How does your company hire and retain talent in today’s rapidly changing climate? Are you still relying on methods used prior to the pandemic? If so, now is the time to update your expectations, or your onboarding process and work culture. With the most recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS report) showing an enormous post-pandemic boom in open jobs (9.3M), a record number of employees are… quitting. Many are quitting with no job even lined up. Maybe it’s time to consider the impact of a mobile workforce.
Adjust Your Hiring Strategies
If you are relying on the same onboarding process your company used pre-pandemic, you are likely finding counter offers and other opportunities are disrupting your hiring. Companies must move quickly on prospective hires that match their company requirements and values. In the strongest candidate market we’ve seen in years (possibly decades), SPEED is the number one factor in working with who you want, when you want. For example, if you utilized a 4-step interview process before the pandemic, try cutting that down by half and make the first meeting virtual to leverage the shift towards a more mobile workforce.
Pay Employees What They’re Worth
Instead of comparing your company to your competition, analyze companies successfully hiring top talent today. What is working for them? It may sound obvious, but now is NOT the time to nickel and dime on compensation. BE BOLD. Not sold on your employees working remote? Many companies are opting for the best of both worlds in the form of a ‘hybrid’ work schedule. Those requiring talent be in the office full time, are competing in the marketplace by offering above market salaries, signing bonusses, annual completion bonusses, flexible hours, and/or increased PTO.
Give Employees Reasons to Stay to Combact the Mobile Workforce
If you are lucky enough to lock down top talent, NOW is the time to address how to compete with the bombardment of LinkedIn messages and emails your new hire is receiving daily from competition and outside staffing firms. Beyond financial incentives, one of the most overlooked foundational elements of happy employees at work is, CULTURE.
Do your employees feel important? Do they feel seen and more importantly these days, heard? Work culture is a top-down, communication driven, powerful tool that can empower employees, or drive them to your competition. Bang for buck, your culture is the best investment bar none. What can potentially cost nothing, can lead to your employees driving strong hires your way! Have consistent dialogue with your employees. Make them feel important, a part of something bigger.
Now, more than ever, employees want to be a part of something that makes a positive impact on the world. Through your consistent dialogue with your employees, see what nonprofits they are excited about! Try taking a day off every quarter for this altruistic mission (volunteering for your local soup kitchen, beach cleanups, etc.).
Understand the Mobile Workforce with Accountability Resources
Don’t worry about the shift towards a more mobile workforce. Accountability Resources is here to make this process EASY for you. We are locally owned and operated for over 15 years. We are accounting & finance professionals specializing in locally sourcing top talent in today’s rapidly changing environment. Our long-term relationships with candidates and clients have made us the #1 Austin Contingency search firm and one of Austin Business Journal’s ‘Best places to work’.
Written by Mark Mahoney