Change Lives Archives - Gi Group Holding

The Generational Equation: Can the workplace truly change lives?

mborghesani — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 14:56:03 +0000

Explore key findings from a global study across four generations and eight countries. What drives job satisfaction, retention, and purpose in today's workforce? Discover how values, flexibility, and authenticity shape the future of work.

The role of AI in a People-centric company

mborghesani — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 22:00:00 +0000

The role of AI in a People-centric company

Luca Orlassino – Global R&D Senior Manager (AI) at Gi Group Holding discusses how AI tools benefit the recruitment industry.

There’s basically no business sector on earth that hasn’t been impacted by advances in practical usage of artificial intelligence (AI) in some way. Sources like Authority Hacker and National University online report that 77% of businesses are using AI to a degree in their daily operations. Moreover, 83% of companies say that AI usage and integration is a top priority for the business. Gi Group Holding ranks among these organisations. As Luca Orlassino, Global R&D Senior Manager (AI) explains, “Gi Group Holding’s key priority in the use of AI is the ‘augmentation’ of recruitment processes. More specifically, in the last 24 months, we have been concentrating our efforts on the candidate screening phase of such processes. Screening, while not necessarily requiring the most distinctively human skills to be performed, is an operational step that is highly time-consuming. It involves processing of huge volumes of candidate information, which can generally be done more efficiently by machines.”

The machine role can be critical in speeding-up recruitment and getting back to clients with properly vetted candidate lists in a timely manner. This centres around letting trained algorithms do part of the heavy lifting. Machine involvement also tends to work to the benefit of candidates: AI models help overcome the limits of traditional, filter- and keyword-based database search. Algorithmic approaches enable the “buoyancy” of candidates who, for technical reasons related to the limits of these standard search tools, would otherwise unwillingly lie “at the bottom of the pot”. In addition to candidates seeing their chances of being selected increase, clients also benefit from higher fulfillment rates for job openings and, overall, from shortened time-to-hire.

Benefits for the recruitment industry

While AI-driven tools improve processes, including clearly enhanced outputs for process beneficiaries, it is also true that companies in the recruitment industry benefit from AI in areas such as time management, resource planning and much more.

By freeing up our recruiters’ time, which would otherwise be dedicated to less demanding, high-volume activities, our highly skilled professionals, thanks to AI tools, can now devote their trained cognitive and relational competencies to assessing motivational drives and competence-fitness matches between candidates and clients when reviewing job openings. They can also focus on managing the resulting client-candidate relationships where elements of human intelligence and interaction help ensure better alignment between both sides and achieve success at the candidate-vacancy level.

Luca Orlassino clarifies

Data and AI tools are great partners but they need to be watched

On an evolutionary basis, bias is a natural part of human behaviour which cannot be completely avoided. Since AI models are usually “trained” on datasets resulting from past human activity, the possibility that they inherit human pitfalls is real. Fortunately, there are techniques which can be applied to preventing human-originated bias from being transferred to AI models. “At Gi Group Holding, we take particular care in the pre-processing and in the balancing of our training datasets. This prevents sensitive information from being used and underrepresented categories from being unfairly penalised in our models’ outputs. Anonymisation and synthetic data generation are amongst the techniques which can contribute to mitigating or eliminating bias-related issues,” underscores Luca Orlassino. Beyond processes and procedures, teams at Gi Group Holding also comply with policies aimed at preventing the misuse of AI tools and the development and adoption of potentially harmful technologies. Employees directly involved in the development of AI-enabled systems work in close collaboration with the Holding’s Compliance Department and extensive training is provided on the recent regulatory evolution; even anticipating the release of new norms such as the EU AI Act of 2024.

Why true People Inclusion is a critical part of Team Integration

mborghesani — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 14:41:52 +0000

Why true People Inclusion is a critical part of Team Integration

Cindy Gunn, Head of People at Gi Group Holding UK, speaks about her team’s efforts to integrate new colleagues from Kelly Europe and to build a truly inclusive workplace.

The Starting Point

Over the past 25 years Gi Group Holding has acquired more than 50 companies which it has successfully integrated into its set of service providers in the recruitment and staffing sectors. Each acquisition offers the overall business new opportunities but they also present new challenges. Gi Group Holding UK has been involved in many of these integration processes: most recently involving Encore Personnel Services and Kelly Services Europe. Consolidating teams has required a lot of focus on making sure employees understand the Holding’s overall mission and are working from the same playbook. Cindy Gunn, People Leader at Gi Group Holding UK & Ireland explains, “With our Encore employees we needed to work to align goals and help them integrate with the Gi Group mindset and overall mission and vision. At times, it felt like there was an ‘us vs. them’ culture in parts of the business, but that mainly stemmed from nervousness related to the move from a smaller business with a family feel and higher levels of empowerment to working in a much larger company with a more corporate structure where incoming team members had, at times, the perception that their influence and authority had diminished. Understandably, they would have liked to retain some policies and systems that kept the previous work atmosphere in the company they came from.”

While feelings and perceptions are important, other challenges with team integration often relate to process speed. In this space, communication forms a critical part of team integration and consolidation. Clear, consistent messaging impacts employee buy-in and commitment to building and boosting the newly-integrated entity where they work. Cindy Gunn explains, “For Kelly employees, we had had some struggles and expressed frustrations with process timing. A number of team members provided feedback that they would have appreciated a more expedited integration process with quicker updates on planned future roles and whether they would continue to work in the new business and, if so, in which specific area. Now our teams are at a point where the bulk of the restructuring is complete and integration is advancing. Of course, we have always been mindful in our teams of the need to be as transparent as possible but the bigger the acquired organisation, the greater the number of challenges for team consolidation is likely to be. Fortunately, we have moved forward into our full onboarding processes and are investing into welcome and teambuilding programmes. So I believe our Kelly peers can now see our business’ true commitment to People Power and building a strong integrated entity for the future.”

Integration Strategy

Efforts to consolidate and integrate employee teams post-acquisition always involve a good amount of planning, and they vary based on the size of the company acquired, that company’s existing culture and its alignment with the new business, strength of leadership teams, etc. Plus, there’s the communication element that accompanies the planning as stated above. As part of current integration efforts, the Gi Group Holding UK leadership team is focusing on making new team members feel welcome and helping them forge connections and solid relationships with their new colleagues.

The first step involves a series of break-out days to welcome our new team members from Kelly. We have arranged meetings for our colleagues in Ireland and also the UK. This is all based on employee functions. So we have one set of meetings for our operations staff, a full Central Functions teambuilding planned for September, and other gatherings where needed. These welcome days consist of meetings where the heads of each department talk new employees through our team structure, individual employee functions and also our business’ strategic priorities. Around that, we plan a number of fun activities focused on relationship building between team members and forging deeper connections over dinner and drinks in the evening.

Cindy Gunn clarifies

Many businesses note that focusing on personal connections and clear explanations of business strategy are critical for building integrated, cohesive teams. This involves highlighting points of similarity and alignment between business cultures (from the perspective of the acquiring and acquired employee teams) and delivering tangible examples for demonstrating how new employees can influence strategy as well as company policy and also make a real impact in achieving company goals. Gi Group Holding’s focus on a sincere and warm welcome for new colleagues is having a valuable impact based on Cindy Gunn’s observations, “Our teambuilding efforts have worked really well with integrating Kelly employees into the Gi Group culture. We have been able to get our new team members up to speed on what our key focus areas are and what impact they can have in helping achieve business aims. We are also conducting a Culture Listening project for our Kelly colleagues. This is something we did last year for incoming Encore team members and the programme received a national award. Headed up by our Group Head of L&D, Emma-Louise Taylor, the project gives all our colleagues the chance to air their views, concerns and ideas for improvements through a group discussion session and a follow up questionnaire. Our executive and senior management teams then make a pledge to implement new initiatives to make improvements across the business as recommended.”

Fulfilling the #ChangeLives Promise

When working to make the experience within the Gi Group Holding team more meaningful, the company decided a few years back to outline a higher mission for the delivery of services in recruitment, staffing and other lines of business. This effort involved underscoring the true value of employees’ daily work activities and showing them literally how they could change lives for the clients and candidates they work with and support. This philosophy today pervades all aspects of company operations and has become a mantra for all colleagues committed to making a deeper impact through efforts to help match clients and candidates with meaningful work opportunities. Cindy Gunn addresses how this mission plays out in the day-to-day business, “I believe that it varies from person to person and from team to team. Some people embrace the #ChangeLives motto and feel proud to work for an organisation that has a clear slogan representing what the business believes in: doing good things for good people. In some cases, employees find themselves so deeply involved in the operational day-to-day work that they don’t always reflect on this higher mission. In many cases this is understandable though because our UK and Ireland teams have had to deal with a flat economy, a cost of living crisis and also political uncertainty in recent years. Together, this has all made for a tough business environment. Still, I believe it is important to keep reminding our people of this greater objective or mission. Helping people find meaningful employment has a lot more value beyond just helping the company boost its bottom line.”

Outside communications on changing lives within the Gi Group Holding team, the tagline is a critical element in company recruitment tools, onboarding programmes and induction presentations. This promise or creed helps the HR team direct people’s attention to what working at Gi Group is all about: delivering meaningful, sustainable employment that does actually change people’s lives; certainly from the candidate perspective, but also from the client perspective where they can build teams that have a stronger attachment to their business and its long-term mission. The #ChangeLives promise also boosts prospects for employee retention and commitments to business sustainability and building a respected, trusted brand. Cindy Gunn and her team have reported plans to deliver visible reports on the impacts of the #ChangeLives creed by gathering employee and candidate testimonials explaining how GI Group has helped shape and change their lives for the better. This is a project targeted for 2025 once work on the Kelly Services integrated has been fully completed. With over 25 years of successful integrations and quality teambuilding behind it, the Gi Group Holding UK team will definitely have many inspiring stories to tell.

The Human Factor: Why Employer Branding (EB) Increasingly Matters

valerioboto — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 22:01:21 +0000

The Human Factor: Why Employer Branding (EB) Increasingly Matters

Businesses have to deliver strong employee development experiences in line with demands for continued education and greater career mobility

There are a number of significant and ongoing transformations in today’s world of work. A group that is heavily impacted is jobseekers working in international markets and moving across roles in different countries and regional geographies. The question for businesses everywhere is how they keep up with delivering employee satisfaction and nurturing their employer brands such that they truly offer creative, challenging work roles, meet targets for building ideal employment (work environments) and invest in long-term employee care (e.g., skills development, reskilling and upskilling, work-life balance support services, and more). In the article below, we share remarks from Lorenzo Sergio Castracane, Global Employer Brand Lead and coordinator of Gi Group Holding’s new report, The Human Factor: People and Companies in the New Global Dynamics of Work.

New Workplace Challenges

The biggest change for jobseekers in the past half-decade is greater awareness of work-life balance, i.e., what people expect from careers and how that fits with their priorities in their personal lives. In speaking about findings from the Gi Group Holding report mentioned above, Lorenzo Castracane points out, “Skilled talent on the market today expects modern roles to have high-level work-life balance. Younger applicants especially are looking for flexible employment options such as hybrid work scenarios and employer investment into their longer-term professional development. They expect skills training and even upskilling as part of compensation packages and also emphasis on promoting company values in work delivery.” The last point is critical because jobseekers, younger candidates in particular, have had a values re-think and decided they want greater meaning from their work experience. Plus, a number of structural changes to workforce composition are having a strong impact on how hiring processes are planned. This involves namely changing age demographics (e.g., fewer potential employees in younger age cohorts who can take on roles of older workers heading into retirement); delayed provision of skills training and career development ensuring that young workers can meet innovation and process transformation needs; and employee teams with more diverse age demographics – Gen Z employees now becoming part of teams that span from remaining Baby Boomers on to Gen X and Millennials. Today’s workplace reality encompasses quite a broad scope of approaches to work and product delivery.

Investing in Professional Development and Mobility Boosts Satisfaction

The new research provides many insights on how employee satisfaction is evolving in markets around the world, with the latter being impacted differently depending on industry sector and gender. “The findings gathered for us by IPSOS show that employees with a background in the Legal or Economic fields express higher levels of job satisfaction: 69% in the sector in Brazil compared to average levels of 62% in that country overall; or 66% in those fields in Germany compared to average levels of 57%. In the research we commissioned we also found that male workers generally gave higher ratings on job satisfaction than women. The outlier was Türkiye where 77% of women reported upper level ratings (between 8-10) on job satisfaction, as compared to men in that country – 61%. However, with women across all markets surveyed being roughly 10% less satisfied in their work roles than their male colleagues, it shows us there is work to be done to support greater inclusion and opportunity for women in the workplace,” notes Lorenzo Castracane. In addition to demographic groups like women, the NEET segment of the population (Not in Education or Employment) also has high levels of concern and, in some cases, disillusionment with work opportunities. This segment of the work-capable population is a prime area for skills development investment. Numbers show that NEETs made up 11.7 percent of the EU population aged 15-29. This figure jumps to almost 20% in markets like Romania. Add to this, vast underusage of women worker populations in EU countries (women have an employment rate of 69.3% compared to 80% for men) and you have significant talent pools that can be skilled for modern, transformative work roles, i.e., in spaces like new tech, logistics, manufacturing and more.

Compared to the previous survey from 2021, employees are increasingly focusing on alignment with values frameworks. Although pay and compensation are still important factors, workers are now placing greater emphasis on possibilities to work abroad, company career programming that focuses on a longer-term career horizon and offers opportunities for advancement and skills training, as well as investment into programmes that support employee well-being. Candidates and employees are keen to work in businesses that support continuous skills education and training. In Brazil (80%), China (78%) and Portugal (71%), survey respondents said continuous training is a must. On top of that, employees across the board stated that they value employers who support their professional growth and ensure merit-based rewards systems for staff and employee teams. They respect companies that acknowledge and reward hard work done. This also aligns with today’s, especially younger, jobseekers giving preference to employers with whom they see personal values connections: issues like human and social sustainability, inclusivity and social responsibility are categories that candidates take note of when searching for new roles and career opportunities.

Rethinking Job Search and Evolving Agency Support

A final issue explored in the IPSOS survey was the mechanics of job search in today’s labour market. Perhaps a bit counterintuitive was the fact that traditional paths to finding a job still have a significant amount of weight among applicants: online job searches and sending CVs in response to online adverts remain the most commonly used solicitation methods. Still, new trends have come about. Compared to 2021, more applicants are using LinkedIn as a highly-preferred job search tool. In countries like Brazil (+10%) and Germany (+5%), this trend is ticking upward slowly but surely, while in markets China, Czech Republic, Spain and the UK (and interestingly in Brazil as well) direct dispatch of CVs to head hunters and recruiters continues to grow in popularity (up 8% on average). “Alongside these hard-figure assessments on jobseeker preferences when applying for new roles, our research also looked at the human (peer-to-peer) element of job search mechanics. Interestingly, we see ‘word of mouth’ is still perceived as the most effective way of getting better access to leads for career opportunities. Applicants are also leveraging what we call ‘personal experience’ using family and friend networks to get insights on the best routes for communicating with potential employers and accessing hiring decision-makers inside a business. Outliers in this area are China (49% of candidates send CVs to specialised sector-focused head hunters); cold call CV submissions stand out in Türkiye (49%); and LinkedIn reigns in India (43%),” clarifies Lorenzo Castracane. Overall, it is interesting that while new paths have formed to facilitate and expedite job search in the Digital Age, candidates still trust and continue to work with traditional resources. One of these is employment agencies where, across all markets surveyed, growth in their use has gone up by 2% on average. Services such as orientation in determining career paths, skills development, upskilling and reskilling programmes are all activities that keep candidates interested in working with agencies. While agency service usage varies from country to country, in emerging markets like China (up 12%) and Brazil (up 5%), they remain a vital job search ally. The question now is what impact digital (online) tools will continue to have in coming years. Clearly, agencies like those in the Gi Group Holding network understand that the future of recruitment and job placement lies in a hybrid model of person-to-person and online services. It is just a matter of finding balance. At a time when many younger applicants are looking for more meaningful career opportunities and values alignment with employers on a social and human level, agencies as well will need to find that human-digital harmony that makes the search experience easy, meaningful, and personally rewarding. The findings in the ISPOS research suggest it can be done.

Research: The Human Factor, people and companies in the new global dynamics of work

valerioboto — Wed, 29 May 2024 08:32:52 +0000

Psychological Safety: how to drive mental strength and empower employees

mborghesani — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 07:47:51 +0000

Psychological Safety: how to drive mental strength and empower employees

Imagine being part of a workplace where authenticity is celebrated, and everyone feels empowered to bring their whole selves to work each day. In this environment, people are encouraged to share ideas, ask questions, and take calculated risks, knowing that their contributions are valued and respected. Mistakes are viewed as opportunities for growth rather than reasons for criticism, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement. Psychological safety isn’t just about being nice to each other; it’s about creating a supportive atmosphere where individuals can confidently voice their thoughts and opinions, leading to greater collaboration, innovation, and success.

Central to the foundation of a psychological safety program is the bedrock of open and transparent communication. In this environment, individuals uphold a deep-seated respect for one another, fostering an atmosphere where every voice is valued and heard. Leadership commitment serves as the guiding force, demonstrating unwavering dedication to nurturing an inclusive culture. Effective managerial practices play a pivotal role, ensuring that teams operate efficiently and harmoniously. Together, these elements form the essence of a psychological safety program, empowering individuals to thrive and contribute meaningfully within their workplace.

Within our organization, we’ve implemented a diverse array of initiatives dedicated to fortifying psychological safety. These efforts range from facilitating open dialogues via town halls, team gatherings, and brainstorming sessions, to delivering specialized training sessions that underscore the importance of psychological safety. Notably, we’re committed to empowering our middle managers with the necessary knowledge and skills, recognizing their pivotal role in sustaining this environment. Moreover, we’ve formed a strategic partnership with a mental well-being organization, acknowledging the profound correlation between psychological safety and mental health. Through this collaboration, we offer crucial support to our workforce, understanding that nurturing psychological safety is intertwined with promoting mental well-being. Our initiatives encompass providing resources, counselling services, and tailored support programs, ensuring the holistic health and resilience of our employees remain at the forefront of our organizational priorities.

In today’s competitive landscape, prioritizing psychological safety and fostering a healthy work-life balance has become imperative for attracting and retaining top talent. Given the significant portion of our lives spent in the workplace, candidates and employees now anticipate employers to offer robust mental well-being programs as part of their overall benefits package.

At Gi Group Holding, we believe that Work has the power to generate priceless personal and social value, we are committed towards building an enjoyable work environment and enhance the potential of each individual we engage with. By prioritizing psychological safety, we’ve not only aligned ourselves with our core values but also gained a competitive edge as an employer.

In our commitment to raising awareness, we have published a survey-based report named “The safety Net: Supporting Employee Well Being with Psychological safety”. The report contained intriguing insights that shed new light on the topic. As per the top findings “94% of the employees who participated in the survey believed that Psychological Safety is imperative at workplaces and 74% believed that psychological unsafe workplace could have an impact on their mental wellbeing” For the report launch event on the vital intersection of psychological safety and employee well-being, we extended invitations to clients, partners, employees, prospective candidates, educational institutions, and various stakeholders.

Psychological safety becomes an even more pertinent topic in a VUCA world due to the heightened levels of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity present in such environments. In times of rapid change and unpredictability, individuals need to feel secure in their environment to take risks, voice concerns, and contribute ideas without fear of judgment or repercussion. In the rapidly changing work environment, psychological safety becomes essential for fostering a culture of trust, collaboration, and ultimately, organizational success.

Organizations are increasingly recognizing that their people are one of their most significant competitive advantages. Consequently, they’re prioritizing the establishment of psychological safety to attract and retain top talent. By providing the necessary support, organizations ensure their workforce feels empowered and valued, ultimately enhancing their ability to remain relevant and competitive in today’s dynamic landscape.