Bev White is CEO of Harvey Nash Group, which is a global recruitment consultancy and IT outsourcing service provider, and was recently identified as one of the most influential women in UK tech. She spoke to us about skill shortages in the tech sector, gender diversity and the future of the office.
The seemingly unending growth of the global tech sector is under threat as massive skills shortages reach an all-time high just as companies across the world signal their intentions to increase technology investment (60%) and headcount (61%) to record levels, according to one of the world’s largest and longest running survey of senior technology decision makers.
The Harvey Nash Group’s Digital Leadership Report also found that as the global tech skills crisis reaches new heights, eight in 10 digital leaders report that, post-pandemic, new life priorities amongst staff are making retention even more difficult.
Bev White, CEO of the Harvey Nash Group, talks to us about the report, her career and the future of work…
What’s your career looked like so far?
I got a degree in computer science. I’ve always been driven by curiosity. So, for me, being into business analytics was how I started my career – understanding how organisations work, how we can improve things, make the work more interesting and so on.
My last big technology role was at Virgin Media. After, I moved into management roles – my job now is the perfect mix of technology and leading the Harvey Nash Group. I feel very privileged to do this role.
Can you tell us about the skill shortages highlighted in Harvey Nash’s recent Digital Leadership report?
The pandemic had many terrible elements to it; however, businesses got the opportunity to reinvent and rethink themselves, in terms of how they would present services to their customers. The growth of digital services and Digital Transformation projects just rocketed everywhere in the world and with that came an even bigger demand on tech skills. Tech skills have been a real premium, globally.
There are three top skills in the UK and the US. Unsurprisingly, the number one is cybersecurity. The more we expose our business in a digital world, the more chance we’re going to have cyberthreats so the need for more cyberprofessionals is essential.
The second thing is Big Data analytics, as we were gathering more data and people were buying more products online. Now we’re amassing a huge amount of knowledge about our end customers, but what do you do with it? There’s a huge demand for data analytics and those experts are a premium around the world.
Finally, technical architects. Building out your services in a very new way requires a big demand for people who can do that.
How can employers tackle this skill shortage in the office and when hiring/recruiting more staff?
Firstly, make sure the people you’ve got know they’re wanted. Cherish the people you’ve got and make sure they understand they’re valued. Otherwise, as fast as you’re hiring people, you’ve got people leaving.
Secondly, reskilling. Looking at the people you’ve got; understanding your business is reshaping and changing itself; knowing which skills will no longer be as relevant and which are in big demand. Can you train people so they become even more valuable?
Also, look at apprenticeships. Bring in fresh new talent and be prepared to take people through learning programmes, so they grow and learn with you.
Finally, make sure you’re paying attention to the health and wellbeing of everyone. You must listen to what people aren’t saying as much as what they are saying. We want people to be fully rounded humans. We don’t leave who we are at the door when we come to our desk – whether that’s the kitchen table or physically into an office. Therefore, you need to be respectful, understand people have requirements in their life, outside of the job.
Recently, Harvey Nash Group contributed to a digital skills review to aid the UK government with its digital strategy. Like the government, what can businesses do to improve their digital strategy?
Employ entry-level people with the right attitude. It’s amazing how many people think a role in tech means they have to code. There are so many tech roles now that you don’t need to know coding. We need to make sure people understand tech is a fantastic place to grow a career.
The second thing is focusing on gender equality in tech. From our survey, women leaders in tech have barely moved – up from 11% to only 12% in the last five years. However, what we are seeing is as women are able to work in a more hybrid way, they’re able to find their voice, whereas they might not have before in a traditional office setting.
More than 150,000 jobs have been created for women in technology over the last two years. Building on this, how has the pandemic created more opportunities for women?
You don’t have to have employees on your doorstep. They don’t have to be in the office five days a week. Combined with the pandemic, people’s eyes were opened to possibilities and started to be much more open on their hiring practices, which made it much more attractive to women applying for roles. The key is to get them to stick in the business, so that means being gender-friendly and work/life-friendly. Keep that going and don’t revert back as we return to ‘normal’ life. Remote-first roles became much more attractive.
When in the office, it used to be that the loudest person got heard. But if you’re somebody quieter and want to think about something before it spills out of your mouth, then the home-working way is much more friendly towards you. Suddenly, the quiet woman in the corner got heard and promoted. This is a good sign for the future.
What are your predictions for the coming years with diversity/equality in the workplace?
In our survey, 42% of respondents hadn’t set up employee support networks. I’m a servant to our diversity and inclusion council, not the other way around. I believe you need to unwire many, many different connections in an organisation to permanently make changes and then rewire them in a new way. That means not just hiring practices, but it’s about the way we communicate, the way we ask for feedback and ideas, the way we promote people and develop them. Making sure we have employee support networks is an essential element of keeping women and keeping gender diversity.
Additionally, 36% haven’t carried out any inclusion training or communications. I don’t think anybody would deliberately say or do things that exclude people but if we’ve not been trained and made aware of what we’re saying and the impact of our words and actions, how would you know you were doing that? If we’re going to keep diversifying, growing inclusivity in a permanently sustainable way, it’s important to underpin it with these elements.
Your recent Technology and Talent study found that a large majority of UK tech workers want to continue hybrid working. How can organisations facilitate this so it both benefits the employer and the employee?
It’s making sure when people come into an office, they come in with purpose. If you come into an office and you spend all day plugged in and on calls, you might as well be in a home setting. So, you’re changing the in-office days to be collaboration work.
Also, have hybrid meetings. Some of us will be in an office, some of us will be in different locations. It’s about rethinking how we run meetings and how we include people in this hybrid world.
In your opinion, what is the perfect balance between on-site and working from home?
Ideally, two to three days in the office and the rest from somewhere else. We asked people in the survey about that. The majority (93%) wanted to work between two to five days a week from home. That compares with only 45% of tech professionals globally working two to five days a week from home before the pandemic. However, nobody is going to have a fixed formula. You might have one week where you do four days in the office, but the next week, you may do none. It’s getting the right balance.
What is Harvey Nash Group doing to improve employee well-being and what are some further initiatives the company can implement?
From the first lockdown, we did a variety of things. We did coffee check-ups with people; we gave people the opportunity to do meditation sessions. We did walk and talk sessions, we had fitness sessions and quizzes.
Then we started to think about things at a bigger stage. The first hire I made when I joined this company was a Chief People Officer because, fundamentally, we are a people business. She said to me, ‘I want to create a health and well-being hub.’ We amassed advice and guidance for people, videos, talks, podcasts they can listen to. Then we open-sourced it, even to our competitors.