Among reports of increasing job dissatisfaction and high employee attrition rates, many companies are caught wondering how to recruit top talent and retain top talent as well. While many are able to attract effective workers with hefty packages, not everyone can convince employees to stay either. Pew Research Center found that 43 percent of young workers have stayed with their employees for over three years, but on the other hand, 40 percent have spent less than 12 months with their employers. It’s a good sign that employees do seem to want to stay with a company, but not enough is being done to hold on to them.
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How to Recruit Top Talent?
Getting top talent to the company is an obvious precursor to actually retaining them. A Forbes Advisor summary of recruitment stats indicated that 46 percent of HR leaders reported recruiting as one of their top priorities for 2023. Simultaneously, they also featured a report that stated 36 percent of these leaders did not feel they had the resources to recruit top talent. Something is clearly amiss here when the priorities do not match up to capabilities.
Competitive salaries are a no-brainer when it comes to establishing a strategy on how to recruit top talent. People want to earn according to the top earners in their field and companies willing to match such pay are an obvious first choice. But for companies that do not have the current funds to support competitive salaries, there can be many other ways to support their employees.
Review Fringe Benefits
Many companies are often overly focused on monetary compensation and miss out on other supportive benefits their employees might enjoy. Employee benefit plans can offer additional monetary support such as retirement planning assistance, 401(k) plans, student loan assistance, dental insurance, etc., but benefits can be stacked up in other ways as well. Gym memberships, food provisions, paid time off, travel assistance, stock options, wellness programs, child care assistance, etc., are just some of the ways that employers can offer to improve the quality of life.
When an employee joins an organization, they likely review the long-term sustainability of working in that role. With wellness perks and other employee assistance plans in place, establishing how to recruit top talent becomes easier.
Reviewing Hiring Practices—How to Recruit Top Talent
If your hiring practices are outdated and your hiring team is unequipped to assess the latest qualifications with which workers enter the workforce, you might find your company passing on top talent to hire more basic candidates. According to an AdWeek report, 92 percent of companies turn to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media platforms for recruitment needs while 45 percent of Fortune 500 companies link to their social media from recruitment pages. If your company is missing out on this cohort of recruits, you might fall behind on recruiting top talent.
Recruitment policies and practices are also important contributors. Discriminatory bias and outdated tests might convey a lack of modernization at an organization, discouraging potential candidates from taking up a role. Team Stage reported that 6 percent of job applications are abandoned because they take too long to complete. As simple as it sounds, applicants might not take your company seriously.
Reputation Building
If you’re wondering how to recruit top talent, you might want to take a serious look at what the top talent on the market thinks about you. While some job seekers apply to just about any job role that approximately fits what they are looking for, many others choose to be more carefully sifting through companies.
According to Glassdoor, 50 percent of applicants will not apply to a company with a bad reputation. Job seekers have more information at their disposal today and they use it to decide whether a company is worth their time. Companies may have to keep an eye on their public reputation and respond to negative feedback rationally to ensure they maintain their image.
Work Culture
The work culture of a company determines the recruitment of top talent, as well as provides the best answer on how to retain top talent. A company may try to suppress public negative reviews but a poor work culture will inevitably reflect in their numbers and their reputation. Applicants are more likely to favor a company where they might enjoy working over one that they will regret walking into every day. From HR policies to management behavior, it is crucial to consider every aspect when establishing a work culture.
Businesses need to have clear, explicitly stated rules on important topics such as harassment, discrimination, leave and pay cuts, feedback channels, employee privacy, data security, etc. Companies also need to have measures to follow through on these policies when any violations are reported. Knowing that your company will support you is a pretty good motivator for doing your best to join and stay at said company.
How to Retain Top Talent
All the points that describe the best recruitment practices also play into establishing how to retain top talent, but it doesn’t stop there. Apart from a robust work culture, there are some additional questions that companies should answer for themselves. Working on these various aspects can ensure that employees prioritize your company’s welfare as well,
What Are the Best Practices for Employee Engagement?
Engaged employees are productive employees, there’s no way to ignore it. Engagement ensures that employees are constantly checking in to reassess their work and their environment to ensure they do not fall behind. Their focus on work and quality of results also increase, simply because they care about the work they are doing. Employee engagement appears to be on a decline according to Gallup, dropping from 36 percent of engaged employees to 32 percent in 2022. Up to 18 percent of employees are actively disengaged.
Wellable states that these disengaged employees can cost employers 34 percent of their annual salary, or $3400 for every $10,000 that they make. Employers need to carefully reflect on what the best practices are for employee engagement. These are some aspects to consider:
- Open communication channels that consider employee feedback and complaints seriously
- Establishment and communication of organizational goals
- Regular interaction with employees to review and track their performance
- Realistic performance assessments with clear performance improvement plans
- Acknowledgement and reward of good performance frequently
- Assisting in individual development and assisting employees in updating their skillsets
- Providing mentorship so every employee receives the attention they need
- Flexible programs that allow employees to work to the best of their abilities
- Being open to employee struggles and helping them navigate it without resorting to pay cuts and firing
- Promote employees with the resources and timelines they need to perform their jobs well
- Ensuring a healthy work-life balance for all employees
- Allowing frequent and efficient cross-functional collaboration to establish an interactive workforce
- Encouraging employee resource groups (ERGs) where employees can build communities and connections within the workspace
- Lead by example—demonstrate the values and behaviors expected from employees
How to Create a Culture of Diversity and Inclusion
Businesses need to treat diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as real goals rather than obligatory ones. Employee engagement can largely depend on the community they have to participate in and whether they feel invited to the space or not. For companies to develop and retain top talent, they need to seek diverse talent and ensure they feel comfortable within the space. Discriminatory practices are very counterproductive to a healthy organization and companies that turn a blind eye to them will face challenges and resistance at every stage of their work process.
There are multiple ways for companies to plan out how to retain top talent and create a culture of diversity and inclusion:
- Review the hiring team and assess their hiring practices
- Include blind resume reviews, performance-based matrices, diverse hiring panels, avoid asking for past salaries, etc. to ensure hiring is based on capabilities
- Be transparent about pay scales and budgets
- Prioritize training on unconscious bias and cultural competence
- Provide regular refresher courses on diversity and restate the company policies on discrimination
- Provide resources and support for ERGs to organize events and initiatives
- Implement ongoing diversity and inclusion training for all employees
- Include education on unconscious bias and cultural competence
- Seek to diversify leadership roles and provide spaces for diverse voices to speak up
- Regularly review and update benefits to be inclusive
- Regularly assess the physical workspace and accessibility of your organization
- Check in with employees to analyze what form of assistance they might benefit from
- Apply inclusive design principles to products, services, and policies
- Hold leaders accountable for creating and maintaining an inclusive culture
How to Improve Employee Well-Being
Deloitte’s employee-centric statistics are always worth looking out for and their estimates on employee burnout are no different. As per their findings, 77 percent of respondents have experienced burnout with 91 percent stating that the unmanageable amounts of stress impact the quality of their work. The struggle is not due to a lack of passion or interest either, with 87 percent of them stating a passion for their work while 67 percent of them were still stressed anyway. 42 percent of these respondents have left their jobs due to burnout. Companies need to learn how to improve employee well-being as a key step to improving employee retention. Some ways to improve well-being include:
- Offer mental health days and other wellness breaks to employees
- Assess stress levels and workloads regularly to check in on how the employees are doing
- Provide mental health resources and other feedback channels where employees can communicate their struggles
- Implement well-being initiatives that focus on physical activity, nutrition, and stress reduction and rely on gamification to make it more engaging
- Provide flexible work hours or compressed work weeks
- Provide spaces for employees to find some quiet time or outdoor time if possible
- Offer financial wellness programs that include budgeting and investment advice as well as other resources for financial literacy
- Create a work culture that is accommodating and accepting of employees taking breaks
- Allow employees to have a say in well-being programs
- Establish and encourage peer support networks, mentorship programs, and platforms for employee interaction
- Involve employees in decision-making processes related to well-being programs
- Engage employees in social impact and community service projects that align with their values and interests
There are many ways to attract and retain top talent but they require serious effort from employers rather than just performatory changes that are unconvincing to job seekers. Due to the diverse ways in which employers can approach the issue, there are innumerable combinations that an organization can find that best fit what is possible for a company to carry out in its efforts to improve employee retention.