1. Putting the cart before the horse How Darwin attracts and retains the talent that fuels 30% + growth

2. Darwin at a glance At Darwin, we don’t send CV’s, we recruit Specialist Areas; Application Development, Cloud & Infrastructure and Telecommunications Recruiting for Permanent and Contract roles across Europe Over 120 skilled search consultants 4 offices; UK, Amsterdam, Munich & Zurich In 2013 we placed candidates from 100 countries into over 1000 clients

3. Let’s dispel a myth… Employee engagement is might seem a cute and fluffy topic… It isn’t. It’s deadly serious.

4. Some “fluff” All true, all important, all intangible “We want our people to be happy” “Our business is like one big family” “In our team, we love working together” “We have loads of fun in our office”

5. The serious side Every member of staff we hire, train and lose in year 1 costs us £20,000 Engaged, productive consultants pay for themselves 4 times every year and convert 50% of net fees to profit Internal promotions are 67% more likely to be successful than external management hires Teams of consultants with tenure > 1 year and who are led by promoted managers that understand our business make twice as much per head as other teams Trying to prove you’ve engagement can cost more than actually doing it Know what you want attrition to be. “Churn” is healthy when controlled

6. Put the cart before the horse “Attraction is simply telling people about your retention”

7. Start with your worst critics “Your most unhappy people (or customers) are your greatest source of learning”

8. Finding out what doesn’t work?

9. Validate your findings Staff surveys Keep them short, simple and infrequent Make them multi-tiered Think carefully about what you want to learn Be prepared to share the good and bad

10. So how do we retain? Be realistic Visible leadership Excellence in communication Shared corporate and people goals Competitive and constant reward and recognition Benefits that mean something* Retention

11. And attraction? Be realistic Visible leadership Excellence in communication Shared corporate and people goals Competitive and constant reward and recognition Benefits that mean something* Attraction

12. It’s no secret… Enjoyment, contentment, involvement, recognition, attention and reward all lead to productivity – Fact. Ask Jamie Oliver

13. Questions