Innovate To Keep And Attract Talent
You innovate to create new products, gain market share, and enhance your marketing efforts. While you focus on these things, you need to ask yourself one question. Are you making the same efforts to retain and attract talent?
It is easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of creating something new and coming up with a new strategy to enhance your results. Those same efforts should also be used to create new ideas and ways to attract and retain talent.
The workforce is no longer attracted to the basics. A recent study was done in Illinois that found that 60% of employees would leave their current positions for a 5% increase in pay. This is concerning for a few reasons. Five percent, in most cases doesn't equate to more than a couple hundred bucks a month in the employees pocket after everything is taken out. The benefits the company offers does not stand out amongst the competition. The company culture and well being of the employee are not top of the mind for the business.
Other parts of the study found that 25% would leave for better work life balance and 10% would leave for better benefits. That is a whopping 95% of the workforce that is completely disconnected from the business.
This study says one thing, businesses are disconnected from the needs and wants of their employees. One example of this, starting January 2023 in Illinois businesses will be forced to allow at least two weeks of family bereavement leave to their employees and it is unpaid. Why does a state have to step in and tell businesses to allow time for an employee to grieve their loss?
There are a million different things you can do on your own accord that will ensure a stability in employment. Start giving additional PTO. Start paying for bereavement. Take your team out for a show and dinner when they excel. Send them for continuing education once a quarter to increase their knowledge and capabilities. These are just a few things that will help with stabilizing your workforce.
All the small things you do for your team add up over a period of time. You may not be sending them to the Caribbean, but at least you are making an effort to show them your vested interest in their well being and professional success.
The benefits of being more innovative in terms of your team reach far beyond stabilizing your workforce. Increasing performance, customer experience, and work culture are all things that are affected by your handling of your employees. The better you treat them, the more successful your business becomes.