A major challenge for enterprises across industries in 2018 will be effectively attracting top talent. At the same time, employers can’t ignore their current workforce, instead, they need to come up with innovative ways to hold on to them.
According to Gallup, 51% of adults currently employed in the U.S. are either keeping an eye out for new career opportunities or actively searching for a new job (with about 47% optimistic about their chances of landing one).
As more enterprises across industries go through a digital transformation, it also creates a skill shortage that will accelerate the need for new recruits. This is evidenced by research that found 33% of companies across the globe that had positions open for six months or more. According to 67% of business and HR leaders, these positions remained vacant as they couldn’t find any qualified applicants.
In such a challenging environment, how can employers create a culture that effectively engages, motivates, and encourages employees to stay loyal? Let’s take a look.
The easiest way to create a positive work culture is by developing a robust employee recognition program. When employees feel recognized for their time and effort, they feel valued and motivated to increase productivity and maintain a high level of performance.
Employees who don’t feel acknowledged often feel disengaged and disposable. When this happens, it can lead to high turnover rates. This makes it important for business leaders and management teams to make a commitment towards appreciating employee accomplishments to help encourage and retain them.
Employee recognition programs are essentially low-cost high impact initiatives, but to be successful, it has to be done right. According to Gallup, employees like to be appreciated by their manager and high-level leaders like their CEO while working in an environment that promotes well-deserved praise.
As enterprises get digitally disrupted, the skills gap can be filled by turning employees into “learning animals.” As technology evolves at an accelerated pace, individual employees already know that they have to engage in life-long learning to remain relevant, so employers should strive to make learning a seamless experience.
When organizations take advantage of both in-person instruction and digital learning technologies, re-skilling and up-skilling training programs can be highly successful. This is because these technologies are highly interactive, insight-driven, and leverage a social learning environment that’s designed to get the best results.
These training programs can also go a long way to ensure that positions don’t remain vacant for months on end. So we can say that re-skilling and up-skilling will be the most effective recruitment strategy in 2018.
As millennials increasingly enter the workforce, this youthful and powerful demographic will change how enterprises operate. According to research, 84% of millennials strive for improved work-life balance. What’s more, 67% demand more flexibility to spend more time with family.
Employers who want to attract and retain this generation need to be able to provide flexibility. One way companies can achieve this is by embracing telecommuting to keep workers motivated and productive.
This can be further extended to recruit remote workers to fill the skills gap brought on by digitization. With tools like TeamWorkand Slack, effectively managing telecommuters and remote workers can be a breeze.
As telecommuting has been proven to improve morale, retention rates, and productivity, it’s a viable option that every company should consider to enhance their recruitment and retention initiatives.
Employee retention will be key to enterprise success, so companies need to strategize and strive to hold on to their top talent.
