FROM OCTOBER'S RECRUITER MAGAZINE

Recruiters on the acquisition trail should seek to win the battle for hearts and minds of new members of staff and resist creating a newly merged company of victors and the vanquished.

So says Brian Wilkinson, chief executive of specialist engineering, technology and professional services recruitment agency Gattaca, speaking about the integration of April 2015 acquisition Networkers International with Matchtech.

Wilkinson, who several years ago oversaw the integration of Vedior into Randstad, told Recruiter the integration has proven complex as it dramatically changes the financial profile of the group with the addition of £30m worth of annual net fee income to Matchtech’s £40m and 300 extra members of staff. 

He explained previously just 2% of Matchtech’s revenues came from over overseas operations, while the merged group now achieves 30% in international revenues. This change in the group’s profile necessitated the creation of an environment in which everyone in the company was comfortable, Wilkinson said.

People from both sides need to feel they are winning from this, he explained. “Very often in an acquisition, you’ve got the victor and the vanquished. The people who have been acquired feel like something’s been done to them, so you really want to get the goodwill. 

“What you want to do is actually achieve genuine goodwill on the part of the people you are acquiring and make them feel that this is a fantastic positive step for them, not a sense of loss – losing a brand, losing colleagues, losing autonomy. You’ve got to compensate for all that by making this a better place to be than it was before.”

While some staff have left the business, including senior management shareholders from Networkers where there was duplication of back office roles, including payroll and finance, the firm’s assessment of its strengths and weakness has actually resulted in the addition of headcount, Wilkinson said.

Networkers’ Bromley base in South London has also been retained and now houses 100 sales people under the Networkers and Matchtech brands – a combination of cultures creating an employer brand now known as Gattaca.

And the group’s considered approach since April 2015 to the integration has already borne fruit.

“We are pleased to say that we have now won a substantial piece of business with a global technology firm to provide MSP [managed service provider] services across Europe for them on a three-year contract,” Wilkinson revealed. “That’s a piece of business that Matchtech couldn’t have won on its own and nor could Networkers. 

“But bringing Networkers’ strength of relationship with that client together with our account management and bidding prowess has enabled us to win this transformational piece of business.”

Wilkinson told Recruiter he couldn’t reveal the new business won just yet.

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