How a focus on intrinsic motivation transformed hiring and retention

Azon Recruitment Group, an award-winning recruitment agency and one of Ireland’s fastest growing talent providers, was trying to solve a classic conundrum: how can you consistently hire good people and then keep them happy?

As anyone who’s ever been involved in hiring can attest, it can be extremely difficult to get right, and worse still, a bad hire can haunt you for months—or even years—to come. 

The challenges are manifold: too much of the hiring process hinges on appearances and snap judgements; there is no shared lens that can give both the hirer and potential hire insights into their compatibility; and it’s difficult to tell right away whether the motivations and values of a potential hire align with those of the hiring company.

As well as hiring better, Azon was also keen on motivating its existing workforce and helping them thrive. “We wanted to create harmony in the office, and that had been an issue for us in the past,” says CEO Ronan Colleran. “As Warren Buffet would say, we wanted people to be tap dancing to work, and that just didn’t seem to be the case.”

A Deeper Level of Understanding

Like many companies, Azon had previously relied heavily on body language and facial expressions to gauge people’s levels of engagement and happiness at work, as Denise Grant, Manager – HR Recruitment, explains: “Typically, if an employee was engaged and they looked like they were happy, the assumption would be they were fine—until you get their resignation and you realize at an exit interview that they weren’t as happy as you had assumed.” 

When the company encountered Attuned, they hoped it would help them gain a deeper understanding of what got their employees up in the morning and what makes them tick. Says James Alexander, Lead – Azon Digital: “We wanted to understand why they come to work and why they do the work that they do. It’s something that we find quite hard to talk about, so to actually have a platform that allows us to think about it in a productive manner, and map it and be visible, means that we can have an open conversation from the get-go.”

And, as Colleran adds, “We saw benefits from using Attuned very, very quickly.”

A Focus on Intrinsic Motivation

First and foremost, Attuned helped the Azon team by quantifying and making visible a vital element of employee happiness and workplace productivity: intrinsic motivation. 

“Being able to get to the nub of people’s underlying motivations at the start of a process and see what really drives and motivates people in the workplace has been very helpful when trying to hire, and we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the numbers of people we hire that we feel we’ve gotten right, and that are a right fit for the business,” says Kevin Halligan, Associate Director, Banking & Financial Services. 

Moreover, as Tony Barry, Principal Recruitment Consultant – Construction, points out, Azon’s workforce is diverse and the organization’s strategy needs to reflect that—something that Attuned helps facilitate. “It’s important for a company to realize that it’s not one-size-fits-all for everybody in the workforce; people are motivated by different factors, be it feedback, remuneration, or promotions. They need to try and incorporate people’s motivations in order to ensure that they are a success and they are happy, and as a result they are productive.” 

One example of this is Tech Recruitment Consultant Jane McCarthy, who recorded a high score for Innovation when she took the Attuned Motivation Assessment. To encourage this, Azon sent her on a copywriting course for recruiters, allowing her to build up her creative skills and then bring them back into the team. “It helped me work creatively and I feel like all of my skills are being utilized,” she says.  

Making the Unknown Known

Ultimately, by using Attuned, Azon has been able to proactively design solutions based on real data that have a positive impact on employee hiring and retention, rather than taking a more reactionary stance to problem-solving. As Colleran explains, “The hiring and the retention of staff has totally transformed in our business, and I would say Attuned has played a big part in that.”

A further result of onboarding with Attuned was the impression it created within Azon’s workforce. “I think the message that was sent across to our teams from management was that we’re not just paying lip service to what motivates our staff,” says Grant. 

For Halligan, what stood out the most was Attuned’s ability to transform all the guess-work into crystal-clear clarity. “In my view, Attuned is a really beneficial product to any growing business, because you really get to the underlying motivations of people and you have a much clearer and fuller picture of the people that you’re hiring. And from our perspective, since beginning to use the software, we have really seen that benefit translating to earnings for our business.”

Colleran echoes this view, adding: “I would recommend Attuned to any company that is fast-growing, wants to make the right decisions from the outset, wants to make sure that they have a harmonious work environment, and are bringing in the best talent into the organization—as well as the most important piece: retaining and developing their existing employee base.” 

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