Nov 25, 2015
We all know how productivity is important at work and we are witnessing a huge change in how companies handle their employees’ work-life balance. Precision Sourcing takes pride in their team culture and how it impacts productivity at work.
Precision Sourcing has always cared about its staff wellbeing, so we had a chat with Simon Hair, Managing Director and Owner, to understand what changes have been made in the company to achieve a better work-life balance, and how a good working culture impacts productivity.
How would you describe the culture at Precision Sourcing?
The culture is well matched to our core values. When I joined the business seven years ago I recognized that we had a business with hard working people, but we didn’t know where we were going and what we wanted to achieve. We decided to put together a very clear Vision showing where we wanted to take the business outlining, outlining our goals along with Strategies and key Actions. Everyone bought into the Vision, and here we are today moving into the next phase of growth. The key for us was hiring like-minded, talented people who share the same Values. Today we have 20 people who are very much a TEAM.
Do you think your approach has an impact on productivity at work?
Yes for sure. Our hierarchy is quite flat, everybody is accessible and interactive, and everybody comes from a similar background, with similar values and similar goals. We do activities together non-work related; we go hiking, we go on holiday together, and some of the team have even found their partner in the office. Does it create more productivity? Definitely! If you are happy in your workplace you’ll be more productive. I met my wife at work, although I am not sure how focused I was thinking back to the long emails I would send declaring my love.
How do you support your staff?
In many ways, but ultimately we offer (in my opinion) a training and development scheme that is second to none. Over 80% of our team previously had zero recruitment experience. We invest in people. Who else hires rookies in the recruitment industry and truly invests in them with training, education, coaching, practice and real feedback to improve them? We worked out recently that an average recruiter within our business will enjoy over 100 hours of training and coaching per annum. We practice real life recruitment scenarios and workshop actual challenges and situations three times per week. We engage several external trainers to offer a different perspective and voice.
We have various incentives that reward exceptional performance. In October, I was in Hong Kong for 5 days enjoying everything it has to offer. This was with four members of the team who had consistently achieved over target for the year. As a team, we enjoy quarterly incentives. In fact as I write this, we are preparing for a trip to the Hunter Valley after enjoying a record quarter. Our Christmas Party and Melbourne Cup experiences are always epic. We have hired a house up the coast for the weekend this Christmas rather than the usual boat on the harbour. Director’s lunch is the incentive that gets the team talking most. Once a month the high performers are taken to one Of Sydney’s top restaurants – Sake, Café Sydney, Popolo etc… we have tried them all.
I must admit Sydney is a great place to live and work; people are healthier (from what I see in my CBD and Manly bubble) and spend more time active and outdoors. This helps a lot in terms of productivity and happiness in the workplace. All of the team here have got interests outside of work and have an active lifestyle.
Sweden has just adopted the six hours working day and many companies encourage their staff to work from home. What do you think about it and could you explain your management style?
We have a culture here that is all about delivering and consistent high performance. It is about being efficient, no matter if you execute your work in one hour or 24. The only people who are micromanaged are the new starters who have never had experience in the industry before because there is so much to learn, but once they are fully trained they have the freedom to organize and plan their work. We have a team that is talented, happy and healthy. We want them to feel they have earned autonomy based on the success they have experienced. Right now I would not be an advocate of working from home full time, but I am open to having my opinion changed.
Being a recruiter can be stressful, as there are targets to achieve every day, so how do you support your staff?
There is pressure it’s true, but it all depends on the mindset of the person; the guys set their own targets based around their personal goals for the year. So yes, there is pressure to achieve them, but we support the team through regular reviews, training and by providing an environment that rewards performance. I am a big believer that hard work always beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard enough and we have some hugely talented people at Precision but yes we do remind them that success does not come easily and working hard is key.
Support can be provided in many ways depending on the individual. Sometimes it is just listening, helping with a challenging call or situation, offering advice on a scenario or just taking someone for a coffee and letting them download. We have a Digital Marketing Manager who is also a qualified meditation and yoga teacher so we plan to use her to offer some stress relief.
What does success mean to you?
Success for me has changed throughout the years. Right now, I want to provide my children with a safe, healthy, happy, loving environment that offers an enriching education to help them prosper and become morally good people. A happy wife also helps.
I want my staff to have the best environment, facilities, technology, training and support that allows them to achieve their goals and have a lot of fun along the way. For myself I want to keep learning, keep growing and developing, stay healthy and be happy.
Why is Precision Sourcing different from other recruitment companies?
Our staff makes us different from other recruitment companies. I am extremely proud of the team and how they represent themselves and the Precision Sourcing brand. Right now we are a good business but the next step is to become GREAT!
