When it comes to attracting the best employees, just about every company wants to be considered a great company at which to work, the “employer of choice.”
In fact, as the need for highly skilled employees grows over the next decade, businesses will need to work very hard to attract the kind of high caliber employees they’ll need to hire in order to stay competitive.
So how do you become an employer of choice?
First of all, you should remember that you’ll never be the top employer in your field to everyone. Some employees will always look at their jobs as just that — a job to earn a paycheck and then they start living their real life when they leave the office.
But there are others — and these are the folks you want to attract — who want to be engaged at work, who want to give their best, who want to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
Here are some ideas to help you transform your company into one at which top performers will clamber to work:
How much “opportunity” do you give employees? Understand that opportunity means different things to different people. Some are motivated by money and the opportunity to make more of it through promotions and pay raises. But others like the opportunity to take on new challenges and projects — they get energized by the chance to learn new things, or to show off their expertise, or to grow their reputation. For example, employees with an entrepreneurial bent tend to get frustrated quickly when you hit them with badly chosen rules and procedures, dead end jobs and nit-picky, small-minded managers.
Give your workers the authority to do their jobs. That is, give them broad guidelines and parameters, be clear as to your expectations and then, leave them alone. So long as the complete the project or task on time and it meets your criteria/goals, it shouldn’t matter how they complete it or when. Give your people the power to do their jobs. This especially applies to customer service workers. Let them know the outcomes you desire and then allow them to work with your customers to ensure they provide the kind of service you want without having to go to management for approval. Let them come up with their own solutions (within the guidelines you set up) that make your customers happy.
Can your employees have a life, or is your culture that of “if you want to get ahead here, you need to put 10 hours of face time a day, every day”? Of course there will be times when 10 hour days are appropriate — when a big project looms, when a client deliverable is due, etc. But if employees feel that they need not darken your door again if they leave at 5 p.m. regularly, you may want to set about converting your workplace culture.
If you’re a company doing business in the Winnipeg, Manitoba area and you need help sourcing executives and professionals for your company, contact Pinnacle Recruiting and Human Capital Solutions. We can provide recruitment and human capital solutions to a broad spectrum of industries. We look forward to helping you recruit only the best!