At K2, we believe that talent retention is key to exemplary service delivery and therefore client satisfaction.
A high quality service offering comes from a comprehensive understanding of a client as well as the talent, expertise and experience of those responsible for delivery. As a result, in tandem with developing a true partnership with each client and so establishing a robust understanding of their ethos, culture and how they operate, K2 nurtures its talent and invests in retaining it.
Nurturing Talent
K2 nurtures its talent through a programme of training courses delivered via our online training platform, eloomi, as well as through a range of professional development opportunities. These include secondment opportunities, management/leadership workshops, and offsite events. In our most recent Great Place To Work® Survey, over 80% of our employees stated that “I am offered training and development to further myself professionally”.
According to some of K2’s longest–standing employees, professional development opportunities have played in key role in keeping them at the company. For example, Kamil Cwigon, APAC Commercial Manager, who recently celebrated his Ten Year Anniversary at K2, states that “the opportunity I’ve had to grow professionally is the thing that has made me stay. I began my K2 career in Client Services, and as K2 grew and the number of functions within the business increased, I was able to transition into Commercial. In this way, I was able to add a completely new string to my professional bow: K2 invested in me, and in return, I have invested in them.”
Investing in Talent
When an employee remains at a company for ten years or longer, they become a true stalwart within their department, a highly experienced team member who others can look to as a role model and turn to for advice. Their experience relates not only to subject matter expertise, but also to a cerebral understanding of how a business works, one which can only be gained through being an integral part of said business for an extended period of time. This type of understanding helps a business to run smoothly: to circumnavigate rather than stumble over obstacles, and to predict and prepare for likely outcomes. K2 has an ever-increasing number of employees who have been at the company for ten years or longer. We refer to this group of individuals as the X Annos community, a stronghold of talent and experience for whom both professional development opportunities and K2’s culture tend to top the list of reasons as to why they have chosen to remain with K2 for so long.
The Pull of a Powerful Culture
As the balance between long tenure and job-hopping continues to lean in favour of the latter, K2’s culture and the benefits that it offers its employees enable it to maintain an industry-low attrition rate of c. 4%. At K2, we have a familial culture in which everyone has a voice. Employees recognise the uniqueness of this, describing the culture as being “genuine, high-achieving and inclusive”, and praising “the easy access to management, who empower us to voice ideas”.
Bolstering this unique culture are the range of benefits that K2 offers its employees. From flexible working arrangements to paid CSR days, from K2’s unique profit-share scheme to fully funded companywide conferences: many of our employees share the opinion that “I have never worked at a company that cares as much about its employees as it does about hitting the bottom line” (All quotes sourced from our Great Place To Work® Survey).
The Client Benefit
An industry-low attrition rate enables us to ensure consistency in service delivery. In the vast majority of cases, the team that a client works with throughout an engagement remains unchanged. This gives the client confidence that there will be no breaks in communication, no risk of anything critical slipping through the net as a result of personnel changes. Of course, there will be instances where a change in personnel is unavoidable; this is the point at which K2’s pod system really comes into its own. Our global Operations Team is made up of a network of pods. Each pod member – whether they be a Client Services Consultant, a Team Lead or an Account Manager – has the ability and experience to assist with another’s workload, thus safeguarding against any dips in service level due to personnel changes, as well as annual leave or illness.
Nurturing and investing in our people enables us to retain our talent. In turn, retaining our talent enables us to provide our clients with a level of service that they would struggle to find anywhere else. When you partner with K2, you are partnering with an organisation that truly understands the potential and the power of individual talent. Amanda Lillie, Head of Client Services Operations – Europe, described it perfectly in a recent Fireside Talk: “We wouldn’t be here without the people who deliver service every day at K2. They are K2. Without them, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Recognising everyone as an individual is so important. Everyone brings their strengths.” Hear more from Amanda opposite:
The richly experienced team which develops as a result of talent retention has the ability to build a deep and nuanced understanding of a client. Specifically, employees remain at K2 long enough to build a true partnership with a client, becoming completely attuned to the client’s needs, able to reduce/eliminate pain points and flex their approach as the client’s business evolves. As the partnership develops, proof of delivery – time and time again – strengthens the bond of trust between the client and K2. Finally, the longevity of the partnership creates the opportunity for advances in technology to be shared by both parties and integrated on both sides, improving operational efficiency.
In conclusion, the more you nurture and invest in talent, the more likely it is to remain with you, enriching the business with key skillsets, expertise and experience. At K2, we believe that a company is nothing without its people, therefore supporting our employees to grow as well as creating an environment in which they feel at home has, is and always will be a key priority for us.
