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RECRUITMENT OPPORTUNITIES
One of the priorities is in meeting the recruitment challenges of a notoriously undervalued workforce which as Chapman admits, “looks bad compared to other industries where people get paid the Real Living Wage or above and get a lovely office environment”.
He believes the sector is asking the lowest paid people to deal with some of the hardest jobs that no one else wants to do. Chapman’s own family experiences have made him a huge advocate of opportunity for all. His parentless mother Beverley was working by the age of 14 in a hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where an American visitor was so impressed with her competence, he paid for her to attend a private girl’s school which culminated in her move to England as one of the nursing bastions of the NHS.
Says Chapman: “My purpose is to ask, how many more Beverley’s can we help? We’ve got a workforce and what we’re saying is ‘we will give you visibility and with our platform we’ll help you feel seen. We’ll uplift you and empower you to get to the next level, hopefully with us, but if not with our clients’.”
Appealing to a wider job pool is both an essential way to find much needed staff but it also fulfils the company’s ambition of giving people from disadvantaged groups equal opportunities. Last year the company launched Evolve, a new initiative dedicated to providing sustainable employment opportunities, increase the earning potential of ‘hidden workers’, and help widen the talent pool.
“It’s driving purpose is to make people’s lives better,” says Chapman. “It is a model that is already delivering results, with several ex-offenders and care leavers working as cleaners at PureGym while receiving free training to become personal trainers.
“Another of our clients, the multinational craft brewer BrewDog struggled to get bar staff but with their staff paid a pound more than cleaners some of our people that show potential have been given the opportunity to join the BrewDog brand.”
Chapman is also using his influence to encourage the sector to encourage a more diverse representation within organisational cultures of gender, race, self-identity and neurodiversity.
He says: “While FM suppliers may boast that their workforce represents countries from around the world, when you look into the baseline versus the leadership, it remains primarily white middle-aged men.
“I would like to see a real change culturally and this needs to be embedded into each organisation. Being very cognisant of male to female ratio at our management level we’ve just got a new operational leadership team and there are six females to five males on the team from all different walks of life because we feel they convey our values.
“Also, there needs to be more recognition that many of us are divergent. My son has autism and is super clever and I want to see him get every chance to excel in the workplace. For myself, I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD, my brain overworks and I have to take some measures but I’m also fuelled with ideas, so I want to see more understanding of the power of neurodivergence.”
