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The conference season is in full swing, and amidst murmurs that some Members are reluctant to send their staff to RCSA functions due to fear of targeting by poachers, RCSA is moving to address, growing concerns about the targeting and recruitment of agency consultant staff.
Healthy competition for consultant staff can promote excellence and enterprise in the businesses of Members and of individuals engaged in those businesses. But it’s always important to “keep it professional” by maintaining integrity and by avoiding involvement in conduct that is “unbecoming of a Member, or prejudicial to the interests of RCSA”.
It’s also important to understand that individual Professional Members (APRCSAs, MRCSAs, FRCSAs), who are targeted by poachers, have responsibilities under the RCSA Code as well as legal duties to conduct themselves professionally.
Members should therefore ensure that their conduct, when involved in any consultant targeting and recruitment dealings:
- complies with applicable contractual and statutory duties (including duties of confidentiality; good faith, protection of intellectual property & trade secrets, and lawful restraints of trade);
- avoids misleading or deceptive conduct by making sure that they don’t oversell the position or any of its benefits. Targets are equally responsible to make sure that what they say about themselves is not misleading;
- demonstrates diligence & competence when it comes to such matters as formulating position/ person descriptions, search/selection processes (including reference checking) and onboarding procedures;
- demonstrates trustworthiness in safeguarding the trust which their stakeholders (including their current employers, co-workers, candidates and clients, as well as by RCSA itself) place in them;
- avoids adverse impacts upon RCSA – e.g., by creating an adverse environment that discourages Members from participating in RCSA events out of fear of unprofessional or irresponsible poaching;
- demonstrates respect for stakeholders (including targets) e.g., by avoiding harassment and conduct that encourages targets to breach legal duties and professional responsibilities;
- demonstrates due regard for confidentiality & privacy, especially regarding information about commission structures, client lists, candidate lists, and the amenability of other consultants to approaches by poachers;
- is consistent with any applicable certified processes for staff recruitment, retention and development – e.g., under AS NZ ISO 9001; or StaffSure;
- demonstrates regard for principles of sustainable employability understood in terms:
• for the target as the long-term capability to acquire, create and maintain employment through adaptation to changing employment, economic and personal conditions through different life stages;
• for employing organisations as the long-term and agile approach to acquiring, creating, developing and training, retraining, redeploying and supporting workforce members to meet changing economic, legislative and market requirements and conditions.
- recognises that if the approach to the target seems “shoddy and unprofessional”, that probably indicates what the target should expect of the poacher’s day-to-day recruiting environment.
Members can therefore do themselves a favour by encouraging their consultant staff to become professional members of RCSA thereby binding them to the RCSA Code and requiring that they complete their Code training.
Over the coming weeks, RCSA will be releasing additional resources for Members’ guidance on these matters and for guidance of RCSA’s Professional Conduct Review Committees (PCRCs) to facilitate discussion and improved understanding of the topic.
In the meantime, RCSA will request any of its PCRCs, which may be handling professional conduct grievances with respect to consultant poaching, to have regard to this High Level Alert when they are required to determine if the Code standard of professionalism has been met or to recommend sanctions for any Code breach.
Members who have questions, or who may be seeking further information about the topic, are encouraged to contact [email protected] or [email protected].