Global recruitment giant Adecco is working on “a lot of programmes to reinvent portions of the company”, chief executive Dieter Scheiff has said.

Speaking exclusively to Recruiter on 5 March, Scheiff said Adecco was looking to the future as it adapts to changing business conditions. “We can’t deny we are a cyclical business… What is important in these times are two things: first, if the top line is going down, we have to adapt our cost base accordingly.”

The second challenge is to redesign the business. “That means we are working on our delivery models, the internet, our branch footprint
optimisation. So we have intensive programmes in all of the countries to work on that,” he said.

Scheiff said both steps send distinct messages to Adecco employees and to shareholders. “We are thinking about the future and the improvement of the company, so our people realise these guys in top management are not just cost-cutters but they also care for the company and how it will develop in the long run.”

A third priority is to make sure the company is financially sound. Scheiff said that has been achieved through the level of its operating cash flow — €1.054bn (£980m) which is on par with 2007 — and through its proposed SFr1.50 dividend (94p), which is at the same level it was last year. “This is a strong sign to our own people, to the investors’ community and to clients,” he said. “The clients should care, too, which type of company survives in this down cycle.”

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