Making a World of Difference for Foster + Partners

Winning a big chunk of the $45 billion development project 2022 World Cup in Qatar is one thing. Putting in place the resources that will deliver it is quite another. So when the world’s leading architectural practice, Foster + Partners, found themselves in the market for 200 highly skilled, contract and permanent candidates from across Europe and the Middle East, they looked to our particular expertise, local knowledge and global outlook to deliver quality in quantity.

The Challenge

Winning the bid for the Lusail Stadium, part of a $45 billion development package for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Foster + Partners faced a sudden increase in demand for talent attraction and global mobility expertise that they couldn’t manage directly.

They’d also had a previous experience with a provider that meant they had opted to manage all recruitment internally.

The challenge for them was to find an expert, reliable partner who had the knowledge and network essential to providing fully-scalable, international support with a particular focus across the Middle East.

The Solution

We worked with Foster + Partners as an extension of their HR team to deliver an RPO solution that secured 200 high calibre contract and permanent candidates across Europe and the Middle East.

Having successfully worked with us in an existing Managed Service Programme (MSP), Foster + Partners were confident that we knew and understood their business culture, needs and markets.

So they engaged us to develop a Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) solution that could be integrated into the company’s existing systems.

We built in the key ability to flex resources to meet changing demands in hiring volume, and assigned 10 recruiters to work exclusively on the project onsite, alongside the client’s teams throughout the EMEA region.

Our recruiters are responsible for filling a variety of skills sets, including Architects, Security Engineers, Project Managers and Design Engineers.

Our customised programme operates to specific service level benchmarks: hires per week/month, time to hire and other global mobility specific service levels surrounding on-boarding, payroll and visas.

The Results

We designed and implemented a full-scale programme that works within the client’s proprietary talent management system and that has placed all 200 new hires within the set timeline.

Throughout, all metrics have been tracked through a technology system consistently monitored by our service delivery team, and reviewed with the client weekly/monthly, ensuring we meet and exceed client expectations wherever possible.

Key results include:

• Continuing to hire in excess of 430 contract and permanent individuals across Middle East since the inception of the RPO Model
• Establishing a quality assurance process that ensures the robust recruitment and hiring process is followed from start to finish
• Enabling a positive experience for both the Internal Recruiting Manager and every candidate
• Delivering client savings estimated at £3 million

What our client said

“We have been partnering with Opus as our onsite RPO since March 2015. Opus has been able to provide us with a multi-lingual workforce with a global reach to help address our global assignment requirements.

The Opus team have adapted to the changing needs of our business, and provided expert advice, guidance, global mobility and recruitment solutions.
The recruitment team are embedded into the business and operate in such a way that provides Foster + Partners with the impressive recruitment statistic of 92% direct attraction. This percentage represents a saving of over £3 million pounds over the past year to the business. With the onsite recruitment team having immersed themselves in the culture of the organisation alongside a seamless approach within the HR division, the team has enabled us to address some challenging recruitment projects across multiple geographies.

It is without hesitation that I recommend Opus as a global resources provider to any organisation in need of recruiting assistance. They have been extremely professional, knowledgeable, and responsive in helping us solve our key critical global recruitment challenges.”

Charlotte Sword - Group HR Director