During my time at BCMGlobal, the company has been through several iterations (and names). But throughout, one thing has remained constant – the quality of the people that work and have worked in the business.
People, of course, come and go (and for very good reasons) but for a company like ours to be successful they have all played an important part.
The world of work has changed immeasurably in recent times. If you look for a new job today you will be bombarded with a shopping list of benefits: financial rewards, perks, opportunities for advancement to name but three.
It demonstrates the value, effort and energy that any company puts in attracting and retaining the right calibre staff. The so-called ‘Employee Experience’ is central to making people work better and work better for people.
I know the right motivations can maintain or boost productivity, the wrong ones can leave a company treading water and gasping for breath.
But businesses and their workforces change and evolve and often very quickly. Those changes present a whole host of complications, any of which can hinder long-term productivity and prosperity.
There are obvious candidates – markets and regulation or Brexit and the pandemic. The latter two are moments in time when the world changed.
For employees, it’s no longer a time when ‘a job for life’ is a major thing; many people, not least millennials, in the workforce are prepared to jump ship more regularly to bolster their skills and try something new; the corporate recruitment process can be a long drawn-out affair and isn’t always a guaranteed success; and new staff always take time to bed-in and learn the ropes.
For employers, the culture of spreading thin, and doing more with less resources is tired and worn strategy; exploring new opportunities; and trying to stay ahead of the crowd in a world where the digital revolution is disrupting the status quo is now the real challenge that boards face.
Amid all the changes, however, some things remain the same: for businesses survive and prosper delivering established services at the same time as pioneering new ones is the fundamental cornerstone to longevity.
Consistency quality and effectiveness remain driving factors. They push productivity while creating the opportunity for new skills to come through.
It’s impossible to put a value on the long-term understanding of customers, suppliers and processes. Time and experience are skills that a business gains as an employee develops and are lost when a valued employee walks out of the door.
The cost of replacing a ‘regretted’ leaver’s experience is generally unquantifiable, but arguably greater than the value of the lost productivity, the knowledge and the expertise.
Businesses grow, much like people, and evolve. Growth means change but the ethos and passion for quality among the people who work for it cannot.
As our company develops over the coming years, it will evolve to meet the challenges of its operating environment and the challenges we as people face every day – whatever they may be.
What is clear from the feedback of clients and our net promoter scores is that people are at the heart of our business. We may deliver some clever technological services but our people invent those things and make them happen.
