It’s becoming increasingly difficult for businesses to attract and retain talent. As a result, businesses are having to deal with rising employment costs and reduced productivity, among other issues. There’s no way to completely get around these issues, but brands can certainly reduce their impact. One way to do that is to make your business one that employees want to work for. Not only will this ensure that the hiring process is easier, but also that your employee retention rate remains as high as possible. And with a great team of long-term staff in place, there’s no telling what your business may achieve.
In this post, we’ll outline some steps that businesses can take to make themselves a business that gets full marks from prospective and current employees.
Pay Well
It’s always important to keep what employees want in mind. And though employees do pay attention to all the other factors included on this list, the more influential factor will always be how much they’re taking home each month. If you want to make your business one that attracts the best talent, then you’ll need to set aside plenty of money for salaries. You don’t need to go overboard with the salaries that you offer, but they should at least be in line with industry standards. If you need, due to budget constraints, to offer salaries on the lower rung of the industry average, then be sure to make up for it in other ways, such as offering equity compensation.
Create a Great Working Environment
Nobody wants to work in a soulless office anymore. In fact, no one ever did — it’s just that, back then, no one was aware that an alternative was available. Well, they do now. Employees are much happier working in well-thought-out, trendy, bright spaces than in the basic offices of yesteryear. Also, keep in mind that location matters, too. Businesses located in hard-to-reach or unfashionable areas often find it more difficult to attract employees unless they’re offering employees something unique.
Putting together a great working environment won’t just help make a positive first impression in the eyes of your candidates, either. It’ll also help them to work at their highest level, since people perform best when working in spaces they genuinely enjoy.
…But Also Allow Working From Home
It’s 2024 — working from home is very much possible in a wide variety of industries and sectors. Some businesses still haven’t fully — or at all — embraced the concept of working from home, despite there being a mountain of evidence that not only do employees work just as well, but they often work better. There’s a whole bunch of software that businesses can use to streamline their working-from-home processes. If you’re not ready to offer completely remote working, then consider the hybrid model, in which employees work in the office while also having the option to work from home a couple of times a week.
Create a Team Spirit
It’s not realistic to think that your employees will have a family-like connection. But they should at least be friendly with one another, and, if possible, know each other on a deeper level than simply a professional basis. Of course, this won’t happen automatically. Some colleagues will instantly connect from the very first Slack message, but for most people, it’ll take a more focused effort. Look at putting together team-building activities and outings that allow your employees to spend time with one another in a non-work environment. It really can make all the difference to the future prospects of the business, since employees are much happier working when they feel they have friends at the office.
Provide Training and Development Opportunities
The best candidates are passionate about their careers and will look for jobs that allow them to reach their professional goals. You can show that your business is invested in their professional development by working with an employee training company to deliver custom learning solutions that help boost engagement and productivity. Of course, this approach is equally as beneficial to the business as it is to the employee since the business will benefit from having workers who are fully up-to-date with the latest skills.
Understand Your Weak Points
Every business wants to believe that they’re good employers to work for. Still, it’s important to remember that no business is perfect. There will be downsides to working for you that will be all too clear to the employee. Maybe you don’t pay as well as others in your industry, or you struggle to attract the most prestigious clients. Whatever it is doesn’t really matter — what matters is that you’re aware of the ‘cons’ part of the ‘pros and cons of working for your company’ list. You might find that you’re able to remedy the weak point. If you’re not, you’ll know that you should focus on the positive points during the recruitment process.
Listen to Feedback
You can do everything to make your employees happy, but ultimately, they’re still individuals. And as such, they’ll have their own views and opinions about what they’d like to see, especially if there’s an obvious problem that needs addressing. You can show that you’re a great boss by actively inviting your team to provide feedback whenever they have an issue — and then taking action, if possible, to find a solution.
Be Ambitious
Finally, don’t understand the power of ambition. Employees are drawn to businesses that appear to be going places rather than to ones that seem like their best days are behind them. Mostly, this comes down to mindset. You might not be at the highest level right now, but it’s important to believe that you might get there in the future. That kind of mindset can be infectious — and so can the opposite. If it feels like your business is dying a slow death, then your workers will notice.
Conclusion
As they say, a happy workforce is a productive workforce. Take the tips above, and you’ll have a business that prospective and current employees love.
