Research, Engagement,

Employer Brand, Culture

Core Skills • Qualitative and quantitative research

• Summarising and simplifying complex information

• Designing, conducting, analysing, reporting – all or some

• Impactful writing and practical recommendations

Why do graduates reject our offer?

You have a great reputation amongst your target audience…

The people we spoke to want to work for you for the best reasons.

They admire you and what you can do for their career and their

development.

… but that reputation isn’t clearly separated

You’re not seen as that different, so the small things count.

You need to show or address…

Development – where can I go in, and from, XXXXXX? What

have others achieved?

Work-life balance – realistically, what will my life look like, and

why might I make compromises?

Being a cog – how do people like me feel, in such a large,

faceless organisation?

Flexibility – if I don’t get my choice, how can I find the next-best?

And why are requirements different?

An always-great experience – the personal touch counts.

Candidates need to feel wanted, understood and helped to see

how they will fit and be accepted from first to last.

… to maximise chances of converting every offer

Who: An accountant / consultancy

What: They need to improve the rate of acceptance of their

offers to graduates

How: I surveyed last year’s graduates, then interviewed them

to establish why they might reject offers. I reported on the

themes and made four levels of recommendations for how

they can mitigate against future rejections.

“Really interesting insights, leading to some good discussions

around improvements we can make as well as information we

can share with the wider business. Both I and the team were

impressed by how simple a project it was to deliver and how

responsive, available and engaged you were. I’d have no

hesitation recommending you and Monteath Consulting

to anyone”

How can we change the profile – and

the attitude - of our workforce?

Who: A financial services business

What: This long-established institution needs to

commercialise to stay ahead of increased competition and

changing demand.

How: I designed and ran interviews, focus groups and a

survey. I analysed the findings to identify the themes that

were then taken on and developed into a complete employer

brand. I also worked on a series of recommendations for

managing the employer brand.

“Thanks Sam. Not just for the listening, but you’ve really

helped to shape the themes. Together, we’ve got something

really compelling. I knew I could trust you!”

What does the manager of tomorrow look like? We know

that this is a critical role in the business – not least because it

feeds your talent pipeline. Future managers must be leaders

as well as managers. They must be dynamic. Open to new

ideas. Champions of change. Developers of talent. But in

order to attract and recruit the right talent, there needs to be

absolute clarity around what good looks like.

Now, how managers manage is inconsistent. As you evolve,

managers will be critical to tipping the balance to a new way of

working. The future manager will get things done through their

people. They’ll be an influencer more than a doer. They’ll get

to the root of problems, not just solve them today. They’ll

introduce change and ensure its implementation. They’ll know

their team’s and the company’s priorities, and will be an

ambassador for both. They’ll grant their team autonomy, and

allow them to earn the right for more. At the same time,

they’ll always be available for support. They’ll promote and

encourage new ideas and always factor in the experience of

their teams and peers. The future manager will carefully,

assuredly and systematically tip the balance.

How can we get more diverse applicants?

Executive Summary

• XXXXXX is generally understood – and potentially

attractive

• Career stage is the main difference between groups –

other differences are subtle

• You need to work long hours, full-time and maybe move

– that’s a problem for mothers

• Some roles are understood, some superficially, and

some not at all

• The more time people have, the more they can

understand for themselves

• Roles are generally held to be open to all

• There is risk. Most can accept, but some won’t

• It’s a particular way of working – but the good balances

out the not-so-good

• Pay and other benefits are good, or at least acceptable

• But they still won’t know enough to be confident and

comfortable to apply…because to apply is already a big

commitment

Who: A government department

What: There’s little problem attracting white, straight, males.

But what can be done to attract others?

How: Following a survey of the target audience, I arranged

and ran focus groups with the segments of most interest.

I produced a comprehensive report, with a brief-but-detailed

executive summary and six actionable recommendations.

I presented those findings to the end client.

“Thank you for all your hard work. The time and commitment

you put in to this project came through loud and clear today.

The client is delighted and I am thrilled that the presentation

went so smoothly.”

We’re changing our culture.

Is it working?

Who: A bank

What: There is a major culture-change initiative in

the bank. They needed to establish if there is a case

for further investment.

How: I created a telephone interview, then interviewed the

people embedding the change. Reflecting on best practice, I

formed overall themes of positives and challenges and made

recommendations to address these. I also created individual

“impact stories” that helped the client justify their

recommendation.

“I think this report is excellent, and I feel very confident that

[the client] will love it. Sam, you have really grasped the

essence of what this work is all about – I am truly impressed"

,,.sessions for the team managers, three hour sessions for

three days in a row. But I want to share and get people

talking. I’ve given it lots of time, but it’s a good use of time,

you’ll get that time back.

I believe I have inspired others. I asked whether the

sessions were a good use of time, and we got 4s and 5s.

This lot are honest and they’d tell you if it wasn’t! I’ve had

good feedback, that it’s the right thing to do. If it was just

about values it would just pass. But it’s the right thing to

make the business a success. It’s the right thing for me, for

customers. It helps people on the frontline. People have

realised that sometimes they don’t think fully about each

decision. Now they stop and think about the consequences,

good and bad. They think about the right thing to do.

Interactions and decisions are different.

It works, it makes sure you consider all the

factors, it makes you view customers differently.

I look at customer satisfaction scores, and they’re

getting stronger.

We’ve changed enormously.

But does everyone know?

Who: A media group

What: This business has hugely adapted its sales offering

as it moves to multimedia. So the careers and opportunities

have changed too. They needed to share the current reality.

How: First I interpreted an internal survey, then designed

and ran focus groups. This enabled me to create connected

themes about what is most distinctive and valued about

working there. I delivered a linked presentation that built to

the main conclusion. That then allowed a creative team to

develop a new EVP.

“I’m very, very pleased. I think this is the best you’ve done

for us.“

…just as our readers trust us, we’ll trust you. And with

trust comes a deal, and our people know they need to

live up to that.

And their part of the deal includes…

More ideas and innovation

In this adult – adult, supportive but never directive

culture, there is more onus on you. You’ll need to bring

some of your own motivation and momentum. You’ll

need to create your own challenges.

We’ve got a track record of listening to ideas, and when

we hear great ideas we let people innovate and make

them happen. You can make things happen here.

And that’s what we need from you, because…

You could be here for a long time

For all of the reasons stated before, this is a great place

to work. And that means that once people are here,

many of them recognise that they have found a place…

How engaged are our workforce?

And how can we improve?

Who: A GOCO

What: This organisation continues to change rapidly. It is

important to understand levels of engagement, so that they

can improve it and ensure staff can move with them.

How: Ahead of conducting qualitative focus groups, I used

my knowledge of Survey Monkey, Excel and statistics to

segment and report on the employee survey. I produced a

presentation with full notes.

“Sam, that all sounds too brilliant for words.”

“Thanks so much Sam you have been a star as ever.”

…But, it is the questions that would most challenge and stretch

any organisation – and which would point to a clear direction and

capability for the future: “The senior leaders inspire me to excel”

and “I get the chance to develop my specialist skills” - that we

see the least good scores.

How do we attract people if no-one

knows who we are?

Who: A not-for-profit, technology firm

What: This business is important but unknown, a problem

when they need to grow and commercialise.

How: By designing and running focus groups and leader

interviews, I told the “story” of this business. This was used

by my client as the basis for communications to potential

candidates, and to explain change internally.

“I thought it all went really well and we'd be happy to work

together on future activities. It's good to have your input in

terms of the design of the research, and I had no qualms

about you representing us with the client. The feedback from

the sessions was all very positive.”

…janes-cupcakes.co.uk, with all the cost and

inconvenience that goes with that. So, simply, they don’t

fail. Ever.

So that’s why I’ve never heard of them then? Exactly.

So if they’re that successful, they must make pots of

money? Not exactly. They make money, but they’re a

not-for-profit business, specifically set up to serve this

public purpose of making .co.uk work. Any profit is re-

invested in the UK web infrastructure via the XXXXXXX

Trust. It means that making an immediate profit isn’t the

only, or even the prime, consideration for XXXXXXX. And

that buys them time. That time must then be used to make

considered decisions that turn a buck, but also add value

to everyone in the chain of selling, hosting and running

domains, making the internet safer and more accessible,

ensuring it is a force for good.

So they make good decisions, So what? It earns trust.

It keeps them independent. By finding the…

What do our values really mean?

Who: An insurance company

What: This insurer felt their culture was changing as they

grew. They wanted to make their values more current and

meaningful to how their employees work, and how they

aspire to work.

How: After reviewing work done internally, I designed a

focus group, to be run internally. Analysis of this enabled me

to create overall positive, negative and neutral themes. And

then to draft two versions of descriptors of the values and

associated behaviours.

“[The client is] very happy with our slide deck for the

workshop… Just to say again, thank you – this is a great

piece of work”

How can we best show all our

career opportunities?

Who: An FMCG

What: This organisation had lots of connected career

development tools and programmes, but they didn’t

feel connected.

How: Working to a pre-agreed concept, I made sense of

all of the tools, streamed them into a single narrative,

wrote complete notes and gave direction to the creative

team. They were then be able to continue independently.

“This is absolutely fantastic! It's exactly what

we need now - and exactly why I knew you'd

be perfect for this! Thank you so much.”

How will we bring our plan alive for staff?

And help them own it and keep it alive?

Who: An engineering manufacturer

What: With a new 10 year plan, the client needed to

communicate it quickly, so that delivery could start. But in a

time of change there had been much urgent

communication. The plan needed to be brought to life;

people needed to take responsibility for their part in it.

It needed to be kept front of mind for the months to come,

and to follow on from the best of the previous

communications. I developed a strategy to make that

happen, and to move it from an announcement to an

everyday experience.

“Thanks Sam. That’s a very considered piece of work … it

shows a lot of experience and common sense”

Can you make some sense of this?

Who: Various: FMCG/Local Authority

What: Simply, there’s a research or analysis need against a

deadline – but no in-house resource

How: I have in, in the first case, analysed and reported on

completed external research, finding key similarities and

differences when attracting sales and marketing

professionals. In the second case, I desk-researched a local

authority to help prepare for a presentation.

“I would like to thank you once again for the work you

completed – it was great and the overall report of which it

was a vital part was very well received.” “It was very well

received and I was impressed with the thorough insight that

you provided in a short space of time.”

There are differences between sales and marketing – so

we should appreciate this. Perhaps unsurprisingly,

salespeople need to be sold a personal opportunity,

marketeers prefer to be influenced over time.

Marketing – more active: A longer-burn approach, using trade

media first , in editorial as well as recruitment sections

Sales – more passive: They can be approached more quickly,

using headhunters or direct approaches from XXXXX.

There is plenty of coverage of the current situation at XXXX.

But it is far from entirely negative. Indeed there appears to be

positive sentiment behind making a radical change, and

involving and engaging with social work professionals.

Questions remain about:

ability to change culture working with the rest of the council

effects of TUPEing fewer agency/more permanent

There is plenty of opportunity to address all those questions,

especially on the website. Ideally that should be done using

the experience and voice of the employees at XXXX

And don’t forget…

I was the research member of the team that won

multiple* awards for the Asda Employer Brand

“Really powerful piece of work. Using research to portray a

compelling message which resulted on a huge impact on

retention. Very emotive; hugely inspirational.”

*CIPD Best Employer Brand + Grand Prix 2011

RAD Awards Best Employer Brand 2012