Covid-19 has undoubtedly had a significant impact on our lives forever. The massive loss of life and business closures have been challenging and affected many. Our industry, Executive Search has also been impacted. While we are still recruiting for Executives in high demand Creative and Marketing roles, we have adapted some of our processes and approach. While we expect business to continue to improve, we hope that some of the positive changes due to the Pandemic will remain.
Recruiting: The Old Way
In the past, we had to schedule interviews weeks in advance in order to accommodate busy work schedules. This could mean that someone who really needed a job would have to wait much longer to get started. The delays in scheduling also prolongs the recruitment process for the client.
Potential logistic delays like candidates arriving late are minimized with at home video interviews as there are less in person distractions such as terrible traffic conditions, being pulled into sidebar/hallway conversations or meetings that start late or run over. Of course, these are not necessarily negatives in office culture but in terms of the recruiting process, they can be distractions.
Recruiting: The New Way
Covid-19 has required us to change the way we operate. Interviews have replaced that in-person process. We now live in an age where Zoom, Blue Jeans, Google Hangout and Skype are synonymous with meeting logistics. We find we are able to meet with candidates and arrange for interviews much quicker as we don’t necessarily operate on a typical 9 - 6 schedule, allowing us to move the recruitment process faster.
Candidate’s physical presentation will always be important regardless of in person or on video but some of the other potential distracting cues like perfume, fashion choices to an interview or nervous gestures will be minimized on video. Conducting interviews from home can work to a candidate’s advantage as it might minimize their nerves and make them more relaxed, more themselves. Of course, personal distractions from the family who shares space should be minimized during zoom calls.
Another major change to recruiting is that in the past, some people wanted a flexible or work from home schedule, but that wasn’t always a possibility. Now, most companies are specifically looking for people who already have the setup and have the flexibility to work from home. We expect a hybrid office and home office arrangement to continue.
The Stigma is Changing
At the beginning of 2020, there was still a stigma attached to working from home. We believe this view is changing, with more companies accepting of working remotely and understanding it does not negatively impact productivity. In any work model, the impact on productivity and how employees are viewed (those physically present vs. remote) will be a continuous debate as companies learn to adjust to the future way of working.
As of June 2020, 42 percent of the US workforce was clocking in remotely. Of the people who are able to work from home, the vast majority of them reported an efficiency rate of 80 percent or higher. Interestingly, when workplace efficiency was calculated, it came in at 75 percent. In other words, allowing workers who have the proper setup at home to work remotely will gain you a 5 percent increase in productivity. When you combine that with the savings to your company by keeping even a quarter of the office closed each day, you can really begin to see why the stigma is changing and might be gone one day forever. We strongly believe companies will need to pay close attention to the metrics they use to evaluate performance moving forward to ensure unbiased evaluation.
Empathy and Support
One of the biggest surprises of the pandemic is just how much most people have pulled together. During a time when we can’t literally get close to anyone, we’ve seen a dramatic outpouring of support and empathy for those who are currently looking for employment. More than ever, people are now offering on their LinkedIn and Facebook pages to help others by giving them a referral, making an introduction, offering career advice and even providing financial support for those in dire need. This display of humanity is wonderful as people truly want to help others.
From a Cultural and Historical Point of View, without anybody’s expectations or influence, purely naturally, the Pandemic has forced businesses and the government to recognize the huge disparity between poor and rich, black and white. The Pandemic laid bare the inequalities and they had no choice but to pledge billions of dollars toward racial equity efforts. The BLM movement and the need for governments and CEO’s to change their old systemic model of discrimination were even more exacerbated by the Pandemic. We will see if the CEO’s and Government are really committed and put new structures in place that are sustainable, but it’s fair to say that without the Pandemic, life would have continued as status quo.
How our Executive Search/Recruitment industry can be advocates of positive change is to work with our clients to integrate great diversity and inclusion into search/recruitment parameters. Companies that invest in diversity realize it is good business. This is one of the positive initiatives that have come out of the Pandemic.