Would you like to generate an average revenue increase of 30% per year? In this interview, Simon La Fosse shares how La Fosse Associates has achieved this every year for the past 15 years.
When Simon founded La Fosse Associates, his focus was on creating a values-led company and treating people well – including team members and customers. He firmly believes that the core values of Caring, Ambition and Humility have been a huge factor in company’s sustained success as they scaled to a team of 250 people.
Simon also expands on why La Fosse Associates give share options to everyone in the business and 40% of the company is owned by the employees. He explains how it has benefitted them not only with staff retention but has also created a culture where everyone is extremely motivated to contribute to the company’s consistent growth. Their commitment to looking after the people on their team has earned the brand several awards.
Another more recent but highly exciting addition to Simon’s portfolio is Futureproof. This venture is completely revolutionary and has the potential to set the recruitment industry off in a new direction. Through innovative thinking, Futureproof is a solution that overcomes the demand for more diversity and also addresses the severe talent shortage in technology.
Episode Outline and Highlights
- [3:00] How does La Fosse retain their culture over multiple offices for so long?
- [8:35] Designing your company culture
- [10:50] Find out how care, ambition and humility are pillars in their brand
- [13:20} What does care look like in the recruitment industry?
- [18:56] How to use different ways to celebrate success
- [25:02] Can you measure a culture fit during interviews?
- [31:50] Simon shares details about their share options and how it impacts their success
- [39:42] What are the secrets behind the commercial success La Fosse enjoys
- [46:50] Can you effectively measure the office vibe and what to do with the results?
- [49:29] What are the KPIs the management team focuses on?
- [53:30] Futureproof – a radical evolution in recruitment
Why Do Values Play Such A Vital Role In La Fosse?
“The better I treated people, the more successful I was,” this is the observation Simon made as he looked back on 15 years in the recruitment industry before he founded La Fosse Associates. Back then the recruitment industry was very competitive and income-driven, making his observation quite profound for the time. However, it was this wisdom that he took with him as he felt that it was something that would give his brand a key strategic advantage.
Today, the brand still operates on principles that celebrate care, ambition and humility as determining factors to their success. It is by upholding these principles and giving it space in everything they do that the brand manages to sustain its value-driven culture for more than a decade. Through sustaining this brand culture, it has earned several awards but even more importantly, La Fosse has been able to show 30% growth year on year, for the past 15 years.
At La Fosse Associates, 40% of the Company is Owned by the Staff – Why Is the Share Option Scheme Open to All Employees?
The first characteristic that differentiates the way that La Fosse gives share options is the fact that the percentage of the business that is reserved for share options is much larger than usual. I’m not aware of any other recruitment company that is 40% owned by the employees. The second is that they don’t only offer share options to the senior management team and the highest billers. Every employee has access to this opportunity.
“I started the business and I took the risk but you know I am one person amongst 250 and I don’t do much billing anymore. So, you can see where the value is being created and it is not me. So I think to say 60% seems really fair to leave me with,” Simon expands on how they came to the point of offering as much as 40% of the business to share options rather than the conventional 5-10%.
The longer you are part of the team and the more you progress in the level of role you fulfill, the larger your share option grows, but essentially everyone, even those who just started as fresh graduates, has access to this opportunity.
Futureproof – Helping to Address Diversity and Talent Shortages in the Industry
As the recruitment industry can be very stagnant, the foundation of Futureproof came as a breath of fresh air. Simon admits that it has been an expensive venture, but it represents a major transition in the recruitment industry. It allows the team to select the best of the pickings of graduates before putting them through relevant training and placing them in the workplace for two years. The academy enables them to present their clients with a diverse group of junior candidates. As students don’t have to pay for this training, it allows access to training on the basis of how good you are rather than whether you can afford to pay the fees. The result is fairness and diversity when it comes to the selection of suitable candidates they can present.
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Simon La Fosse Bio and Contact Info
Simon is the founder and now Chair of the technology recruitment business La Fosse Associates. He also more recently founded a rapidly growing subsidiary business called Futureproof; a diverse and free-to-learn tech academy.
Everyone’s a shareholder in the group and the mission is to continue to rapidly grow a purpose-driven business with the hope of positively impacting the whole recruitment industry. La Fosse Associates has won a few awards for growth and the way they treat people, which they keep at the heart of their ethos as they continue to expand.
La Fosse Associates is 15 years old, over 250 strong, has a number of UK offices, and established operations in Los Angeles and New York
- Simon La Fosse on LinkedIn
- La Fosse Associates website link
- Futureproof website link
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