Offering equity and meaningful career paths has helped Lawrence Harvey Group develop such staff commitment that one consultant even tattooed ‘LHTID’ on her hip.

The acronym stands for ‘Lawrence Harvey til I die’, Tom Glanfield, chief executive of the oil & gas, technology and life sciences staffing specialist, explained at an event organised by jobs and career marketplace Glassdoor and sponsored by Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer Maserati.

Glanfield was one of a number of speakers at Glassdoor’s second CEO & Founder circle event under the theme of Driving Transparency.

Glanfield’s talk addressed how he built up his company from humble beginnings in 2003, with a £9k graduate loan and just eight months’ recruitment experience, to a business on track to bring in £10.5m in gross profit in 2016, with offices in Munich and New York and Sutton.

Speaking candidly about the challenges he has faced in running his business, Glanfield said he found the group was not growing at the desired pace in its first six years, going from two to 10 employees. Looking inward, Glanfield attributed the reason to the fact he lacked a big reputation in the industry, meaning he was forced to recruit graduates and train them up rather than being able to attract top billers.

To create a culture that would attract top billers, Glanfield sold 4% of the business to 36 members of staff, with senior consultants and above putting in an average of £7k each to buy equity, which Glanfield says really tied these consultants to the business.

He also introduced a more meaningful career path involving annual promotions, so new hires could chart a route to director level. He explained this has helped manage staff expectations with regards to both promotion and salary increases.

The combination of these factors has created real commitment among staff, leading to that consultant tattooing her loyalty on her hip.

“We created this internal logo LHTID, which meant ‘Lawrence Harvey til I die’, and everyone bought into that,” Glanfield said.

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