Finding great talent and keeping it is one of the toughest challenges businesses have to deal with. According to a recent survey by iHire, over 64% of small business owners stated that they’re having difficulty finding top-level talent. Out of those, about 55% said that they had low volumes of job applicants per opening, and a good portion expressed concerns about employee turnover.
The problem with this is that many owners don’t know exactly what part of their strategy is wrong and are completely in the dark about what they should do to reverse the situation. Let’s take a look at a few reasons why so many companies can’t seem to attract and retain top talent.
Their Benefits Package is Not Competitive
The benefits package is usually the second thing most prospects will consider when looking at job openings. Your current employees may also start looking at what the other people are offering and feel slighted if they’re not getting things that are considered standard in the industry.
Small business owners don’t always have the kind of expertise to build a comprehensive package for their employees. They don’t have the resources either. They don’t have the purchasing power to get the best rates possible and this is often the reason why they can’t offer packages that are as extensive as some of their competitors. But this can all be fixed by working with a third-party provider.
A reputable third-party team will have multiple clients and be able to negotiate better deals with providers. This could allow you to offer competitive employee benefits insurance packages that go well beyond basic health coverage. You could add things like vision, life, and disability coverage into the mix, for instance, all at a great price. This alone could be enough to sway some of your prospect’s opinions and convince them to choose you.
They Don’t Treat Employees as Individuals
One of the common mistakes employers make is seeing and addressing their employees as a single unit and not as individuals. Employees will often get very little face time with the HR department because it’s stretched too thin. You have to take the time to engage your employees one-on-one, and allow them to reach you.
Everything might seem fine on the surface, but you may get a much different picture if you start speaking with key members of your organization. Having a heart-to-heart with them could help you find out if some of them are in distress and on the verge of leaving.
Too Many Barriers
Too much bureaucracy is one of the top reasons executives end up leaving organizations, especially big ones. They might understand the necessity for red tape but will resent it when they are left out of important decisions that could affect processes within a company. You need to have the full support of the c-suite before implementing major changes, so be careful to not keep top players out.
No Chance for Career Development and Learning
One LinkedIn study found that a whopping 94% of employees would consider staying longer with an organization if they gave them the chance to learn. This means that you could be losing potentially great talent within your organization because you didn’t offer them the chance to grow.
This will be even more important if you’re trying to retain millennial or gen z workers. The same study found that 27% cited a lack of learning and development opportunities as the reason why they decided to leave their job. This shouldn’t happen when this is something that could be so easy to solve. Support learning by offering easily accessible resources to your employees. Offer to sponsor their higher studies and provide learning workshops within your organization. Attend relevant conferences with top members of your team and have a mentorship program set up. These are all things that will show that you’re invested in them and care about their future.
Not Spotting or Addressing Conflict Properly
Conflict often goes unnoticed in large organizations, and this can start chipping away at the morale of not only top employees, but your whole workforce. Conflicts between managers can lead to sabotage, which will ultimately lead to more of them quitting, which will also affect your operation.
You should give your workforce a regular health check to sniff out any signs of conflict and address them quickly. One of the things you could do is put a system in place where employees can give anonymous feedback. You could also use satisfaction surveys to highlight possible issues.
Shortage of Skill
Not being able to attract top talent isn’t always a company’s fault, however. There are cases when the field they are in is just too competitive or that the particular skill set they are looking for is very rare.
There are also cases where your location is the issue. Talented professionals, especially those fresh from college, tend to congregate around major urban centers. This means that businesses that are in less desirable locations may have to deal with a limited talent pool.
The biggest mistake you could make at the moment is lowering your hiring requirements and going for somebody unqualified just to fill roles. Stay selective in your approach and use background verification, skills tests, and background checks to ensure that the person you’re thinking of hiring has the qualifications they claim they have. You could also fill up the skills gap with outside expertise either by hiring a third party or working with consultants.
If location is the issue, one of the things you could do is offer your employees the chance to work remotely. Letting your employees telecommute will allow you to attract top talent from afar and cut overheads too.
These are some of the top reasons why companies struggle to attract top candidates and keep them. Thankfully, there are many ways that you can make yourself more attractive as an employer and improve your job offerings, so look at where you can improve and make the changes needed.
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