Robert Walters is a leading talent solutions business operating across 31 countries. The firm delivers recruitment, recruitment process outsourcing and talent advisory services to businesses from early-stage startups to the world’s leading organisations.
Robert Walters came to Beaton for assistance in establishing a uniform and market-leading framework for client listening across all their offices. It sought client research on a global scale to understand the firm’s competitive position and identify areas for growth into new talent service areas.
“We highly recommend exploring Beaton’s services for their expertise and profound understanding of research methodologies. Their communication style is both professional and clear, making collaboration a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Our initial venture into a Voice of the Customer (VOC) program was executed seamlessly, and we eagerly anticipate continuing our partnership with Beaton in the forthcoming years.”
Robert Walters is a global recruitment and talent management consultancy operating across 31 countries. It specialises in professional recruitment and talent services across various disciplines, including finance, accounting, legal, IT, engineering, marketing, and HR.
Website
Industry
Recruiting and talent advisory services
Organisation size
3,900+ employees
Key outcomes:
- Sourcing a platform for data-driven decisions: Insights from Beaton’s reporting are guiding Robert Walters’ future business strategy with industry-benchmarked and objective client data.
- Creating a voice of customer framework: The firm has developed an internal language for talking about key concepts from the reporting, with consultants having a heightened awareness of how they can drive positive outcomes in response to client feedback.
- New initiatives for positive change: Changes have been implemented in direct response to feedback, including a post-placement engagement framework, streamlined commercial negotiation practices, as well as better use of technology and AI to enhance candidate interactions.
- Deeper knowledge of market trends: Understanding how clients use talent services and intentions for future usage has provided Robert Walters with a clear pathway for its innovation agenda for new service offerings.
Robert Walters' experience with Beaton Benchmarks
Challenge:
Robert Walters had never carried out global voice of customer research. Individual locations had previously utilised self-service platforms such as Survey Monkey or Microsoft Forms to conduct client listening on an ad hoc basis. Even on this small scale, the firm was finding it challenging to design effective survey questions and analyse the results in an actionable way.
The firm sought a third-party expert to conduct the research and help it set up a global framework for thinking about client feedback.
There were logistical challenges posed by having clients around the world in different time zones and languages. Managing the project efficiently across multiple markets and regions while ensuring the security of clients’ data was paramount. Being able to analyse this large scale feedback and translate it into actionable strategic insights was also a high priority.
“Beaton is a research provider with over 20 years of experience and holds a commendable reputation in Australia and New Zealand. Opting for a professional research firm allowed us to maintain respondent anonymity, communicate clearly around our objectives and ensure we receive the most candid feedback from our clients.”
Solution:
The Beaton research team and partners worked closely with Robert Walters to design an effective survey that collected the most actionable data for Robert Walters’ purposes. This included insights from clients about their experience working with the firm in terms of operational delivery and general engagement and their forecasts about talent services demand over the next few years.
Beaton’s team ran the project from Australia and Chile while meeting in UK time zones to coordinate with the firm’s global requirements. Beaton managed the entire end-to-end research process, including questionnaire design, survey programming and testing, cleaning client contact details, sending of email invitations and providing respondent support.
The survey was translated into 14 languages and sent to 7 regions and 66 markets in the Robert Walters global network. It asked clients about:
- Brand perceptions
- Talent service utilisation
- Innovation and value
- Satisfaction metrics like NPS
- Ease of doing business with the firm
- Areas of growing need for clients.
The fieldwork was staggered across the seven regions, with the first round of surveys sent via email by Beaton in February 2023. The final wave of research concluded in April 2024. The research results and recommendations for actionable steps forward were provided to each region’s local offices via a comprehensive presentation and report after each wave of research. Additionally, each report benchmarked Robert Walters’ performance against other like firms in each local market, providing a holistic view of its relative position.
In total, eight reports were delivered, one for each region plus a global comparative report.
“Key contributors to the project's success included the meticulous design of the survey and the strategic formulation of questions, particularly those aimed at determining our status as a future first choice for our clients. The Beaton team's expertise in the professional collection, comprehensive analysis, and clear articulation of data played a crucial role. These elements collectively ensured that valuable insights were effectively communicated to the business, facilitating informed decision-making.”
Outcome:
Since conducting the research, Robert Walters has reported a much stronger understanding of its position in the market and clear opportunities for growth. The CEO has played a key role in integrating the findings from the global report into the overall business strategy. Terms from the report have been adopted across platforms, such as “future first choice” and “voice of customer”.
The findings have driven an overhaul of processes to enhance the client experience and communications. There is also heightened awareness among consultants of how their individual professional conduct can drive positive outcomes. A new post-placement engagement framework has been set up in response to the research findings as well as streamlining commercial and legal negotiation practices to expedite contractual outcomes. Among other innovations, the firm is utilising technologies like bots and AI for improved client and candidate interactions.
“The insights derived from Beaton’s comprehensive global report have been instrumental in shaping our strategic direction. Our CEO has effectively integrated these findings into the overarching business strategy narrative, ensuring that our decisions are data-driven and aligned with industry benchmarks.”
