Previously known as Lawrence Harvey, LHi Group has reinvented itself over the past two years, and today it offers a range of solutions to meet the diverse needs of its valued clientele. Having recognised the firm as part of our Recruitment Elite for 2018 CV Magazine profiles it to find out more about the secrets behind its incredible success.

Since 2016, LHi Group has been on a huge journey of international expansion. Started originally by Tom Glanfield in 2002, LHi Group, was historically a purely SAP technology recruitment practice. Fast forward a few years and they are now an international Group business operating in 8 offices across UK, Europe and USA.

Today, LHi Group consists of four specialist non-competing brands; Lawrence Harvey, SciPro, Harper Harrison and Piper Maddox, spanning 8 international office locations. The rebrand and launch of LHi was driven by Glanfield’s desire to unify its brands and give them an equal share of support and service by LHi, which he calls the ‘Operational Centre of Excellence’.

LHi Group’s strategy is to focus on business development and growth. Within the Group, they will only operate within the most innovative and transformative sectors; industries that are / will be the most impactful on the future of the world.

With this strategy in mind, there are now four key recruitment brands that form the group. Lawrence Harvey, the heritage brand created by Tom Glanfield in 2002, boasts a dedicated team who are experts in identifying talent and placing people in a number of technology disciplines. The company started by specialising in SAP but has since expanded to cover a wide array of solutions within ERP, CRM, Security, Data & Analytics, Cloud, Infrastructure & Development, HR Transformation, Risk, BI and Finance. Working on both a contract and permanent basis, each consultant in the business has a dedicated area of expertise and is continually upskilled through the company’s training programme. With a global network of candidates, many of whom work with Lawrence Harvey exclusively, the company represents some of the best talent on the market.

The second brand to launch, SciPro, specialises in the Life Sciences industry, specifically working with life changing organisations Medical Devices, Pharmaceuticals and Biotech. Previously known as Lawrence Harvey Life Sciences (which was established in 2013), the company provides talent on an executive level, contract, permanent and retained basis. SciPro assists worldwide clients (from SMEs to big pharma businesses) in the entire life cycle of recruitment. With consulting teams in London, Munich, New York and Santa Monica, the brand continues to offer a personal specialist service within this revolutionary industry.

Alongside this, and in line with the Group strategy, they have Piper Maddox, LHi’s renewable energy brand. Specialising in clean energy, the people of Piper Maddox believe that renewables is the future of energy. Piper Maddox, based in New York, works in permanent recruitment, contract recruitment, executive search and project hire agreements. They cover a wide range of industries and technologies in the renewable energy space, with specialists focusing on wind, solar, electric vehicles, grid edge, energy storage and energy efficiency sectors. The people of Piper Maddox are incredibly passionate about the part they are playing in ensuring a better future.

Finally, specialising in the field of built environment, Harper Harrison provides contract and permanent services to its clients, who range from developers to niche consultants. These global clients operate in an array of sectors, from cost or commercial management to building surveying and project/development management. The Harper Harrison team offer specialist knowledge and expertise to both clients and candidates of all levels within Construction & Development, Real Estate and Infrastructure.

New Leadership & International Growth

From January 2019, LHi Group will be led by a new Group Managing Director, Jim Denning.

Jim’s appointment comes following 4 years in the business and a hugely successful period in Santa Monica where he set up a brand new office and grew it over 2 years to become one of the highest performing offices in 2018.

Currently, LHi’s West Coast operations are on track to post 80% revenue growth in 2018, a headcount growth of 90% and a staff attrition rate of 0.

Jim embodies the ethos of ‘leading from the front’, even in his new role as Group MD, his identity as a top performer will remain at the forefront of his strategy for taking the business forward.

Since opening the first international office in New York in 2015, the US side of the business has grown dramatically and now boasts a revenue equal to half of the business’ total GP. Some of the highest performing consultants have consistently been from the New York City office. The East Coast team has grown to more than 30 people working across three brands, Lawrence Harvey, Piper Maddox and SciPro. In the last 12 months the New York business has grown by 40%, with July 2018 being the group’s record- breaking month, with an increase of 49% on the previous best.

The success in New York is credit to newly appointed Managing Director USA, Mike Bott. Bott, one of the longest serving employees, joined Glanfield in 2007 as a graduate with no recruitment experience. He is promoted alongside Denning and will be instrumental in the future of the New York, Santa Monica and Austin businesses in 2019. Bott’s story is also testament to the idea that a career with LHi really can take you anywhere.

Overall, what makes LHi an impressive international business is the fact that its growth and success internationally has been achieved without any outside investment. To this very day the group remain privately owned, and as a result have grown only through internal resources, which has seen it build a multi-lingual, robust operations team who adapt to the changing markets and expansion with ease.

This growth has given the group the flexibility and infrastructure to open new offices wherever the market requires, allowing vast scope for further expansion. The group has been strategic in selecting its markets and regions, ensuring that LHi is in high growth areas with opportunities to capitalise on already established business in other areas. The group’s international business makes up more than half of its total GP, demonstrating its evolution from a UK centric business to a truly international company.

Looking to the future, international growth will be central to LHi Group’s ongoing success. Driving even greater achievement for its brands and supporting an even wider range of clients over the coming years will be the team’s ongoing focus.

People & Culture

Internally, the entire group is focused on instilling a collaborative supportive culture that benefits employees and clients alike. As part of this, LHi have a market leading employee options scheme whereby 50% of the shares in the company are on offer to employees. Every employee in the business has the opportunity to earn options and share in the growth of the company. There is an option issue every six months, so new employees have an opportunity to benefit as well as existing employees.

Additionally, the rebrand to LHi also opened up a range of flexible working options for employees, and possibly the most eye-catching is the option to work a four-day week. For employees who choose this option, their pay and holiday are worked out pro rata, but their commission rates stay the same. The scheme is open to everyone in the business and inclusivity was an important element in its creation.

For employees at senior consultant level or above, there is the option to work from home every other Friday and they can also have weekly extended lunch breaks. As these schemes emphasise, the company rewards loyal employees, and this includes giving them an extra week’s holiday at three years’ service, the LHi passport at five and then, to mark ten years’ service they are given what the leadership team call ‘the gift of time’. Employees can choose between being given a luxury watch or a month’s paid sabbatical holiday.

Thanks to these schemes and the internal culture they help to cultivate, clients receive the very highest possible standards of service from staff at all times.

Contact Details 

Company: LHi Group

Contact: Kim Pasteau

Website: www.wearelhi.com