Facing up to change

With some of the leading consumer magazine titles in the UK – including Cosmopolitan, Elle, Woman’s Health, Good Housekeeping and Esquire – Hearst Magazines UK is at the forefront of digital publishing, so who better to talk about how the digital revolution has affected the world of work?

“Our customers are consuming content in all sorts of ways,” says Rachel Stock, HR Director. “Mobile is a big growth area for us, as well as the web and social media, so that’s a critical reason for us to embrace digital and we’re doing that across all our brands.”

This means editorial teams have to be skilled at writing for online media, she says, while art departments have to be able to produce and receive digital content, and advertising sales teams need a clear understanding of the various new opportunities and to be able to sell across multiple platforms.

Attracting and retaining digital skills

The HR department has an important role to play in ensuring these teams receive relevant training in areas such as writing for the web, social media and search engine optimisation. “It makes it clear that this is important, and gaining new skills is a massive benefit for everyone,” she says.

The company has had to modify its approach to bringing in digital skills too, both in terms of its proposition to employees and its expectations around how long they may remain with the organisation. “People with digital skills are in high demand, so we have to have a compelling reason why they should come here rather than going to work somewhere else, such as a start-up,” says Stock. “It doesn’t mean people have to work here for years; if they want to come and do some great work for 12 months, then that’s brilliant. That’s maybe a different view to the traditional one, and it’s really powerful for us.”

Of course, not every industry has been confronted with the rate of change that has affected publishing. But it pays to recognise the venerable institutions in the sector who have recognised that change is afoot – it makes you wonder what it next for every other industry.

Author

Barney Ely

Director at Hays

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Barney is Director at Hays Human Resources, the leading UK HR recruiting experts, leading a team of 80 HR recruitment consultants in 40 locations across the UK.

Barney also has operational responsibility for Hays offices across the South of England, with responsibility for teams placing professionals in over 20 industry sectors, from accountancy and finance to construction, IT, marketing and education. Across many of these sectors, Hays also has further teams dedicated to public services, not-for-profit, executive and international recruitment

Barney is an active partner to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), sitting on the CIPD People Management Awards panel.

Barney joined Hays in 1993 as a business graduate and has spent much of his career recruiting for blue-chip organisations and SMEs.