Ella Britton speaks to Duncan Crooks, Talent Acquisition Senior Manager at Price Bailey. Duncan was a guest speaker at our HR event in May 2024 at Electric Shuffle in London. He explains why effective HR strategies and great leadership can create a company culture of ambition, wellbeing and transparency.
Background and career
I have worked in recruitment for over 15 years. Initially, I was agency side doing finance and accountancy recruitment, but took the chance to join an accountancy firm in 2013 and that was the start of my in-house career. I definitely prefer being in-house because I feel like part of the organisation by adding value to one entity.
Prior to joining Price Bailey, I worked for four Top 10 accountancy firms. I’ve been at Price Bailey since 2021, leading the recruitment function. I also oversee the company strategy as to how we attract candidates and monitor our salary benchmarking throughout the year.
Consistently hiring 100 people a year
Over the last three years we’ve made around 100 hires each year. There is plenty of opportunity, particularly in a mid-market accountancy practice.
We’re an ambitious and growing firm, we look to win good quality work, and to enable that, we need good quality people in place.
So a large chunk of those hires were due to growth.
It’s important to note that around 50% of these hires are trainees. They are a mixture of school leavers, graduates and 12-month industry placements. At the moment, there’s a skills shortage for good newly qualified accountants, and it’s now even more obvious at manager level. We’ve recognised the need to bring enthusiastic people into the accountancy industry.
I’m pleased that we’re keeping a large portion of our workforce, whilst hiring. In 2022 we had 380 people. In the not too distant future, we’ll be pushing 500. Our MD, Martin Clapson recently reported that Price Bailey is the fastest growing independently owned firm in the Top 40.
People-focused culture
Our firm culture boils down to three things we do to make sure our people are happy. Although we’re spread across quite a large geographical area, we’ve maintained a close-knit environment that people enjoy working in.
Smart Working Policy
Smart Working is one of our flagship policies. We make it very clear from the outset that we offer plenty of flexibility, as it’s written in our contracts that you are free to work in a way that suits you best.
Smart Working means you can work when you want, from wherever you want, as long as you are delivering on your work and are able to attend any meetings when necessary. Outside of that, we treat people as grown-ups, and it’s up to them to manage their diaries in a way that suits them. We trust they will make up the time elsewhere.
Training Programme
We have a bespoke training programme called ‘Step Ahead’. This is for: 1. Trainee development; 2. New managers; 3. Aspiring leaders of the future. We also offer a number of toolkit sessions internally to help, run by our HR Advisors, and externally on pertinent business-related topics.
Wellbeing
Probably the most important aspect in the workplace right now is wellbeing. We want to make sure our people know that they are supported. There are seven key pillars to our wellbeing strategy: Health, Environment, Values, Social, Growth, Lifestyle and Financial. Within each of those pillars are initiatives, such as trained mental health and wellbeing ambassadors, should anyone wish to talk to somebody internally. The purpose of this is to tell our people: “we’re here for you.”
Placing an emphasis on attending recruitment events
I attend many different events throughout the year, mainly run by recruitment-focused companies. It’s great to talk with fellow talent acquisition leaders and hear from subject matter experts and thought leaders, sharing advice and market information. The same applies to events run by AJ Chambers and fellow agencies. These events bring together like-minded people who genuinely want to form new connections.
You never know when they might become useful in future. Price Bailey is part of the APA (a collection of mid-tier accountancy firms) and we are very open with our information sharing. While we are all in competition, at the same time, we help each other because we’re facing the same challenges.
I always ensure I have a good network around me, and I’m happy to come and speak at appropriate events.
Key marketing strategies for attracting talent
Good marketing depends on knowing your target audience. At present my focus is on promoting good quality videos to attract the TikTok generation.
As I mentioned, with over 50% of our hires being trainees in the Gen Z category, the way they consume information is through short format video content and UGC. So, while always looking to produce professional videos, we also encourage partners and other hiring managers to film their own videos too.
There’s a lot to be said for well-produced, user-generated content, so it has that raw feeling and is a bit more natural. People tend to appreciate that. For example, each of our job adverts includes a relevant video on the careers site. Our aim is to place even more videos on our social channels in future.
For those people that like the detail of a full job description, we also attach these to our adverts to give them the opportunity to read the finer points at the same time. Lastly, employee referrals are very effective as they utilise the networks of our own internal talent. By encouraging our people to refer new talent, we reward them for every successful hire.
The impact of a great HR strategy
Our firm is very open about how the company is performing and its plans for the future. The MD, Martin Clapson, shares a weekly update with the entire firm. In the last three years, we’ve had a very clear message so everyone knows where they stand.
We ask Best Companies to produce a survey for us, and for the third year in a row, we’re a two-star rated company to work for. Two stars being classed as an outstanding company to work for. To have that for three years in a row is fantastic and shows our people are happy to be here.
This all generates interest in our firm, because candidates can see that we’re award winning and people focused.
If you have a good website with positive messages and awards, then it attracts talent.
We get a lot of recommendations and referrals which has a positive impact on recruitment.
My advice on how to grow your business and attract talent
Make sure you know what your key message is, then articulate it in a very simple way. This means people know exactly what you stand for. It starts at the very top and filters down; therefore, having an MD and Partners who are honest and transparent is important.
It enables people like me to be able to craft our recruitment message. Be sure to understand what the Gen Z candidate wants. These are: 1. Good training. 2. Flexibility. 3. Career Progression. These are always referenced throughout our relevant job adverts. Finally, invest in a good website that features the best content and showcases a good range of diverse employees.
AJ Chambers Recruitment Ltd,