HAYS – WORKING FOR YOUR TOMORROW

 

In this month’s update, I want to explain more about the changes, why we made them and what they mean for our customers.

 

At Hays, we recently held our first Investor Day in five years, an event where we brought our investors together to present to them our core business strategies. I spoke about the dynamics and megatrends which are defining and shaping the new world of work, and how Hays is working right at the heart of these huge economic issues. 

 

It really hit home to me just how much the world has changed in that time. Two years on since COVID-19 forced the first lockdowns, the world of work and recruitment continues to transform at a pace I have never seen in my career.

 

Individuals and society now demand different things at work. The role businesses are expected to play in a future, sustainable world, has rightly increased. The rapid increase in digitalisation has forced profound change in the way we work and the skills that workforces need to succeed.

 

With all this change, Hays has also evolved dramatically as a business to address the new challenges our customers – both candidates and employers – are facing. During 2021, we undertook comprehensive research, speaking to clients, non-clients, and candidates globally to understand their perception of what Hays does well, where we could improve and what they really wanted and needed from us as a partner in this new world of new challenges. 

 

With this feedback, and as the world of work continued to change and we changed with it, we realised it was only right for us to also evolve our brand. Our old strapline, Recruiting experts worldwide, clearly no longer tells the full Hays story as we do so much more already in solving talent challenges. Now we are ready to share this exciting change with our customers.

 

One thing that will not change is that we are in the business of people. At the heart of everything Hays does, are people. Whilst the world around us changes, this fact remains.

 

However, the challenges facing us all in the new world of work are different to before. New legislation, candidate shortages, wage inflation, flexible working models, talent mobility, ED&I and corporate sustainability are just some of the challenges that many of our clients are facing, often for the first time. And we at Hays can help.

 

Working for your tomorrow puts an emphasis on the opportunities we see in the future. Having spoken to our customers, it was clear that they want a partner that would support them in more than simply finding them a new job, or talent to fill a specific position. They wanted a lifelong partnership to help them navigate the new world of work, by supporting, challenging, informing and guiding them in the complex and fluid world of work and being on top of not just where it is today but where it can go tomorrow. 

 

With this change, we are making it clearer that Hays can provide our customers with the complete suite of our workforce solutions and our candidates with even greater insights and expertise on the issues they face today, better informing the decisions of tomorrow and helping them achieve their own success. 

 

So, what does this actually mean for businesses looking to secure their future? Firstly, I believe that the change provides existing and potential customers with a greater understanding of who Hays is and the services we deliver to help them get good work done. 

 

With all our brands now working as one Hays, we combine our skills, services and know-how across the world, making us easier to do business with and simplifying our structure.

 

This means that we are even better placed to help business leaders define and implement strategies to create inclusive and equitable workplaces. We can support clients’ business decision-making through insights and data, as well as sourcing the best talent for every role through our dynamic Talent Networks.

 

By being a true Leadership Partner to our customers, we are empowering people and businesses to succeed by combining knowledge through scale, meaningful innovation and deep understanding. There are very few businesses in the world today that have the breadth and depth of a global network, deep expertise driven by thousands of local consultants and millions of data points across multiple industries. By combining all of this, we bring the most powerful insights to our customers on exactly what is going on in the world of work. 

 

I truly believe this is a very exciting time to be working for, and working with, Hays. The one Hays approach is something I really trust will make us stronger in the market, while making us better partners to our clients.  I also believe that our new promise, Working for your tomorrow, summarises the change perfectly. We are preparing organisations and people to be stronger tomorrow than they are today. It signals our intention to work alongside our customers to help them achieve their goals.

 

Customers are at the centre of everything we do, we do not exist without them so we are building our entire organisation around them and I cannot wait for the next chapter in the Hays journey.

 

Now more than ever, I would love to hear your feedback! What do you think of the new Hays brand and repositioning? Join the discussion on LinkedIn.

 

Alistair has been the CEO of Hays, plc since Sept. 2007. An aeronautical engineer by training (University of Salford, UK, 1982), Alistair commenced his career at British Aerospace in the military aircraft division. From 1983-1988, he worked Schlumberger filling a number of field and research roles in the Oil & Gas Industry in both Europe and North America. He completed his MBA (Stanford University, California) in 1991 and returned to the UK as a consultant for McKinsey & Co. His experience at McKinsey & Co covered a number of sectors including energy, consumer goods and manufacturing.

He moved to Blue Circle Industries in 1994 as Group Strategy Director, responsible for all aspects of strategic planning and international investments for the group. During this time, Blue Circle re-focused its business upon heavy building material in a number of new markets and in 1998, Alistair assumed the role of Regional Director responsible for Blue Circle’s operations in Asia, based in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. He was responsible for businesses in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. Subsequent to the acquisition of Blue Circle by Lafarge in 2001, he also assumed responsibility for Lafarge’s operations in the region as Regional President for Asia.

In 2002, Alistair returned to the UK as CEO of Xansa, a UK based IT services and back-office processing organisation. During his 5 year tenure at Xansa, he re-focused the organisation to create a UK leading provider of back-office services across both the Public and Private sector and built one of the strongest offshore operations in the sector with over 6,000 people based in India.