Diversity and inclusion specialist acquired by global recruitment firm
A Birmingham diversity, equity and inclusion advisory has been acquired by global recruitment specialist Hays.
Vercida Consulting will be used by Hays to front its diversity, equity and inclusion offering and will expand the business globally targeting in particular the US and Germany.
The firm was established by Dan Robertson and Morgan Lobb with Robertson to continue in his role of managing director of Vercida, in addition to heading up Hays’ diversity, equity & inclusion advisory service.
Alistair Cox, Hays CEO, said: “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”.
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.”
Matt Smith from Irwin Mitchell’s Corporate team in Birmingham led the legal team advising Vercida. He was supported by Alexandra Bloomer, solicitor in Irwin Mitchell’s Corporate team, and colleagues in the firm’s Corporate tax team.
Smith said: “One of the largest challenges facing the HR community at the moment are the issues relating equality, diversity & inclusion.
“Dan has over 25 years’ experience of working in this area and has spent the last 15 years supporting global businesses to help them transform ideas into action.
“Hays clearly recognise the expertise that is available to them through this acquisition and I’m confident they will form an effective partnership resulting in overseas’ growth.”
Paul Winterflood (partner) and Katherine Stone (director) at Moore Kingston Smith also advised Vercida Consulting.
