Without doubt 2020 was the worst year in working memory for the majority of organisations, recruiters and recruitment firms.
Who could have predicted how fast and severe the punishment would be that was inflicted on all but a handful of sectors? As the saying goes, when the tide goes out you find out who isn’t wearing any pants and we were all left stranded in the shallows with barely a stitch on!
Yet the real story of 2020 has become one of change, adaptation and forward thinking optimism. Many changes that should have been made were forced; teams were right sized; automations and digital transformations that could have been actioned were; and businesses who were once simply present together began actually working together. All but gone are relics of work like presenteeism and working to rule in favour of collaboration, equity, flexibility and results focus. We’re even choosing how, when and where we work – and why is now more relevant than ever.
It feels certain that organisations who handled COVID compassionately will be primed to benefit from the ongoing return of investment from the engagement they created during 2020, and choose from the widest possible referral market for adding talent. However those who were unable to focus on the long term and on the well-being of their people may face unprecedented exodus of talent when those with long memories are provided with a huge range of choice as confidence begins to flood back to the job market.
It's been a year of major progress for the Ambition Group here in Australia.
We've focused on things we can control to set up our people to for "personal bests" in 2021. We retained 80% of our consulting team and invested in their training and development so we can grow rather than rebuild in the new year. We've focused on the growth of our people with professional development plans in place to help guide great careers for great people. We've concentrated on developing our Enterprise Account relationships. We're now a leader in the provision of valuable content and insights across the subject areas we specialise in.
And our employee engagement is through the roof.
We enjoy a sense of belonging and shared purpose in our work. We have choice in how we do things. We have equity and fairness across the group, predictability (at least as far as is possible!) and we celebrate the significant role each person in our group plays.
It’s the “results focus” that really shapes as the beacon of hope for 2021. Can all of the theory, hard work and restructuring that has enabled so much good to come into our new flexible, balanced, healthier working lives actually translate to outcomes with the return of more normalised economic conditions?
We’ve laid the foundation for a better future, let’s all hope 2021 is the year to build on it.
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