Tristan White started the Physio Co as a way to bring retail-style customer service in the aged care industry, in a way he thought other providers wouldn’t be able to achieve. The company now has over 22 employees and turns over $1.5 million a year.
The company also has a big focus on corporate culture. White says employees need to fit into the company’s style and it has a fairly strict hiring process.
But one of the ways it opens up that hiring process is through social media. Physio Co has been hiring over Facebook for the last two years and White says other businesses should consider doing the same – but only if it suits the company’s culture.
How has the business performed over the past year?
The Physio Co is continuing to grow, and evolve into a medium-size business. We’ve done much better in the last 18 months of identifying the right people who are coming into our business, and we’ve created a good culture of selecting the right people. We are meeting our targets but we’re also making sure we add the great people we need.
You seem to have a big focus on culture in the business.
Culture is a big deal at the Physio Co. We are very much a people business, and we need to have the right people based around our culture. To be honest, I think we obsess over it. We have a really great program for selecting people based on our core values, and then we use those values every day of the week to reward and recognise.
We are a people business and are continually looking for TPCers that fit our core values.
What are those values?
They’re really simple things. They are: respect everyone, be memorable, find a better way and think big. But those are underpinned by actions. So for instance, the “be memorable” one, we make sure our people give good impressions. In the areas where we work, people are celebrating birthdays like their 85th or whatever, and they happen every day of the week.
So we encourage them to have a bit of cake, stick around and enjoy chatting with the residents and so on.
How long have you been hiring on Facebook?
We’ve been active on Facebook for about two years now, and we have about 1,400 people in our Facebook community. We’re active on Facebook every day of the week, wishing people happy birthdays, having conversations with the people in our community and so on. Facebook is a great place for us to start a conversation with potential TPCers (The Phyiso Co-ers).
And when we have a job offer available, which is most months, we post about it on Facebook. We encourage people to communicate with us, and we start that conversation with them.
How do they usually get in contact with you?
It’s usually via a comment. People will ask for more information, and from there we give them more information. But we also regularly post on our Facebook page that between a certain time we can chat with them about the business and the offer and so on.
And what do they ask?
These comments are very much concerned about what it’s like to work at the Physio Co and so on. The reason we are on Facebook is because the Gen X and Gen Y workers are on there, and those are the workers we want. We are very active in that space, and we don’t initiate the conversation.
So they are usually asking things like, what jobs are available, is it a great place to work, and so on. Then during the chat we direct people towards the website, it has more info on the jobs available and the application forms, and then we move into the hiring process with those people we like.
How many people have you employed through Facebook so far?
This year we’ve employed three employees directly, and as the year progresses we’re looking for more and more people via Facebook. Particularly for our graduate intake.
We just think it’s another great way of starting conversations and getting people to consider the Physio Co as an employment opportunity. It’s a great way of getting into the recruitment process.
Do you see Facebook as just another form of jobs advertising?
Absolutely. The Physio Co is growing very fast, and we need to continually have a supply of people wanting to join us. We’re continuing to advertise and recruit in other ways, and this is just another way we can get into that process. We still go through a normal hiring process, we still bring them in and have a phone screening, but we don’t make hiring decisions based solely on Facebook.
It’s interesting that your core customers, aged care residents, are not on Facebook at all.
Indeed, our end users are not on Facebook. They are residents of aged care facilities. So we really have this Facebook page as an opportunity to connect with people we think would be good for employment.
Should other businesses be doing the same and looking to social media for recruitment?
Look, the answer is – maybe. And I say that because I know our business very well, and for us, it’s worked extremely effectively. But it’s certainly not for everyone, and it’s something I think a business needs to really think about before they do it. We have a very clear strategy in what we’re doing, but it’s not for everyone. You need to think about your strategy before doing it and think about how you can get the best people.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
