CATALYST Issue 4 | Page 15

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