Phil Codd
Managing Director, Expleo Ireland
To win the war for talent, companies should embrace new organisational structures, while ensuring that they are diverse and inclusive places to work.
Every business should aspire to be a great place to work. But if they could do better and want to improve, where do they begin?
Phil Codd — Managing Director of Expleo Ireland, a global digital consultancy and transformation partner with expertise in emerging technologies — knows the answer. After all, Expleo has been named a Great Place to Work and Best Workplace in Tech.
“It starts with communication,” says Codd. “Get your staff to look at your company with a critical eye and tell you what’s working and what isn’t. If you involve your people, they can help you harness change — because your management team won’t have all the answers.”
Codd highlights two big challenges facing businesses today: talent acquisition and talent retention. To win the war for talent he believes that it’s important for companies to embrace new organisational structures, including remote and hybrid working. “Many businesses have been used to their employees working remotely over the last two years,” he notes. “That’s great because it’s opened them up to international markets and shown them that their workforce can be anywhere. This multi-site approach takes more effort, but it widens the available pool of expertise.”
If you involve your people, they can help you harness change — because your management team won’t have all the answers.
Implementing effective diversity and inclusion initiatives
However, Codd admits that face-to-face social interaction in an office environment can be important too. “People like flexibility,” he says. “For example, what we’re about to do at Expleo is roll out strategic hubs around the country where our people who are working from home can get away from the house and meet colleagues as and when they want. That helps them because it gives them choice. It also helps us because it means we can tap into a nationwide talent pool.” Another challenge is diversity and inclusion. This isn’t a nice to have for a business — it’s an imperative that is proven to inspire creativity and positively impact employees’ overall sense of wellbeing. “We have a great team and culture here at Expleo,” says Codd. “It is so important to us to nurture that and ensure that our team members feel comfortable and supported. It is simply not enough to have the best talent. You must have talented teams that are encouraged to embrace their diversity of thought. That is what drives true innovation and creates a culture of belonging that people want to be a part of.”
