It's a bad time to be taking your top people for granted. The talent you count on most are being recruited for other jobs. That's right — the people who seem most engaged, who've been with the company for years, the ones who are thriving in their current roles — are being approached for job openings in other companies. When recruiters can't find enough qualified applicants in the pool of job hunters, they'll turn to people who aren't actively job hunting. Thanks to social media and well-maintained data bases, those people are easier than ever to identify and contact.
If you spend any time at all on LinkedIn, you can't escape the steady stream of new job announcements. If I had a dollar for every "I'm excited to share I'll be starting a new position" post on LinkedIn, I'd have Starbucks money for the month. Day after day, I'm seeing internal communications and HR professionals who've been at the same company for many years suddenly jumping ship for a new job. I'm also noticing a lot of freelancers and contract workers taking full-time gigs.
According to Gallup, "one in 10 employees say they have been recruited in the past three months even though they were not actively looking for a new job or even watching for opportunities." They're seeing their peers across the industry jumping jobs, and even if they're happy where they are, it's hard to resist the allure of being sought out and wanted.
In this talent market, it behooves any employer to be hyper-focused on keeping employees happy where they are. Make sure you're paying them competitively, remind them of the larger vision their work supports, reinforce their connection with colleagues and their enjoyment of the culture.
Of course, every employee would appreciate an increase in compensation. But in the meantime, you can also communicate and educate employees on everything that comprises their total package. If your company pays competitively, give them some evidence of that. If your pay scale is slightly behind some of the big players in your industry, focus on other financial perks, like bonus and incentive plans. Raise awareness of the benefits you offer, from retirement plans to wellness programs to tuition reimbursement to family leave. Don't wait until open enrollment to talk about the many ways the company supports employees in living good lives.
For many employees, flexibility is more important than how much money they make. Re-examine your hybrid and remote work policies to see if you can add even more flexibility there. Retain people of parenting age with generous and flexible family leave. Offer people options to take sabbaticals. Amp up your paid holiday schedule or expand your PTO hours. Encourage managers to ask employees about the flexibility they need in their lives, and then to try to accommodate that on an individual basis. For one employee, flexibility might mean being able to coach their kid's soccer team. For another, it might mean being able to take time out to deal with a parent's transition from living alone to an assisted-living facility.
One of the best tools for retention is a culture that employees don't want to leave. When they've built strong relationships with coworkers, when they share the same values, when they're engaged in how their work supports something larger than themselves, they're less likely to be lured away. If you haven't developed an employer brand, you might want to consider it now. Employees need constant reminders of why they chose your company in the first place.
For more on other reasons your best people might be receptive to recruiters' calls, like stagnant career growth, not feeling valued, or burnout, try this Best Practices one-pager.
Interested in building a stronger employer brand? Tribe can help.
