Macildowie Recruitment launches an internal leadership programme to fill management gaps and boost retention

A pre-COVID largescale restructure and transformation programme led to a gap in management skills, Macildowie Recruitment has prioritised ways to create progression opportunities to help boost retention levels and shield themselves from the difficulties of recruiting high demand management skills in a tight labour market.

Create clear progression routes so people have a reason to stay

Macildowie Recruitment, one of the UK’s leading independent recruitment and retention businesses, introduced a 12-month leadership programme for current employees following a gap in management skills after a largescale restructure and transformation programme prior to the outbreak of the Covid pandemic . The reasons for introducing the scheme were twofold: a lack of experienced management skills in the market was making it difficult to fill roles when they came up. By investing in the skills of the current workforce, Macildowie could fill the management gap without having to rely on finding people in a tight labour market. Secondly, it gave employees a clear progression path in the business, with the chance to develop and gain management responsibility by the end of the programme – helping to boost overall retention rates.

Cost versus risk also played a big part in the decision to introduce the programme. Like most companies, the business suffered financially during the pandemic and were keen to ensure a cost-effective solution. By hiring an experienced manager externally, if possible, there was a risk that internal colleagues who wanted to develop would lose their progression path and seek opportunities elsewhere. This would ultimately lead to higher costs, given the expense associated with replacing, inducting and training new employees.

Fact: CBI and Mckinsey research found that the average cost of replacing an employee is between 10-30% of their salary. Include wider impacts like lower productivity or staff turnover in the team, and the poor hire of a mid-manager with a salary of £42,000 is estimated to cost a business as much as £132,000 overall.[1]

Investing in management training helps to instill shared company values, further boosting retention

There were unexpected benefits to the strategy too – running a company-specific programme helped improve consistency of training, ensuring that managers were trained with shared company values in mind. Research has found that almost two-thirds of employees expect their workplace to have a sense of shared values[2], with companies who embed and communicate shared values likely to see improved productivity, performance, and retention.

Putting colleagues through the scheme together also helped to foster a sense of community and loyalty to the company, with the business retaining 100% of the team on the developing managers programme with 30% having subsequently been promoted and the remainder on track to be hot on their heels.

This programme has gone hand in hand with the wider strategic focus on developing their entry level trainee programme and expanding their talent pool outside of the traditional graduate only route. This has helped increase diversity, helping to build their teams in a way that best compliments their business and development plans.

Since the scheme was launched, of the newly qualified managers, the company has achieved a 90% retention rate, helping to reduce their need to hire externally outside of trainee levels. Macildowie has also reflected that the consistency of training across the board has helped them win more business and expand what they do with customers.

[1] Great Job: Solving the Productivity Puzzle through the Power of People, CBI, May 2019
[2] Edelman, Edelman Trust Barometer, 2019