How to cut costs and still grow your business

A transformative era for politics, stormy economic forecasts, and a summer of social dissent have all combined to create a cautious and uncertain climate for UK businesses, leading to tighter budgets and concerted attempts to cut costs at many organisations.

But cost cutting does not need to result in downsizing – far from it. With the right talent strategies, your mid- to long-term plans can remain in place, and growth can still be on the cards.

At a glance: ways businesses can cut costs and still grow

• Make data-driven decisions
• Cultivate a change mindset
• Focus on retaining key skills
• Build a strong talent pipeline

Executing a growth strategy against a tight budget can feel daunting, but improving your insight into the labour market, demonstrating authentic and transparent leadership, reviewing your employee value proposition (EVP) and how you present your offering to staff, and developing talent creation initiatives are all tactics that can be deployed to meet this challenge. Indeed, the right talent and resourcing partner – expert in the unique challenges you face in the current climate – should be engaged at a strategic workforce level to help you achieve this. 

So what are some of the ways in which your organisation can turn a cost-cutting strategy into an opportunity for growth?

1. Make data-driven decisions

Skills shortages, employee demands, demographic disparities. These are all challenges many businesses are currently facing, but before you begin to formulate a plan to navigate them you first need to equip yourself with an understanding of the talent landscape, and for this, you need data. Blind decision-making that’s informed by a limited grasp of the availability, whereabouts and costs of in-demand skillsets will not only prevent you from making optimum use of your recruitment and resourcing spend, but increase the likelihood of costly mis-hires.

Only with real-time understanding of the current labour market – the availability of the skills you need, where these are located, how to go about securing them, and who your competition is – can you start mapping an effective recruitment strategy that’s both targeted and cost-effective. The right talent analytics partner should not just be able to equip you with live statistics, but use them to compose a narrative that’s twinned with expert consultancy, providing clear recommendations and guidance on how to move forward.

2. Cultivate a change mindset

Bringing your workforce along for the ride during challenging times – especially those that involve cost cuts – is no easy task, but the key to making a success of it is to lead by example. Inspiring a growth or change mindset amongst your teams requires authenticity, the admission of vulnerability or uncertainty, and the fostering of a culture where they feel able to speak freely and inform the change, rather than just having to defer to the official consensus. This means including them when there’s news to share (even if it isn’t good), providing regular updates on market shifts and key financial results, and regularly asking for feedback or input – ultimately ensuring that your people feel able to contribute to the decisions that will have a strong bearing on their future.

Remember that your workforce will remember how you handled a period of transition, change or growth – and that reflects not only on your reputation as an employer, but as an organisation.

3. Focus on retaining key skills

If your organisation has plans to reduce budgets but continue to grow, a strategic shift will be required to retain talent. You’ll need to consider which skills are critical to your expansion plans – for today and beyond. Do you need a strong leader to helm your transformation? Project management experience to keep your teams on track? Whatever the expertise you require to make a success of your growth strategy, it’s typically more cost-effective to upskill or reskill existing staff than hire new team members.

Once you’ve identified the most business-critical areas to focus your retention strategies on, re-examine your employee value proposition (EVP). If budget restrictions are preventing you from increasing salaries for the time being, think about where else you can provide staff with long-term value. Offering flexibility on working patterns where you can, emphasising the opportunities you are providing for growth and development, and putting diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) at the heart of your offering, are all key employee retention strategies that can be realised with a workforce solutions partner who understands your unique challenges.

4. Build a strong talent pipeline

If your organisation is to grow and evolve to keep pace with an ever-expanding demand for products and services, then it’s important – from a strategic perspective – to plan for the skills you’ll need in the long-term. Which of these are going to be tricky to locate, and is there a way they can be tailored to your specific needs?

Laying the groundwork for a future-focused and sustainable skills pipeline will put your organisation in a strong position from which to tackle the challenges that lie ahead, as well as reduce your dependency on potentially costly third-party consultants and contractors. This is where engaging a long-term, strategic partner, rather than allocating budget towards transactional, short-term recruitment services, can help you make savings in the long term, giving you the opportunity to pinpoint where and how you can build the skills you need into your pipeline of up-and-coming talent – and in the most cost-efficient way.

Looking for solutions to the complex talent and recruitment issues you need to solve? Get in touch with us today.