Talent Attraction

Attracting Talent, it’s an issue all companies will face at some point; whether that be a startup doing all the due diligence in the world to make sure they get that first hire to hit the ground running, a small entity looking to find that revolutionary leader take that jump in size or a market leading organisation looking for that Managing Director to run its’ new branch of operations, they all ask themselves the same question... How do we make sure we get the right person for the job?

Randstad found between the 1st half of 2020 to the 1st half of 2021, the number of vacancies in private sectors increased by 61%, and this number is likely to increase while in the era of the “Great Resignation” as Korn Ferry’s research noted that of 700 professionals nearly 1/3 would be willing to quit without even having another job lined up. So how do you go about resolving this?

Remote Working

During our recent Maxwell Drummond/Diner in the Desert event we found that one major talking point in the current climate is remote working. Prior to 2019, the UK census showed only 5% of the UK workforce worked primarily from home. Some Post pandemic studies suggest that 20% of all workdays will now be conducted at home, and could even be the “best of both worlds”. A Talview in 2020 asked recruiters if they think they could find better talent if not limited to candidates who lived within commuting distance of their offices, and 79% of respondents agreed that this would be beneficial to their search. In line with study, Gartner projected that some companies would lose up to 39% of their workforce if they reverted back to an on-base only workforce. From an employee's perspective there are obvious benefits, whether it be for those with children in order to be able to spend more time with them (especially during school term holidays) or those who just prefer a change of scenery instead of being tied to an office chair 5 days a week. That same Talview previously mentioned surveyed employees on a 1-10 scale of how satisfied they were with remote working and found 71% of employees rated it an 8+, 37% giving it a 10 out of 10, backed up by Glassdoor’s findings that 1/3 of UK employees would even take a pay cut if it meant being able to work from home permanently.

Lever believe the most effective focus in 2022 won’t be the in-office environment but will be that regardless of their working location, all employees have the opportunity to be seen and heard by fellow employees and any direct managers, demonstrating the growing correlation between remote working and our other recognised issue from our event...

Company culture

LinkedIn’s 2022 survey found that a good work-life balance was the #1 priority from job seekers, and 67% more engaged with job openings that include company culture as part of the description. The World Economic Forum discovered that around half of Gen Z would actually quit their job if it interfered with their work-life balance. So evidently this is a primary factor that needs addressing in order to appease the future generation.

The growing factor to building a good company culture appears to be companies acknowledging and taking time to invest in employee’s mental health. It’s becoming more and more acknowledged by the newer generations as an issue that is of significant value to them, demonstrated by LinkedIn’s findings of over half of Millennials and 2/3’s of Generation Z wanting to see further investments by businesses into mental health in order to improve their company’s culture.

Another area of focus should be trust and transparency. Any and all employees should be able to have some understanding of the type of organisation they are a part of. A healthy workplace requires trust, especially between management and employees; irrelevant to the company’s hierarchy structure. Building trust involves where and how employers invest in their staff in the long-term — doing so helps employees feel valued. However, this trust can be built before they walk through the door. From the moment a candidate views a job description, to their interview with the company, it is vital a company is transparent and open about who they are and what is expected. As noted by CoachHub, being vague will give off an impression of hiding something, being ‘too good to be true’ will raise suspicion and being deceitful will enrage the candidate, possibly resulting in them speaking out and damaging the credibility of the brand. Being authentic and genuine will resonate with people and benefit your company in the long-term.

So... You’ve now managed to attract that new game-changing hire, along with your current core of fantastic recruits, but what should you do in order to hold on to these key individuals? Stay tuned for our follow up piece next week, on Talent Retention!

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