​Today is World Book Day and, like many of the team at MorePeople, you may have spent more time reading recently thanks to lockdown 1, 2, 3… or all three! Here are 10 books that have inspired our team, both personally and professionally: Guy – How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie: “I’ve read this numerous times and his 12 golden rules have become my bible for how to live and be a great person, as well as a leader and manager. I would be a grumpy old b****** without it!” Andrew – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey: “Covey’s 7 Habits is almost as old as I am but the principles and wisdom remain as relevant now as they did in the 80’s when he wrote it. The concepts are simple and very easily implemented into daily life – work or otherwise. I’m yet to reach Covey nirvana and make all the habits part of my routine but there’s more implemented than from any other book I reckon.” Sarah – S.U.M.O (Shut Up, Move On): The Straight-Talking guide to Succeeding in Life by Paul McGee: “It’s a great motivational book that is easy to read and doesn’t contain ‘jargon’ that you won’t understand. It’s helped me to explore emotions and try out new ways to tackle situations, both at work and in my personal life. Very interesting and worth a read!” Tom – Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber: “This book is all about change management and how to bring a high performing team through changes. Change for some people is tough to go through and anything that can help people to successfully navigate it has got to help – especially given all the changes the world has been going through in the past 12 months.” Tom – Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap… and others don’t by Jim Collins: “We based our internal conference around some of the concepts in this book last year. It includes lots of insight into how the best businesses do things differently.” Morten - The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change by Charles Duhigg: “It’s rare to find a motivational / business book that you don’t want to put down, but this was one for me. Lots of great examples of how habits drive our lives, both personally and professionally, and some great advice on how to alter them!” Lawrence – Mindset: Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential by Carol Dweck: “Changing your mind-set can give you a whole new outlook on life and challenges that are thrown your way, either in the workplace or in life. If you change your outlook, it can be a real tool to moving forward.” Lawrence – The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle: “I also really rate this one. If you are business looking at your staff retention, or building a successful business, it is a great read. Businesses can sometimes be narrow minded in their hiring and what is important, but this actually puts things in to perspective and shows what is important to become a successful business.” Rich – First Man In: Leading from the Front by Ant Middleton: “Ant’s first book is refreshingly honest and raw, reiterating the need to be a leader, even without the title, and stressing the importance of the supporting role within leadership.” Claire – The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme for Confidence, Success and Happiness by Prof Steve Peters: “This book really helped me to understand how the mind works and the constant battle between thinking emotionally and logically. We all have a ‘chimp’ inside our brains and it’s up to us to embrace it and learn to manage it. Steve Peters is also a brilliant masters athlete and his techniques have definitely helped to calm my pre-race nerves!” What books would you recommend?

The March 'Women in Food & Farming' virtual event highlighted just how much expertise was 'in the room' as discussions centred on complex issues surrounding Brexit, Covid and Carbon, and the urgent challenges they have created for the future of farming and food. Emily Norton, Director and Head of Rural Research at Savills, began the event with an update on key rural topics and policies. Real-life examples shared by members revealed that none of the challenges facing the industry today are new, but that now really is the time to do something about them. 'Real disruption is coming' was the concluding message, and this will require new ways of thinking and a mindset of embracing change. This was the fifth virtual event to be hosted on the Beanstalk.Global platform and you can catch up on all previous events below:November 2020: Anna Harris - Motherhood and Ambition in the UK Grocery IndustryDecember 2020: Sharon Kennett - Speaking in Public with ConfidenceJanuary 2021: Jane Craigie - Rural Youth ProjectFebruary 2021: Hilary Lees - Mental Fitness: How to build resilience to thrive in challenging timesWith International Women's Day coming up next week, why not join the group and get involved in future discussions? It's free to join and members support each other with mentorship and advice, helping to generate networks of contacts that might be useful to you, whatever stage you are at in your career.

​As 2020 was such an unprecedented year, we took the decision not to repeat our annual salary survey… but it will be back next year! The Fresh Produce Consortium, however, collect very detailed salary information from their members each year to help with benchmarking and, in the survey carried out late last year, they incorporated a series of new questions to get a picture of how Brexit and Covid-19 have affected the fruit, veg and cut flower industries. Brexit In amongst the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit has indeed happened, which will have added to the current challenges of fresh produce businesses. 7% of respondents have taken the decision to reduce UK production in 2021 due to the expected lack of availability of labour. To recruit sufficient seasonal workers for 2021:64% plan to advertise in the UK43% have introduced attraction and retention schemes32% plan to use more agencies25% to host recruitment events 18% will use the ‘Pick for Britain’ website. Only 1% of respondents had recruited seasonal workers under the SAWS Pilot scheme last year. Covid-19These questions focused on flexible working and what businesses were doing to support employees’ mental wellbeing. 86% of respondents said that office staff had worked from home throughout the pandemic. Once working patterns return to more of a pre-pandemic normality, 71% said that they would continue to allow employees to work from home, predicting that they would continue to work from home for almost half of the week (the average was 44% of the week). 100% had provided help with setting employees up to work from home and 83% had introduced additional measures to support the mental wellbeing of their staff during the pandemic. It will certainly be interesting to see how these results compare when we’re looking back on 2021! To find out more about the Fresh Produce Consortium, visit www.freshproduce.org.uk.

​Training and developing your team is vital, even when you’re trying to navigate your way through a pandemic! One of our core values is ‘Learning’ and striving to continually improve as a team and as individuals. Last week, our recruitment team completed a series of virtual sales training sessions with Chris Dawson of 6th Door. Chris delivered a bespoke training programme designed to refresh skills and inspire with some new tips and tricks, introducing new ideas that are particularly relevant for the crazy times we’re currently living in. For Chris, delivering virtual training has become second nature, and he said afterwards: “The MorePeople team engaged and enthused about the virtually delivered training as if we were all in a conference room together. Distance isn’t a barrier to increasing your skills and passion for sales.”Aidan Finn took part in the training, which was his first external training experience since joining MorePeople in January. He gave his feedback: “Chris was engaging and entertaining throughout the sessions. His knowledge and passion for the content was clear and he was able to connect with us all even through video chat. He provided great tips and ideas which I believe would work in our industry. I felt that Chris cared about what we do here at MorePeople and catered the sessions to match that. I would recommend Chris to anyone looking to improve or refresh their sales calls techniques.”Pleased with the overall feedback and motivation it provided the team, MorePeople’s Managing Director, Andrew Fitzmaurice, said: “We always strive to improve with everything we do at MorePeople. Finding the marginal gains and being better at the day to day is a win for everyone – our consultants and our clients and candidates. Training the team in recruitment, sales and the industry is a big part of that.”>> Find out more about what it’s like to work for MorePeople

​How to sum-up 2020? All told, we saw some of the absolute best from the industries we work in. Pragmatism, stoicism and 'keep calm and carry on' are oft used words and phrases when it comes to describing the traits of those who work in food and agriculture. In 2020, it felt like most everyone lived up to that hype!In our review of 2020, we summarise the feedback our clients and candidates gave us and share some case studies from the year. It wasn't an easy year for anyone, but we have adapted and found new ways of working, building a great platform to go forwards in 2021. (Tip: click the middle of the flipbook to open in full screen)​

​Most sectors have had to adapt how they work over the past 12 months, perhaps none more so than horticulture which, after an initial downturn, has experienced a huge ‘boom’ as a result of the pandemic and sparked an increased interest in careers in this area. At the recent BPOA annual conference, Natalie Porter of Happy Plants described the Coronavirus lockdowns as ‘launchpads for horticulture to catch up with the digital revolution’ with garden centres, growers and flower suppliers being forced to create online shops, click and collect services or drive thru options in order to thrive. In 2020, consumer behaviours changed in so many ways – older customers became more internet savvy as they were asked to shield at home, more people used gardening to support their mental wellbeing during the fine weather of lockdown 1.0 and younger audiences wanted their gardens to look nice (or ‘instagrammable’) while spending so much time at home. Cut flower suppliers were busier than ever in the run up to Christmas with people wanting to send flowers to loved ones that social distancing measures didn’t allow them to see. And, with Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day on the horizon in the current lockdown, these businesses are busy preparing for another huge surge in demand. As a sector, horticulture has demonstrated enormous resilience during the pandemic, something that has not gone unnoticed in the recruitment market. Awareness has definitely been raised about horticulture as a great career option, especially for candidates with transferable skills from the food/fresh produce sectors. Pre-pandemic, Natalie Porter of Happy Plants co-founded the Young People in Horticulture Association (YPHA) initiative, of which MorePeople is delighted to be a sponsor. This membership association for under-35s was created to unite the industry to appeal to a younger demographic, both in terms of future consumers and horticultural employees. We look forward to being involved with future events, both online and in-person. The horticultural industry has had to evolve very quickly in 2020 and the key to success this year will be to keep up with these changes moving forward. To find out more about careers in horticulture, click here or give us a call on 01780 480530.

​At MorePeople we’ve been committed to developing the careers of the people who work in our business since day one. We strongly believe that there are great opportunities for progression and we have in place some excellent processes and frameworks to help identify strengths and areas of hidden potential that each individual will develop throughout their careers. Our Career Pathway is well-defined too. Whether you start your journey at MorePeople as a Consultant or as an established Team Leader, the path to Director is there if you want it. It gives me enormous pleasure to announce any promotion, but particularly in this case for Luan Harrison – one of MorePeople’s most successful recruiters. Luan joined the business back in 2012 having had a successful career in procurement and account management in the fresh produce sector. A Harper Adams graduate, she has at her core the interests of her clients and candidates always in mind. A truly passionate food recruiter! In her new role as Associate Director, she will continue to offer massive value and excellent service to our most important candidates and clients and she’ll help us build and grow a business that can continue to deliver on its ambitious goals. Congratulations Luan! It’ll be exciting to watch what happens next.Find out more about working for MorePeople on our 'Work For Us' page or get in touch with me for an informal chat.

​Did you know that there are more than 40 million people worldwide in some form of slavery on any given day, according to the Global Slavery Index? That includes tens of thousands of exploited persons in the UK. Today. Not historically. Children, women and men. ​We, at MorePeople, feel that’s morally unacceptable. We also have a responsibility, as a recruitment business, to ensure we understand the complexities of modern slavery, including how criminals exploit people and try to infiltrate companies, who are our clients, with enslaved workers. ​Action begins with awareness. So, we are delighted to announce that this year, we are supporting RideForFreedom, a social enterprise that utilises the universal appeal and power of cycling to deliver positive social impacts and specifically to raise awareness of modern day slavery. ​Gordon Miller, the founder, last year set a Guinness World Record when he cycled 620.5 miles around England to spell ‘end modern slavery’. To build on last year, in 2021, Gordon’s committed to cycle 1,700 miles from Spain to the UK to highlight a documented human trafficking route. ​RideForFreedom also aims to pilot a programme, called Freewheel, that empowers survivors – women, children and men – of modern day slavery to cycle. The objectives are to supply referred survivors a bike, provide them with road awareness/proficiency training and basic mechanical skills. Gordon explains more about his motivation:“Modern slavery is a heinous crime that needs to be eradicated. I’m committed to combine my professional communications skillset, passion for cycling and personal goal setting to raise awareness of the issue among the business community and the wider public.”​We commend Gordon’s passion and commitment. To demonstrate our support, we are planning a team cycling fundraising challenge this summer. If all goes to plan, we hope to be able to invite you, our clients, to participate too. Let us know if you’re interested to hear more about the plans. ​And please get in touch with us, or directly with Gordon, to learn more about how you can support modern slavery awareness raising, learn where it might be hiding in your business operations and supply chain, how to spot the signs and what to do if you suspect it is taking place. ​You can read more https://rideforfreedom.org.uk/ donate on the JustGiving page to support RideForFreedom’s aims and objectives and follow the development of the RideForFreedom2021 cycling challenges and Freewheel programme on various social media channels: Twitter @RideForFreedom2 @gordonmiller81LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/pub/gordon-miller/b/416/b8Instagram @gordomm8124

Our CEO, Guy Moreton, was recently interviewed by Planteria about the history of MorePeople and how the future for professional recruitment looks in both the UK and Europe. What was your own brief when you first launched MorePeople?Back in 2000, Peter Hunt and I set out with a vision to build a recruitment business that was better than anything we had encountered as clients doing the hiring. We wanted to be the best at recruitment, the most passionate and the most knowledgeable about the sectors we operate in. I’m proud to say that we’ve stuck to this vision for 20 years now, building a strong brand and a great team who fully understand the sectors and the challenges that our clients face. Which sector provided you with a platform to build your recruitment business in the early days?For the first two years in business, we focused our expertise on the fresh produce and flower trades, predominately recruiting for commercial and technical roles in the £40k plus salary bracket. Then, in 2003, we made our first acquisition by purchasing The Peepul Bureau, which was the oldest established recruitment business in the garden centre and landscaping market. Since then, we have continued to expand into the wider food sector and cover all aspects of the retail supply chain. We must ask what changes have you seen in the past 20 years with regard to the recruitment process?Technology has enabled the biggest changes in the recruitment process. Times have moved on considerably since our first ever recruitment advert that was placed on page 2 of The Grocer’s 120-page jobs magazine! Most of our time in the early days was spent sifting through CVs that had arrived via either post or fax, whereas we now operate in a digital world with channels like LinkedIn that make it so much easier to connect with people. Having said that, there has pretty much always been a candidate shortage in our sectors and a general lack of awareness of the scale of opportunities that exist in it. We are constantly working to try to change this and act as advocates of the sectors. Within your market profile, which sectors currently offer the greatest challenge?2020 has obviously presented challenges for all industries but, in terms of our markets, the garden centre sector went through a difficult time when it was forced to close in the first lockdown and it is still recovering. The food service sector certainly felt the biggest impact, and it has been heart-breaking to see our clients continue to suffer in this area. Looking ahead, as most of our clients supply to retailers, I can foresee new challenges if retail price wars take over as the economy tries to recover. From a people perspective, this will bring increased pressure to demonstrate added value in your role. What effect has Covid-19 had on your business and the markets you serve? April and May were very uncertain times for lots of businesses, MorePeople included. For some of our clients, life was very busy and, for others, it ground to a halt, so a few of the team were furloughed during this time. I’m pleased to say that once consumer behaviours returned to some sort of normality, we were able to bring everyone back and have finished the year very strongly. As I mentioned in the previous question, some clients are still feeling the impact of Covid-19, whereas others have had better years than ever before. I just hope that 2021 is a more positive year for everyone. In terms of the Brexit and all the ramifications of this, does this provide you with new opportunities, and if so, in which sectors? Might your recruitment activities in Europe actually be increased?Brexit will, of course, bring about challenges to all of our sectors in the short-term as new regulations and paperwork requirements are introduced, particularly in relation to importing live products. These sectors are, however, very adaptable and used to change, so I’m confident they will rise to the challenge and we’ll soon be wondering what all the fuss was about! In terms of our recruitment activities, we already recruit internationally, but have no plans to make this more of a focus. The UK market is our priority. Which core values have you installed in your company, to ensure your profile has continued to grow? We have shared the same core values since day one, but recently sat down as a team to cement these and properly define them. Our values are: P – Pride, we take pride in what we do E – Empathy, we put our customers’ needs in front of our own O – One team, we create a fun and supportive environment for our colleagues P – Positive, we always aim to have a positive impact on others L – Learning, we strive to continually improve E – Expertise, we are advocates of our sectors. Read this article and more on Planteria.eu