D
Catalyst | Digital
Partner story
WILLIAM HILL
Mark Skinner, HR director for online
and technology, describes William Hill’s
journey to digitisation.
B
etting company William Hill
has only truly recognised
itself as a digital business
in the past few years. “It’s
been an evolution rather
than a revolution,” says Mark Skinner,
HR director for online and technology.
“We’re thought of as a retail business,
though we’ve had an online presence
for over 20 years.” Now, he admits, the
business needs to “act like a Google or
an Amazon” in order to attract the best
candidates with today’s highly sought-
after digital skills. Everyone is looking
for the same skill set, racing towards
the same goal: to have the best tech
available that can help you develop the
best customer experience,” he explains.
To build the company’s brand among
this candidate pool, William Hill has to
showcase itself as a digital business,
with events such as hackathons part
of the attraction process. Benefits
must be relevant to the digital
workforce, so there are opportunities
to attend conferences, personal
learning budgets and the offices have
a similar environment to many ‘pure’
tech companies.
Even at interview stage, William
Hill is keen to show that it operates
in an agile way. Skinner says: “We try
to give a response on the same day –
it’s more akin to the Amazon model.
It benefits us too because we can
“Our ambition as a
company is to be
a digitally led,
internationally diversified
business. Within that,
HR’s ambition is to build
the digital workforce
of the future”
secure candidates before someone
else makes them an offer. We’re not
alone in that approach; it’s what people
have come to expect because it’s a
candidates’ market.”
The business experiences around
20% staff turnover, including a large
proportion who move internally; 30%
of vacancies were filled internally
last year, but there will always be a
need to acquire skills externally in a
competitive market, he adds.
Managing the company’s skills needs
is a balancing act. A graduate scheme
takes in digital recruits at entry level
every other year, and the business uses
its funding for the Apprenticeship Levy
(a UK tax on employers which can be
used to fund apprenticeship training)
to help reskill existing employees. Of
the 900 employees who work in tech,
there are 350 staff in Krakow who
work in development and technical
operations – many of whom start on
summer internships and then convert
to permanent roles.
William Hill is supported
by Alexander Mann Solutions’
recruitment process outsourcing
to attract and hire a steady stream
of skilled workers, and has a local
reputation (it’s known as Grand Parade
in Krakow) as a good digital employer.
In other global locations, such as
Manila and Malta, direct hiring is easier
so is managed directly.
Amid constant change, it can be
difficult to reflect on the achievements
of its digital workforce. “We need to
share more with colleagues about the
customer value and business benefits of
the projects they work on, rather than
moving to the next thing,” says Skinner.
“Our ambition is to be a digitally led,
internationally diversified business.
Within that, HR’s ambition is to build
the digital workforce of the future. We
constantly ask ourselves, ‘what are
the unknowns?’ ‘How do we prepare
ourselves for new ways of working?’”
We never stop challenging ourselves
on the best way to attract and retain
talent. As soon as you stop trying, it’s
hard to make up the lost ground.”
Issue 4 - 2020
15