E153 | Building a Recruitment Firm Centred Around Care & Respect with Simon La Fosse

Is making sure your company is a great place to work at the core of your recruitment strategy? Are you a fixture on the Sunday Times Best Companies list of great places to work in the UK? 

Simon La Fosse, founder of La Fosse Associates, having had a bad experience in a previous company, where the directors there deemed his contribution not to be worthy of many stock options, decided to start his recruitment company with the goal of building a search firm centred around care and respect, coming up with a unique way to reward long service and loyalty in his team.

Today La Fosse Associates grows 30% per annum - the industry average is 1-2%. He achieves this because of his firmly held belief that treating people well is not just the right thing to do, it’s a better way to do business. 

Simon talks about his journey to date, his plans for the future and a potential float of the business. We discuss what happened last year with recruitment and from their perspective, even in the tech sector, where they are a specialist, they lost half of their revenue. He also shares why he stepped away from being the CEO and why he doesn’t believe he’s really a leader. 

This is a fantastic conversation with some great book recommendations, we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

On today’s podcast:

• The atypical recruitment firm
• The top 40 Best Companies to Work for in the UK
•  Stock ownership for employees
• The issue of WFH for maintaining company culture
• The idea of a management shadow
• Stepping back as CEO

Links:

• Twitter – @simonlafosse
• LinkedIn – Simon La Fosse
• Website – La Fosse Associates
• futureproof