Just Group

Having outsourced its talent acquisition (TA) function, financial services organisation Just Group recognised – following both internal and external feedback – that there was room for improvement. 

A full end-to-end diagnostic was completed to fully understand the talent acquisition function’s capability and performance in line with delivering the substantial headcount required to achieve the company’s growth ambitions. The findings revealed that a “significant transformation” of the function was needed. This would consist of building an in-house TA function in just six months.

The “intensive” project was divided into four main workstreams: building the TA function, which included designing a new operating model and onboarding six internal TA professionals; design and implementation of an automated dashboard to showcase a suite of key metrics; collaboration with an internal agency to assist with the creation of the company’s EVP; and the development of a TA DE&I improvement plan, enabling Just Group to attract and retain diverse talent.

Each workstream was broken down and allocated defined success criteria. Each stage was then signed off by a project committee. Now, the firm has a full suite of accurate and automated key performance indicators that assess the performance of the TA function. The move has resulted in a significant reduction in the firm’s dependence on third-party agencies, which has led to a lower monthly cost on track to save around £840k a year. 

The judges praised Just Group for its “joined-up thinking, clear drivers and strong focus on data-led decisions”, emphasising the team’s “clear demonstration of measures achieved in a very short time frame”.  The judges were also impressed with the DE&I strategy, mandatory training for hiring managers and executive sponsorship on workstreams.  “There was a clear demonstration of stakeholder engagement, senior buy-in and regular check-in, deep-dive diagnostic and co-creation facilitating employee engagement,” they said. “Impressively, they have recouped costs already for the work streams and have had a real business impact.”