Welcome to another edition of Fast Five – our series where we ask some of the most influential and exceptional business leaders five questions to get a behind-the-scenes look at some of Australia’s most dynamic businesses.

In a wide-ranging interview for this special International Women’s Day edition, we spoke to Laura Ford, Managing Director, Indeed Australia.

As the first employee of Indeed Australia, Laura is proud to have had the opportunity to grow as a leader. She is passionate about building exceptional teams and is driven by high performance and challenging the status quo.

Laura has nearly 20 years’ management experience in online advertising and recruitment in Asia Pacific and the UK. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD).

#1: What do businesses need to know about hiring in 2023? What are some key trends?

There’s a number of key workplace trends to be aware of when it comes to hiring in 2023.

1. Tight labour supply will continue to impact hiring. Demand for talent remains incredibly strong, with job vacancies on Indeed in Australia now double pre-pandemic levels. Prolonged border closures and the subsequent reduction in skilled migrant labour, will continue to create a gap between employer demand for new hires and the supply of candidates. This means the hiring difficulties being experienced by employers now are likely to continue for a good part of this year. Organisations continue to look for ways of improving productivity by utilising new technology, improving current processes and systems and investing in upskilling their current workforce to bridge talent gaps. Inevitably, certain business-critical roles may still need to be hired externally.
2. Remote work is here to stay. Employees around the world will continue to seek the flexibility, balance, and cost-effectiveness of working from home. Therefore employers looking to attract and retain talent will be wise to offer remote or hybrid options where possible.
3. Employee benefits are becoming increasingly important. As workers look to secure higher pay, employers who are unable to offer more competitive wages will need to differentiate themselves through the benefits they offer. Benefits can include paid time off, paid parental leave, wellbeing programs, mental health support, or free meal options in the office. In a tight labour market, competition for talent is fierce therefore employers need to work harder to differentiate themselves from competitors.
4. Diversity, inclusion and belonging (DI&B) in the workplace is no longer just a nice-to-have. DI&B initiatives are becoming more important to workers and job seekers, particularly in light of changing demographics and sociopolitical pressures. While organisations may be tempted to scale down their DI&B initiatives ahead of a possible recession, those who remain committed are likely to see higher levels of staff engagement and retention, while having access to a larger pool of talent to recruit from.

#2: You joined Indeed as the business’s first employee in the region in 2013. How has the business, and recruitment more broadly, changed in that time?

I’m about to celebrate my tenth anniversary at Indeed and the business has grown exponentially during that time. The Australian business actually started with me and my laptop, sitting at my kitchen table in a tiny apartment in Bondi! So, working from home was not a new concept to me when the pandemic hit seven years later.

At the time I joined Indeed we had around 400 people globally. Today we have more than 14,000. We’ve built a passionate, dynamic and collaborative team and I’m particularly proud of the holistic benefits we offer our people, and the genuine care Indeed has for everyone’s wellbeing.

Indeed’s mission is to help all people get jobs, and whilst this mission has remained unchanged since day one, our product ecosystem has also evolved over time.

When you think about how people used to search for jobs, it was complex. People needed to access and navigate newspapers, job boards, career fairs and more. We wanted to improve that experience, so we created a simple search engine where job seekers could find all jobs in one place.

Today, 300 million people choose to search for work on Indeed every month and 11.7 million of those searches are conducted in Australia. Job seekers trust us to find relevant jobs and transparent company information to make an informed decision on their next career move.

For employers, we have a large talent pool and a suite of powerful storytelling tools to help capture the attention of candidates whilst accessing insights and analytics to help inform their recruitment strategy. We are making big progress in our journey to connect job seekers to employers faster and connect companies to the people who will help their business thrive.

Of all of the innovations I have seen during the last decade at Indeed, the biggest transformation is taking place today. We’re currently evolving our business model, so that customers will pay for value and not something that doesn’t drive tangible results.

This big change has already begun with some of our small business clients and smaller markets and we expect the roll out to continue to all employers in 2023. We look forward to sharing more details in the future, so watch this space!

#3: In your experience, how much have support structures improved for women in the workplace and what more do employers need to do to improve equality outcomes?

Gender parity is an issue close to my heart and something Indeed is a massive champion of, which sets us apart from the pack. Here are a few of my top tips:

The rise of remote and hybrid working has been an especially positive development for women. For many years women have been demanding greater opportunities for flexible and remote working. And while the pandemic delivered this in spades and forever changed the way we work, with the push for employees to return to the office, those who rely on remote working are at risk of being alienated. Employers must continue to be flexible to the individual needs of their employees, including women, and offer recognition and promotions based on productivity and contribution, that’s not contingent on them being in the office, full time.

Employers have recognised the importance of paid parental leave for all. In a bid to attract more women into the workforce, the number of companies offering paid parental leave has skyrocketed. In the first half of 2022, 7.4 per cent of jobs postings on Indeed’s Australia site used phrases such as ‘parental leave’ or ‘maternity leave’ in job descriptions, up sharply from 4.8 per cent over the same period last year.

Employers must encourage men to take paid parental leave. It’s an uncomfortable reality that far fewer men take up parental leave opportunities than women. This proves that gender expectations around child rearing and care giving are very real and very present. But these challenges are not impossible to overcome, and it’s this space which represents a huge opportunity for workplaces across Australia to equal things up and get bigger and better results. For Australian employers, the challenge will be to find ways to encourage men to take advantage of paid parental leave benefits so primary caregivers are afforded more balance and greater opportunity to pursue and advance their careers.

#4: What tips do you have for budding women in leadership or those with leadership ambitions?

First of all, I encourage all budding women in leadership to spend time weighing up and choosing the right company for them. Consider your individual career goals, interrogate a company’s gender pay parity systems, and assess a prospective employer’s policies regarding workplace flexibility and remote working.

It’s increasingly important that women leaders work in equitable, supportive and inclusive workplaces. This needs to be more than a company setting diversity and inclusion goals; it needs to be visually evident in the benefits offered to women in the workforce and by the people who are being elevated and promoted across the organisation.

My second piece of advice would be to find a meaningful mentor relationship. Representation can be hard for women in the workforce. I have reported to a female leader for five of the 20 years I have worked in the corporate sector. It has been important to me throughout my career to have a support network outside of my immediate leadership team, a safe place to share stories and seek advice to overcome common challenges.

Lastly, know your worth. Australia’s national gender pay gap is 13.3 per cent. Whilst it’s trending in the right direction, there is still a lot of work to do. Women are able to use Indeed and other sites to search for average pay by job title and location. Having transparent salary conversations with your company is important and necessary for the future of women at work. Prepare comprehensive insights and initiate the conversation, because other candidates will.

Regardless of who you are or what you do, ensure that the company and leadership team you choose to spend your precious career years with are fully aligned with your goals and values. That’s certainly what has kept me at Indeed for 10 years, and counting!

5) What does the future of work look like? What key benefits or trends do you see emerging or becoming mainstream in years to come?

Care and compassion will be critical in the employer-employee relationship of the future.

According to recent research Indeed has conducted, three-quarters (76 per cent) of working-age Australians say that employee mental health and wellbeing is going to become increasingly important in the workplace.

Employers will benefit in the future if they start thinking now about how they’re going to meet the significant mental health and wellbeing needs of employees, by devising and offering a range of support options that can be accessed through preferred channels at any given time. The employers that do this are going to be best placed to attract and retain talent in the future of work.