During the height of the pandemic, many employers espoused the virtues of their companies and how it valued workers are partners. Sign on bonuses for new recruits became the norm, because it was difficult to find talent.
Fast forward to 2022 and it appears, some companies may have reverted to their old ways of doing business. Attracting talent is one thing, but retaining it has become a challenge onto its own. And employees who are looking for work these days are not interested in accepting the old ways of doing things. Still scratching your head about what employees really want? Here are 5 tips:
- Compensation: It’s important so, it include on your online job ad, discuss in the first and second interview. No one wants to work for low wages. Recent studies revealed income being is the number 1 factor for candidates who are seeking employment. If a candidate accepts a lower wage with your company, chances are, they will eventually leave as soon as they higher pay job comes along.
2. Value: Employees want to feel valued. Companies should openly recognize and appreciate their team. Making your employees feel valued can be achieved through a variety of ways. The most tangible way is to provide compensation in the form of bonuses, raises, or expanded benefits, as mentioned above.
Creating an environment where your employees feel they are seen and heard ispowerful. Small steps that recognize and appreciate your employees, such as celebrating birthdays, sending thank you emails, and recognizing workplace milestones can go a long way towards creating a workplace where gratitude is present.
3Diversity: If you really want to diversify your workforce, stop asking potential candidates to optionally self-identify their ethnicity, among other things, on digital applications. These questions have nothing to do with a candidates’ ability — in fact, it will likely shine a light on your company’s inherent biases and, drive potential candidates to another company whose online applications do not have self-identifying questions of this nature. According to the OHRC, “application forms should not have questions that ask directly or indirectly about race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, record of offences, age, marital status, family status or disability”. And finally, if these questions are optional, why add them to the application in the first place?
In the end, do you know what employees want to see reflected in a company? They want real change, not platitudes, when it comes to a company’s ongoing commitment to diversify that includes hourly employees as well as leadership, that reflects a culture of inclusion for everyone.
4. Work-life balance: That’s right! And its not going away anytime soon. If you do not have a remote or hybrid work policy, good luck finding employees willing to work for your company. While not all jobs can be done remotely, many of them can. Work-life balance and well-being has becoming increasingly important to workers.
Pandemic-induced life changes have prompted a work-life balance reset for many employees who are more likely to prioritize lifestyle (family and personal interests) over proximity to work, and will pursue jobs in locations where they can focus on both. To win the war on talent in the future, companies will need to meet employees where they are.
5. Paid Time Off: Increased paid vacation time and parental leave are high on employees’ lists. Aside from health care and retirement benefits, employees are interested in working for a company that gives more paid time off and paid family leave. The dark days of pandemic became a time of self-reflection for many employees —and the days of working past the end of their shift or on weekends if they don’t have to, are gone.
Bottomline: So, what’s in it for employers? As an organization, if the prospect of a productive and happy workforce plus increased profits makes sense to you, then these tips should not be hard to implement. Conversely, you can always place your bet on employees putting the pandemic behind them in the hope, that they will just “get over it.” But the pandemic has stretched this piece of elastic so far that it cannot snap back. Moreover, employees don’t want to go back to the way it was before. Many are developing a new sense of self-awareness and worth, and they won’t easily forget if they are working for a company, that favours profits over its workers and one that does not reflect the diversity of the communities in which it operates.
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