Top Talent Want More Than a Paycheck
Is the Great Resignation damaging your organization? Are you losing your best people faster than you can hire the skills and experience to drive your business to its goals?
Thanks to the pandemic and the Great Resignation, many organizations are struggling with how to keep top talent. The old mantra of offering more money is, well… outdated. You must think of more creative ways to retain employees. Here are seven talent retention strategies that could reverse the trend in your organization and make you the employer that the top talent wants to join and stay.
Shorten the Learning Curve for New Hires
Shortening the learning curve for new hires is good for them and good for you. The quicker you hire and onboard talent in creative jobs, the faster they become familiar with your working practices – and the sooner they become productive. But of course, this is simply a valuable by-product of making the hire feel welcome, helping them to establish quickly, and aligning them with the values and purpose of your organization. Another valuable by-product of a successful onboarding effort is better retention of talent.
Here are a few ideas to help you streamline your onboarding:
- Send the legal forms that must be filled in (and the employee handbook) with the offer letter
- Utilize technology to take care of all the paperwork that needs to move back and forth between departments, HR, and the new hire
- Invite the new hire to your company’s intranet, and help them socialize online with their new team members
- Send an email to all staff to introduce the new employee
- Set up all the tools the new hire will use, so that their desk is ‘work-ready’
- Make the new employee the guest of honor at a first-day social event – a pizza lunch, or after-work welcome party
Let the Employee Take Charge of Crafting Their Career
Organizations are moving to a much flatter hierarchical structure. This has benefits, such as helping to make employees feel part of something in which they have a bigger say. However, one drawback is that the potential to promote and show career progression is diminished. This is where career crafting comes in.
Career crafting is a cultural shift. Instead of traditional promotion paths, careers are shaped to align with an employee’s goals and ambitions. This means managers must meet regularly with individual employees and understand them more fully.
Employees should be encouraged to express their goals, and supported by routes to learning and development – as well as work that enables them to progress their professional capabilities.
Be Creative with Job Titles
If you empower employees to craft their own careers within your organization, then traditional job titles might also follow traditional career paths to the trash can.
What’s in a job title, anyway? It used to be that job titles denote the position of a person within a company (Chairman, CEO, Manager, etc.). But in flatter hierarchical structures, doesn’t it make more sense to have titles that describe roles, responsibilities, and function? And shouldn’t the employee have some say in this?
Next time a talented employee takes a leap in their qualifications or experience on their crafted career path, ask them what job title they would like. A job title that describes who they are, not what they are.
Remember That Employees Have Personal Lives, Too
Employees join good companies. They leave bad bosses.
We all have lives outside of the office and away from our desks. Good bosses get to know their employees as individuals, and treat them accordingly.
There is much that can be done to show appreciation to members of your team. Small gestures such as an afternoon off to celebrate a birthday, or team member of the month (with a personalized reward) go a long way. And you’ll be surprised at the positive effect of a sticky note of congratulations, or thanks for a job well done, left on an employee’s computer screen.
You might also consider designing jobs around your employees’ personal lives, allowing a degree of flexibility to work from home one or two days each week.
Personalize Compensation Packages
“We’d like to offer you the job. We value our staff, and look forward to you joining our family. Here’s your standard compensation package.”
Hmm… would this make you feel valued as a new member of a new employer?
Each candidate has unique needs. A parent of two children has a different outlook to a single 20-something. Each of your employees is an individual. Isn’t it time you personalized compensation packages to suit individuals, allowing them to select the benefits that matter most to them?
Give Top Talent More Than a Paycheck
Almost two-thirds of companies say that retaining talent is more challenging than hiring. But top talent doesn’t quit because of pay.
According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace Study, 8 in 10 employees simply aren’t engaged with the work they do or the company they work for.
More than two-thirds of employees would consider leaving their jobs, even if they aren’t currently looking. Three quarters of younger employees would leave for less money to move to their ideal job – and a third of professionals say that boredom in their current role is driving their desire to move on.
The message is clear. To attract and retain top talent, you’ve got to think creatively. Be more creative. Make work and the workplace more appealing by personalizing jobs, allowing people to craft their own career paths, and demonstrating that you value and appreciate all that your talent does in all that you do for them.
TECHEAD is not a traditional staffing agency. We are a partner in the business of our clients. Their success is our success. When we help our clients hire the talent they need, our priority is to source a perfect match. And perfect matches improve employee retention, and, as you know, this flows through to the bottom line.
To learn more about our philosophy and how we partner with organizations to help them hire talent for the long term, contact TECHEAD today.