Sometimes it takes a life changing event to wake you up to the reality of the gift of life. To stop, look around and appreciate the people we usually take for granted. Look at the national improvement in appreciation for the Doctors and Nurses of the NHS as an example. Perhaps this is to be expected, given the circumstances, but what about refuse collectors, supermarket workers, cleaners? We all have a deeper or even newfound appreciation for the people in these key roles.
Life changing circumstances = an appreciation of non-material things
How about closer to home? Home schooling is hard, particularly when you’re trying to work at the same time – but who hasn’t felt a little bit happier at the end of the day having been around to teach their children long multiplication and tell them a few stories about ‘when I was a school’? You might even appreciate your parents or siblings a bit more because you can’t just pop in for a coffee or meet them for a pint anymore.
But we shouldn’t really be surprised at this. Media has an uncomfortably large influence on the way we think but, over the years we’ve had a number of reminders about focussing on the wrong things. I could name a number of films but one I love is the classic Groundhog Day. This is where Bill Murray’s character; Weatherman, Phil Connors is stuck in a loop, reliving the same day over and over and over again (sound familiar?) until the cycle is broken by getting the girl he’s fallen in love with. Do you remember who the girl was? His producer Rita, who had been with him all of the time.
A change in what we appreciate
Life changing circumstances, such as the current pandemic, have led to a change in our thoughts and feelings about non-material things. They have led to an appreciation for what’s more important – time.
So as the curve begins its descent and we metaphorically slide bumpily down it towards whatever the new normal looks like, how is this experience going to change the way you manage your priorities on a day to day?
It’s fair to say that most of us, for a time at least, will be looking for ways to maintain a better work/life balance having realised what’s really more important in life. Making better decisions in our prioritisation of time over money will definitely benefit us and our families personally but… will that ‘work’ we haven’t finished at the end of the day, when we leave to go home to our families and maintain that work/life balance, go away? Will that last minute report the boss has asked for write itself? The answer is obviously “no”.
Money can buy time!
The solution; in a business sense, you need to ‘buy’ time! How can you do that? Outsourcing tasks or pieces of work will cost money and in some cases, a lot of money. However, we now have a different view of money compared to time, as you now know (if you didn’t already) which one is more important.
One task that could be outsourced to save you time could be Recruitment! Recruitment can be complicated. It can take a significant amount of time & effort to find the right person and it can be particularly stressful. When you’ve already got a full time job and then you have to get a new person, then where does the time come from? Usually, not from your other work, but it then begins to eat into your ‘life’ and the balance starts leaning again.
With the number of highly skilled, highly educated and relevant job seekers currently at unprecedented levels, it may have led some to think that Recruitment Agencies and Consultants are dead in the water. But, if that’s the case, why does anybody use a Recruiter in the first place? Why does the industry even exist?
There are a number of reasons, such as (a) the recruiter does the sourcing for you, saving you time you don’t have and effort you don’t want to use on this, and (b) a recruiter is a professional, an expert if you will, at sourcing candidates based on a spec, so they are (c) more likely to get you the quality person/s that you are looking for which (d) reduces the risk of having to invest time & effort into training someone up only to get rid of them after their probation, which in turn leads to (e) you saving time and expense over the longer term. (f) If you need a resource quickly, a recruiter is already mobilised to provide you the resource and (g) a mechanism to pay them which can (h) help your businesses cash flow!
Obviously you do have to pay for that service but, when you consider the benefits, isn’t it worth it? Think of it this way. Why do you go out to eat at a restaurant? There can be a number of reasons but, you don’t have to cook, you generally get a great meal cooked by a professional chef, you get your order taken and given exactly what you ordered. How do you feel after you’ve enjoyed a fantastic meal at a lovely restaurant? So satisfied that not only you pay for a meal, but you might leave a tip! Now, I’m not suggesting recruiters deserve a tip on top of their fees, but hopefully you can see the point.
At Finstech, we love recruiting people and are committed to getting your the best resources for your role. We can remove that time ‘bomb’ and diffuse it before it explodes and the effects are felt throughout your work, and maybe even into your personal life as well. Please contact us and see how you CAN actually buy time and enable you to enjoy the shimmery lining on a very dark cloud.
