Are You Ready for the Economic Boom?
As some of the biggest and brightest business organizations around the world have suffered through round after round of lay-offs, the workforce market has become flooded with highly skilled, incredibly talented workers in search of employment.
On the flip side, companies have tried to hold onto their very top performers while asking them to fill the gaps left behind by the absence of former co-workers.
This combination sets a large inactive workforce filled with talented and skilled workers, paired with companies filled with droves of over-worked, frustrated top performers on a collision course with an economic recovery that should have you asking: Are we ready for an economic boom? Can you retain your most talented and capable workers while infusing your company with the most skilled and productive talent from the available workforce?
How do you capture the best talent
As the economy turns around. your company and thousands of others around the world will be competing for the same group of top talent. So how do you ensure that you will end up one of the winners in this competition?:
- Start a plan. Now. If you wait until you’re actually in the middle of trying to woo top talent, you’re sure to end up on the short end of the stick.
- Don’t just go after talent, go after the right talent. You’re certain to find talented candidates in your search for top talent who meet all the technical specifications of the job. However, what often times makes one employee outperform another is a connecting with the brand. Employees want to be a part of a company whose core values are similar to their own, or worth aspiring toward. When employees find a company that they feel either reflects their same values, or has values that they aspire toward, they generally become one of that company’s top performers. This means it’s critical to identify these common characteristics early in the process. Get to the core of why they want to work for you outside of pay and benefit packages.
- Stop selling benefits. Start selling brand.
Sure, a compensation package is bound to be a big factor in where a potential candidate ends up. However, if you’re offering competitive market compensation, then you need something to set your company apart—Your brand. Your current employees are a great gauge for potential employees to get a read for what you have to offer. If your current workforce is engaged at work, then they’re likely to share that with others in their personal and professional circles. Additionally, if you engage potential candidates by sharing the company’s brand direction and vision, they’ll feel a part of something bigger which makes their potential role seem more significant. - Develop an onboarding plan. It can be particularly tough—especially during big hiring phase—to align the efforts of your new workforce, but it is key to their success. The more aligned and engaged employees are with the company, its brand, vision and direction on day-one, the more effective and efficient they’ll prove to be. Create a single source delivery method for this message to ensure that everyone is starting off on the same page.
How do you retain your top talent
This is a question that companies have been trying to answer for years. And it appears that it will be tested on a entirely new level in the very near future. Long before the numbers reveal to a company that it’s time to start hiring, the employees will be feeling the crunch of a growing workload. In many cases, the current workforce is already feeling taxed by its existing workload, and now as the economy begins to turn around, that workload is growing. So how do you ensure that these vital participants in your organization don’t leave in search of greener pastures?:
- Do a talent audit. During these tough times, many of your employees were asked to stretch themselves outside of their comfort zone. Often times this means that new skills and capabilities were identified within your organization. Take note of this and leverage it to fill new open positions.
- Recognize their efforts. Recognition goes a long way in winning over your employee base. Even more than money, most people want to be recognized for their efforts. However, it needs to feel genuine and personal. The more you can recognize people on a small scale (e.g. publish their names and accomplishments in the company newsletter or intranet site), the more impact it will have.
- Value what you have. Before you start entering into a bidding war for new recruits, assess what it would cost if you lost your current top performers (downtime, hiring replacements, lost competencies and customer relationships), then consider a compensation plan that helps to mitigate these losses.
If you take the time to follow these steps, you’re not only in a good position for winning the battle for top talent, but you’re inevitably going to see a faster return on your human capital investment.
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