Fabiano Rocha, Head of Marketing at Digital Rewards Group, explores what attracts star talent belonging to different age groups, genders and working style.
An organisation is much more than just a brick and mortar structure. What drives a company to success is its talent and their skills. However, from generation Z to experienced hires, attracting and retaining the right talent and retaining has become a challenge in today’s time.
According to Gallup, around 51% of an organisation’s employees are always looking for another job. Moreover, the employees are a mix of talent from different generations who have varied expectations, behaviours and performance styles. Thus, attracting the employees and keeping them interested in being an engaged part of a team requires planning and a deep understanding of the human psyche.
How to Attract Female Employees
The year is 2020 and yet, the gender gap in the workforce is as glaring as before. Whist diversity and inclusion have become a top priority of many organisations, attracting and retaining women remains difficult. The perpetual confusion around “what women want” seems to have reached the workplace too. Though, the answer to this is not so complicated. Let us look at some ways in which you can be a top employer for dynamic women professionals.
- Be Flexible: It is a well-known fact that flexibility is one of the topmost perks any women would want in an organisation. However, true flexibility goes beyond choosing your clock-in and clock-out time. Your schedule should be flexible enough to help women accommodate any surprise events that life may throw at her. A female is more productive at work if she has the freedom to accommodate situations like a sick child, a PT meeting or a family affair. An organisation that values productivity more than presence is what women want.
- Diverse Leadership: Having a diverse leadership team with female representation can also help potential female employees look at your company in a positive light. When a woman realises that there are women at the top of your organisation, she knows that your company is serious about hiring and valuing talented women. Also, women leaders can help young female workforce envisage their growth and reaffirm their faith in breaking glass ceilings.
How to Attract Seasonal Employees
Many businesses require more help in terms of workforce during certain seasonal cycles. Industries like retail, construction and agriculture are some sectors which witness a seasonal surge and need extra help and, therefore, require a strong strategy when attracting seasonal employees.
Try imagining a ski resort during winters or a retail chain’s outlet on Boxing Day; the influx of customers directly leads to more demand for seasonal workers during those few weeks. What the hiring panel needs to understand is that the peak season is also the most profitable.
Most of the yearly targets and plans are expected to be met during this time and hence, the importance of hiring good workforce multiplies. Let us give you a few tips to tackle the upcoming busy season for your firm:
- Give an Incentive of Full-Time Position: Most seasonal workers indeed like to move to a different location or rofile after one stint. However, there’s a huge pool of hard-working employees who take this opportunity to showcase their talent. Thus, it is a good idea to let people know that their performance may lead them to a full-time position whenever possible. But don’t lie in order to attract such hopeful employees as this can cause longer-term impact in your next round of seasonal hires.
- Try Employee Referrals: Your seasonal employees will not have time to undergo a full-fledged training to understand your culture. When you hire a resource through an employee referral, you hire somebody who is already aware of the work culture and job responsibilities. Their acquaintance will encourage them to take up the job and then, in quick onboarding. Moreover, offering a perk on a successful hire through employee referral can also boost up your existing employee’s confidence. Digital Perks helps you allocate perks to successful referrals and manage platform access among seasonal staff with just a few clicks. Contact us to find out more.
- Be Clear In Your Job Description: Attracting and hiring seasonal employees is most likely to be a whirlwind process where you might not get enough time to screen every candidate. Similarly, the aspirants do not have enough time to gather information about the job from various sources. So, your job description must be clear enough to avoid any confusion so that an applicant can immediately apply. Ensure your job ad have clear specification regarding such as: number of working days or hours, benefits and perks, and requirement of any certification.
How to Attract Experienced Employees
Attracting experienced employees take more work than just posting on a job board and screening the applicants. Experienced employees have years of talents and honed skills; attracting them to join your organisation would require more efforts than usual.
At present, most businesses focus their hiring efforts on millennials or young employees because of their adaptability and technical expertise. However, most of the times, only experienced hires can bring leadership, stability and a broader vision to the team. Thus, attracting experienced employees is imperative for diversity and organisational well-being.
They better incentives than monetary benefits to join a company but do be prepared to afford a strong leadership addition to the team. Their needs and pain points differ from the young blood and they must be catered to accordingly. Let us give you a few tips which can help you hire experienced employees for your business beyond salary figures:
- Develop a Positive Employe Brand: In 2020, people like to work with a brand and not just an organisation. Your work culture, activities and most importantly, employees define the kind of persona your company has. According to Business2Community, 92% of employees are ready to leave their current job if they’re offered a position in a company with a positive corporate reputation. One of the easiest ways to establish your brand is to leverage your social media presence. Social media might not be the biggest door to acquisition or lead generation to your business, but it has multiple other purposes such as this one. And don’t forget, empower your employees to be your true ambassadors as word of mouth is a powerful force.
- Carve a Growth Path: Experienced employees are always looking for opportunities that let them attain their full potential and have learning opportunities. When you approach an experienced employee, let them know about the growth opportunities they may have with you in future. That might mean the company strategy, department expansion plans, skills furtherment, or any other structural information that can affect their career.
- Personalise the Offer: Remember that you’re trying to attract a seasoned player; a generic piece of communication may not catch their attention. So, take your time to go through their profile or CV, and draft an approach tailored to the talent you want to bring in to your team. They’re more likely to respond and take an interest in the offer.
How to Attract Generation Z Employees
Born between late 1990’s to early 2000’s, Generation Z is the latest entrants to the world of employment. They’re young, enthusiastic and have no idea about the world before technology. Yet, they differ from millennials, so don’t be mistaken to assume their needs and wishes are the same when attracting Gen-Z employees.
As they were born after the internet revolution, they consider it as a necessity rather than a luxury to be impressed with. They are also socially more aware and are conscious of their actions’ impact on society, something that started with Millennials but really is solidifying with Gen-Z. Attracting their interest will take more efforts than superficial campaigns and pompous networking session. Here’s a list of tips that can help you attract the best of Gen-Z:
- Use social media authentically: Gen-Z’s lives are spent on social media but unlike millennials, they use it to form better connections than just sharing titbits. Someone from Gen-Z is more likely to check your social media page than your website before applying. Moreover, they will be better impressed if they find your feed to be organic, genuine and employee-oriented.
- Be genuine about work-life balance: Gen-Z is smart. They’ve learnt from their previous generation’s mistakes. They are hard workers, but they value “me-time” more than previous generations. A flexible schedule, sabbaticals, provision for leaves are some of the perks Gen-Z values more than free beer and pizza breaks. This old tactic that attracted Millennials to the workplace ten years ago has already proven to be often a mischievous way to keep employees around for longer without really adding value to their lives. Generation Z is on it and is often not fooled by that.
- Associate with a social cause: Gen-Z is “woke” in its truest sense. Diversity, inclusion and climate change are a part of their everyday discussion and they are more likely to associate with an organisation that stands up for a cause. If your company brand has positive affirmation with regards to social causes, aspirants from Gen-Z are more likely to work with you. But again, be genuine about it as Gen-Z picks up on shiny curtains quickly.
Food for Thought
Employees are the steering that help a business sail through tough tides. They are the operational unit in the internal matters and an advocate of the organisation to the external world. The quality of their work has a direct impact on efficiency and reputation. Thus, attracting and recruiting the right talent is the most important function of a business. However, one cannot have similar strategies for every kind of employees. Remember:
What makes a successful organisation different from others is its employees and what helps them in hiring the top talent is their recruitment strategy. Your employees are your first internal customers – the key to attracting and retaining is understanding their needs and catering to them. Remember, before you sell your products and services to customers, sell your company to the employees who will help you build your products and services.
To find out more about Digital Reward Group, get in touch with Fabiano Rocha at Fabiano.Rocha@drg.co.uk
