Power to the People – Navigating the Current Hiring Environment
The Great Resignation. The Great Reshuffle. Inflation. High turnover rates. Applicants seeking hybrid or remote-only options. As if staying on top of shutdowns, social distancing requirements, vaccine mandates, and quarantine guidelines weren’t difficult enough, the COVID-19 pandemic has given your human resources departments yet another stressful and time-consuming task: the war for talent.
According to data published by CareerPlug, 47.4 million people quit their jobs in 2021. Furthermore, 30% of the global workforce is currently seeking alternative employment. What does that mean for you? We’re not out of the resignation woods yet. Look at your team. What would you do if 30% of them left in the next few months? What efforts are you making to retain your top talent and are you prepared to replace them if they leave?
While these thoughts could be enough to keep even the most confident managers and business owners up at night, this is your chance to concentrate on the opportunities to improve. Focus on the following four areas to grow your company into the authentic, “Human First'' business you’ve always wanted and to ensure success in attracting and retaining desirable talent.
Attracting Top Talent with Superior Candidate Experience
Now more than ever, your candidates’ experiences and employer reputation are crucial, especially with how easy it is to find and share information in today’s digital age. “58% of job seekers have declined an offer due to poor candidate experience,” states CareerPlug, whereas, “80% of candidates said a positive candidate experience influenced their decision to accept an offer.”
While flex work, gratuitous PTO, and compensation are hot topics throughout LinkedIn and career articles, further review of the data published by CareerPlug shows that the top reason job offers aren’t accepted is due to a negative experience in the interview process. So how do you create a winning candidate experience that allows you to secure the talent you want?
Focus on personal connectivity: Encouraging current employees to share job postings with their networks or focusing on your employee advocacy program can help catch the attention of desirable talent. According to CareerPlug, applicants who applied from a referral are 18 times more likely to be hired than an applicant from a job board.
Get social: More than 75% of job applicants utilize social media while searching for jobs, whether it be to see what job postings their connections are sharing, or to learn more about companies hiring. Make sure your company’s social media efforts are reflective of your mission and culture, as well as open roles.
Streamline the interview process: Focus on making important parts of your website, including your ‘About Us’ and open jobs pages mobile responsive to allow busy applicants to screen on the go. Be cognizant of your response time throughout the application and interview process. Finally, thoroughly communicate next steps and your expectations while interviewing.
Make every applicant feel like a top priority: “I’ve never heard of anyone dropping out of an interview process or declining an offer because the hiring team was kind, full of knowledge, and helpful,” says Marci Caudle, founder of TenFootLine, a full-service talent acquisition consulting firm with more than 25 years of experience. “I think it’s everyone’s responsibility to ensure white glove treatment from start to finish, regardless of job role or level. Building a relationship with a potential new employee starts from the very first interaction.”
Benefits Employees Actually Want
Benefits have been a somewhat controversial discussion in the professional world over the years. Some no-nonsense business owners and/or managers argue that a paycheck should be enough incentive to bring people to work. In reality, compensation is clearly a top priority, but businesses that rely solely on the money are going to find themselves left in the dust in today’s competitive market. “Happy employees stay with a company,” says Jalene Szuba, coach at Happiness Anchor. “Employees are happy when they feel valued and properly compensated. Healthy, happy employees are more productive and contribute more to your company.”
Ping pong tables. Nap pods. Free snacks or deli sandwiches for lunch. Early into the new millennium, big companies used fun, new perks to try to attract top talent. While just about everyone loves free food, do these benefits still carry the same influence now, after the pandemic? Given our current climate and the huge changes in work the last two years, what is important to professionals has shifted. Current talent is passionate about:
Flexibility: Consistently in the top three most important aspects to job seekers, flexibility has become nearly non-negotiable for many applicants. Things like working around appointments, full-time remote or hybrid schedules, starting their workdays after dropping their kids off at school, or simply allowing night owls to start their day a little later than the early birds will allow your talent to accomplish their work when is best for them, resulting in greater productivity and employee happiness.
Health Insurance: 10 years ago, it was not uncommon for small businesses to struggle to offer affordable health plan options, or to simply reimburse employees a percentage of their self-sourced healthcare premiums, up to a certain threshold. These practices are now becoming antiquated. The severity of the pandemic has shined a spotlight on the importance of affordable healthcare coverage and made this a top concern for job seekers.
Compensation: The skyrocketing inflation, along with high demands for top talent, has made professionals much more knowledgeable regarding their current market value. With companies competing to secure the best new hires, providing offers that fall at the low end of your salary range or spending too much time trying to negotiate compensation will increase your likelihood of losing a desirable applicant to another company willing to fork over the cash much more quickly. Furthermore, pay transparency in job postings is making it easier for job seekers to chase better-paying jobs and to take listings that do not openly share the salary range less seriously.
Work/Life Balance: With the scary mortality of a virus we still don’t fully understand and missed holidays, birthdays, and celebrations thanks to social distancing, people have become less willing to compromise important time with loved ones in the name of work. While occasional overtime to accommodate high volume seasons or large projects may never fully disappear, professionals are learning to set healthy boundaries to safeguard their personal time and mental health.
The Real Meaning Behind Company Culture
What is a good company culture?
“When the whole team is stuck here late, the boss will sometimes send us burritos!” No.
“When I was sick with COVID, my boss was kind enough to have someone drop my computer off at my house so I wouldn’t have to miss any work!” No.
“When my stepfather, who I was extremely close to, passed away, I was allowed to use a bereavement day, even though he wasn’t technically my father. They only called me for work questions twice that day.” Absolutely not.
The current war for talent has opened a lot of professionals’ eyes to poor management practices and made it easy to move on to greener pastures. While the three examples above seem like good points at first, why are entire teams stuck working late into the evening, after dinner, and without their boss? Why are employers wanting sick team members to work, instead of focusing on healing? Why are managers deciding who is important enough in someone’s life to allow bereavement time to mourn? And regardless of how important an employee is, why can’t they guarantee a day without interruption?
“Quality work life relies on a strong culture based on mutual trust, empowerment, supportive processes and tools, and respectful relationships,” says Leslie Fuller, CEO and founder of Inspired Senior Care. “The culture created with these elements supports a person’s desire to come to work each day, to tell their friends ‘Come work with me,’ to keep them from looking for new jobs after a rough day, and to make wise decisions in tough situations.” Company culture has become so important that CareerPlug reports 77% of job seekers consider the culture prior to even applying for a job, and 56% of seekers consider the company culture more important than salary.
Ultimately, the best approach to cultivating a superior company culture is to focus on a genuine, ‘human first’ approach. Thoroughly communicating your work expectations, offering guidance and support as necessary, celebrating good performance, and trusting employees to complete their tasks without hovering, will create a strong work relationship with your employees and help build a desirable company culture.
So, how can you use your great company culture to attract new talent? Make sure you’re incorporating your culture throughout your company’s marketing. Focus on your ‘About Us’ page, your ‘Careers’ page, encourage employees to share their experiences on social media, as well as provide positive reviews on places like Google, Glassdoor, and Indeed. “85% of job seekers and employees research company reviews and ratings when deciding to apply for a job,” states CareerPlug.
Hiring rockstar employees has the added benefit of growing your team through their positive experience! If job seekers heard about a new job opportunity through a personal connection in their network, then 65% of them would consider it, according to Monster.com.
You’ve heard the ADage, “If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got,” attributed to Henry Ford? David Koelling, CEO/Founder of Strategic Dining Services, shares this insight. “Everyone is struggling with staffing. Is the community approaching their recruiting differently than in years past? Don’t expect different results if you are not changing the approach you are taking to attract new employees.”
Top-down or bottom-up, the choice is up to each organization to determine who sets the course for building an engaged, committed staff, supported by programs that make an impact. “We recommend the leadership team at the community really lean in when it comes to building a strong, committed team. Building a great team begins with great recruiting, vetting, and onboarding. Develop and train the existing team members on the detailed expectations of each step…everyone has a role to play when building a sustainable team,” he continued.
Focusing Efforts on Retention
You have one remaining open position and your top pick just accepted your offer – you’ve won the war for talent! Now we can get back to our regularly scheduled business as usual, right? Not so fast. Just because you’ve signed the talent, doesn’t mean they, or anyone else on your team, will stay.
Make sure you deliver: any promises or perks you’ve offered during your recruitment to attract new talent need to become a reality. Not in a year. Not in six months. If you offer them the option to bring their dog to work or to work from home on Fridays, you need to make sure you’re delivering on these items as quickly as possible. Your new hire attracted you with their shiny, polished resume – there’s nothing stopping them from using it again, and ‘job hopping’ no longer carries the same negative connotation it once did.
Keep your time-tested team in mind: did you introduce special perks to recruit new talent? Have you also offered them to your current team? Not only can you rely on word to travel fast regarding any exciting, new benefits someone may have been offered, but you can also assume the rest of your team will be expecting to take advantage of the same. With the large percentage of workers planning to switch jobs this year, can you afford to lose any of your current hard workers?
RonnDa Peters, Vice President/Co-Founder of Strategic Dining Services has been developing retention plans since early in her career in the hospitality industry. “We focus on giving the culinary and service teams training and support that helps them grow and learn, giving them positive work experiences to share with friends. When employees are invited to be a part of the growth and enhancements to the dining program, their pride and confidence grow. Engaged employees are more likely to share their accomplishments and excitement with peers, encouraging them to join in by joining the team.”
Seeking Additional Support to Win the War for Talent
In two short years, the hiring industry has faced a lot of disruption, changing the narrative of what is expected from employers. It is becoming increasingly difficult to stay on top of best recruiting practices, as well as retain your more treasured assets. If you’re in need of some additional support regarding optimizing your company culture, keeping strong team members, and recruiting high-level talent, send us a message to schedule a talent acquisition strategy consultation.
