Disrupt Manchester Preview with Craig Saxby

In this episode of the HRchat Podcast, Bill Banham is joined by Craig Saxby, HR Solutions Director at Morson Talent.

Craig is a recruitment leader passionate about building high-performing teams and helping HR leaders navigate complex people and talent challenges. At Morson, he partners with Chief People Officers, HR Directors, and Talent Leaders to design and deliver strategic solutions—spanning RPO, outsourced HR, screening and vetting, and Morson Training.

The conversation covers:

• Craig’s career journey and what drives his passion for developing high-performing HR and talent functions
• The biggest challenges HR Directors and Chief People Officers are facing right now
• How Morson supports organisations through services like RPO, outsourced HR, and workforce training
• The significance of Morson Group’s appointment to the Procurement Services HR Support Services Framework (Y25006), which makes it easier for public sector organisations to access expert HR solutions
• Why Morson is hosting the next edition of Disrupt Manchester on September 24th and what excites Craig about the event series
• The future of HR and recruitment, including opportunities for innovation around AI, automation, and addressing skills shortages

You’ll also hear about Morson’s role in supporting local business community events and Craig’s practical advice for HR leaders tasked with doing more with less in today’s climate.

Listen in to get insights on evolving HR and talent solutions—and discover how Morson Talent is helping organisations improve people and performance.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Craig Saxby
• 3:15 Craig's Career Journey
• 5:10 Building High-Performing HR Teams
• 8:26 Current HR Leadership Challenges
• 11:11 Mawson's HR and Talent Solutions
• 13:22 Disrupt Manchester Partnership
• 17:40 The Future of HR Innovation
• 20:58 Closing and Contact Information

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's most downloaded and shared podcasts designed for HR pros, talent execs, tech enthusiasts and business leaders. For hundreds more episodes and what's new in the world of work, subscribe to the show, follow us on social media and visit HRGazettecom and visit hrgazettecom.

Speaker 2: 0:26

Welcome to another episode of the HR Chat Show. Hello listeners, this is your host today, bill Bannam, and in this episode I'm joined by Craig Saxby, hr Solutions Director over at Mawson Talent. Craig is a recruitment leader passionate about building high-performing teams and helping HR leaders navigate complex people and talent challenges. At Mawson, craig partners with chief people officers, hr directors and talent leaders to design and deliver strategic solutions spanning RPO, outsourced HR, screening and vetting and, of course, mawson training. Mawson Group has just been appointed to the Procurement Services HR Support Services Framework, which we're going to go into later on giving public sector organisations easier access to expert HR solutions. And on September 24th 2025, mawson, thank you very much Mawson will be hosting the next edition of Disrupt Manchester, bringing together HR and talent professionals to share bold ideas about the future of work. Hey, craig, how are you doing? Welcome to the show today.

Speaker 3: 1:32

Hi, bill, great thanks for having me.

Speaker 2: 1:34

This episode today is to get to know Craig, get to know a bit about Mawson and also, frankly, as a bit of a thank you to Mawson, for being our very, very kind and gracious hosts of the next Disrupt Manchester coming up as we record this in about a month's time. So, craig, let's begin by you telling us a bit about your career journey and what brought you into your current role as HR Solutions Director over at Mawson Talent.

Speaker 3: 2:00

Thanks, bill. Yeah, as Bill's kindly said, I, I'm Craig Saxby work for Mawson, who are one of the kind of leading technical recruitment businesses in the UK with a global presence. My career actually didn't start in recruitment. It started leaving university. I joined Marks and Spencer's on their graduate scheme, excited to get into work and kind of put myself into the world of work.

Speaker 3: 2:26

About three years in that role worked in a variety of different kind of positions in retail management across different stores and M&S and one day I thought I really want to push myself to do something different and get out of retail. So I spent the next three years working as a HR recruiter. It played quite well to my knowledge of having retail management dealing with people issues. Getting into the world of recruitment, and HR specifically, always interested me. So I worked for a couple of businesses a large, more corporate recruiter, and a smaller, more boutique agency to really hone my skills around that HR and talent space. To really kind of hone my skills around that HR and talent space.

Speaker 3: 3:05

Just over seven years ago I joined Mawson and that was to really spear the growth of their HR and professional services division, which I've done. I've had numerous different roles here over the last seven years. It's been great to see that kind of growth and the investment in that from Mawson and around. About 12 months ago I stepped into my current role, which is HR Solutions Director, which has got more of a focus now on understanding the challenges across the HR and talent landscape and really translating that into easy-to-embed solutions that our clients can invest into.

Speaker 2: 3:44

Obviously. For many, many, many years since way before I went grey, I've been in the publishing world publishing and events. Okay, I cut my teeth at a big publishing house in West London and then after that I went to smaller companies you mentioned for your career experience. You were a big company and then you went to a more boutique agency style organization. How has that helped you in your current role now?

Speaker 3: 4:10

Yeah, I feel personally Mawson's somewhere in the middle of that. Even though we're a big company, given we've been family owned for the whole of our time here at Mawson it still feels like we're an SME. We're quite, very agile, we're very adaptive to the market. As I say, working for a big corporate is great. You get to understand the practices and you get to understand what it's like to work in those large, complex businesses. It had some great things about it and some things that weren't so great, but at the same time, flipping that into the boutique world, that was very different and I think think that middle ground, the structure and the support around you, is great. I think Mawson have given me a really good platform to be able to stretch my legs now and kick on in my career, which I didn't really see in those other companies, to be honest very good.

Speaker 2: 4:55

I would support those sentiments. So you've said that you're passionate about building high-performing teams, craig. In your, in your view, what are the key ingredients that consistently separate high-performing HR and talent functions from the rest?

Speaker 3: 5:10

Yeah, good question, bill. I wouldn't say there's a single ingredient to building high-performing teams, but I do think there's a couple of kind of common factors, common themes that would certainly help. I've broken them down a little bit. I was having a bit of a think of this before. And number one I'd say HR teams need to have a deep alignment with the business strategy. Hr teams can't work in isolation. They need to have a seat at the leadership table and ensure that people's strategy actually mirrors the business objectives that talent plans are also built around where the organization is heading, linked to growth or transformation or digitalization as well. It's really important that the two are aligned and that HR strategy meets with business strategy. That's the first point.

Speaker 3: 5:53

I also think that high performing HR teams always utilize data really well. It's data-driven decision making. The use of analytics and reporting in HR has been around for some time, but the high performing teams really do get a good grasp of that and really use it to their advantage. They use their data to identify skills gap and measure return investment and drive talent initiatives forward. So I think businesses and HR teams using data really well certainly put them top of the pile, I think.

Speaker 3: 6:23

The third point on that one Bill, is they also work really, really hard to create an exceptional employee experience and they really kind of put that at the heart of what they do. They focus on the entire employee lifecycle, from cradle to grave, and they have a flexible approach to things like career pathways and hybrid working and all things like that. Those businesses that aren't fixed and allow that flexibility tend to have the high performing teams around them. So those three points really what I'd say from what I see, um, high performing teams have those kind of common, common threads running through them oh well, now then you've, you've.

Speaker 2: 6:59

you've piqued my interest there, my journalistic interest, when you're talking about the importance of hybrid teams and whatnot. Again, just a quick follow-up question what's your take on all of these companies that are insisting that people come back to the office for five days a week?

Speaker 3: 7:12

Yeah, look, I get it. We're actually seeing, probably in some sectors, an increase in businesses returning back to five days in the office. Personally, am I a fan of it? I don't think so, unless there's a business critical need to have people in the office five days a week. I don't see why businesses need to kind of force. That I totally get if you're food manufacturing and you need people in the factories to make food, totally get it. But in an environment where there is no reason why staff shouldn't be allowed to work more flexibly, that one seems a little bit strange in my opinion. I know it's a big divide, the kind of if you do, if you don't, but I think to get the best out of people and certainly, certainly when we're speaking to candidates and what's important to them, hybrid working and the trust, the flexibility that goes with that is really, really important for a lot of candidates right now.

Speaker 2: 7:59

I totally agree. I just add to that as well I think there's a place still for fully remote workers if it means that your talent pool is bigger, you know, if it means that a company can find talent that they just couldn't source locally. But this isn't an interview with me, it's an interview with you. So let's let's continue through boston works, closely, of course, with hr directors and chief people officers. Well, what are some of the biggest talent and people challenges that you're hearing from senior leaders at the moment?

Speaker 3: 8:28

perhaps some of those are to be bringing people back to the office full-time yeah, absolutely one of the points maybe around that bill, to be fair, but I think there's again some common themes. Speaking to these c-suite executives across hr, this seems seems to be at the moment a big, big focus on on skills gaps, um linking that into recruitment and retention um lots of industries that more support and work really closely um are really finding it tough to attract and retain um people with stem skills. That seems to be a big, big focus right now across the UK, linking that into their EVP, which has been under scrutiny for many businesses. Candidates want more than just pay. They want the whole package, the career development, the flexibility, the purpose, the values. All that's really important right now. And if you're to attract and retain the best talent, your EVP needs to be world-class to kind of put you in the spotlight there. So I'd say that certainly as a starting point. That's number one.

Speaker 3: 9:27

I think number two leadership and culture is a big, big topic in the world of HR right now.

Speaker 3: 9:33

I think leaders are under pressure to manage hybrid and remote teams more effectively.

Speaker 3: 9:38

It's still relatively new for some businesses and I think there's a need to adapt leadership styles to be more inclusive of that um, empathetic leadership styles, all those kind of things really needed to drive that and reduce retention people kind of wanting to leave the business.

Speaker 3: 9:56

And then a third one really um, it's been around for a long time but still super important on the agenda for HR people is ED&I. I think there's a pressure in the UK right now to go much further, beyond the box-ticking exercise that ED&I sometimes has been accustomed to be, and really embedding true ED&I values into the business. That stems from the top down. It's got to be driven by your leadership and it's got to be lived and breathed across the organization. We're doing a lot of work looking at things like neurodiversity and how to access talent in different pools, and I think businesses have really got to put a focus on what else can they be doing in there rather than just the basics. When it comes to ED&I, I think it's really important for the future and the future of work, but that's still high on the agenda for most businesses.

Speaker 2: 10:45

I am agreeing with far too much of what you're saying, um, but good answers, okay. Uh, let's talk about solutions. Let's give morrison a bit of love here. But I'm going to challenge you because I feel like you've touched upon it in previous answers. So in two minutes or less, mr saxby, can you give us an overview of the different hr and talent services that watson provides, from rpo and outsourced hr to vetting, screening and training go?

Speaker 3: 11:11

this is where the countdown conundrum starts. There's time ticking away in the background, but here goes two minutes. So number one rpo, um. Rpo has had a bad rep over the years for being outsourcing everything, and the modern rO isn't that. So we do a lot of project-based RPO work where we support clients with hiring demand and spikes in activity. We do a lot of stuff around talent implant services where we're supporting customers who are going through a period of change. So our RPO services cover a whole range of areas really and a whole range of sectors, ranging from startup businesses through to very large global corporates. So that's our RPO business Outsourced HR.

Speaker 3: 11:51

We deliver project-based HR solutions essentially to our customers. Examples of that really range from supporting businesses with employee relations casework through to OD and change projects and even projects like cheaper transfer. We've been doing some of those recently too. For our customers we act as an extension of the HR team and take away a lot of the risk from hiring contracts in interims. Third point screen and betting. We work with clients to carry out their right to work and background checks. We deliver a full suite of checks across their business, ranging from kind of entry-level right to work through to full SE clearance, both in the UK and internationally. And the last one, last but not least, is Mawson Training. Our training business supports clients across the whole L&D spectrum. Clients come to us with specific training requirements, but we also run full outsourced managed service provider platforms as well, where we take on all the the risk and the compliance that's linked to training okay, I reckon, at least 15 seconds to spare there.

Speaker 2: 12:49

Good work, sir, good work. Um so, ahead of this conversation today, I was doing my homework by cleverly typing in craig, saxby, morson and other such terms and a blog from the Mawson site came up and apparently the Mawson group was recently approved on the procurement services, hr support services framework and I think there's a lovely quote from you as part of that, that blog post. But what does this mean for the public sector organizations and why is it significant?

Speaker 3: 13:22

Yeah, it means that public sector organisations can now work with businesses like Mawson to get a whole range of support from a HR perspective. I mean it's broken down into lots Is this procurement framework, which covers HR administration and payroll services, hr advisory services, which is employee relations and business partnering. It covers employee screening and it also covers our early careers, consultancy and reward. So out of those five lots, mawson scored the highest in the tender four out of the five which means businesses can now directly work with us without going through procurement to tender for those services. So it's a quick and easy way to access those services.

Speaker 2: 14:09

It also means that we are a fully approved and better than screen and compliant service provider in those areas. Okay, okay, you are bossing these succinct answers. So regular listeners of this show will know that for quite some time I've been involved with a whole bunch of the Disrupt HR chapters, including Toronto, buffalo, london and others. As of last year, I am a proud co-organizer of Disrupt Manchester and it's happening as we record this, in about a month it's on September 24th Because of you, craig, I want to offer a personal thank you to you. Mawson will be hosting this edition. Thank you very much.

Speaker 2: 14:42

Uh the the event itself, we've got a pretty stellar lineup. I'm pretty proud of this one. It's looking pretty good. So, for example, we've got uh mark lawrence he was recently on the show. He's from uh deloitte. We've got jennifer cunningham, who's the vice president, global talent acquisition over at pearson. Uh rob woolen, chief operating officer at dsg finance. Uh melissa Melissa Hewitt, who works with you. She's Head of HR Outsource and Security Screening over at Mawson Group. Ian Nelson, a mutual friend of ours I'm actually catching up with him later on today Ira Watt, senior Manager at Fidelity International. And Gemma Hood, who's CEO and founder of Culture Hood. And that's just a few of our speakers at this next event. There's a question behind all of this. Why did you and why did Mawson choose to get involved with Disrupt and thank you again, and what excites you about this particular event series?

Speaker 3: 15:39

Yeah, thanks, bill, and we are really looking forward to this. It's our first time partnering with yourself and Disrupt and so far I've really been impressed with everything we've kind of discussed and gone through. It's not long September 24. So yeah, it's just over a month away, and most of them typically run a few HR events ourselves across the calendar year, and partnering with Disrupt allows us to reach a different and new audience, allows us to build new relationships and, like I say, there's a list of excellent speakers there who are going to be on the night talking through some of the challenges they're facing as a business and how to overcome those challenges. So for us this is about kind of going out there letting people know who we are and what we do, but also building new relationships and really driving that community in Manchester forward further.

Speaker 2: 16:26

Excellent. Well, I've managed to wangle it that the HR Tech Conference in Vegas does not get in the way. I'm going to be there. I'll be up on stage co-hosting with Craig and with the awesome Steve Folger, so I'm very much looking forward to that. Mawson will also be supporting a meetup a Disrupt meetup in Manchester later this year. Why is it important to support local business community events in addition to these larger summits?

Speaker 3: 16:53

Yeah look, mawson Head Office has been in Manchester since we were first kind of concepted as a business and it's been really important for us to provide services and support to local areas. So Manchester is really important to us and we want to make sure we're constantly driving events and providing support to local businesses and candidates in that area. So for us it's a no-brainer bill. We want to be recognized as leading the way across Manchester in the HR space and building those relationships up.

Speaker 2: 17:18

We are flying through these questions today, craig. Just a few more for you the. The HR recruitment world is, of course, evolving pretty rapidly at the moment, particularly because of this little thing called artificial intelligence and automation, and the skill shortages too. Where do you see the biggest opportunities for innovation in talent solutions at the moment?

Speaker 3: 17:38

Yeah, good question again, bill, and something we've thought about a lot as a business. We're in a partnership with Palantir right now, who are a global leader in AI, and they're helping us understand how we can improve as a business and how we can drive efficiencies and change utilizing AI. So it's very, very topical for lots of companies, I think. Bringing that back into the HR landscape, I think there's a few areas where we're going to continue to see lots of automation, lots of usage of AI. Number one it's definitely an ad-san acquisition. I think ATS systems and HR systems are advancing, use of chatbots are becoming a lot more common and popular and also, I think talent sourcing and matching services within kind of internal teams is going to be utilizing AI a lot more, working in partnership with us. I think the ability to work together with businesses and partner using AI is going to be really powerful.

Speaker 3: 18:34

I think the second one is more skills-based workforce planning, shifting from job titles to skills taxonomies. I think that's really, really going to be an interesting one. We've seen lots of clients now starting to look at mapping out what skill sets are going to exist in the future, not just at the moment, and they're working towards a workforce plan that's going to allow them to hit that in the next three years, five years, 10 years, because a lot of those skills and a lot of the job titles that they need in the future probably aren't there right now. So that's an interesting one and I'm sure we can talk a lot longer around that. But businesses are having to kind of shift what that looks like for them to close the skills gaps and utilize some of these new skills that are coming through.

Speaker 3: 19:14

I think another one is the automation of admin and compliance. Hr teams are going to see a huge drive on that. Things like right-to-work checks, things around onboarding paperwork those things will certainly be impacted around use of AI and automation, and that frees up the HR team then to focus on the more strategic challenges around engagement, around org design and change management as well. So I think that's going to be a good thing for the HR communities that we speak with. They're going to have more time to really put into the real value adds as well as the the basics around administration and compliance, which, of course, is super important. But at the same time, one of the big things we get is businesses get too bogged down with the admin and compliance and can't focus on the future strategic initiatives they want to drive okay, so it sounds like the future is bright and exciting, although I'm a little bit concerned at the moment.

Speaker 2: 20:09

I recently uh read parts of the ai 2027 report by is it the ai futures project? Uh, that that freaked me out a little bit. Um, so, regular listeners of this show, if you haven't checked that out yet, uh, you may or may not want to, depending on uh, uh, how, how strong your heart is. Um, just finally for today, craig, how can our listeners connect with you? So is that linkedin I bet you're super cool and all over the instagrams and tiktoks and places. And, of course, how can they learn more about morse and talent?

Speaker 3: 20:38

yeah, absolutely look. I'm visible on linkedin, spend a good amount of time on their networking, but also posting and sharing content. I think it's really interesting for the hr communities that we serve to, so you can definitely find me on LinkedIn. I love to connect with kind of new people across the HR and talent space. I'm super happy to tell people more about Mawson and the different services we offer. They can get my email address from my LinkedIn as well and happy to speak to people.

Speaker 2: 21:04

Rock and roll. Well, that just leaves me to say for today. I'm sure we'll get you back on again in the future, but for today, thank you very much for being my guest on this episode of the hr chat show craig thanks, it's been a pleasure. Thanks, bill and listeners as always.

Speaker 1: 21:16

Until next time, happy working thanks for listening to the hr chat show. If you enjoyed this episode, why not subscribe and listen to some of the hundreds of episodes published by HR Gazette and remember for what's new in the world of work? Subscribe to the show, follow us on social media and visit HRGazettecom.