How can we help people build incredible futures – both in and out of work?

As attraction and retention become ever more competitive, over the past decade we as an industry have been searching for new ways to help our people find balance and harmony in their lives - without sacrificing anything in terms of profitability and progress. While we’ve been on this journey for some time at Austin International, like many businesses, the past two years have accelerated change across certain facets of our identity and culture. This has led us to some trailblazing policies such as “work when you’re productive, where you’re productive”, unlimited holiday and “Hiring managers not having visibility of CV’s throughout the interview process” – with some extraordinary results. As we enter a new, post-pandemic phase of working life, I’d like to share how our vision is expressed both internally and externally, and why helping people build incredible futures both in and out of work means so much to me on a personal level. 

My story

Speaking of helping people shape their futures, my most important role of all is as a single working mum to teenager, Jack. Loving, supporting and caring for him is absolutely central to who I am - both at home and at work.

I am lucky that Jack has been blessed with empathy and understanding far beyond his years, but this doesn’t mean doing the work/mum thing has always been easy. I was actually with Austin International back in 2014 working within the Austin Vita brand. (Something that comes up a lot when I’m interviewing candidates, I’m what you’d call a boomerang!). At the time I was in a full 360 role, serving both client and candidate, which I loved. But, of course, there was a downside that I’m sure that most working parents can relate to. Back then, we didn’t have laptops, much less the degree of flexibility and freedom that so many of us are getting used to now. Even armed with all the ambition, work ethic and genuine passion that comes so naturally to me, something wasn’t working. My son was very young, and try though I might, I wasn’t able to give neither him nor my work my all. And so I made the very difficult decision to leave in 2015. A conversation I remember very well, and one that was handled with such care, empathy and understanding from my Manager at the time, Tom Chapman, now Executive VP of the USA and Global Managing Director of Austin Vita, our MedTech brand. 

The door was left open for me to return – I just didn’t know when that might be. After several years working with startups, I initiated a conversation with Tom, and found out there was an opportunity in Talent that was perfectly aligned with what I had been doing. After a tough interview process, I was welcomed back with open arms in 2018. This culture for long-lasting relationships, deeply-held values and genuine care really struck me as something quite unique and special about the business - and turned out to set the stage for some of the quite radical transformations that myself and my colleagues have helped push through in the years that have followed, especially during the pandemic.

Focus on the changes that will have the biggest impact

As I know all too well, getting a person into a role they can thrive in comes down to a multitude of things unique to that individual. One size does not fit all. Helping people create incredible futures means making real, constructive policy changes that remove common barriers and obstacles and empower them to reach their full potential. This has been the revolution shaping the world of work recently, and something I am proud to champion at Austin International. I am the first to say we are still on and, in my opinion, will always be on that journey, but I love being part of a challenger business that is taking, in some cases, some fairly radical steps to help its people live their best lives – both in and out of work.

Work when you’re productive, where you’re productive

The data tells us that people expect to have flexible working options. Having accelerated plans already in place before the pandemic, our work policy is now completely hybrid, allowing our people to work when and where they’re most productive. Personally, the evening is my time to shine – but we know this looks different for everyone, just as life looks different for everyone. If you want to go and watch your child play football, or fit a gym session into your day to boost your mental health, your employer should be encouraging that. On the flip side, it’s essential that people have a workplace where they always feel happy, energised and welcome – I know that, as an extrovert, having those periods of time outside of my focus hours really matters to me.

Unlimited holiday 

Living a balanced life depends on taking time out. But in a business where so many of us are driven by hitting our targets, holiday tends to slip. Even with our unlimited holiday policy in place (launched last February), we have a responsibility to make sure that people are taking care of themselves. All of our managers have visibility of holidays taken across their teams, and receive a quarterly reminder so they know to encourage people to take a break where things are looking light. We also have very clear FAQs around such policies so that people know exactly what is expected of them. Not having to worry about having enough holiday allowance to do the things we want to do is an amazing feeling.

Infinite learning 

We are a business that hugely advocates for infinite and intentional learning. This starts before a candidate joins, and continues throughout their entire career with us. As an Austin International colleague, you can expect bespoke training developed by our in-house L&D specialists, one-to-one coaching and mentoring, an on-demand learning platform, quarterly global masterclasses delivered by our people and external resources. All of this works to foster a coaching culture across our entire business and gives everyone access to our most valuable asset: our talented people.. With flexible working now a major part of our culture, we have a responsibility to make sure that that learning is accessible to everyone, whenever and wherever, to make sure that our people have the same experience. 

Every conversation, every candidate

A CV is an easy way to form an unconscious bias. This is why no hiring manager sees one during the interview process at AI. Instead, we assess people based on behaviours, values and potential, giving them an opportunity to tell their own stories and showcase their potential. Giving someone a chance is important; I am so thankful for the people that have taken chances on me, which has allowed me to continue my journey of reaching my potential and building an incredible future for myself. Our framework is consistent across the global business, allowing for transparency, consistency and open, honest conversations between the candidate and hiring manager. 

My #1 piece of advice is to treat every conversation with every candidate as if it matters - because it does. As people helping shape the future of talent, I think we have a responsibility to every candidate to make sure we add value to their lives, even if they are not ultimately successful. I see this so strongly across my team; we lead with our shared purpose of helping people to build incredible futures.

Our people are the manifestation of our values

What I love about talent acquisition is that we are marketeers in our own right. In getting the message out there, I find that we get the best results through a combination of high-quality data and a human-centric approach. We already know that people engage with personal brands 10x more than employer brands, so why not leverage that? Celebrate creativity and innovation and encourage your people to share their unique stories wherever possible. Empower people to be their authentic selves. Whether in our operations, in our job descriptions or in our expression of our culture, as talent professionals it’s all about digging to find anything that might stop people from applying and making sure we address it in the things we say and do. 

Helping people create incredible futures means acknowledging that work is only one facet of a well-rounded life. I hope that we as an industry can help current and future generations of talent achieve the kind of work/life balance many of us could only have dreamed of ten years ago.

I’d love to hear what you think about this. Please share your thoughts with the #TalentVoices hashtag.