More Ways to Improve Employee Experience in a Candidate-Driven Market

In part one, we covered how improving your hiring process by focusing on the candidate experience is a sure-fire way to progress your overall employee experience, which in turn will keep top talent sticking around.

Today we’ll look at a few other strategies you can implement to recruit and retain top talent in a candidate-driven market.

Promote Company Culture

The Execu|Search Group’s latest report says that “[t]oday’s candidates are looking for an employer that offers them purpose, supports their employees both personally and professionally, and aligns with their value[s].” Be sure to emphasize your company’s values throughout the hiring process; this way candidates know if they are a good fit before an offer is made.
The Execu|Search Group’s research asked respondents which elements of a company’s culture are most important. They are ranked as follows from most to least important:

1. Support from leadership and management teams
2. Professional development opportunities
3. Strong team rapport
4. Flexible scheduling

The Execu|Search Group adds, “While every employee plays an important role in culture, leaders are the ones that shape it. The choices they make, their communication style, and how they handle success and failures can have a ripple effect on employee engagement and performance.”

Develop Better Managers to Retain Workers

If the number one feature of a great culture is support from leadership, your employees must have a great relationship with their managers. Research finds that this relationship, along with an employee’s relationship with the rest of their team, can help workers stay engaged and provides a great employee experience.
In order for managers to build these relationships, they must take steps in the first days and weeks to ease the transition and make their new employee feel welcome. The Execu|Search Group suggests that managers can make employees feel welcome by:

• Getting their team excited about meeting the new hire,
• Organizing a team lunch or outing,
• Setting expectations for the new hire’s accomplishments,
• Encouraging new hires to ask questions, and
• Checking in often over the first few months.

Once the “honeymoon” phase of a new hire’s employment is over, managers must stay consistent in keeping that relationship strong. One way for managers to do this is by keeping open lines of communication, for both personal issues and work-related issues, especially as they relate to the employee’s role and professional goals.
“When [respondents] say that the most important factor of company culture is support from leadership and management, this doesn’t simply relate to their work,” says The Execu|Search Group. “Employees today want to not only feel like their work is valued, but they want to feel valued as a person.” To effectively do this, make sure your managers:

• Emphasize employee wellness;
• Check in with employees on how their lives are going, not just how their work is coming along;
• Build an environment where employees can go to their managers with issues; and
• Make an effort to be more flexible when you see an employee struggling to do the job.

Communicating career growth opportunities also gets the employee excited about his or her future with the company—which also helps to create a great employee experience.

Offer Employees Professional Development Opportunities

With Millennials and Generation Zs slated to make up a majority of the workforce by 2020, employers would be wise to invest in their professional development. “Without a considerable investment in professional development, organizations can continue to expect lower-quality candidates, higher turnover of dissatisfied employees, and still no solution to the skills lacking in their business operations,” says The Execu|Search Group.
According to the research, 86% of professionals said that they would change jobs if they weren’t offered more opportunities for professional development. Without access to meaningful opportunities, The Execu|Search Group found that employees will start to feel stagnant and undervalued.
To combat these feelings, give employees the types of training and opportunities they want, which include:

1. Hands-on training,
2. Coaching or mentoring opportunities with leaders and peers,
3. Management training, and
4. Encouragement to collaborate with leaders and peers.

“Keep in mind that it’s not just career advancement on their minds; continuous learning and development helps employees understand that they are worth investing in,” says The Execu|Search Group. “While e-Learning and webinars are helpful, hands-on training is what employees will value most. When they are offered those opportunities, you are not only building a stronger team, but you are fostering long-term job satisfaction and loyalty.”
By taking a look at your hiring process and company culture, as well as training your leaders and employees, you’ll be on the right path to offering candidates and your current workforce a better overall experience, which will lead to a stronger and more productive workforce.
Learn how your company’s current recruiting practices are helping or hurting your goal of attracting talent when you attend the session, “The Rules of Engagement for Candidate Attraction: How What You’re Doing—Or Not Doing—Could Be Sabotaging Your Recruitment Efforts,” at TalentCon 2019 on March 12—13, 2019, in San Antonio, Texas. Click here to learn more or to register today!