Attracting and retaining high-quality talent is an ongoing challenge for any employer, whether they face an industry-wide talent shortage or struggle to stand out among their competitors. Unemployment remains at historic lows, and candidate expectations continue to evolve, forcing recruitment professionals to work even harder to meet hiring targets. Unfortunately, the outlook isn’t as rosy as HR and talent acquisition professionals would like it to be. In a recent Checkr survey, only one in three business leaders said they expect to meet their 2024 hiring goals.
Losing candidates or existing employees to other employers doesn’t have to be a foregone conclusion, even in an uncertain business environment. By executing proven strategies for attract quality applicants, organizations can limit turnover and attract quality applicants for hire.
Despite the recent news of hiring freezes and layoffs, the job market remains active, and candidates continue to seek new employment opportunities. According to a LinkedIn survey, nearly half of employees in the ten largest industries plan to look for a new job in 2024. In retail alone, more than half intend to make a move.
To ensure a healthy talent pipeline of quality candidates and effective retention of those hired, organizations should take the following actions:
Job seekers have many options for where they can apply, so it’s critical to highlight aspects of the company’s culture that make it a great place to work. An excellent way to accomplish this is with employer branding that helps candidates see how they would fit into the culture.
Prospective and current employees aren’t just looking for a job; they want to build a career in an environment where they can belong, grow, and establish meaningful bonds with their work and coworkers. Organizations can effectively demonstrate how their culture provides those benefits with the help of a well-crafted employee value proposition (EVP). Here are several ways HR and talent acquisition professionals can share their EVP with prospective applicants and current employees:
Tip: Imagery and storytelling are powerful ways to bring company culture to life. Career vlogs, employee spotlights, and other video content provide nearly endless opportunities to share employee stories and attract new applicants.
More and more, candidates and employees are expressing a preference for working at an organization with a clear purpose and admirable values. This is perhaps most true among the fastest-growing generation of job seekers – Generation Z. In a Deloitte survey, 77% of Gen Zers said it was important to work at an organization whose values align with their own.
Today’s employees also want to see their employer take a position on corporate responsibility issues, such as sustainability, diversity and inclusion, investment in local communities, and social justice. By making their positions on these issues more transparent, organizations can attract more individuals who align with their values and deter applicants who don’t.
Most people also want to know that the work they do supports a bigger cause and isn’t just about increasing profits. In a McKinsey survey of managers and employees, 82% said it was important for a company to have a clear purpose, but only 42% said their company’s purpose statement had any impact.
To ensure the organizational purpose is crystal-clear to candidates and employees, HR and business leaders can take the following actions:
Tip: Building a workforce where everyone works according to shared values and purpose is invaluable. RX Studio helps organizations ensure consistent and transparent messaging that resonates with candidates and employees alike.
Research has found that the vast majority of job seekers would not join a company with a bad reputation. Conversely, organizations with a positive reputation stand to attract a larger pool of potential applicants, achieve a lower cost-per-hire, and boost employee retention.
A positive reputation doesn’t form overnight. However, by cultivating a recruitment process and work environment people are happy to be a part of, the word quickly spreads. In fact, 77% of people are likely to share a positive candidate experience with their network.
Some great ways to boost the company's reputation include:
Tip: A great reputation is a key prerequisite for becoming an employer of choice. The powerful combination of employer branding, targeted advertising, and recruitment technology to track progress can help any organization become the organization where more people want to work.
In the modern workplace, employees possess a variety of needs related to their physical, mental health, and financial wellbeing, and organizations can play a valuable role in addressing those needs. In fact, more job seekers and employees than ever prioritize their wellbeing at work. A Mindspace survey revealed that a whopping nine out of 10 employees consider the availability of wellbeing offerings when deciding where to work. In addition to comprehensive health benefits, candidates and employees value mental health resources and counseling benefits, retirement and saving support, and flexible work options.
To better support employee wellbeing, organizations can also look for ways to ensure front-line managers and other leaders are equipped to identify and consider employee needs when managing their team. As the saying goes, “People don’t leave companies; they leave managers.” To limit employee departures that could have been prevented through more effective management, organizations should ensure managers have the necessary training and coaching to support employee productivity and work-life balance.
Wellbeing is a broad topic that can span many areas depending on an employee’s stage of life, personal and family situation, and career goals. Organizations seeking to understand how they’re doing and where to make improvements can consider participating in Indeed's Work Wellbeing Score program, which uses a set of survey questions to help organizations measure and track the overall wellbeing of their workforce. From there, HR and leadership teams can leverage the data outputs of the program to refine company wellbeing initiatives.
Developing the workforce is a must for several reasons. It helps employees reach their learning and career advancement goals and also ensures a skilled workforce ready to take on future challenges. Employee development programs and initiatives can also be critical components of the organization’s employee value proposition.
Career development can also help to address employee concerns about job security. According to the MyPerfectResume 2024 Workplace Trends Survey, 85% of workers are worried they will lose their jobs in 2024. Organizations can help employees worry less and feel more secure in their jobs by providing more opportunities for upskilling, reskilling, and career advancement.
Here are a few examples of the career development opportunities organizations can make available to employees:
While attracting and retaining talent will likely remain a challenge, talent acquisition teams can do it more effectively with the right strategies. With a mix of employer branding, job advertising, and analytics to measure their progress, organizations can jumpstart their recruiting and retention activities, and reach their goals for growth.
The team at Recruitics is here to help you get started with revamping your recruitment strategies! Recruitics’ recruitment expertise and technology solutions can help organizations revive their recruitment program for better short-term and long-term results.
