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PageGroup CEO: “A Good Morning For Me Is When I See As Many Employees As Possible”
Glassdoor Team
Glassdoor Team | Author & Career Expert at Glassdoor | 22 Jun 2017
This week, Glassdoor announced The Highest Rated CEOs in the UK for 2017. So, we caught up with #7 ranked Steve Ingham of recruiting firm PageGroup (the only recruiter in the top 10) to discuss what it means to be a top CEO. We asked him about his very first job, why authenticity is so crucial and the value he sees in recruiting from within.
Glassdoor: What was your first job?
Steve Ingham: It’s hard to say what counts as my first job! I started doing jobs for my father, on his caravan site, when I was 11 years old. Then a succession of summer jobs ranged from teaching sailing and windsurfing in the USA to working in an open cast coal mine in Derbyshire, driving an earth-moving truck which had wheels bigger than me!
My first ‘real’ job though was working as a metallurgist at Johnson Matthey, for 4 years, after I finished university.
Glassdoor: What is your typical morning routine?
Steve Ingham: The nature of my job means there’s really no such thing as a typical morning. I could be making my way to Heathrow, or could already be in one of our offices around the world. There’s a good chance that I have Board papers to read, or am preparing to give a presentation, or to give a trading update to the City or a shareholder meeting. A good morning is when I see as many Page people as possible.
I try to keep fit and healthy so I’ll try to start the day with a work-out and if I’m at home in London I’ll run into work. All liberally interspersed with coffee!
Glassdoor: What does ‘leadership’ mean to you?
Steve Ingham: For me leadership begins with the ability to assess people and then being willing to invest a high level of trust in them so that they’re empowered to achieve their maximum potential.
As a leader, it’s my job to create an environment where people feel valued, engaged, motivated and energised. Where they can see and buy into a clear vision and purpose for the business – and have some fun!
Glassdoor: What has been your most rewarding moment as CEO? Your most challenging?
Steve Ingham: I’d say my most challenging moment as CEO was probably when I was relatively new to the role and led the organisation through a large amount of change. We moved the business from operating in four silos to being a global business operating as one… on ‘one Page’ as we called it!
There were significant people changes, and many of those people had served PageGroup for a long time in markets around the world. Our vision for the business was clarified and relaunched with new clarity on brands with the Group being renamed PageGroup rather than Michael Page International.
My most rewarding moment has been seeing the outcome of my most challenging moment – creating a truly global organisation with a very consistent, driven, strong culture supporting our clear vision and purpose.
Glassdoor: What do you do to foster employee trust and engagement?
Steve Ingham: Above all, I think employee trust and engagement starts with integrity and authenticity. Why should people believe in, and follow, any leader if they don’t personally demonstrate the qualities they stand for.
It’s essential to have a clear vision, with a consistent, trustworthy approach. At PageGroup we have a 40 year-old strategy and model for growth and all our directors are home-grown, so we have clear, consistent leadership qualities reflected throughout the business.
We constantly develop and empower our people, with flexible rewards and promotions based solely on merit. We’ve moved many of our employees and their families all over the world to start up new businesses, reflecting extraordinary levels of mutual trust and respect.
Underpinning the culture throughout the organisation are our values which are clear to see every day: take pride; be passionate; never give up; work as a team; and possibly the most important - make it fun!
Finally, we’ve adapted our culture to suit the needs of the people we’re hiring today, with a greater focus on social and corporate responsibility.
Glassdoor: Your employees love working here as we see the strong rating on Glassdoor – how do you make this a great place to work day in and day out?
Steve Ingham: We’re in a people business so I hope that, apart from clear career paths and progression, people like working at PageGroup because we’re passionate about things they care about.
We focus on our core values in everything we do, and we understand the true value of a diverse and inclusive workforce – of being a place where people can bring their true selves to work. By driving a strong CSR programme, we actively give back to the communities in which we work.
A lot of effort goes into communicating across the business through face to face meetings, presentations, regular employee surveys, and through direct contact with me at all levels. It’s not unusual for me to go to five offices in five days and while I’m there I’ll meet and present to every single person. There’s no great hierarchy here – it’s normal to speak to the CEO!
Glassdoor: Good leadership is not just one person – how do you work with your leaders and management teams to make sure employees have great leadership here?
Steve Ingham: The best way for us to make sure our employees have great leadership is through effective talent development with coaching programmes offering both internal and external support – 78% of our costs are people related.
We promote from within via clear career paths with regular performance assessments and career progression discussions, which constantly offer our people flexible, new and exciting challenges.
Glassdoor: Any advice for leaders of other companies?
Steve Ingham: If I were to offer advice to leaders of other companies I’d say I’m in a fortunate position. I’ve interviewed a lot of people over 30 years in recruitment and I can honestly say that none of us can ever say we’ve learnt enough.
I feel I’m learning more every year! I think it’s key to access the pool of talent that exists within leaders across all business and industries, as well as our own people.
The people we’re managing are all different and we’re managing different generations. We have to adapt to them, not the other way around, if we want to attract, retain and motivate millennials who often want different things to us. And then we have to apply that to different cultures around the world.
Glassdoor: Why do you think you get such high approval from your own employees?
Steve Ingham: If we take it as read that we’re running a successful business, I would hope that a personal high approval rating from our employees is down to the amount of communication and contact I have with them. I travel around our offices presenting and talking to our people, you’ll find me encouraging and joining in with charity runs and triathlons, and my door is open.
I’m in the top 10 users of Yammer, our internal social network, posting messages and announcements wherever I am in the world and commenting on and congratulating people’s achievements and activities. It’s important, and I’m interested! If really pushed, I might even share the occasional beer!
I try to be the best possible role model – and I’m certainly not a CEO who hides away in his office!
Glassdoor: It’s clear you inspire many of your own employees – who inspires you?
Steve Ingham: The previous leaders at Page inspired me – Michael Page who set up the business with a clear strategy, much of which is still in place, and Terry Benson for his people skills.
Otherwise I’d have to say I admire a lot of different people, for a lot of different reasons, from my children, to Olympians, leaders of different types of organisation, and people I work with on a daily basis. I’m inspired by the best things from all of them!
Glassdoor: What type of people do you like to hire and why?
Steve Ingham: I like to hire people who’ve demonstrated some of the values we hold at PageGroup – people who have a vision for themselves, energy, drive and values which support working in a team.
But I’m very open minded as to what they’ve done before, I like diversity.
If you weren’t a CEO, what would you be (in terms of a job or career)?
ISteve Ingham: f I wasn’t a CEO – and if I had any talent at all – I’d love to be a professional golfer. But I don’t!
Does Steve sound like someone you’d like to work for? Apply for jobs at PageGroup here.
Glassdoor Team
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Tags:JobsTop CEOs
