Thinking and Technology: The Future for the Hospitality Industry

With the recent announcement of a strategic partnership with Fourth, Changeworknow were delighted to join over 400 hospitality industry professionals at the Fourth Conference at the BFI IMAX in London this week.

With industry insight, panel discussions and thought leadership the conference focused  on the tools, thinking and technology which will be shaping the  market in the future.

It was a great opportunity to hear from a range of business leaders and some interesting themes and trends emerging. Lots of good information to digest and the top three that we came away with were:

Digital and Mobile: There is no doubt that mobile technology is the future and has a vital part of play both for consumers and employees. From a consumer perspective we are using our mobiles increasingly to check availability, book and in some instances for payment so how can this technology be leveraged to improve the experience even further? From the employee side how can mobile provide a means for better employee engagement and management such as staff rotas, holiday booking, swapping shifts and overall labour productivity? (Fourth have some very new and smart technology to start to address this!)

The Feel Good Factor: Staff want to feel good about where they work - their environment and the product and with the "Millenniums" making up a significant proportion of front line employees they really do care about issues such as sustainability, authenticity and provenance. Us as consumers also want to know that we are getting good healthy and sustainable food and products so this should be a key consideration for the industry as they develop new ideas and new products. We all want to have the feel good factor.

Employee Engagement: Already referred to in the first point but absolutely critical for an industry where the average turnover of staff is 92%. The front line employee are key to delivering the service and the brand experience so how can they be motivated, engaged and committed to deliver what the business needs in a way that supports the brand and what the business stands for?  At Changeworknow we get quite excited at this point as this is where we come in! Our approach and solution helps organisations recruit individuals with the right skills and motivations to deliver great customer service in line with the brand. Just check out Wagamama, Carluccio's, Pizza Express and Ask Italian's front line staff!

All in all a really great informative conference and a great chance to network within the industry. And a big congratulation to Fourth on the new product launch - great job!

Changeworknow and Fourth Create Strategic Partnership

Changeworknow is delighted to announce a strategic partnership with Fourth, the world’s leading provider of cloud-based cost control solutions to the hospitality industry.

Changeworknow will now be offering its hospitality clients the ability in integrate with the Fourth People System, to ensure a seamless transfer from candidate to employee.

Lisa Proctor, Chief Marketing Officer at Changeworknow explains “With a growing number of organisations using both Changeworknow and Fourth solutions, we have created a partnership that will deliver costs savings for our clients and enhances the candidate experience as they transition to become an employee.  The integration will significantly reduce the manual overhead often associated with the on-boarding of an employee.

Catherine Iredale, Communications Director at Fourth continues “We are always seeking ways to make life as simple as possible for our customers. Working with Changeworknow means there is no more duplication of effort – entering the individuals’ information correctly once at the start of the process means elimination of errors in the transition too.  

The integration is available to all clients who use both Changeworknow Applicant Tracking Solution and Fourth People System and several organisations have already committed to implement this new functionality, including Wagamama.

Taking the Risk out of Graduate Recruitment

Xafinity, one of the UK’s leading specialists in pensions and employee benefits has chosen Changeworknow’s recruitment solution to support the recruitment of graduates. Every year the business looks to recruit Graduate Actuaries and it is important to recruit, grow and develop this key talent.

 

With a small recruitment function and a very manual graduate application process this has in the past been a time consuming task for the team. With a five offices located throughout the UK looking to recruit graduates there is a strong desire to provide a very consistent process across the business. Putting in place Changeworknow’s applicant tracking solution will mean that graduates applying have a consistent and engaging experience and  for the recruitment team, will significantly reduce the manual overhead of dealing with volumes of graduate applications.

 

Lisa Proctor, Chief Marketing Officer at Changeworknow explains “We are delighted to be supporting Xafinity with their graduate programme. It was a great opportunity to demonstrate our agile approach as the system was delivered in just three and a half weeks. The new approach will revolutionise how the business recruits”.

 

To see the new solution in action please visit http://www.xafinity.com/Careers/Graduate-Actuarial-Recruitment

Changeworknow: the number one choice for restaurants

Changeworknow’s reputation as the partner of choice for the restaurant and hospitality sector continues to gather speed with the announcement that a number of the UK’s leading restaurants has implemented the award winning technology to support the ongoing recruitment needs of their businesses.  From casual dining, entrepreneurial start-ups and “grab and go” to high end and Michelin starred restaurants the Changeworknow approach and solution is proving a great success.

 In the past six months brands such as Las Iguanas, Byrons, Domino Pizza, Bills, Dishoom and D and D London have all selected Changeworknow for the expertise and experience of working in this sector.

Lisa Proctor, Chief Marketing Officer comments “One of our biggest growth areas this year has been the restaurant sector. The casual dining sector is fast growing and there is a constant need to recruit quality individuals to provide a great customer experience. However for these organisations the candidate experience is critical as candidates will also be customers so providing a first class candidate experience is a priority – something that Changeworknow helps clients achieve. The solution comes with a high degree of flexibility to fit different business models and the ease and simplicity of use means that is appropriate for both recruiters and operational managers”.

 Lisa continues “Changeworknow have now established themselves as the number one provider of applicant tracking systems within this sector. In a recent CGA Peach survey of the top casual dining brands for customer satisfaction 42% of the top forty brands use Changeworknow’s recruitment technology. The interactive screening element of the solution ensures that clients are attracting and hiring people with both the right skills and behaviours to deliver a great customer experience.”

The award winning system has other features that are important to restaurant recruiters such as a fully branded mobile application experience allowing for applications from any device quickly and efficiently, passive candidate sourcing tools allowing to submit basic information and register for future jobs, measuring the effectiveness of application sources e.g. job boards and social media and unlimited scalability as businesses grow.

So what will you be wearing Spring/Summer 2015?

One of the advantages of having retail clients (especially those with a fashion element to their business) is that very occasionally you can get a sense of what's coming next season. Walking through the office you can start to sense the new seasons colours, lengths of dresses and trousers and the styles that will be adorning our streets in months to come.

Just last week we got an insight into what is going to be big next year and so we are already putting in our order for Henley Royal Regatta......

Henley Royal Regatta

Last week Changeworknow welcomed clients to the Henley Royal Regatta. As in previous years we took the opportunity to say a big thank you to those organisations that have in the past year chosen us as their online recruitment partner and also to recognise those organisations that continue to work with us for the longer term.

A private box on the river was the location for this annual event and this year we had guests from PizzaExpress, Center Parcs, Mitchells and Butlers, Ground Control, Bills, The Original Bowling Company and Dominos Pizza. Unfortunately Steve from Bryon Hamburgers was victim of the traffic and travel chaos that always accompanies regatta - next year Steve!

Anyway a fun day filled with pimms, delicious food (a special mention for the afternoon cream tea), great company and some fine rowing.

Here are some of our guests and the Changeworknow team enjoying the day...........

High End Restaurant Group Choose Award Winning Recruitment Solution

Changeworknow’s reputation as the partner of choice for organisations in the restaurant and hospitality sector continues to gather speed with the announcement that D & D London have chosen the award winning company to provide their applicant tracking solution.

 

D & D London owns and operates some of the most famous restaurants in London, Paris, New York and Tokyo with well known names such as La Pont de la Tour, Quaglino’s, Coq D’Argent and Launceston Place . With business expansion including South Place Hotel and an events business D & D London require recruiting talented individuals with the right skills, experience. The organisation was looking for a partner with the expertise to provide an applicant tracking and talent engagement solution that provided an excellent and brand enhancing recruitment experience for all potential applicants.

 

Like any growing organisation D & D are looking for an intuitive, easy to use and modern solution that will give full visibility of applicants across the whole of the estate and enable the creation of a talent bank for future vacancies. This system needs to be flexible and able to grow and change with the business – something for which Changeworknow is highly renowned.

 

Chief Marketing Officer, Lisa Proctor, explains “We are seeing a growth in interest for our expertise in the hospitality arena in particular with growing organisations who want great flexibility from a system right from the start. The high level of flexibility that Changeworknow offers means that the system can be tailored to the needs of any business.  Our recent award win and recognition for providing an outstanding candidate experience is also a factor in organisations with a focus on customer service and quality choosing to work with us. D & D join a growing number of restaurant clients such as Jamie Oliver Group, Gordon Ramsey, Wagamama, Carluccios and The Gondola Group.

The award winning online recruitment system, from Changeworknow uses some of the most modern designs in the industry and is becoming well known for the ease with which it can scale up and flex for fast growing organisations.