If you’re a business owner or HR professional, you’ve been struggling with a big challenge for a few years now: filling open positions during a worldwide labor shortage.
While we all know that competitive salaries and benefits are important, when a potential employee is given the choice between two similar offers, other factors will come into play.
This is where you can really differentiate your business. Your company can become more attractive to talent when you invest in a unique culture, communicate a clear employee value proposition and provide opportunities for career growth and development.
Invest in a Unique and Positive Culture
Corporate culture is one of the easiest and most valuable ways to distinguish your company from the pack. We choose companies that share our values and working preferences. The more people your culture appeals to, the better your chances of attracting top candidates.
Remember: other companies are investing time and resources developing their culture to make it more appealing - and they are competing with you for candidates.
Culture is about living your company’s mission, vision and values. So how do you create a great company culture?
- Open communication and continuous improvement. When employees feel that leadership listens to them, they are more likely to feel valued and empowered. A good place to start when opening communication is to ask employees what they like about their current culture and work environment. Leadership can leverage employee suggestions to create a positive culture that works for everyone. This can also prevent investments in perks that leadership thinks are great but that employees simply don’t value. Do these requests sync up with your company’s mission, vision and values? If yes, they may be well worth instituting.
- Focus on employee wellness. Happy, healthy employees are more loyal, more engaged, and are willing to work harder for the companies that employ them. Employers should ensure that employees have the tools and resources they need to stay healthy. This goes beyond investments in medical/vision/dental benefits. Think: onsite gyms or gym reimbursements; access to mental health services; flexible time off and adequate sick leave.
- Make work meaningful. We all want to do work that matters. Millennials and GenZ are especially drawn toward taking (and staying in) positions where they feel what they are doing has a positive impact on the world. Revisit your mission statement and core values and ensure these are communicated to your team. Share kudos from customers so that your team knows their work is valued.
- Encourage and reward positivity. Model a positive attitude by focusing on the positive - especially during stressful times - and expressing gratitude to your team. Humans are social animals, and seeing positivity and gratitude expressed by leadership will encourage others to engage in the same type of behavior.
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Develop an Employee Value Proposition
Your employee value proposition explains what your business offers employees and communicates why that value is unique. It describes the unique value that your company offers to employees.
Employees are looking for meaningful work, competitive compensation, growth opportunities, positive work environments and healthy and productive relationships within the company. A great employee value proposition will communicate how your company provides these things.
Studies from Gartner indicate that organizations that deliver on the promise of their value propositions can decrease employee turnover by 70%.
Provide Growth Opportunities
How much are you invested in training and developing your employees? Many companies offer tuition reimbursement, ongoing training opportunities, job shadowing and apprenticeships to new hires. This means candidates aren’t just “giving” over their expertise to a company but also “getting” something back besides a salary: training and development that they would have had to pursue on their own otherwise.
Here are some additional growth opportunities to consider offering:
- Online training and webinars. There are numerous free and low-cost training opportunities online, from webinars to formal weeks-long courses.
- Conferences. Professional conferences are great networking opportunities. If you need to keep the costs low, consider a virtual-only pass.
- Coaching/Mentorship. Pair each team member with a coach or mentor who can both provide them with immediate feedback and assist them in growing in their position.
Recruit Top Talent Today
In this increasingly competitive hiring market, there’s no time like the present to start a recruitment marketing strategy. Investments in recruitment marketing aren’t just about filling today’s hot jobs, but setting your company up for a strong workforce into the future. Contact us to get started.
