Reflections on 2023 & the Road Ahead

Without a doubt, 2023 was a challenging year for the market, and a horrible one personally. Having said that, one can only travel forward. But with a fractured UK economy and complex global events unfolding at exceptional speed, these challenges call for us to be bold and brave as we move into the new year.

Looking back, there is much to celebrate within the Green Park community, with highlights including:

• Our executive search team performing strongly for diverse talent across all sectors, with executive placements 54% female and 29% from an ethnic minority. We also placed over 200 main board members with a 90% “right first-time” completion rate.
• We have seen in an increase in demand for our Diversity, Inclusion, Culture & Ethics consultancy (DICE) services, in particular a growing demand for recruitment reviews and board member coaching. We have received some exceptional feedback from leaders using these services in 2023 and look forward to supporting more organisations with similar and new challenges.
• Holding our first ever Green Park Global Talent Conference, which featured 30 expert speakers and attracted 900+ registered attendees from 49 countries.
• Working with a growing number of new clients from different sectors, organisation types with different needs.
• Being awarded the People’s Platform Award for 2023, which exclusively recognises and celebrates companies at the forefront of workplace culture and employee innovation.
• Supporting KidsOut, a charity with the mission of giving disadvantaged children positive experiences to support them becoming future members of our society and workforce. The Green Park team were delighted to contribute this year, packing over 400 boxes for children in refuge and donating gifts for the 2023 Giving Tree Appeal.
• Race Equality Matters, which was co-founded by Green Park, supporting over 10,000 people in online learning and educational events with a 90%+ recommendation rate.
• Supporting Play it Green by planting a tree for each placement we make and helping to revitalise urban environments. We're pleased to share that through 2023, the Green Park Forest Garden has now planted 14508 trees and given vital funds to Mind, a cause we are proud to support which furthers our social impact.
• Hosting Race Equality Week with over 4500 companies and 4 million UK workers benefiting from our expertise, ideas, and community collaboration that underpins Race Equality Matters.

The road ahead will see business leaders continue to define success by how well they contend with weak economic progress, geopolitical instability, and seemingly never ending cycles of organisational change, but I am confident that 2024 will be a better year for our community, forward thinking clients and candidates who differentiate well.

We’re already noticing a significant number of candidates seeking new opportunities in the new year and our teams are excited about the prospect of partnering with inclusive organisations to place more talent. Due to last year’s stagnant market, we’re expecting executive hiring in corporate functions to become more buoyant this year.

As we keep moving forward, I see a number of trends emerging in the talent space. These include:

1. Misuse and mistrust of AI: Look out for some exciting new Green Park solutions this year to help respond to this.
2. Brands losing talent because of performative or tokenistic DEI actions: We’re excited that our DICE practice are helping organisations build that trust through services that instead change mindsets and behaviours and drive cultural change.
3. Commercial skill sets being valued over corporate ones: at Green Park we undertake detailed talent mapping, working closely with the client to identify what their organisational needs are, to ensure the skills set you need are identified in prospective candidates. We’ve also seen a number of sectors shift from focusing on specific sector experience to skills, which has enabled them to broaden out their talent pool and identify talent others may overlook. Contact us to find out more.

I look forward to facing the challenges and potential of 2024 together. And in the meantime, wishing you a Happy New Year from all of us at Green Park.

Until next time,

Raj