Oyster Partnership is a privately owned recruitment agency based in central London. Recruiting nationally, they place both temporary and permanent candidates into the Public, Private and Third Sectors.

Their shared mission is to become a global leader in recruitment, connecting an international network of offices, employees and clients. Oyster Partnership is doing things differently because they wholeheartedly believe in a diverse workforce.

They’re a diverse team of 80 Led by MD Sasza Bandiera – who we caught up with before the Investors in People Awards.

Can you give us a brief description of how you’re making work better?

We understand the importance of an equal, diverse and inclusive workforce, and we passionately believe that you should be able to be your true, genuine self at work.

We welcome all to our business regardless of socio-economic background, age, race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, disability, or personal circumstance. 

Not only do we respect these differences, but we have created an environment to ensure that everyone is positively valued. Individually we are all very different, but together we are stronger. 

We appreciate that investing in our people isn’t just ‘the right thing to do’; it’s been proven essential in delivering sustainable results, especially in a crisis, such as the pandemic. 

It is a testament to our employees and their dedication to us that we made no redundancies through the pandemic, and we continued to grow in headcount.

Why did you enter The Investors in People Awards 2021?

We entered the Investors in People Awards 2021 because we wanted to celebrate being accredited with the Gold Standard and demonstrate to the broader industry that Oyster Partnership is a successful recruitment agency, and that is because of the people that we employ.

Recruitment is an extremely saturated market, so if we can use the Investors in People to differentiate ourselves from our competitors, we see that only as a positive.  

Are there any goals or challenges you hope an award will help you achieve or solve?

We would love to win this award because we want recruitment to be seen as a reputable industry to have a career in. There is still a stigma attached to recruitment. We want to attract more people, not only to the industry but more specifically to Oyster Partnership.

We have ambitious plans to grow in the next five years, and we truly believe that by being awarded a prestigious Investors in People Award, we help us achieve this.

Tell us what distinguishes you from other companies in the category you’re shortlisted in.

Oyster Partnership is a diverse business. We welcome you to look at our meet the team page Meet the Oyster Family – Oyster Partnership. We are 58% Male, 42% Female, and 25% of our workforce are from BAME backgrounds. 

To note, these figures haven’t been written down on an ‘agenda’ or as a strategy; they have come to fruition by our openness to keeping barriers to entry to a minimum. We don’t see Diversity and Inclusion as a policy written on paper; we genuinely believe everyone should feel valued at work. As an MD, a Leadership team, and a business, we invite everyone’s feedback, suggestions, and ideas.   

What does being shortlisted mean to everyone at your company? 

We were all just very shocked! Internally we think we do a great job, but to be recognised for this is fantastic. It genuinely means the absolute world to be shortlisted for the Investors in People UK Employer of the Year (GOLD) award. 

What makes us so excited about this award is the fact that it is not industry-specific. We are humbled to be shortlisted alongside such great companies in this prestigious category.

What would it mean to win?

To win the award for Investors in People UK Employer of the Year (Gold) would mean the absolute world to Oyster Partnership. The Leadership Team and every employee who has worked tirelessly over the past few years. We wholeheartedly believe that everything we do is a team effort.

How does being shortlisted benefit your customers?

Being shortlisted for the award shows clients, candidates, and potential new hires that we are committed to investing in our people and, therefore, our future. It reflects that Oyster Partnership is a company that values all its employees. 

Hopefully, this, in turn, gives our clients, candidates and potential new hires the ‘want’ to work with us/for us, as they have more faith that we are a good recruitment agency, with our people at the heart of everything we do.

How would you use being the recipient of this award to influence others?

If we won the award, we would celebrate this all over our social media channels. Naturally, our competitors and clients would be influenced by this and may work with Investors in People.

What can we expect to see from your organisation in the next 12 months? (And beyond!)

We have an extremely exciting 12 months ahead. Firstly, we are hoping to have a record-breaking year regarding headcount growth and revenue, which coming out of the pandemic, is nothing short of impressive. 

We will continue to hire throughout the next 12 months and open further divisions, giving further opportunities to our employees. Finally, we will be moving office next summer which will be amazing!

What advice would you give to anyone applying for The Investors in People Awards 2022?

Just go for it! You’ll always be in good company by being a part of it, and we have only seen the benefits of being a part of Investors In People.