Hays : acquires Vercida consulting to strengthen HR advisory service

Hays, the global leader in workforce solutions and specialist recruitment, announces today that it has purchased a majority stake in Vercida Consulting, the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion advisory organisation.

Hays customers are facing increasingly complex HR challenges and need support to address the demands of the new era of work. Many businesses don't have the resources to address a lack of diversity within their organisations and often there isn't a measurable plan in place. Hays is responding to these demands by expanding its range of services and investing in the infrastructure and capability to foster deeper partnerships and enhance Hays' customer relationships to that of a 'Leadership Partner'.

Alistair Cox, Hays CEO, says:

"The world of work has undergone significant changes in recent years and the needs of our customers have evolved alongside that. One of the core pillars of our Group strategy is to deliver a broader range of workforce related services to our customers across the globe, helping them with their wider human capital and talent challenges, ultimately delivering more value to our relationship.

"The purchase of Vercida Consulting will increase our ability to deliver a host of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion services. The acquisition will allow us to have more meaningful conversations with our clients who, almost without exception, see DE&I as a significant challenge and want a partner who can help them in this area. The acquisition of Vercida Consulting is an important step in our journey to becoming a true Leadership Partner to our customers."

Hays will immediately seek to leverage Vercida Consulting as the front of its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion offering as part of its Advisory Services. Vercida Consulting is currently focused on the UK market, however, provides services through employees and an associate network in the US and parts of Europe. Hays intends to expand the business globally, targeting US, ANZ and Germany in the initial phase.

Vercida Consulting was established by Dan Robertson and Morgan Lobb. Dan is an industry recognised expert and will continue in his role of Managing Director of Vercida Consulting, in addition to heading up Hays' Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Servicefor our external clients. Dan has over 25 years' experience of working in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion field and has spent the last 15 years supporting global businesses to help them transform ideas into action, with a focus on strategy, bias mitigation and inclusive leadership.

Dan Robertson, Vercida Consulting Managing Director, says:

"The acquisition of Vercida Consulting by Hays will provide us with the ability to upscale what Vercida has been doing all these years, creating a more diverse world of work and developing inclusive leaders. We will now have the capacity to help far more organisations on their DE&I journeys, across the globe."

"By offering an evidence-based approach to inclusive culture change, we can constructively challenge the existing organisational norms and ways of working."

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Contact

For more information contact:

Jonathan Beasley
Global Senior Communications Manager, Hays
jonathan.beasley@hays.com

About Hays

Hays plc (the "Group") is the world's leading specialist in workforce solutions and recruitment, such as RPO and MSP. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK, Germany and Australia and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe, Latin America and Asia. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 31 December 2022, the Group employed over 13,000 staff operating from 255 offices in 33 countries. For the year ended 30 June 2022:

- the Group reported net fees of £1,189.4 million and operating profit of £210.1 million;

- the Group placed around 83,750 candidates into permanent jobs and around 250,000 people into temporary roles;

- 16% of Group net fees were generated in Australia & New Zealand, 26% in Germany, 22% in United Kingdom & Ireland and 36% in Rest of World (RoW);

- the temporary placement business represented 55% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 45% of net fees;

- Technology is the Group's largest division, with 26% of net fees, while Accountancy & Finance (14%) and Construction & Property (11%), are the next largest

- Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, UAE, the UK and the USA