Sponsor Impact report example) can help cut personal travel costs. But perhaps the most powerful attraction and retention tool is something you cant put a price tag on: purpose. Most candidates (85%) consider an organisations sense of purpose to be important when considering a new role (Hays again). Its something Blades recognises as becoming ever more important. Younger people are coming into the workforce and they are keen to make sure they are doing some good. We need to listen to that, she says. She adds that creating alignment between an individuals sense of purpose and the business values can aid retention and engagement. Its all about giving sta the experiences that help them to grow as people, she adds, such as empowering people to launch internal sustainability initiatives. Alcantara acknowledges that for busy managers, delivering all of this can feel like a big ask: Building a positive workplace culture can be tough; we often have a hundred other things to worry about. But, he notes, insight and research professionals should be encouraged by the fact they have something of a head start: Our roles include keeping our stakeholders honest, using data and insight to create a compelling case for change. Its about setting a good example and using the tools at our disposal to encourage positive behaviours. As Jeeries passionately points out, all this will soon be, if it isnt already, a non-negotiable for any market research leaders wanting their teams to deliver great work. We need our people to flourish and thrive, not be burned out, she concludes. Helping people to work at their best will become an absolute hygiene factor. Forget robots research is, and always has been, a people business The research and insights sector is As a sector, we desperately need to must recruit talented people from in the grip of a mild panic. If you pay retain existing talent that we have, other sectors media, entertainment, attention to your LinkedIn feeds, you attract back those who have left, the arts, nance, for example. We must might be convinced we are about recruit new talent from outside make our workplaces viable for to lose our jobs to the robot hordes the industry and make market returning parents and deal with the or, depending on your perspective, research and insight a destination- age discrimination that causes people more positively, we are about to career choice for school and to leave or retire too early. We must have more free time as AI does the university leavers. showcase our industry at university heavy lifting. While generative AI is indeed a game The people who we attract into the industry via any of these routes must and school career fairs. Our experience at Opinium, and my changer and we at Opinium are come from a wide and diverse range rm belief, is that culture is the harnessing it to great effect I do think of backgrounds. Not only does difference between success and that the panic element, while spreading our net wider mean we failure, not just in recruitment and understandable, is misplaced. It is also have a greater pool of talent in which retention, but in everything we do. distracting from a very real issue that to sh, as it were, but also, there is a of the talent shortage in our industry. body of evidence that shows that leadership, with a sustained focus on Our emphasis is on empathetic diverse teams are just better more boosting mental health and wellbeing to peak in 2023, but the reality for creative, inspiring, and effective. Not to and engendering a sense of team many growing agencies and mention, in our case, better at spirit, where everyone has a voice and client-side insights teams is that it is understanding the diverse populations is recognised. desperately hard to ll the positions we we draw insights from, every day. The Great Resignation is expected currently have, especially those We must stop recruiting from just a I call on industry leaders to truly invest in the future. Put your culture hell-bent on driving towards a more handful of the best universities and and people rst and worry about the equitable and diverse workforce. make opportunities open via robots a distant second. Robots might be the talk of the town, apprenticeships and entry-level roles, but research is, and always has been, and for people of all ethnicities, from a people business. all geographies and of all classes. We James Endersby, chief executive, Opinium and chair designate, MRS 26 Impact ISSUE 42 2023_pp20-27_Report.indd 26 16/06/2023 17:04