On June 23rd, to the great surprise of many, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. The Brexit campaign had won. The result left businesses reeling and unsure of what to do next. The reality is that nobody knows what this means for UK business and the picture is unlikely to become clear until exit negotiations are completed in at least two years’ time.
This leaves businesses in a difficult situation, with no clear plan.
Skills shortages continue to be an issue for, and for industries that rely heavily on EU workers, HR teams are going to be under even more pressure to find and keep talent. Some businesses are waiting to see the outcome of the negotiations, hoping to have a clear picture before taking any action, but there are things that we should be doing now.
STEP 1 - COMMUNICATEStart communicating now and reassure employees. Recent research by Mercer found that 82% of businesses felt they should be communicating with employees, but only 11% actually are. If you have employees working in the EU, or if you employ EU nationals in the UK, you need to start talking to them now. They need to know:
- You care. Simple messages like, “you’re important to us”, “we’ll look after you and support you through this process”, may sound simple and without much substance but the sentiment is important and states a clear position from the start.
- What Brexit is. Although widely and regularly discussed in the media, most people are still unclear about what Brexit means. What is the EU and what does it do for us? What are the possible exit options? Which laws are EU, which are UK and which fall under other domains? Providing clear and understandable information to employees, even without all the answers, is still valuable and appreciated by those left confused and concerned.
STEP 2 – BE THE EMPLOYER OF CHOICEWith a potentially shrinking pool of talent from which to recruit, you need to make sure your organisation is the preferred option, for both existing and new employees.
- Understand your market position. You need to carry out market benchmarking and get a clear view of how attractive your proposition is compared to others. How do your pay and benefits sit against others and do you offer something they don’t?
- Know your employees’ desires and aspirations. Do some internal research and analysis with employees to find out what it is they value about working for you. Ask for their shopping list of reward options, what would make working for you even better. Look at the demographics in your organisation – the likelihood is that different groups will value different things.
- Optimise your employee deal. Take your new insight and use it to enhance, tweak or completely rewrite your employee deal. Importantly communicate that employee deal clearly and in a compelling way.
STEP 3 – WIDEN YOUR TALENT POOLLook at how you can increase the appeal of your organisation or industry to a wider pool of UK talent. Options such as apprenticeships, training schemes and internships are effective ways to attract young people into an industry or business. Take advantage of speaking and promotion opportunities at universities and colleges.
Finally, and most importantly, create an effective campaign around your employee proposition, start building a community of future employees and an alumni of past employees who may come back.
Although the detail will of course have a huge impact on your HR and reward strategy, knowing that you have a real issue coming and taking action now will give you a real advantage and a fighting chance at minimising the impact on your organisation.
If you would like help and support with the impact of Brexit on your business, please get in touch on: 020 3457 0894.
