Alex Evans: I know you prefer to see your TIARA as recognition of the collective efforts at Gattaca rather than just yours, but why do you think it’s an important award? 

Matthew Wragg: It is all about the team and the business and I hope it is good for everyone. We’ve had a really fun and positive two years or so. We’ve taken great strides in the who, what, how and why we do anything. We also lost one of our biggest characters last year to a tragic accident [Grahame Carter, Chief Sales Officer, who died in a skiing accident at the age of 47]. The way the whole business led themselves and each other through this was phenomenal. It’s a great nod to Grahame, one of the very best people-leaders I’ve ever known.  

AE: The TIARA judging panel highlighted the impact of your transformational leadership over the last two years and described you as a ‘people-centric’ leader. What do you believe has been the most significant change you’ve implemented at Gattaca, and how did you lead it?

MW: Cultural shift; in a people business that is the biggest aspect. If you get that right then all the other things that we’ve done, like sector focus, technology advancement, geographical realignment, personal development enhancements, raising standards, attracting and retaining great talent, and winning business are all possible. How did I lead it? I believe with clear accountability. Being really clear on who is doing what and why. I love that anyone in my business feels comfortable enough to ask me any question. In fact, we’ve made it part of the induction process to get comfortable with it. The more people that know what I want us to achieve and why, the greater the likelihood of us actually achieving it!  

AE: Which employee initiative are you most proud of, and why? 

MW: When I took over, the business had been light on leadership communication. In my opening presentation, I promised them they would hear from me every week. For the first Monday, I wrote about how I was feeling and what I expected. This became a short (ish) video of 5-10 mins from me sharing business priorities for the week, successes collectively and individual kudos for the previous week. Nearly 156 weeks later, and we’ve only missed this once or twice in exceptional circumstances. We have shared this across the business, but I’ve done the lions share. We saw results early on. Dots were being joined, what good looked like was being reiterated consistently, paranoia wasn’t building and our monthly engagement platform saw a 300% increase in people knowing and believing in our strategy. People were just feeling more aware and more informed.   

AE: Gattaca celebrates its long-serving employees and welcomed quite a few back over the past year. What has contributed to this trend, and why are returners an important metric for you?

MW: We’ve just tried to put ourselves in the shoes of our customer, in this case they are current, prospective and previous colleagues. Treat them how you think they would want to be treated, know them, genuinely care about them. Make them feel valued, wanted and appreciated. And signaling. The Boomerang posts have been an easy sign to people to say ‘we’re open to have a candid chat’. We’ve made some fun of it all, broken down some barriers and made conversations much easier to have. 

AE: Have you ever had toxic top performers and how have you managed them? 

MW: What has never worked is thinking it, feeling it and then doing nothing about it. Right now, I don’t believe anyone in our group is toxic. A phrase I’ve stolen from the High Performance podcasts is that I would rather have a hole in my business than a***hole in my business. When I see people become combative, or have conflict if certain scenarios unfold, it’s a ticking clock for me to get this resolved before either the individual or their team/manager allows that to go too far and break the relationship. As a leader, you need to listen but also be really clear about what behaviors are acceptable. Repetition usually results in either the issues being resolved or parting ways.  

AE: AI is creating demand for new roles in recruitment, from Data Analysts to Candidate Curators, and the need for more insight-enabled consultants and salespeople. What new roles and skills are you recruiting for and training at Gattaca?   

MW: We have invested in a specialist candidate curator to work hand in glove with consultants. It might work, it might not, but I bet we learn a lot along the way. I suspect we will also invest in a couple of AI change agents to come in and play. I’d see this as a short-term approach as the win is that the skills/tooling is across the business, not localised to a couple of experts. We will continue to look at how AI can improve processes and service for our clients and candidates, but what we do must enhance the personal relationship, not to remove it.  

AE: In a rapidly changing industry like recruitment, how has your talent strategy enabled Gattaca to respond to evolving client and candidate expectations? 

MW: We look for curiosity and coachability in our hiring, and we talk about asking and listening more, not telling or selling more. We have a great business, with excellent people, a great range of services for our clients and plenty of opportunities for our candidates, so we need to ensure our clients and candidates are constantly reminded of this, our team is well informed, engaged and curious, and our marketing and tech stack enables this. 

AE: Reflecting on your journey as CEO, what lesson have you learned from the biggest challenge you have faced? 

MW: The biggest challenge has to be the loss of my CSO and best mate. I was the other side of the world when he had his accident and breaking the news to the whole business was the toughest moment of my life; but the love and support I saw from everyone, to each other, was immense. I learned the importance of being comfortable with yourself, even if that is crying your eyes out in front of all of your colleagues. Also, take help from people, and cherish time. You don’t get it back, so make the most of it, enjoy it and spend it with others whenever possible. 

AE: Looking ahead, what is your top priority for Gattaca over the next 12 to 18 months, and what is your top prediction for the recruitment industry in 2025?

MW: We will continue to get better and better, focus on the basics, and do them really well. We are looking to bring new teams or businesses into the group to access our great teams, tools and culture. For the industry, it’s a rollercoaster ride; sometimes it feels great, sometimes scary, but the idea is to have fun and not get off the ride too early. The recruitment industry will be fine. It’s tough, but there are always winners, so we’re fully focused on making sure we are one of those. 

AE: Why do you value TALiNT Partners Membership and how have you and your team made the most of it?  

MW: Being a member of TALiNT Partners provides myself and the team with useful insight into market dynamics, possible providers and a sounding board on challenges that we all face. We’ve certainly valued the platform to help inform or validate some of the actions we’ve taken when transforming the business over the last few years.

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