Tag Archives: talent

Finance and Banking, News, North of England

HURST blazes a trail with new Vistage Inside leadership development programme

Independent accounting and business advisory firm HURST is blazing a trail with a new leadership development programme for 12 of its rising stars.

HURST is the first accountancy firm headquartered in the north to launch a Vistage Inside programme for future leaders.

Vistage, with 45,000 members worldwide, is a global leader in personal development and advisory groups for CEOs, key executives and leadership teams, providing insight, fresh perspectives, peer advisory groups, coaching and mentoring.

The two-year Vistage Inside programme combines tailored workshops with speaker sessions, insight papers, webinars and one-to-one coaching.

HURST’s bespoke Developing Leaders initiative is being delivered by Victoria Gee, former managing partner at executive search company Warren Partners, in her role as the founder and chair of a Manchester and Cheshire Vistage CEO peer advisory group.

The programme began this month with a full-day workshop and a talk by award-winning speaker, business author and ‘corporate athlete’ Brad Waldron on the key habits of highly-effective leadership.

Chris Stewardson, the HURST partner who is leading the programme for the firm, said: “The partners firmly believe it is essential to equip our developing leaders with the commercial, client and people skills to ensure the continued success and growth of the practice.

“Several of the HURST board have benefited from Vistage membership for some time, and we are now bringing Vistage to a wider group of people in the firm who are developing into a leadership role. The group is very excited to be working with Victoria to assist with their self-development and look forward to putting their learnings into practice.”

HURST focuses on advising entrepreneurial owner-managed businesses with turnover of £10m and above across all sectors. Clients include Kinaxia Logistics, M&I Materials, Beechfield Brands, Duerr’s, Oliver Valves, Lancashire County Cricket Club, Krones UK, Creamline Dairies, Arighi Bianchi, Scapa Group and Hyde Group.

Victoria said: “HURST’s senior leaders have seen the value of developing their skills and knowledge in partnership with our organisation, and it’s great to see the firm taking an impressively proactive approach to developing its leaders of the future and investing to ensure they continue to meet the expectations of its entrepreneurial client base and team.

“The practice has a fantastic culture, a great reputation and a strong position in the market, which all set it apart, but its leaders understand they cannot be complacent as they compete to attract, retain and grow their talent.”

She added: “We provide an environment where people can learn and be challenged in an open, supportive way that’s aligned to the culture at HURST.

“Our aim is to ensure that they are not only great technical accountants but also rounded leaders who understand entrepreneurs and the challenges and opportunities they face, and who are equipped to have the right conversations at the right time.

“As the first accountancy firm headquartered in the north to have launched a VI programme of this kind, it’s extremely exciting to be working with HURST and helping to bring on its next generation of leaders.”

Andy Perkins, managing director of international operations at Vistage UK, said: “The partnership between HURST and Vistage is a great example of our mission in action.

“Through this collaboration we’ll be able to support HURST to do more of what’s important to the firm – focusing on personal and business growth, supporting its people to become better leaders who make better decisions and achieve better results, as well as placing the values of trust, challenge and care at the centre of everything they do.

“We know that better leaders have a positive impact on their companies, families and communities, and we are thrilled to be supporting HURST in its continued growth plans and developing its leadership talent of the future.”

HURST is due to move its head office to a new flagship development in Stockport in the spring to accommodate its growing team. The firm is taking 11,000sq ft at 3 Stockport Exchange, the latest phase of a £145m project by Muse Developments and Stockport Council.

HURST is taking a 10-year lease and will occupy the entire fifth floor at the building. It has been based since 1998 in Tiviot Dale in Stockport town centre, but has outgrown those premises. The new HQ will give the firm scope to expand from 120 staff to around 170, which it aims to achieve over the next three years.

News, North of England

The TALL Group of Companies are proud to employ local talent in Runcorn

The TALL Group of Companies, a UK leader in the provision of security print, secure payment and online solutions has recently recruited an additional 5 new permanent employees at its facility in Runcorn, Cheshire.

Operating from three secure, accredited production facilities in Runcorn, Hinckley and Lisburn (Northern Ireland) the TALL Group try to recruit locally wherever possible. The Runcorn site delivers the TALL Group’s security print solutions including a wide range of securely printed paper documents, ranging from cheques to gift vouchers and from certificates to ballot papers for elections around the world.

The new office-based positions in Runcorn range from Despatch & Warehouse to the Finance department, and are all vital to the smooth running of the organisation.

Martin Ruda, TALL Group Managing Director commented: “As a large employer, we take our responsibility to the local community seriously. We know how much talent there is in Runcorn, and the surrounding areas, and we want people to consider a career with us. We will continue to advertise new positions locally and hope to recruit from the Runcorn talent pool!”

Lenka Sanislova, Management Accountant at TALL Group added: “I’m thrilled to have joined the TALL Group at their Runcorn site. Everyone has been really welcoming and I feel part of the team already. It’s great to work for an organisation that values their people and supports them in their development. I look forward to the working on some exciting projects in the future.”

News

Soke Performance launches PACT – a unique approach to reinventing workplace culture

A pioneering new approach to workplace culture is launched today by Soke Performance, the corporate services division of The Soke, the private mental health, wellness and coaching centre in London. PACT is a unique offering for organisations, designed to reinvent workplace culture in order to boost business performance and growth.

With a focus on Purpose, Authenticity, Communication and Trust, PACT is a systemic approach that builds purposeful, courageous and empathetic workplace cultures by harnessing the role and relevance of emotional individuality. The programme creates a working culture that attracts and retains the individuals whose consistent performance leads to organisational resilience and growth.

With the pandemic having shone a spotlight on mental health and wellbeing and what it means to live a good life, people today no longer choose a job based purely on salary, instead prioritising workplace culture, the organisation’s attitude to wellbeing and the values of the company. PACT has been created in response to this shifting mindset.

The programme supports forward-thinking employers who are looking to develop a clearer recognition of their employee’s experience within their organisation, in order to provide a healthier working environment with a focus on workplace wellbeing and sustainability.

PACT is divided into four modules with each delivered with a weekly or fortnightly interval in between. There is a primary version designed for Leadership teams and a secondary version designed for other stakeholders. The process commences with an audit prior to Module 1 and concludes with a further audit six to twelve months after delivery of the fourth & final module.

Ed Lowther, Head of Soke Performance at The Soke, comments:

“Workplace wellbeing relates to all areas of a person’s working life and is a key factor in determining an organisation’s long-term effectiveness. The emotional climate of a workplace affects the company’s overall sense of wellbeing and the workers’ ability to function well and do their best at work. The way we feel at work has a big impact on our performance, and without good psychological and physical health, humans cannot think, learn or create.

“There is an opportunity now to build organisations that include their employees in the conversation to create workplace cultures where partnerships are nurtured and where purpose, authenticity, communication and trust are at the heart of everything the company does. In response, The Soke has developed the PACT Principle – a systemic approach that builds purposeful, courageous and empathetic workplace cultures.”

News

Students across UK pursue digital skills to land better, more diverse careers

KX reveals the UK’s digital skills hotspots, areas across the nation where students are embracing digital skills including coding and data analytics to enhance their careers prospects and help to futureproof the UK’s economy.

The findings form part of a nationwide piece of research which interviewed 1,000 students across all areas of the UK.

 

Country-level breakdown

Standout findings include that two fifths (41%) of students in England can currently code or are learning to, and almost a third (27%) can do so in more than one language.

The figures for learning to code across Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland were 38%, 32% and 25% respectively.

 

The importance of data

The findings also reveal that nationwide digital learning is high on the agenda. 84% of students have now taken courses in either statistics (31%), data analytics (29%), or computational intelligence (24%). When it comes to data analytics the North is leading the way with 35% in the North West and 41% of students in Yorkshire & Humber having prioritized learning in this field.

And the reasoning for learning new skills may surprise. While roles in IT & Telecoms are a focus for just 5% of nationwide respondents, over 21% of students stated their primary reason for learning a digital skill was for a future role in healthcare. 12% reported their reasoning as an opportunity to move into education and 10% the arts.

 

Michaela Woods, a Technical Evangelist at KX, who learnt to code when studying at University and has seven years of experience working as a kdb+ developer said: “Learning to code is not only a one-time learning opportunity that ends when you enter the workforce. Technology is changing at a rapid rate, so digital skills and capabilities need to grow with the changing environment and circumstances.

“The exciting thing about learning to code early on in your education is that you will have a solid technical basis to start from, and the confidence to continually upskill and re-skill as your career progresses.”

 

Regional outliers

Split via region the research presented some significant outliers, with 38% of those interviewed in the East Midlands looking to move into healthcare and 15% of those in the East of England using digital skills as a way to move into the arts. Perhaps also surprising was that just 11% of London students looked to digital skills as a route into a career in Finance. A figure beaten by the East Midlands & Wales which saw respondents report 12% and 16% respectively.

The research also looked at UK students’ keenness for learning new languages, revealing how students compare the importance of linguistic skills against learning to code. While 29% reported they were of equal importance, speaking a new language did slightly outrank having computer programming skills (34% vs 29%). While this was mirrored across all regional data, it was closest in the East of England with a split of 25% for language learning and 23% for coding.

 

Daniel Baker, Head of Evangelism at KX, speaking on the findings said: ‘It’s fascinating to look at how much emphasis UK students are now putting towards digital skills. Traditionally coding has sat outside the general curriculum, with students turning to external providers to source materials to help with these skills. Hopefully these findings will emphasize the importance of providing our young people with access to the tools to help them enhance their digital capabilities.

“Regionally we are seeing the Midlands and North, as well as the East of England and Wales lead the way in many categories when it comes to enhancing their digital skill set. This may be surprising, with many expecting London to feature more prominently, but it shows how keen students outside of the South of the UK are to progress their careers.”

News

Research finds remote work could be key to Britain’s ‘Levelling Up’ plan

Remote work could enable over 13 million Brits* to seize the opportunity to live and work outside the major cities, helping to spread economic opportunity across the UK, according to research released today by ClickUp, the all-in-one productivity platform.

The research found that 45% of the UK workforce believe working remotely from wherever they’d like on a permanent basis is a realistic option. More than half (53%) of Brits believe that living in a major city is important to their career advancement – however if they had the same career prospects living elsewhere as they do now, only 15% of people would choose to continue living in the city.

The UK government recently announced its Levelling Up plan, which aims to bring gigabit broadband to 85% of the UK, and £1 billion to deliver 4G coverage to 95% of the country by the end of 2025, amongst other measures to reduce regional inequality. The new research from ClickUp suggests that remote work could play a major role in helping the government achieve its key objective and level the economic playing field across the country.

Amber Coster, VP of Operations, EMEA at ClickUp, said: “The key to spreading economic opportunity across the UK could be staring us in the face. The country has already adapted brilliantly to remote working, and there is a huge demand to live and work outside of the main economic hubs. There are still some productivity hurdles to be overcome but with the right approach and tools, combined with the government’s commitment to improving connectivity, remote work could play a major role in bringing economic opportunity to everyone.”

However, remote work does not come without its challenges; ClickUp’s research revealed the top areas that need improvement to make remote work a permanent reality, according to the workforce:

  1. Ways of communicating (19%)
  2. Managing employees (17%)
  3. Managing workloads and projects (17%)
  4. Too much importance is given to face-to-face meetings (17%)
  5. Software and tools (16%)

Managing and measuring productivity becomes even more important with distributed workforces, yet less than a fifth (19%) believe their employer’s ability to do this well. In fact, data shows there is significant room for improvement with close to half (44%) of Brits rating their employer’s ability to measure productivity as average or below average.

*The Office for National Statistics’ most timely estimate of payrolled employees indicates that in December 2021 there were 29.5 million employees in the UK

Business Mergers, Acquisitions & Partnerships, Diversity, News

futureproof and Arctic Shores partner to uncover tech talent of tomorrow

  • HR tech pioneer Arctic Shores is helping futureproof screen thousands of candidates for true potential.
  • futureproof aims to double its intake of new trainees for 2022 with Arctic Shores’ Talent Discovery Platform

London, UK, 7th February 2022: Arctic Shores, the psychometric assessment pioneer, has partnered with tech training platform futureproof to double its trainee intake in 2022 to 400.

Rather than screening candidates for skills or experience, futureproof sought instead to measure curiosity, drive, resilience, and ability to collaborate – skills well-suited to the future of work. This led the company to Arctic Shores’ platform, which measures dozens of traits that go unseen on a CV.

By seeing more than candidates’ skills or experience, both organisations hope to map a route for more diverse tech talent to enter the industry. In particular, the companies aim to unearth a new generation of tech engineers from a diverse range of backgrounds, helping leading employers to strengthen the quality of their technology teams for years to come.

Ed Halliday, futureproof’s Operations Director, said, “At futureproof, we aim to transform how leading companies source high-quality, diverse tech talent. That’s why we’re so pleased to be working closely with Arctic Shores: using assessment’s next frontier to unearth the future engineers that others miss – and to help our clients build tomorrow’s brightest tech teams.”

Robert Newry, Founder & CEO at Arctic Shores, said: “As futureproof aims to double its trainee intake in 2022, I’m proud that the team has chosen our platform to support them. In 2020, women represented just 19% of all tech employees. And last year, only 15% were from ethnic minorities. This needs to change. This partnership is the latest step in a long journey: toward a world where we move beyond outdated assessment measures like the CV to a focus on potential and seeing more in people.”

News

The Great Digital Disconnect: Not even a third of UK workers deliver ANY business value from data, despite 79% claiming ‘above average’ skills

Whilst transformation initiatives across the UK have accelerated at breakneck speed, the pace of digital upskilling has failed to keep up, creating a far deeper skills chasm than previously reported. A new survey from Alteryx, the analytics automation company, showed a critical imbalance between self-perceived data knowledge and the skills needed to deliver business value – highlighting an overly confident workforce that are unaware of the data skills they don’t yet know.

In a survey of over 1,000 UK employees who work with data in large companies, Alteryx found that more than three quarters (79%) classify their data skills as above average. While data is consistently classified as the main outcome driver behind modern business decisions, just 29% – the ‘data champions’ – are proficient at using that data to deliver business value.

Despite the clear link between data-driven insights and business agility, this lack of knowledge and skills inflation is stalling business transformation efforts across the UK. While the historic digital skills gap centred on a lack of hireable talent, we now see a new phenomenon: a lack of talent in those available to hire. Hindering every organisation trying to leverage data-driven insights for a competitive edge due to a lack of analytic talent.

When asked about specific knowledge areas, Alteryx uncovered that respondees ranking their data skills as ‘above average’ were in fact primarily skilled in basic data preparation techniques of getting the data ready, such as gathering, sharing, and handling. As exhibited by our ‘data champions’, more advanced analytic workflow skills that deliver business value such as descriptive (22%) and prescriptive (16%) analytics** are far more rare.

“Digital transformation has moved beyond boardroom discussions. It’s now mission critical for UK businesses to be able to assess, analyse, and adapt to constantly shifting requirements through data,” comments Alan Jacobson, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Alteryx. “Employees with strong data skills are a core requirement for developing business resiliency and the ability to pivot at speed. Despite the inherent value of data-led decision making, there is a critical disconnect between what skills are reported and the reality. The majority of data workers are frequently unaware of what they don’t know – and are missing the key skills to deliver on what is needed to drive this transformation forward.”

Overall, just one third (33%) of data workers reported they were confident in their ability to identify trustworthy data, to clean data (36%), and to share it securely (38%). Businesses are at a watershed moment where resiliency is intrinsically linked to the ability to thrive, yet with key analytic skills missing from the workforce, the speed and trajectory of this digital journey is thrown into question.

Despite this new divide between the vision for, and the reality of, data work, 71% of workers overall believe the pandemic has increased “the importance of having strong data skills to make informed business decisions”. Highlighting the need for greater upskilling and data literacy, the majority of workers believe more training in data work would result in “better” (78%) and “faster” (66%) decisions.

 

Plugging the Skills Gap Chasm

While many workers do not currently have the advanced skills required, the 29% of respondees who do use advanced data strategies – our ‘data champions’ – feel their skills enable them to not only save money (71%), but also generate additional revenue (67%), and deliver business value (79%).

Not every worker needs to become a data scientist, but by ensuring these ‘data champions’ are at the helm of teams, businesses can effectively build their own internal pool of talented data workers, with the skills, desire, knowledge and analytical expertise to be successful and thrive.

 

Strategies to Create the Data Champions of the Future:

  • Delivering the right training and support: Only 17% of UK respondents say they receive the right kind of data training at work. Through analytic investigation training, businesses can empower workers to consume and understand data to ensure greater business value is delivered from it.
  • Integrate critical upskilling incentives: 63% of those surveyed grapple with an unknown unknown; believing data work won’thelp to further their careers. Contradicting this, however, 71% of data champions with perfect*** skills know they will progress faster using advanced analytics.
  • Keep data analytics as simple as possible by using the right tools for the job. Just 27% of data workers have the ‘perfect’ tools to analyse data. Half of data workers describe a lack of dedicated data analytics software (48%), and 42% report no access to easy-to-use, code-free applications.
  • Upskilling teams to drive data literacy:  Investment in continuous data analytics education is vital. Data workers on average feel data-literacy initiatives would empower the overall workforce (42%) and enable them to work more independently (41%).

 

“It is clear that finding and hiring ready-made data experts is even more difficult than previous data suggests, but there is significant promise to be found in these ‘data champions’,” Richard Timperlake, VP, EMEA, at Alteryx adds. “While every organisation sits on a wealth of data that could be used to gain a competitive edge, it’s impossible to leverage it for insights without analytic talent. Only by integrating and driving upskilling and data literacy initiatives will businesses effectively plug this skills chasm.

“Contrary to popular belief, upskilling in data and analytics doesn’t necessarily involve learning advanced maths or computer programming. Flexible, self-service platforms with easy drag-and-drop automation and fully automated, explainable machine learning can empower data workers to easily leverage the latest data science best practices to help drive analytic maturity into their enterprise.”

 

Appointments, News

Fuse expands leadership team to support scaling growth

Fuse, the learning and knowledge platform for enterprise that ignites people and business performance, today announces the expansion of its senior leadership team with two significant new hires – a move that will help prepare the learning tech scaleup for its next phase of growth.

Learning industry veteran, Roberta Gogos, who previously held senior marketing roles at Docebo, Looop, and The Starr Conspiracy, joins Fuse as VP of Marketing and takes responsibility for leading the company’s strategic marketing at a global level.

Tom Ridley, who joins as VP of Sales EMEA, is equally ingrained in the learning tech industry having formerly held senior sales and customer success roles at Valamis and Skillsoft.

Commenting on the two new hires, Fuse CEO, Luke Oubridge, said: “Both Roberta and Tom bring with them a wealth of industry and functional expertise and their respective appointments will play a key part in supporting the business as we continue to grow and expand into new markets.”

Luke continued: “We have developed a product that is second to none and we have very ambitious plans for taking that to market over the coming months and beyond. Roberta and Tom – along with the rest of the fantastic talent we have at Fuse – will be pivotal to that and we’re delighted to have them onboard.”

Roberta Gogos – who first joined Fuse in the capacity of senior marketing consultant before assuming her new role last month, commented: “As an industry, we need to move beyond the course mindset and start facilitating human connection and knowledge sharing at scale. These are the learning experiences that drive people and business performance – and it’s very much the Fuse way. This is really what inspired me to join the team at this very exciting juncture.”

Echoing Roberta’s comments, Tom Ridley – who officially joined the Fuse team in June this year, said: “Fuse is on a mission to forever change enterprise L&D. The platform is highly innovative in the truest sense of the word and it’s set to transform not only how people learn at work, but how well they perform as a result. That’s incredibly exciting and I’m delighted to be leading the EMEA sales effort as Fuse continues to scale upwards and outwards.”

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

Waste appoints We Are Social’s Brett Phipps to build newsroom function

Independent creative agency Waste has announced the appointment of Brett Phipps to the newly created role of Senior Editor, as it seeks to build a newsroom function for entertainment clients as part of its fan-first offering.

Phipps joins from We Are Social, where he spent nearly three years as Senior Editor, leading the social media editorial vision for two of Activision’s biggest gaming franchises, Call of Duty and Destiny, across 12 international markets.

In his new role at Waste, Phipps will build a newsroom function in order to help clients better understand and react to conversations about their brands online, with an initial focus on the Supercell account. The new function will enable brands to spot and act on real-time opportunities to join the conversations that matter to their target audiences.

Phipps will report to Alistair Campbell, who joined Waste as Executive Creative Director in May 2020.

With in-depth expertise of the gaming sector and experience across content and community management, social media and SEO, Phipps was previously the Games and SEO Editor at the Time Inc-owned Trusted Reviews. He has also held positions at The Independent and Pro-G Media.

Brett Phipps, new Senior Editor, Waste, said: “I’m incredibly excited to be joining Waste, a company with a fantastic client list with a huge passion for gaming. The work the team has delivered over the past year has been nothing short of inspiring, and something I knew I had to be involved with.
“I hope that my experience within the games industry, coupled with my passion for community building and social listening, will be an asset to the team. I cannot wait to get started!”

Alistair Campbell, Executive Creative Director, Waste, added: “We’re always looking to introduce new skillsets in order to expand and supercharge our offering for clients. Our newsroom function will enable us to help brands tap into relevant conversations online, creating high quality content at breakneck speed.

“Brett not only brings incredible knowledge of gaming, but also invaluable experience and a proven track record in leading social media and community management for major brands. We’re really excited to see the results he can drive for our clients.”

Appointments, Marketing, PR and SEO, News

Studio BLUP, part of the LAB Group of agencies, promotes Laura Lane to Chief Marketing Officer as part of its ongoing growth plans

Studio BLUP, part of the LAB Group of agencies, has promoted Laura Lane to Chief Marketing Officer as part of its ongoing growth plans.

Laura has spent just over a year and a half freelancing at the agency to help manage client projects for the likes of Nerf and Reebok whilst also running her own personalised gift and visual storytelling business My Icon Story (myiconstory.com) where she has created product ranges for global brands including Mr Men, Lovehearts, Transport for London and the Natural History Museum.

Prior to this Laura worked for Wavemaker (previously MEC) for over six years, moving her way up from graduate to Creative Lead, where she worked for clients including Netflix, EE, Paramount Pictures, Peroni, Evian, Nivea, B&Q, Comparethemarket, Johnson & Johnson, Ferrero and TfL. In 2016 Laura was named one of Campaign’s 30 under 30 Rising Stars. She has also won a number of creative awards including a Young Cannes Lion and a D&AD Pencil & Webby Award for her work on Public Health England.

In her new position, Laura will be responsible for overseeing the marketing strategy across the agency, whether it’s the corporate brand positioning or building communities, creating unique content and initiatives to ‘stop the scroll’ and will focus on formalising and launching Studio BLUP’s in house talent network. She will also continue to develop the BLUP brand, managing agency events, product launches and collaborations.

She will work directly alongside BLUP’s Chief Creative Officer, Dines, and Chief Operating Officer, Alex Evans, as part of the leadership team.

Laura’s promotion comes three months after Studio BLUP joined the LAB Group whose portfolio now includes digital agencies VERJ, Riverr and Reflect Digital.

Dines, Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder at Studio BLUP, said: “We’re really excited to have Laura on board.

“She adds great energy, creativity and strategic thinking, encouraging us to explore areas we have yet to develop.

“With her previous agency experience and running her own business, Laura’s new role as Chief Marketing Officer is the perfect opportunity to introduce a creative and strategic marketing plan for Studio BLUP – to elevate the agency to the next level.

“With the LAB Group merger, we want to represent Studio BLUP as a top agency in Europe.

“This new CMO role really signifies a change in our direction and professional approach. The time is now, the time is right.

“Due to COVID, the industry has been affected but we want to keep progressing.

“Laura can identify different angles for our marketing strategy that will position BLUP as leaders in the industry, including new areas of the business such as the BLUP50 Talent”

Laura Lane, new Chief Marketing Officer at Studio BLUP, said: “This promotion could not have come at a more exciting time and I know I’ll be able to make the greatest impact to Studio BLUP as a growing agency.

“Although I am not a founder, I hand on heart see BLUP as my own business so being promoted to Chief Marketing Officer only reinforces the ambitious journey BLUP are on and I’m thrilled to be shaping the agency’s direction.

“To me, BLUP isn’t work. It’s a collaborative mission to disrupt and shape the future of the creative industries by providing meaningful opportunities to the young creative talent we support.

“I’ve found my new work family.”