Winning the Talent War: A Case for HR

The last two years have been challenging for several organizations as the pandemic forced many workers to reconsider the meaning of work. This led to the massive exit of employees from the workplace, popularly known as “the Great Resignation”.

According to workplace experts, employees are reconfiguring what their careers look like, and many are finding reasons to search for more meaningful, flexible, and better-paying jobs. Below, we highlight the five ways HR and company management can win the war for top talent. 

1.      Invest in Leadership and Employee Development

Leadership is the backbone of every organization. Businesses that succeed in developing great leaders succeed in building strong teams. From the c-suite to the mid-level managers, every leader has a huge role to play in empowering and supporting their employees. Some of the leadership lessons that HR can learn from the best companies are the huge emphasis on continuous improvement and the desire for leaders to develop others.

Most employees who join your company want to progress in their careers. They want to learn new skills, develop their competencies and become more competitive with time. If you are not offering this career development path, you are sure to lose your top talent. A solution is to prioritize employee development as much as you invest in leadership development.

Forward-looking organizations realize the full potential of their employees by investing in relevant learning courses and programs. Some workplace coaching and training companies like cloverleaf.me offer automated training solutions for teams, team leaders, managers, and C-suite. When done right, this equips your entire organization with the tools and resources needed to succeed in the highly volatile business environment. Even so, a learning and development program will only succeed if it gets buy-in from all the company stakeholders.

2.      Make Work Purpose-Driven

At the heart of successful companies are self-motivated and engaged employees who see work as a mission rather than a job. Such employees feel that their work aligns with their company values and their core beliefs and principles. Organizations that prioritize this hold on to their top employees longer, and they witness higher productivity and better client experience.

One way of making work more purpose-driven is to put culture first. HR plays a critical role in ensuring employees live the company culture and that it works for them in the long term. They achieve this by focusing on culture-fit during hiring, and organizing regular training and workshops on workplace culture, diversity, inclusion, and strategic planning.

Regardless of the niche or industry, the power of purpose in every company cannot be underestimated. It starts with nurturing the right culture, and in the words of Peter Drucker, "culture eats strategy for breakfast." This means a flawed culture will always undermine company success regardless of your great strategies.

3.      Optimize the Hiring Process  

Hiring the wrong candidates is bad for your company. You will not only waste time and resources during hiring and onboarding, but such employees will also undermine their colleagues and frustrate your clients. Instead, you should focus on hiring the best candidates based on culture fit, behaviors, and potential, not academic qualifications and past performance.

Streamlining the hiring process and quickly securing the best talents is also key to success. The last thing you want to do is to keep your candidates waiting for feedback and end up losing the best talents. Instead, ensure there's consistent and effective communication throughout the selection process. You want to inform your candidates what's happening and what to expect before and after the interview.

The goal is to focus on candidate experience and sell your brand to potential employees. Another essential part of attracting and retaining human capital is the onboarding process. This is an opportunity to welcome the new employees to the company and align them with the company values and culture. With effective onboarding, you can develop motivated, engaged, and well-aligned talents that will stick with your company for the long haul.

4.      Rethink Employee Wellness

The HR department is responsible for ensuring that employees are treated well and feel comfortable in their working environment. Before the pandemic, employee wellbeing was limited to the physical workplace. Anything that happened outside was considered personal or private and wasn't to be discussed at work. However, this changed during the pandemic when employees experienced serious burnout from remote work, as they juggle between work, caregiving, and other family responsibilities.

Today, HR advocates for employee wellness both for remote and hybrid teams. Organizations are also investing in employee wellness programs to champion sensitive topics such as mental health, psychological safety, financial well-being, and diversity and inclusion. The best leaders understand that employees are their greatest assets, and enhancing their well-being is critical to the company's bottom line.

When working on employee wellness programs, HR should listen to employees to understand their critical concerns. That way, they can design impactful programs that deliver results. It's also advisable to conduct regular employee surveys, collect feedback from supervisors and immediate managers, and use them to improve these programs.

5.      Employment Perks and Benefits

A positive company culture, career advancement opportunities, and employee wellness programs are beneficial, but without competitive employee benefits, winning the talent war can be difficult. Several companies are now experimenting with new benefits besides salaries, paid time off, extended vacation time, and covered medical expenses.

Most of the new and highly competitive perks focus on remote work. Employees are asking for flexible working schedules, and many are ready to take pay cuts provided they are allowed to work from home a few days a week. Some organizations are also moving ahead to cover certain expenses for their employees, such as gym and wellness spa membership, or weight loss programs.

HR should be keen enough to pay attention to the market trends and modify their benefits package to suit their employees' and company needs. However, it's worth noting that employee benefits will not work if the other aspects discussed above aren't in order. 

Endnote

With more employees leaving the workforce, organizations are now rethinking their talent strategy, and HR is once again at the center of this transformation. With the above five techniques, it's possible to build a strong case for talent attraction and retention. Transforming the human capital is critical to maintaining a competitive edge in the post-pandemic world, and those who relate to this reality are already taking action.