacent. It’s important to remember that just over 60% of our colleagues are working from a branch or one of our sites serving our customers brilliantly day in, day out. We must continue to ensure we provide a safe working environment for them whilst understanding the challenges everyone is facing whether it is childcare, self-isolation or for those working at home, being detached from colleagues.   How has this evolved from when COVID first hit, now you have navigated the initial challenges around remote working? Our priority was to keep serving our customers – whilst keeping our customers and employees safe -  and that meant ensuring that our branches could continue to work under COVID restrictions and that our telephone teams could continue to talk to our customers – so a large part of our organisation wasn’t working remotely. We very quickly advanced our plans to allow us to serve customers more digitally and we were able to do the same with our people plans – we quickly clarified our approach to colleagues who needed to self-isolate or look after children. We brought forward the launch of the UnMind App to support with wellbeing, created a specific intranet page that consolidated existing support tools and resources (including webinars and a guide to ‘checking in’ with your team to ensure they were well supported) and continued with our excellent manager programme where there was already a heavy focus on wellbeing and managing teams in a range of environments. During this year we have also launched our Carers Policy which allows our colleagues who have specific caring responsibilities up to 2 weeks paid leave a year to support them. Communication has been key; the CEO regularly speaks to both senior leaders and the whole organisation and managers have increased the frequency of their meetings to ensure everyone remains connected.   What are the challenges you need to be aware of as you look to the future in this space? We have been thinking hard about future ways of working for TSB. We want to find the right balance between the importance of face-to-face interaction for collaboration, innovation and team connectivity and the benefits of home working, making sure we do what’s best for our customers, our teams, and individuals. In the future, our sites will be used to connect, collaborate and learn in person and colleagues can split time flexibly between sites and home depending on their role and personal circumstances. This won’t be a one size fits all model and will vary by team. We are working with our property and IT teams to ensure we combine the human, physical and digital elements of this future working. From an HR perspective we need to make sure that we have a strategy and suite of polices that ensures we drive an inclusive culture for all of our colleagues and are able to continue to attract diverse talent to our organisation

Next in our series of HR Insights we focus on some of the current challenges’ facing organisations around the mental health and wellbeing of their employees. When the pandemic first hit the priority for most businesses was putting robust plans and systems in place to support remote working. With working from home now pretty much the norm, we thought it would be useful to gain some insights into what longer term strategies organisations should be putting in place to support employees and line managers with their mental health and overall wellbeing. We spoke to Mike Thompson – who runs a wellbeing company that advises organisations around wellbeing and engagement. Additionally we spoke to two senior HR professionals, Anna Lees Head of Engagement & Growth at Refinitiv and Jonathan Mayes, Head of HR for Technology, Operations & Central Functions and Head of ER at TSB Bank to gain some insight into what their organisations have embedded to support their employees.   Below we hear from Anna Lees, Head of Engagement and Growth at Refinitiv. Anna is the Head of Engagement & Growth which is part of the Talent, Leadership & Inclusion Team and the People Function at Refinitiv. She is responsible for defining the Engagement Framework, providing cross Refinitiv Employee Engagement support and running the GLINT Engagement survey. She is also responsible for Career Development and Growth, with a focus on providing all colleagues across Refinitiv with support and development on topics that are critical in the current environment (e.g.  wellbeing, resilience, connection, parenting, mental health and inclusion in the virtual environment). Anna also leads a number of Integration Workstreams including articulating the approach to Career Growth and Development, defining how we will approach work and the office in the future, engagement and wellbeing.   We are moving into a new era where longer term flexible working environments and remote working is becoming the norm. What challenges is this new way of working presenting for Refinitiv when it comes to employee mental health and wellbeing? At Refinitiv we have a comprehensive range of support on offer to employees from day one of working virtually.  However, despite a range or resources (including webinars, toolkits, smaller workshops, local support, wellbeing resources, parenting support, EAP etc.) we are still seeing people struggling with creating effective boundaries between work and home.  Employees are feeling mentally and physically more tired due to excessive video meetings and increased workload and have feelings of always “being on”. Being able to switch off is a real challenge for parents and carers, who are dealing with home schooling and providing emotional support to their children at this time. Overall it is tough for many people despite the benefits of no commute, more time with family and a more inclusive flatter culture.   How has this evolved from when Covid first hit, now that you have navigated the initial challenges around remote working? In the early stages the main focus for most people globally, was on safety and adjusting to this new and alien way of working. Colleagues needed very practical help with home office set up, managing remote teams and generally coming to terms with a totally different way of relating to one another. The support we offered early on addressed those immediate needs, as well as starting to provide support for mental health and emotional wellbeing strategies and tools. Once it became clear that we were in this situation for the longer-term the practical support stayed but the focus shifted to helping people stay resilient, practical tools and techniques for parents and carers, and an increased focus on our employee networks and local initiatives.   Can you share some examples of solutions that have been successfully embedded? Initially we threw together support and tools very quickly with an intranet offering called “Thriving through Turbulent Times” which launched just a week after we went virtual. This included Leader’s webinars on managing change and webinars on working remotely. There was a huge appetite for these. In the background we assembled existing resources and created new ones specifically to help people transition.  For instance, a dedicated Covid helpline, clear FAQs around how to set up a home office and clear expectations of how everything would work. This was followed by a global campaign, championed by our CEO and CHRO about wellbeing and support which was called “We Evolve”. This allowed us to be agile and use insights from our quarterly Employee Survey to target support and resources where people needed them most. For example, we created “me time”, an hour every day with no internal meetings that are focused on giving some time and space back to individuals.  We also created monthly “We Days” which are themed and have no internal meetings, so people can connect with others, come to virtual events (set up locally and globally) as well as have some time back to focus and re-set. We have also deepened the focus on emotional wellbeing over time and have been working with our managers to fairly and flexibly manage performance, where you maintain standards, but allow colleagues to work flexibly to achieve them. Dispelling myths about e-presentism.   What are the biggest challenges you need to be aware of as you look to the future in this space? What this means for the long-term is that we have to be very deliberate in considering how people work at their best, and part of that is thinking about what we have lost by working remotely, which is often named as a sense of community, connection and the feeling of belonging. People also mention that it is more difficult to be creative and that development, coaching and mentoring is more challenging. How we get that back while retaining the flexibility and inclusiveness that virtual working offers is the key question for us in building our approach to work in the future. Wellbeing and mental health is not just about being kind, it is good business, as we know, that when colleagues are supported to work at their best they are also more creative and more productive. Everyone benefits! This means we are looking at hybrid working where there is no one size fits all, but we take the best from both worlds. The right work needs to be done in the right place and the office facilitates collaboration, creativity and development while individual tasks can be done effectively remotely. The focus on wellbeing will continue for a long-time to come in how we design work and our working environments.

Next in our series of HR Insights we focus on some of the current challenges’ facing organisations around the mental health and wellbeing of their employees. When the pandemic first hit the priority for most businesses was putting robust plans and systems in place to support remote working. With working from home now pretty much the norm, we thought it would be useful to gain some insights into what longer term strategies organisations should be putting in place to support employees and line managers with their mental health and overall wellbeing. We spoke to Mike Thompson – who runs a wellbeing company that advises organisations around wellbeing and engagement. Additionally we spoke to two senior HR professionals, Anna Lees, Head of Engagement & Growth at Refinitiv and Jonathan Mayes, Head of HR for Technology, Operations & Central Functions and Head of ER at TSB Bank to gain some insight into what their organisations have embedded to support their employees.   Below we hear from Mike Thompson, Managing Partner at Gen Healthy Minds. Mike Thompson is former head of Early Careers at Barclays and now runs wellbeing company Gen Healthy Minds. His passion is the wellbeing of young people progressing through their early careers and his business provides training and support tools for both graduates and apprentices to help them thrive on their programmes. We are moving into a new era where longer term flexible working environments and remote working is becoming the norm. What challenges is this new way of working presenting organisations when it comes to employee mental health and wellbeing? Over the past 9 months we have all been through a real rollercoaster ride of emotions as everyone’s lives have been turned upside down by the arrival of COVID-19. Whilst all workers have been impacted, one group have been hit particularly hard and that is young people, including apprentices and graduates making their way in their careers. The expected journey from education into the workplace evaporated overnight, to be replaced by virtual inductions from a bedroom or living room, meeting your line manager via a Teams call and never stepping foot in an office or factory environment. Dealing with the change brought about by COVID-19 has been hard for all of us but for apprentices and graduates it has felt particularly hard and living in the new world is having an impact on their wellbeing and performance. The team at Gen Healthy Minds work with groups of new apprentices’ day in and day out to equip them to stay well and thrive. On our workshops two common themes come through consistently. Stress levels are heightened - every group we work with are sharing with us the classic signs of increased stress ranging from problems sleeping/nightmares to reduced concentration and heightened anxiety levels Motivation levels are low – the prolonging of lockdown has hit motivation levels even amongst the most highly motivated self-starting individuals These two challenges are often interlinked with heightened stress levels impacting upon our emotional state and making it harder for us to concentrate and maintain motivation levels. What solutions can organisations embed to address these issues? At Gen Healthy Minds we focus on positive psychology. The essence of positive psychology is that we can all lead happier healthier lives by adopting simple positive daily behaviours. These behaviours are all grounded in research and are shown to lift our mood. We have been working with apprentices and graduates to put in place some simple positive psychology behaviours. Here are 6 of the behaviours we recommend everyone should consider as they think about their wellbeing and motivation. Be self-aware – check in on yourself every day as to how you are feeling. How energised are you and how do you feel? We use a simple 1-10 scale where 1 is feeling very low and 10 is totally flourishing and wherever you are on this scale how can you take action to make small steps up the scale? Be structured and planned – having goals, be they short term or long term, is motivational and gives us purpose and satisfaction in life Be grateful – practicing gratitude helps us to be more positive individuals and offset worries and negative thoughts. Writing down three good things every day changes the shape of our brains and triggers “happy hormones” such as oxytocin to offset our stress hormones Be healthy – introducing simple daily practices around diet, activity, sleep, and hydration improves our energy levels and ability to deal with challenges when we face them. Simply drinking more water or cutting down sugar levels can boost our mood and resilience Be Mindful – practicing mindfulness (living in the here and now) helps boost our happiness and stimulate “happy hormones” and positive thinking. Adopting daily routines such as mindful breathing or mindful body scanning makes us more aware of how we are feeling. Be connected – having strong connections with others who you can share your feeling and emotions with is very important. A problem shared is a problem halved has never been more relevant as it is in modern society Are there differences between small and large companies? Whether you employ 5 people or 5000 the questions you should be asking yourself are the same: Environment - do you provide the environment and the tools for your young people to be able to practice these behaviours each day? Do you have an environment where people can connect and share or are encouraged to check in with themselves? Development and tools - are you supporting apprentices with the development needed to understand their mental health and equip them with the tools to proactively manage it? There are many excellent Apps out there that support wellbeing including our own Gen Healthy Minds App. Theses can provide just in time support or tools to manage your mental health such as mindfulness. Support – do you have sufficient wider support in place such as mentors and mental health first aiders as well as a good occupational health provider where more specialist support is needed? Why is it so important for organisations to focus on the mental health and wellbeing of employees and what are the benefits? In our new COVID-19 impacted world we are seeing increased levels of mental ill-health because of the extra stress and anxiety people are facing. If companies do not address this and put in place proactive practices then, at best, they will see productivity fall and at worst a growth in sickness and long-term absence from work. Employers who neglect to look after the wellbeing of their colleagues are also more likely to see lower employee engagement and higher attrition levels. The opposite is the case where employers genuinely care for their colleagues and put in place proactive support strategies. Here we see higher engagement levels, productivity and loyalty. How can you measure success? Communication is key. It is vital to stay in touch with colleagues and check in regularly on how they are feeling. You can do this in numerous ways through buddy systems, short surveys, line manager 1-1s etc but the most important thing is to keep checking in. This is particularly important given how we can no longer see each other in an office environment. Look out for individuals who are living alone in particular where the risk of isolation and loneliness is far greater. Technology can also support your measurement. Online surveys or apps can be used very effectively to reach colleagues and check-in on them. Our Gen Healthy Minds app provides wellbeing training and support but also asks individuals how they are feeling each time they log in thus building a picture for the employer of the wellbeing of their workforce. It has always been important to focus on positive mental health but in the current environment it has moved up to number one priority in my opinion. As HR and Early Careers Professionals we can no longer sit back and hope our occupational health colleagues or providers can support us. We must take the bull by the horns and build wellbeing into the heart of the programmes we run.   Mike Thompson Managing Partner - Gen Healthy Minds and former Head of Early Careers at Barclays mike@genhealthyminds.co.uk www.genhealthyminds.co.uk  

We have been speaking to clients and candidates across the market and are seeing a number of organisations either halting or substantially reducing, their hiring in the graduate space due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. This is an alarming trend. Graduate Programmes are vital for many organisations, as they provide a future generation of talent and not hiring in this space could present longer term challenges. They also have a huge impact on employer brand, especially if they are delivered successfully. They offer a fresh perspective and innovative ideas which, in turn, allows organisations to grow and thrive.    With this in mind, we have spoken to three Early Careers Specialists to gather their insights into how businesses can address the challenges around delivering Graduate Programmes in the current market. We have spoken to 2 consultants, Jessica Jones and Samantha Ridgewell (see below) to get a holistic overview of their approach and potential solutions. Additionally, we have a deep focus interview with Kimberley Rowling, Graduate Programme Manager for the BT Group to get insight to what she is driving internally within BT.     Below we get the thoughts of Samantha Ridgewell, Managing Director at Empower Development. Samantha Ridgewell is a passionate Talent Professional who has built up a strong reputation in the insurance market, helping insurance organisations develop their businesses and people by delivering credible and relevant learning and development programmes, with one key area of focus being Early Careers Programmes. Samantha has run very successful graduate programmes for her clients since the pandemic hit and quickly identified key areas where she had to make changes and adapt. Mindset and Attitude Samantha had to firstly look at changing her attitude towards technology and embrace this going forward. “Come March I had never run an online course, by April I was running multiple online programmes.”   “It can feel exposing at first as for many trainers it is outside their comfort zones, but it soon feels natural and enjoyable”.   Sam embraced Zoom and WebEx and has found these to be great tools when training.  She also highly recommends using a “virtual host” so you can concentrate on delivering the training and less so on the technical issues that arise. Structure Structure is key to any Graduate Programme and more so now it’s all online. “Where there is a lot of structure in place the programme had more chance of being successful”. This helps both the Graduates and their Line Managers.   “Remote working requires a lot more effort from the Line Managers to guide the Graduates and plan their days.”  So, if you can give them structure around the planning of their days which will help a lot. “What is really needed is experiential learning”. This is very useful when running online programmes - “you can set case studies and hypotheticals and give the grads time to go away and complete these, working independently”. Coming back into “bite sized training sessions”. Consideration of being inclusive “We now create all our workbooks as electronic interactive documents as many learners won’t have access to a printer at home.” Sam is now working to design continual learning programmes which will drip feed theory and activities between courses.   Big thank you to Samantha for giving us some great tips on how you can evolve and adapt to continue to deliver your Early Careers Programmes in the current climate. If you would like more information please drop Sam an email - samantha@empowerdevelopment.co.uk Kara Feller Principal Consultant - HR & Talent Management Recruitment t: +44 (0)20 7422 9035 e: kfeller@mcgregor-boyall.com Other articles in this series: "Early Careers are vital to the future of a business." Click here to hear from Kimberly Rowling, Graduate Programme Manager at BT Group. "Delivering a successful Graduate Programme." Click here to hear from Jessica Jones, Director of Human Resources at Jessica Jones Consulting.

We have been speaking to clients and candidates across the market and are seeing a number of organisations either halting or substantially reducing, their hiring in the graduate space due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. This is an alarming trend. Graduate Programmes are vital for many organisations, as they provide a future generation of talent and not hiring in this space could present longer term challenges. They also have a huge impact on employer brand, especially if they are delivered successfully. They offer a fresh perspective and innovative ideas which, in turn, allows organisations to grow and thrive.   With this in mind, we have spoken to three Early Careers Specialists to gather their insights into how businesses can address the challenges around delivering Graduate Programmes in the current market. We have spoken to 2 consultants, Jessica Jones and Samantha Ridgewell to get a holistic overview of their approach and potential solutions. Additionally, we have a deep focus interview below with Kimberley Rowling, Graduate Programme Manager for the BT Group to get insight to what she is driving internally within BT.     Below we hear from Kimberly Rowling, Graduate Programme Manager at BT Group. Kimberly is the Graduate Programme Manager for BT Group, with a wealth of experience within talent and development specialising in Early Careers. Kimberley has successfully continued running the Graduate Programmes for BT, and with many organisations putting their graduate programs on hold, it’s great to hear how she has managed to run these programs successfully during the coronavirus restrictions. Thanks for talking to us Kim. Can you tell us a bit about how you built your career in Talent Management and Early Careers? Straight after university I joined the recruitment sector and worked for an employment agency, which I loved. I really enjoyed working with a variety of different people and helping them navigate careers and roles. After a few years of progressing in a number of different roles, I decided to join an in-house recruitment team. I joined the BBC’s talent team and quickly realised that HR covered so many different areas, that I really should explore to help me find my passion. So that’s what I set about doing, gaining as much insight and experience across the different HR departments across different industries and sectors as possible. I moved into generalist HR within the retail sector and from there I found a role within the real estate sector where I had the opportunity to work in Learning and Development, which was an incredible and invaluable experience. This is where I found my passion within Early Careers owning to the end to end cycle for Graduate and Apprentice Programmes.  “At BT, my current role is Pan-BT Graduate Programme Manager. Working for a company that is leading in innovation and technology with around 700 Graduates is awe-inspiring. I get to meet brilliant young people who are passionate, eager and keen to take their first steps in the industry.”  Also, for me personally my job is so important because it plays a huge part in closing skills gaps, meeting future skills demand and recruiting and developing the future lifeblood of the organisation.  Early Careers is a particular passion of mine. It is your responsibility to design and implement a best in class experience, creating a Graduate/Apprentice end-to-end programme which meets the need of the individuals as well as the future demands of the business, while also ensuring a diverse future talent pipeline.  Many organisations have either cancelled or placed their Graduate Programmes on hold due to not finding ways to run the Programmes remotely.  How have you managed this? Firstly, BT made a bold statement early this year because we knew these were unprecedented times. We contacted every Graduate who had been through the recruitment process and told them that we would honor their contracts. This was really reassuring and supportive to the new cohort coming into the business.  “Early Careers play a huge role in the future success of our business, so there was never any doubt we would continue with the Programmes.”  As a technology business we have the tools, technology and platforms to continue to deliver so switching everything we did physically to virtually was the natural solution. We have learned a lot of lessons and will take these with us into next year to ensure the continued success of our Graduate and Apprentice Programmes. When we started exploring virtual onboarding it became clear we needed to focus on five key experiences the new starters would have: 1.    Logging into a laptop 2.    Sending an email or message 3.    Joining a MS Teams call 4.    Accessing Workplace 5.    Being able to send a text.  When we agreed those were the five things that were most important when joining an organisation and getting set up, our teams within Technology and HR worked closely together to prioritise them.  “That’s ultimately what we focused on; the end-users and how we could make their lives as simple and easy as possible.”  It was all about immersing the new Graduates in the BT culture, and getting them excited about starting their careers with us virtually, and this is something I’ll be taking into next year. Recording welcome talks and having these available online was so helpful to reassure people. Virtual onboardings and inductions can still be interactive and engaging if you get the design and timings right, and ensure there is enough variation with guest speakers, training, and insights into different areas of the business. It was a huge team effort and a great success. What were the main challenges (if any) you overcame when designing the programme? The biggest challenge was logistics and the distribution of equipment to all the Graduates. Due to COVID, people had moved around quite a lot and were either living with family members or had moved to a new location, so making sure we could get equipment to them was crucial. Our Digital Experience team did an incredible job to make sure our Graduates had laptops, phones and dedicated technical support to help them get set-up. Another challenge we had was keeping engagement going, helping them to network and keeping them motivated. However, the adaptability and resilience of our Early Careers Team and the events we hosted remotely in order to encourage a sense of community and belonging is something we are incredibly proud of.  Did you have to make many changes to your program in light of the coronavirus restrictions? We had to move some of our development programmes to virtual learning and our induction was also entirely digital. It’s made us think really differently about how we approach this next year.  Don’t get me wrong, COVID has been a huge disruption to all! As a mother of three children that works full time, I have spent next to no time with my extended family and friends and rarely left the house! But what it has done, is made me approach and look at things very differently, and given me a totally different view of what is possible, virtually. And that’s what I’m focusing on – the positive learnings and reflections that we can continue with year on year.    In light of all the discussions around Diversity & Inclusion at the moment how have you managed to incorporate D&I into your programme? At BT, we are determined to build an open, inclusive culture that celebrates and promotes diversity. We are working with organisations such as the Aleto Foundation to attract and engage talent from diverse backgrounds. These initiatives play a vital role in identifying and developing the next generation of leaders from communities and students from diverse backgrounds providing mentoring, coaching and development programmes.  Earlier this year, BT launched its Ethnicity Rapid Action Plan to help us go further and faster as a business. Our Ethnicity Rapid Action Plan focuses on the four areas where we feel we can make the biggest initial difference: Accelerating diversity within: We’re creating a new fast-stream for high potential people from ethnic minority backgrounds, all of whom will be personally mentored by a Senior Mentor. We will also have diverse shortlists for every senior management role. Educating and empowering our people: We’re introducing a new programme of mandatory race awareness training for everyone in BT. It will be immersive, offer guidance, champion diversity and it will support managers to tackle these critical issues. Leading by example: Every member of our Executive Committee will have a greater understanding of issues faced by ethnic minority communities and is equipped to lead the fight for equality. Each of the Executive Committee has committed to either have an ethnic minority reverse mentor or serve as a non-executive director for a community organisation serving ethnic minorities. Building transparency: We are addressing the gaps in our own data, encouraging self-declaration of identity, to help us build a rich profile of our workforce. This will underpin the introduction of an annual ethnicity pay audit, backed by action, and a new ethnicity dashboard will enable us to track progress across the colleague lifecycle and set targets for the Senior Leadership Team. There is a real drive for change, and I think that is representative across all industries and sectors and it feels great to be a part of that driving force.    Big thank you to Kimberly for giving us some great insight into what BT Group are doing to ensure their Graduate Programme stays on track in these challenging times. Kara Feller Principal Consultant - HR & Talent Management Recruitment t: +44 (0)20 7422 9035 e: kfeller@mcgregor-boyall.com Other articles in this series: "Delivering a successful Graduate Programme." Click here to hear from Jessica Jones, Director of Human Resources at Jessica Jones Consulting. "Don't abandon Early Careers - evolve and adapt!" Click here to hear from Samantha Ridgewell, Managing Director at Empower Development.

We have been speaking to clients and candidates across the market and are seeing a number of organisations either halting or substantially reducing, their hiring in the graduate space due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. This is an alarming trend. Graduate Programmes are vital for many organisations, as they provide a future generation of talent and not hiring in this space could present longer term challenges. They also have a huge impact on employer brand, especially if they are delivered successfully. They offer a fresh perspective and innovative ideas which, in turn, allows organisations to grow and thrive.  With this in mind, we have spoken to three Early Careers Specialists to gather their insights into how businesses can address the challenges around delivering Graduate Programmes in the current market. We have spoken to 2 consultants, Jessica Jones (see below) and Samantha Ridgewell to get a holistic overview of their approach and potential solutions. Additionally, we have a deep focus interview with Kimberley Rowling, Graduate Programme Manager for the BT Group to get insight to what she is driving internally within BT.     Below we hear from Jessica Jones, Director of Human Resources at Jessica Jones Consulting Jessica is seasoned HR Professional with experience across the investment banking industry, retail finance, technology and pharma. She has 20 years’ experience focusing on developing and engaging Talent, including Early Careers. She is genuinely passionate about talent, and Early Careers in particular. She believes that in the last 3+ years there has been a strong need to move online with graduate engagement initiatives, programme delivery and training alike. The Coronavirus pandemic has expedited this shift, meaning some organisations have been on the back foot with technology and the necessary internal skills to deliver programmes in this way. Jessica believes there are some key elements that will ensure success in delivering a Graduate Programme in the current market: Leadership The organisation will need leadership that embraces remote training. Leaders must believe in the product and see it as an opportunity to drive the talent agenda in an innovative way.  “Successful grad programs present a strong and consistent brand message, irrespective of market conditions”. Larger organisations will be able to utilise in house Talent Teams, but if you are smaller there are many external providers and consultants that will be able to design and deliver remote programs, upskill internal teams and support organisations in making this shift. Content Jessica believes that the content of the Graduate Programme doesn’t necessarily have to change dramatically but as there will be a shift to online, organisations will need to upskill their Talent Managers or Graduate Program Managers to deliver online training in an engaging way. “The delivery of the training will need to be adapted to reflect your audience. Short sharp content training for Graduates will be key to some organisations especially when looking at the younger tech savvy generation.”  This generation is high touch and high tech, meaning organisations need to remember the personal touch and how they support their new hires in building relationships and strong networks. Data “Organisations will need data to be able to adjust and pivot in the current market.” Data will provide organisations with information on their new Graduates, including their mindset, motivations and engagement levels. This will ensure you can tailor your Graduate Programmes and ensure success in a remote environment. Diversity and Inclusion Diversity and Inclusion is very topical right now. So should organisations refocus on this for their Graduate Programmes after the recruitment piece?  “Inclusion is vital for any organisation, and strong inclusion methodologies will support diversity. But organisations shouldn’t be complacent. This is topical and we are all still learning. You will need to have a strong handle on your data to look at interventions to put into play”.   Jessica advised that the data should stem from the beginning of the process from recruitment, onboarding through to 30 – 60-90-day plans. “If you take it back to the recruitment and assessment processes these should identify the motivations and needs of the graduates so you can tailor the training and ensure all employees are engaged and feel included”. Big thank you to Jessica for sharing her hints and tips for making your Graduate Programme a success in a virtual world. Kara Feller Principal Consultant - HR & Talent Management Recruitment t: +44 (0)20 7422 9035 e: kfeller@mcgregor-boyall.com Other articles in this series: "Early Careers are vital to the future of a business". Click here to hear from Kimberly Rowling, Graduate Programme Manager at BT Group. "Don't abandon Early Careers - evolve and adapt!" Click here to hear from Samantha Ridgewell, Managing Director at Empower Development.

McGregor Boyall are pleased to announce the appointment of Terry Witham as Director of our Info & Cyber Security Recruitment Practice. Terry has over 20 years’ experience in recruitment that ranges from building international recruitment teams to solution selling around the globe. As a specialist in the Info & Cyber Security recruitment space, he will drive the growth of McGregor Boyall’s Info & Cyber Security Practice on a national and international basis. Commenting on his appointment Terry said, “I’m really excited to have finally landed at McGregor Boyall, who possess a phenomenal name in the recruitment industry both in the UK across the Middle East and APAC regions.” “I am delighted to have Terry on board to build on and expand our Info & Cyber Security Practice both in the UK and internationally” said Group CEO Laurie Boyall. “His experience speaks for itself, and his proven track record of delivery across consultancy and project solutions will be pivotal as we expand our offering in this area.” “I’m really looking forward to enhancing both McGregor Boyall’s recruitment and consultancy solutions across the UK and internationally” added Witham. “I truly believe McGregor Boyall has a unique brand to take to market to integrate value-add talent solutions and contingent recruitment.”  

Despite the turbulent times of 2020 we have continued to see high demand for Data Governance / Data Management / Cloud Professional. Over the past 10 years there has been a huge push for firms to manage their data and it is imperative that they build a strong data governance strategy to ensure they are compliant with any current and future regulations. With the fast approaching Basel III deadline, it is extremely important that firms have their data processes in order. During these uncertain times it is crucial that firms manage their data correctly and input it accurately, as this will stand firms in a good stead when building crucial new data strategies for the future. Additionally, Data Analytics remains a top priority for many organisations. Now, more than ever, is the time to utilise the data we have and use it to build a robust strategy for the future. Data Governance The importance of Data Governance cannot be underestimated and for firms nowadays their data infrastructure has to be transparent and auditable. For the data governance to be compliant, there needs to be a robust data infrastructure in place, so that when there are potential moments of crisis all the data processes and infrastructure remain intact. Data governance is the most important element of the data infrastructure, along with the definition of your data strategy and data lineage, to ensure that performance is regularly assessed. As we know data and risk are intertwined and it is extremely important that your data is of the right quality before any risk calculation is conducted. Improving data quality is something that cannot be taken for granted. This can be done by ensuring that your data quality is tracked, taking steps to ensure that data is clean at the points of entry and finally utilising automation processes to limit human error and save time. Cloud With so many cloud migrations and upgrades, there has been lots of demand for cloud data professionals with AWS, Azure or GCP experience, to assist with a new cloud-based Data management structures within many financial services firms. With the dramatic increase in remote working in recent months having a robust cloud platform has been essential in ensuring employees can access their data from the cloud and work as they would in the office.    Firms that have utilised these cloud platforms have been able to continue working successfully in these uncertain and unpredictable times. Data Science/Data Engineering The continual growth of Data Science/Data Engineering technologies and functions is more important than ever in these challenging times. The UK Government and major organisations around the globe are reliant on intelligent technology, which is underpinned by Data Science.  Machine Learning and Data Science technologies have allowed for regular data driven updates and advances in Artificial Intelligence have created a robust digital age. Next day deliveries (e.g. Amazon), streaming services (e.g. Netflix) and near real time takeaway services (e.g. Deliveroo) have become the norm during lockdown and they will continue to grow beyond this.  Organisations have switched to remote working and technological advances have meant that almost anything that previously had to be done in the office can now be done online. As a result of this, we are expecting to see strong demand for Data Engineers and Data Scientists going forward. The increase in the number of digitally aligned companies means that organisations will require Data Engineers to implement fit for purpose, secure data analytics platforms and they will need Data Scientists to derive insights from the complex data sets.  It is more important than ever to be able to use data to prepare for potential scenarios and inform our decision making, and candidates who are able to crunch data and turn it into valuable insights and data strategy are going to be in high demand over the course of the next year or so. Advanced Data Science is becoming an essential component of almost every industry in both the public and private sectors.  Nathan Ballin Associate Director - Data & Analytics t: +44 (0)20 7422 9212 e: nballin@mcgregor-boyall.com Nathan Carolan Principal Consultant - Data Science & Data Engineering t: +44 (0)20 7422 9213 e: ncarolan@mcgregor-boyall.com  

In light of the Covid-19 Pandemic we have seen a significant dip in the number of vacancies both in the UK and globally. Multiple businesses are downsizing and restructuring due to poor market performance across a range of sectors.  With talent acquisition being one of the biggest costs to business, we have seen immediate hiring freezes, rapid reduction of talent acquisition teams and a halt in the use of third parties except where absolutely critical. Whilst this is the case across most sectors, even in areas that have been less impacted revenue wise, there also caution around hiring decisions. There will always be a need to hire fresh talent Whilst these actions have helped to reduce business costs in the short term, in the long-term businesses will need to start scaling up again and hiring the talent needed.  However, they will no longer have the effective resource to do this! Despite the downturn there will always be the need to hire fresh talent.  So how are organisations navigating their way through talent acquisition in the current market?  Below we examine some of the challenge’s businesses are facing. Challenge 1: When/where/who/what to hire Understandably firms are being cautious when hiring new talent. They are waiting for market stability prior to committing. However, it is critical to review the opportunity costs to delaying recruitment. This can lead to inertia for a business, not having the right people in the right roles to take the business forward, especially in these tough times. The challenge for HR is knowing at which point the cost of not hiring talent becomes detrimental to the business while also ensuring that the positions they want to hire are the right roles/ levels/ technical capabilities that the business needs to succeed. Successful businesses are looking to their HR teams to work with their leaders to identify and define talent needs effectively by; using strategic workforce planning and talent development programmes to ensure they are hiring the right talent externally; utilising the capability of existing internal talent. This has the benefit of increasing both engagement and productivity of existing employees with expanded international career prospects, and additionally reduces costs by not always having to seek the talent externally.  Challenge 2: The virtual hiring process How do you hire successfully when you can’t physically meet face to face? When lockdown first hit, some firms delayed hiring processes as they wanted to physically meet individuals prior to making final decisions. This has slowed down and even halted hiring processes and decisions resulting in firms losing out on critical talent. Other companies quickly embraced virtual technologies such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet to drive remote interviewing processes. They have found that this has led to a leaner, faster and more effective system. Candidates and clients alike have had greater accessibility and availability without the constraints arising from physical face to face interviews. As time has progressed the comfort level of candidates accepting a role where they have not necessarily seen the office environment has also increased.  In the most effective organisations, HR has been instrumental in designing ways of sharing the company culture, ethos and values through virtual means and communicating these effectively to candidates. This has ensured consistent approaches and messages throughout the interview process. A crucial aspect has been to select interviewers who are best placed to promote the organisation and engage candidates remotely. This has been achieved through effective training and support for these interviewers. Some organisations have been less effective in the virtual hiring process due to lack of infrastructure, poor communication and unskilled interviewers which has resulted in disjointed processes, delayed start dates for candidates as well as candidates refusing roles. HR is critical in putting in the measures to overcome these shortcomings. Success in the virtual hiring space has seen candidates who have gone through a complete remote hiring and onboarding process feel excited and part of the organisation despite the lack of physical contact. There have been multiple social media posts from candidates highlighting this and praising the communication they have had with the new company onboarding them. Challenge 3: Ensuring you are accessing the best talent in a market flooded with candidates There are a greater number of candidates available in the market than we have seen for a very long time. Demand for jobs is high, and in turn candidate applications per role has increased dramatically.  For example, HR Business Partner roles are typically attracting up to 1000 applications. This makes the hiring process incredibly time consuming, especially where Talent Acquisition Teams have been downsized.  The onus on filtering is falling on broader HR Teams and Line Managers who sometimes, as stated previously, require requiring support and training. Those organisation with a high level of resources have been extremely fortunate to have use of AI technology which supports them with their screening processes to filter down applications.  However, they must use this with caution and still need to put measures in place to ensure AI is being used in the right way.  AI is only as good as the data and filtering mechanisms being employed. Criteria can change over time and if not managed correctly candidates could be deselected based on outdated approaches. A specific issue raised in the use of AI has been around the lack of reference to Diversity & Inclusion with diverse candidates sometimes being deselected through the use of AI models working to more traditional parameters. The other area to be mindful of is whilst AI can save time and automate part of the process, human interaction also needs to be a visible part of the process.  We are all human and candidates can become frustrated and disengaged without some form of human interaction. Changing roles can be a life-changing decision.  Little to no human interaction during each stage of the process can have a very negative impact on candidates’ perceptions of an organisation. HR is integral to ensuring automation and the human element of the process are well-balanced. Some organisations do not have the resources to utilise AI and other automated tools to assist the recruitment processes.  The onus falls to HR Teams and Line Managers to filter thorough huge numbers of applications which is not only time consuming but detracts from other key responsibilities. Organisations need to ensure they have enough capability in talent acquisition to manage the high volumes of applications efficiently and effectively to get the right candidates.  Alternatively, the use of a third-party search firms / agencies for support could be critical. None of the above addresses the fact that selection can only be attained from candidates who have applied to the organisation.  It does not allow access to the passive market or those who may not have seen the role advertised.  This again is where third-party agencies and in-house teams have a critical part to play in ensuring quality candidates are made available in a timely manner. Challenge 4: Ensuring you are engaging with candidates appropriately in the hiring process Often the first instinct in a downturn is for organisations to feel in a position of power when hiring. We know there is a large volume of candidates available, so they should be able to acquire talent cheaply and have their pick of candidates for roles, ignoring offering the candidate a positive experience, right? WRONG! This is not the best practice any organisation should adopt. It may seem easy to cut corners in the hiring process, be slow in decision making, changing roles and prevaricating about candidates mid-way through the process just because there are lots of other options available.  However, this will impact on the brand, engagement and reputation of the organisation in the longer term. We must remember the market won’t remain as it is today. Candidates who have a poor experience will be deterred in the future. Even in these challenging times the market is highly competitive for sought after skills and experience and candidates who are of the highest calibre.  Organisations who are taking this viewpoint are leaving the market with a poor impression of their brand, leading to attraction and retention issues in the future. Those who are successful in this space will ensure that the candidate experience is positive whether they are successful or unsuccessful in the process.  HR is instrumental in defining touch points in the talent acquisition process to make the experience as positive as possible. In conclusion, the current market has thrown up challenges on how businesses approach their talent acquisition strategy.  Smart and adaptable organisations have found ways to overcome these challenges by effectively defining their hiring needs and streamlining their processes.  The way in which talent acquisition is approached has changed. The most successful organisations have adapted well by identifying potential pitfalls and how they can be overcome or avoided using some of the HR strategies identified in this article. Nina Adair Practice Head - HR & Talent Management Recruitment  t: +44 (0)20 7422 9078 | e: NAdair@mcgregor-boyall.com  

The Pandemic has accelerated digital transformation. A recent report suggested that the overwhelming majority of UK enterprise decision makers believe COVID-19 has increased their budget for and speed of digital transformation plans. From utilising artificial intelligence to increased reliance on blockchain, organisations are undergoing radical change to stay competitive in the post COVID-19 landscape. Rapid change from external pressures can lead to incredible innovation, but it can also result in costly errors. In 2018, research by CISQ identified that software errors cost organisations in the US $2.8 trillion. Software issues can lead to security breaches, poor customer experience and wasted time trying to fix problems after deployment. So, how can organisations avoid the riskier aspects of digital transformation? DevOps — an approach that integrates all stages of design, development and IT processes — is the ideal solution. DevOps and digital transformation go hand in hand. Many large-scale companies are now relying heavily on a DevOps approach, including Starbucks, BMW, Disney, Verizon and Adidas. But why does DevOps provide such value to organisations? Let’s find out… Efficiency One of the most important things a DevOps approach achieves is breaking down the barriers between teams. Frequent feedback in developmental stages means that issues can be identified quickly and early. This means that small problems are usually resolved before they become big problems. It also results in far less time being wasted in developing technologies that are not fit for the purpose. This increased efficiency is reflected by how much faster DevOps teams operate. A recent analysis by BCG shows that deployment time is reduced by up to 90%. In addition, the quality of the work increases (change failure rate is reduced by 50-70%) while overall IT costs are reduced (15-25%). Culture ‘Don’t worry, operations will fix it.’ Not with DevOps. Developments tend to utilise a shared code base, frequent testing and automated deploys which enable the team to work together throughout the process. At no stage is the code ‘passed over’ to a separate team, meaning that everyone is responsible for the end product. This shared responsibility results in both the obvious efficiency and quality benefits, but also a number of cultural benefits. DevOps supports a culture of collaboration, skill sharing and modernity. The shared responsibility also reduces fear of failure, which fosters creativity and innovation. Finally, DevOps teams are happier, more engaged and productive. Automation Automation and standardisation are integral to successful DevOps. It reduces human error, eliminates many monotonous tasks and increases the consistency of the output. Best practices and solutions can also be more easily shared across teams. This translates to employees spending 50% less time remediating security issues and 22% less time on unplanned work and rework. Through automation, DevOps achieves stability in an organisation, allowing employees to spend more time creating new features or code. To summarise, the benefits of DevOps in organisations are clear. Adopting this approach allows organisations to deploy new software more quickly while reducing the risk of costly errors. It’s also key to breaking down barriers between teams, establishing shared responsibility and allowing more time to be spent on creative work (e.g. new features) — all of which are essential to supporting digital transformation within an organisation.

We recently conducted a survey of Communications Professionals looking at the impact the lockdown and coronavirus pandemic has had on internal and external communications. The below infographic outlines the results.  - Key Findings -  Analysing the graphs you can see, workload pressure on Internal Communications has dipped for a small number of businesses during the Lockdown, whereas the majority saw workload pressures increase. This trend has continued post-lockdown with workload pressures not letting up and, in many cases, increasing. Email was reported as being the most effective channel for communicating with employees.  Similarly workload pressure on External Communications has dipped for some businesses during the Lockdown, however, the majority saw workload pressures increase. This trend has continued post-lockdown with the majority of businesses reporting the pressure is continuing to increase. Externally, LinkedIn Updates were found to be the most effective communications channel.

Sitting at my kitchen table, coffee in one hand and phone in the other, it seems like any other ordinary day. In fact, for most of us, today, and the last few months, have been anything but ordinary!  For Kate Reid, starting a new role as Global Director of Communications and Brand at Informa Tech, these unprecedented times have certainly brought about different challenges and opportunities that she was not expecting.  I caught up with Kate over a virtual coffee to find out more about her experiences since joining Informa just weeks before the UK went into lockdown. Hi Kate, thanks for taking the time for a chat! Could you start by giving us some insight into your background? Hi James! Yes, absolutely and thanks for inviting me to this virtual coffee - I have spent the majority of my career in tech and specifically fintech communications. I started out agency-side where I was lucky enough to work with some really big-name brands such as Microsoft, Dell, and Intel, as well as smaller start-ups and niche providers. In 2010 I made the move in-house, first to client Information Mosaic and then to another ex-client, Thomson Reuters, where I latterly became Global Head of Communications for the company’s Financial and Risk Division. I was part of the Senior Team that carved out and launched the ‘$6billion start-up’ Refinitiv. How are you settling into your new opportunity at Informa Tech? Incredibly well! Informa Tech has a very welcoming and inclusive culture – now five months into my tenure but with only six weeks spent in an actual office setting, I still feel very much a part of the Informa Tech family. Alongside the opportunity to build brand and brand-loyalty for a nascent company, the open and low-ego culture of Informa Tech was one of the big draws for me when accepting the role. What have been the biggest challenges over the past few months and what impact has this had on your role? The obvious challenge has been adapting to an environment where everyone is working from home and making sure that our leadership remains visible and clear. From that perspective my focus has definitely pivoted more strongly to our internal audiences as I get to know the organisation. These unprecedent times have provided powerful opportunities to start important conversations with colleagues. Although lockdown has been an unsettling and distressing time for people around the world, it has also been a huge opportunity for communicators to bring people together and create cohesion through shared experiences. Both Covid-19 and the awful killing of George Floyd have been powerful opportunities for us to start important conversations with colleagues - about wellbeing, about diversity and representation, about unconscious bias – and hopefully bring about lasting change. These are moments when great leaders stand up and be counted. And by leaning into the more pastoral aspects of their roles, lasting connections are made. What advice do you have for others who are settling into new roles in the current climate? Stay connected! Take advantage of the fact that everyone is at home to spend both formal and informal time with new colleagues. Lockdown has been a bonding experience for many of us as we share the same challenges. I have loved the insight you get into people from seeing them in their homes, in their home clothes, sometimes with their children. I have also enjoyed how easy it is to include colleagues who have always worked remotely or in different geographies – lockdown has been a great leveller in that way. Regular coffee time with your teams and people in your network create those opportunities for connection which are so important when you’re starting out in a new role. Having a purpose-driven company vision and culture is now the only way. What do you think are the biggest trends in communications today? I think purpose-driven vision and culture is now the only way. When we were launching Refinitiv in 2018 it still felt quite novel that we were stating our aims in the context of a wider social good, but now I’m already at a point where it feels odd that a company would not have a purpose that benefits wider society in some way. One of the things I loved about Informa Tech is that they want to ‘inspire the tech community to build a better world’. It is such a powerful way of winning both hearts and minds, of bringing employees and customers closer to your brand and feeling part of something bigger. Given the challenges we all face in the future, corporates reassessing their role in driving positive change more broadly is also simply the right thing to do. The key to success during lockdown has been to overcommunicate How do you think communications will be perceived in a post Covid-19 world? It should be perceived as essential. The key to success during lockdown has been to over-communicate – whether it has been government to people, company to customer, CEO to investor, leader to team, colleague to colleague. I think we will look back and recognize the key role that communications teams have played in keeping the show on the road during this difficult time. And given the challenges we face in the future communications should continue to have a well-deserved place at the leadership table. A bit about James… James has been recruiting for over 7 years within the Digital, Marketing and Communications space. He has established himself as a specialist, working with the brightest, most creative and sought-after talent across various industries, partnering with clients on exclusive and multiple hire projects. Working across a range of sectors, he has helped large corporates and small start-ups to find the best talent in market, from Executive to Leadership level. Away from work you will find James at his local pub quiz, on the golf course or cheering on his race dogs!

COVID-19 is changing the way we work and live. With the increase of remote working and reliance on screen-time for entertainment and social interaction, the digital industry is said to be booming. The Financial Times reports, “Tech companies are still hiring feverishly as they move to take advantage of a world shifting increasingly to digital as a result of the coronavirus, despite mass lay-offs elsewhere and growing concerns over plummeting global markets.” Companies with existing online infrastructure are seeing new subscribers, more time spent on digital platforms and increased reliance on e-commerce. According to The Economist, “Alphabet, Google’s parent, saw sales rise by 13% in the first quarter compared with the year before, and profits reached $7bn.” But will this digital trend last? Although we expect an eventual return to in-person activities, COVID-19 is expected to have a long term impact on digital engagement. For example, “tech phobia” is commonly cited as a reason why some, particularly those over 65, may avoid new technology. However, with no alternatives, this age group are embracing new technology. In addition, younger family members are taking the time to help them get set-up and familiar with these new apps and services. What this means, going forward, is that mobile and digital offerings will have a much wider audience, beyond tech-savvy customers and digital native millennials. MckInsey recently highlighted the post-pandemic trends beginning to emerge in China. For example, there has been a 55% increase in customers planning a permanent shift to online grocery shopping and an increase of 3-6% percentage points in overall e-commerce. Once people overcome the initial barriers, this data indicates that customers may permanently switch or significantly increase their use of digital services. These behavioural changes are being supported by rapid transformation of digital infrastructure. On an individual company level, businesses are investing in digital strategy – for example, Hotel Chocolat recently announced a multi-million pound investment plan. There is larger scale investment from business – Alibaba Cloud will be putting $28 billion into developing their infrastructure over the next three years. Further government support will be available for UK businesses driving innovation and development. Finally, an internet connection is now essential for information regarding the pandemic and accessing vital goods and services for those self-isolating. The Human Rights Watch have emphasised the importance of achieving equal access to digital services (and particularly a good quality internet connection, which thousands are currently struggling with). It is clear that we can expect further investment in digital infrastructure in our future. Who will thrive in the post COVID-19 world? Evidently, those with a strong existing digital service will be well placed to retain their position once the pandemic has subsided. COVID-19 has created a form of ‘digital Darwinism’ according to Mary Meeker, author of the annual Internet Trends Report, whereby businesses with a clear digital strategy will leave behind those without. In a recent report, McKinsey outlined several actions that should be taken to meet customer needs and prepare for the future. These actions include: Focus on care and concern: prioritise employee needs and the wider community by reaching out and staying true to company values. Meet your customer needs: adapt or create digital services and models that meet remote and social distancing requirements. Reimagine the post-COVID-19 world: plan for economic cuts, changes to brick and mortar stores and increased uptake of digital channels. Build agile capabilities for fluid times: utilise resources such as social media and ‘ear to the ground’ insights to respond to fast-moving customer signals. It is these companies, who support customers through the crisis by providing efficient digital services, that will retain customer loyalty in the post COVID-19 world. Those who look further ahead, to develop exceptional experiences and utilise developments in infrastructure, will thrive in our digital future.  

McGregor Boyall are pleased to welcome Tamryn George as Principal Consultant for Risk Management & Quantitative Analytics. George has over 8 years’ experience as a specialist Recruiter in Risk Management and Quantitative Analytics in South Africa. She has an extensive and successful track record of placing qualified Risk Professionals within Retail, Corporate & Investment Banking, Advisory and niche Financial Services. Tamryn’s career progressed quickly as she was instantly recognised as a Top Recruiter from both her candidates and network of clients. Commenting on her appointment George said, “Since moving to London, I’ve been looking for a well-established firm with a strong reputation in the market. A firm that offers a professional working environment and an opportunity to collaborate with other successful teams. Since my first initial engagement with McGregor-Boyall I quickly realised that they ticked all these boxes, offering so much more!” “It’s truly refreshing to be able to welcome on board Tamryn, a highly experienced recruitment professional with extensive Risk Management knowledge across all levels and disciplines” said Chris Mensah, Associate Director for Risk Management and Quantitative Analytics. “In what is a particularly difficult market, Tamryn has a wide range of expertise gained over the years in different economic markets and international locations, which I am sure our clients will benefit from. Longer term I’m confident this investment in the Team will ensure we can continue to build and strengthen our relationships with clients.” “In what has been an extremely tough period, it is great to be talking about positive changes” added Lucy Frost, Group People Director. “Tamryn had accepted our offer before lockdown, and like most firms we have had to navigate through lots of challenges over the past three months.  However together we worked out a plan to get her into the business but in a flexible manner that worked for both parties.  I am sure she will be an asset to the firm.” 

Working from home has been vital to slow transmission of the coronavirus. However, a new threat has emerged: increased online activity, use of new applications and less secure home networks are opening up individuals and organisations to a host of cyberattacks. The problem According to a recent Forbes article, in an analysis of the first 100 days of the COVID-19 crisis security firm Mimecast reported a 33% increase in detected cyberattacks – including spam (+26%), malware (+35%), impersonation (+30%) and blocked URL links (+56%). Certain industries are being particularly targeted, such as healthcare (e.g. The World Health Organisation have reported a fivefold increase in cyberattacks and PPE themed scams have increased) and banking (increased use of online banking presents many opportunities for hackers – such as exploiting new users who may not be familiar with the service). A recent report from McKinsey highlighted the multitude of potential cybersecurity risks exacerbated by remote working. For example, changes in app-access rights (such as enabling off-site access and lack of multifactor authentication) and use of personal devices or tools (such as a laptop without central control or an unsecured network) increase the opportunities for cyberattacks. While technology was vital to navigate our way through the COVID-19 crisis, rapid adoption of new digital offerings has increased risk. New tools such as video-conferencing have been particularly affected, where an unauthorised person joins a call to steal information or cause disruption. There are also fake tech support scams – increasingly sophisticated attempts to manipulate remote workers (especially those who may be working from home for the first time) with fabricated access and other tech support issues. The weakest point in any technical system is the person sitting behind the screen. The majority (at least half, according to Trustwave’s 2020 Global Security Report) of cyberattacks occur via social engineering, a psychological manipulation process using tactics such as sending a scam from a trusted source. As always, cyber-criminals know how to target human vulnerabilities, and the number of phishing scams capitalising on our fear of COVID-19 has significantly increased. In addition, we are more likely to fall for a scam when tired or stressed – given the change to working from home, where many are juggling a variety of stressors – we might be even more vulnerable to these kinds of attacks right now. What can you do? Given that the person behind the screen represents a security weak-point, they also represent an area of improvement. We will need to learn how to practise good cyber-hygiene, similar to how we adopted thorough hand-washing and social distancing to reduce the risk of the coronavirus. There are several excellent resources on improving cybersecurity. For example, Siemens have provided their eight top tips for cybersecurity in the home office, including only bringing home essential devices, not mixing personal and business use of devices and ensuring all software is always up to date. The Electronic Frontier Foundation provide more in depth advice on how to spot a phishing scam. However, while this information is useful, it can be more difficult to establish reliable cyber-security habits. A reported three in four remote workers have yet to receive cybersecurity training, despite the clear increase in risk. More importantly, remote workers are falling for these cyber-attacks. This was recently highlighted by software development company, Gitlab, who found that 1 out of 5 of their own remote-working staff exposed user credentials by replying to a fake phishing message. Regular testing of existing cybersecurity plans in this manner can help to identify areas for improvement. The future While cyber-attacks are growing ever more sophisticated, so is cybersecurity. Gamification is one fresh approach to cybersecurity training. Reading through countless tips and the odd video on cybersecurity is unlikely to translate to robust cyber-hygiene habits. However, gamified training results in increased engagement, knowledge and information retention. Increased investment in cybersecurity may provide us with a host of interesting ideas. Cheltenham Borough Council recently announced plans for a £400 million campus development, situated next door to GCHQ, said to be the ‘Silicon Valley of the UK’. The complex will help to bridge the current skills gap and enhance the UK’s cybersecurity capacity. Clearly, the coronavirus has highlighted a variety of cybersecurity threats. With remote working expected to continue for the foreseeable future and beyond, it is vital to address current shortcomings in security. Looking forward, the industry is an exciting one, poised for innovation and development.

Our England Regions Salary Guide 2020 provides the latest salary data collated by our specialist Recruitment Teams covering:   - Change & Transformation  - Compliance  - Cyber Security  - Data & Analytics  - Digital  - Finance & Audit  - Financial Crime  - HR & Talent Management  - Marketing & Communications  - Risk  - Technology   

Times of crisis have often sparked innovation. The Second World War, for example, brought us the forerunner of modern-day computer, advances in radar, the basis of microwaves and mass production of penicillin. COVID-19 is having a similar effect on digital development. Ideas that might have seemed far-fetched (such as the rapid scale-up of online grocery shopping and other e-commerce) are promoted by a crisis-inspired culture of experimentation. Here are five examples of how technology is developing in response to extraordinary demands. 1. Data Analysis Tools Finding data is easy, understanding it is hard. To this end, the pandemic has inspired several AI tools to help us make sense of the large amount of available information. Data analytics company, Arria NLG, are involved in two projects helping to transform data into an easy-to-understand narrative – the COVID-19 Live Report and the COVID-19 U.S. Tracking Report. AI analysis is also being used by a group of Northwestern University researchers to identify which research will return reliable, usable results that will help aid the search for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. 2. Blockchain The power of blockchain was recently demonstrated in a $12 million cross-continent commodity trade transaction of wheat. Usually, a transaction of this kind can take up to a month. However, using dltledgers’s blockchain platform, this was reduced to just five days. More and more businesses are expanding their reliance on blockchain – such as Nestle, who recently extended their use of the IMB Food Trust blockchain platform to their Swedish coffee range. The implications for keeping supply chains running seamlessly – something the coronavirus has highlighted as a serious challenge – are remarkable. 3. Natural Language Processing With varied applications, such as helping customers navigate online platforms or as efficient medical tools (such as those used by Providence St. Joseph to offer coronavirus-related information), chatbots are proving useful during the pandemic. Chatbots are most commonly used to increase efficiency by answering simple queries, while forwarding more complex requests to a human operator. However, natural language processing, which refers to the deep learning that allows the chatbot to extract meaning from human conversation, improves with increased data. With some custom-made chatbots already proving useful in advanced interactions (such as Replika’s virtual friends, helping some people cope with the effects of social isolation), the uptake in chatbot use may enable the AI underpinning them to become vastly more sophisticated in the years to come. 4. Automation At their recent virtual event, IBM announced a new range of AI-powered services, designed to support businesses in automating their digital infrastructure. According to Verdict, the new offering will “use automation to detect, diagnose and respond to IT anomalies and will integrate with other products such as those from Slack and Box.” Developments such as these will allow businesses to successfully adapt to a more digital future. 5. Robotics Many companies have reported that they are looking to increase use of robotics for food service, warehouses and cleaning operations. Blue Ocean Robotics have responded to this increased demand by creating a cleaning robot, able to destroy viruses, bacteria and other harmful microorganisms with concentrated UV-C ultraviolet light. It can sanitise environments such as hospitals, offices, shops and schools without the need for chemicals, meaning that people can be present during the cleaning. Production was quickly accelerated due to coronavirus-related demand, and it now takes less than one day to create a robot. The general public have often been uncomfortable with the idea of robots (and the issue of replacing human jobs with robot labour remains). However, with social distancing likely to be in place throughout 2021, robot labour may become more acceptable, stimulating demand for and development of robotic technology. This article has showcased a small handful of the exciting innovation occurring during the pandemic. Given that there is expected to be a permanent shift towards use of digital services and practices such as remote working, these developments could have far-reaching implications for the technology industry for years to come.