Investing in People

People are the lifeblood of any company. A cliché perhaps, but I can’t help being a great believer in the importance of investing in staff whether this is through training, self-development or enhancing their current role to make it more rewarding. Quite simply, we’ve found this approach to add great value to the company.

This whole philosophy is part of our ‘always recruiting’ culture where we’re constantly on the lookout for talented individuals with spark, passion, creativity and vision – even if no role currently exists for them. There’s no denying that this approach does take time and effort. What’s more the whole process doesn’t stop there, as you’ve also got to constantly “sell” the idea of a career to all staff. The process is therefore ongoing, requiring commitment from us as directors to encourage people who want to develop their career - and inspire them with the possibilities that are open to them. 

However, we’ve found this to be time well spent, having a positive impact on staff retention - which can only be good for us as a company!

It would be interesting to hear from other businesses that have also tried this approach or indeed have other approaches to HR that they would like to share.

John Beech

Comments

[Dennis Howlett]

How do you accommodate the person for whom there isn't a current role? Do you not think that in the talent wars you might give the impression of making a false promise?

How does this work in practice? How for instance do you harness creative people in the context of their fulfilling a function that of necessity requires the execution of vertin process tasks without killing off their passion?

[an Ex-employee]

Take it from me, Access Accounting know about people. Speaking as an ex-insider, reporting direct to both to John Beech and Alistair O'Reilly, I found their HR stance always in good order. I think Mr Howlett raises a good point in his blog of 25 July. But Access know the secret of getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus and the right people in the right seats, including the creatives. But I think what sets them apart is a gift for fostering people's passion for getting results, by which I mean individual and corporate. Their staff retention is remarkable, especially in an industry such as software.

[John Beech]

Thanks for your comments Dennis.

Our ‘always recruiting’ philosophy means that we are constantly on the look out for the strong players, who over time will really add value to the business. When we do find such a person, we are open with them right from the very beginning. We make it clear that we want them to be part of our team but that the current position is unclear. We certainly don’t give any false promises as this would be detrimental to both us as a company and to the potential team member.

What is important is that we always have a programme of involvement in various parts of the business and so their eventual position develops over time. I have to say though, our business develops at such a pace that we have always delivered - and we do tend to under promise and over deliver.

In practice, the programme we create will include plenty of challenges. This allows the individual to obtain lots of experience and get to know our culture better. Whilst we all have day-to-day process tasks to fulfil, there is a constant stream of ideas and initiatives in the pipeline to maintain their passion and interest!

[Manoj Ranaweera]

John, very interesting insight into Acess Accounting's recruitment methodology. I like to share one of my recent experiences.

An individual (don't worry not one of your boys!) approached us many months ago. Finally I met him (he was persistent - nothing wrong with this - I would do no differently). After I understood his experiences and where he would like to end up in two to five years, I could see a fit perhaps in six months time for him. I did not promise a position, but felt that he was beginning to bank on us. In order to avoid misleading him, I wrote to him later advising that there is no role for him at that time, but suggested that he applies in six months time. He did not take the response very well. Whilst we did not promise, it seems that he certainly assumed that there would be a role for him.

Reading your article, you seem to handle this situation much differently, to your advantage without giving false hope.

You mentioned "programme of development". Would you mind elaborating further! I feel there is much for us to learn from you.

Best regards
Manoj Ranaweera

[John Beech]

Many thanks for your comment Manoj. Exceptional people are rarely available for long which is why we always take them on straight away, following a series of in-depth interviews and discussions. Extended time scales can raise false hopes which doesn't help either party.

Once onboard, our programme is to immerse them in the business, spending perhaps three months in each department at the same time as attending all of our internal courses. This is a great way for them to get to know our people, processes and culture, creating fully-rounded individuals with a good understanding of Access. This sets them up for the ultimate challenge which normally becomes clear within a few months.

In our experience candidates are always keen to hit the ground running from day one and provide a huge and valuable input to the projects they are working on. Indeed, it's in their very nature and is the reason we take them on in the first place - it's a case of right people, right fit.