Helping Ecotricity to create a Green Britain

Ecotricity are doing something different – by putting sustainability at the heart of their business.

From becoming the world’s first green electricity company in 1996 to kick starting the electric car revolution in Britain and turning a football club vegan, sustainability is always key – and that also applies to the people that join their team.

Working with Ecotricity is more than just a job. They want to recruit people who can make a genuine difference every day they come to work.

Offering a variety of jobs from specialist and technical roles to sales, marketing and customer service, Ecotricity wanted to make people’s dream jobs just a few clicks away.

Before selecting an e-recruitment system for their in-house recruitment team, Ecotricity decided they wanted to reinforce their strong brand and core values at the very start of the candidate experience. In doing so, they hoped to attract more applications from like-minded people through their own careers site, reduce their reliance on recruitment agencies and automate the process so it was slick and transparent.

As part of their objectives, Ecotricity also wanted to improve internal mobility and internal promotion at the business.

Ecotricity were looking to solve these core recruitment challenges:

• Improve the day-to-day experience of the recruitment team, hiring managers and of course candidates.
• Improve the onboarding process to automate their entire job offer process online. This would provide efficiencies and also have an impact on the environment in reducing waste through a reduction of paper across the process. There should also be the opportunity for longer term efficiency gains through technology by integrating the ATS/e-CRM system with payroll and HR systems.
• Have control over all aspects of the recruitment process with reports and dashboards to measure candidate sourcing data, internal candidates reporting, time to hire, cost per hire and to understand associated cost savings with more direct candidate sourcing.
• Hire exceptional performers who want to join Ecotricity for their principles and ethical outlook – to be part of a team of world changers who believe in the same goal.

The Ecotricity Team & Priorities

The Ecotricity recruitment team are shaping the strategy and operational aspects of their recruitment process which is closely aligned to their People and HR division.

Involved in the recruitment process are a recruitment and talent team and over 80 hiring managers, including frequent recruiters. Making the recruitment process more succinct and available for the whole team would optimise the process and remove unnecessary admin throughout the candidate assessment stage.

Ecotricity knew that the company values were fundamental to their recruitment strategy so wanted to make sure that this was reflected across their careers site and all the way through the recruitment process, not just with words but with experiences of ‘real people’.

The candidate experience was crucial. Ecotricity had a requirement to respond to every application using the right tone and ethos. A candidate might not be right for a certain role today but could well be exactly the right person for a different role in the future. Brand experience is everything and an integrated ATS & careers site would underpin this.

Choosing and Implementing Eploy

Eploy was selected as the supplier of choice, being the right fit of cultural and ethical similarities to Ecotricity. Having met the Eploy team and seen their capabilities to support their objectives, it was a positive partnership from the start.

The Ecotricity team saw Eploy as a flexible provider to accommodate requirements with a clear and transparent approach. They wanted to be more than a number and Eploy offered the right solution.

And….In 12 weeks Ecotricity were ready to go live with Eploy’s complete e-recruitment system that was seamlessly integrated into their careers site.

"It can be daunting to approach new ways of working, especially as we were starting with a blank page in documenting all of our processes and workflows, but the Eploy team were able to demonstrate the simplicity of implementation and support us through the process, always offering solutions. This was a successful tech project that delivered on time, to scope and within budget. It really has transformed the way we work and will support other transformation in the business.” Pam Hasson, Programme Manager – Resourcing and HR

What are the key features of Eploy that will support Ecotricity?

• Job Requisitions – Having pre-approved jobs requisitions and templates will speed up the process of raising and posting new jobs in a structured and paperless way. It will also provide the ability to track every requisition at each stage.
• Online Applications & Registrations – The new system gives Ecotricity the ability to fully automate the recruitment process they can now actively talent pool and create a candidate experience fully aligned to the uniqueness of the company’s ethos.
• Seamless careers site integration – Being able to pinpoint hard to find and skilled individuals with an ethical outlook through the careers site will make a difference, positioning Ecotricity as a choice brand to work for.
• Offers & Onboarding - Managing the entire offer acceptance process online will mean no more paper chasing which is greener, quicker and more ‘customer’ friendly.
• Dashboards and Analytics – Ecotricity are embracing data collection and analysis through the Eploy dashboards. Data will be shared across the business to enable better collaboration, tracking of performance and trends, planning efficiently and constant challenge.

Chris Bogh, Eploy’s Chief Technology Officer commented: “This was a solid partnership from the start. Ecotricity have a core value to constructively challenge themselves, which is exactly what they did to improve every stage of the recruitment journey. The Ecotricity candidate experience has massively improved to attract engage, recruit and onboard the right candidates quickly.”