After reflecting on the journey we’ve been on in the past decade, our Head of Talent Alex Meah talks about how Opus are changing to better delight our number one client: our people.
The key? A partnership between employer and employee is vital to attracting and retaining valuable talent.
Rewind
We proudly launched in Bristol in In 2008. Back then our Bristol office was 4 people strong. The youngest employee was 25 and the oldest was 32.
All male? Yes.
Enough cutlery in the kitchen for everyone? Absolutely.
Fast forwardWe’re a multiple award-winning, end-to-end talent consultancy, recruitment and training firm focused on technology, energy and innovation.
And one of just three companies to feature on the Virgin Fast-Track five years in a row. The Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 league table ranks Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing sales over their latest three years.
The state of affairs in our Bristol office a decade down the line is altogether more diverse, progressive and dynamic. Ten years later, in 2018, our youngest employee was 18 and the oldest 54.
We’ve achieved a better balance in our workforce: 59% male, and 41% female.
And the global cutlery production of IKEA can’t keep up with the disappearance of forks in the office.
Putting our people first
But while these small day-to-day changes indicate a positive change in our culture, for a company striving to be a global leader, we needed to recognise the makeup of the workforce had changed.
So we looked inwards and sourced as much insight as we could from engagement surveys, feedback sessions, welfare chats, and exit interviews to find out how our employees are feeling, what’s important to them, and what empowers them.
Our team were telling us they wanted a broader spectrum of rewards for their work.
So we started looking at a rewards package which takes into account salary, bonuses, benefits, pensions, incentives, personal development opportunities, and of course, commission.
Time for change
By 2014 Opus was a 40 person company and had just opened our second office in London. Our average fee was £6,000 and almost everyone employed was billing.
We had a limited but growing database, no support functions, no Recruiter Licenses or job ad spend, no company sick pay or flexible working benefits, no HR support or development programmes. No modern refurbished offices and our incentive trip that year was to Brighton J. We didn’t even have fruit boxes…. Shock horror.
Opus is now a global business with 300 people, Opus has 7 prime offices across the globe and a 90% higher average fee.
We now have the highest spend per person on LinkedIn, job boards and recruitment tools in the industry and the highest investment in bespoke Learning and Development programmes, both personal and professional. Our Talent and Marketing functions are award nominated and drive our ability to do business.
This enables our staff to be incredibly successful, billing more per head on average than our competitors, which we are really proud of.
We always aim to reward excellence and have always wanted to ensure our commission structure was market-leading for our size. In order to continue to invest and provide the growth, promotions and career opportunities for our people, we need to constantly review this alongside our other benefits, and bring our pay structure in line with future, not past, growth.
The whole package
So we recently introduced a new 40% commission bracket to truly reward the excellence we drive here. Our staff collaborate better, work smarter and push harder for our clients and candidate than any business I’ve worked in.
A combination of this drive and ambition and the tools we now offer, mean our people are often the top performers in the industry and we wanted to make sure they benefitted from this. As far as we know, 40% is the highest in the market for a contingent business of our size. In addition to this, we lowered the threshold for what our consultants need to bill to hit the 20% and 30% brackets, making it more accessible for strong performers.
A lot of players our size implement a threshold of 1-3x base salary, so Consultants aren’t earning bonuses until they’re at least covering their salary.
We believe not having a threshold sets us apart from our competitors. And by making this investment, we’ll encourage new team members to get up and running quicker.
Instead of implementing a threshold, we reduced the threshold of the 10% bracket to 5%. This still ensures we pay out commission for every pound that’s billed, while still being able to invest in the wider package.
We give every consultant a Linkedin Recruiter license and unlimited job posting on the UK’s major job boards. So your chances of getting yourself into that 40% commission bracket are realistically achievable.
To put this into perspective, our Consultants made over 1,300 placements using LinkedIn in the last year alone: a tool not every agency gives as standard.
Our huge investment in recruitment tools and training means we are already managing to get Consultants up into the 30% and 40% brackets in their first year. Seeing the difference, we can make to people’s lives in such a short time is what gets us up in the morning.
90% of our consultants make their first placement within their first three months because of the onboarding and training they receive.
We’re proud to offer our consultants unrivalled benefits which don’t just reward them financially but support their career development, as well as their physical and mental wellbeing.
Our fresh learning and development programs – EVOLVE, EXPLORE and EXCEL – are designed to offer development opportunities at every level, from Trainee to Director.
This means our people are well-rounded individuals, equipped with the tools and training they need to achieve their personal and professional goals.
Our company growth has been fueled by our people developing quickly, so we invest heavily in this area.
What’s more, our consultants enjoy rewards that include annual bonuses and salary increases earned through good performance. Meaning our consultants have the ability to improve their basic salary.
We firmly believe our culture, benefits, training, brand, global network, and investments into LinkedIn and other search tools mean our consultants have the best chance of excelling in their role.
If you are intrested in a career at Opus, view our latest vaccancies here.