Do you have a challenge finding people? Wouldn’t it be great to be a Destination Employer, a place where people line up for the opportunity to work for you?
High retention attracts people, so first take care of those that work with you already. 80% of workers from the Fortune Best 100 Companies to work for say that they look forward to coming to work every day, while the overall figure for U.S. companies is at 42%.
Clearly, the best companies to work for are doing something right, or more likely a long list of things right. We won’t tackle how to make the Fortune 100 Best Employers list today, that is something that we believe every article we write moves you a little bit closer to. However, we would like to help you tackle your staffing challenges with one cornerstone requirement, and a flexible way to approach the issue.
Clear Mission and Vision: You want to attract and retain people that align with your mission and want to help achieve your vision so make sure your mission and vision are front and center when you are hiring. It’s also critical that potential employees can easily see and feel that your culture aligns with supporting the mission. This will happen when the hiring journey you design aligns with your culture and the people the candidate meets along the way reflect the company’s values and are engaged when they talk about the mission and vision.
Flexibility: Arbitrary rules regarding how to do work, when to do work and where to do work, do not go over well anymore. With societal and technological changes, flexibility is possible and expected. As a leader your job is to ensure enough flexibility to make your company a destination employer, but not so much flexibility that it will damage your culture. For example, too many special exceptions will create animosity across the team; or if flexibility in one area of the company puts pressure on another area this will create resentment. See this article for some practical ideas on how to bring flexibility into your company that go beyond remote work. https://sage-summit.ca/what-is-the-best-way-to-put-the-right-people-in-the-right-seats/
Extreme Flexibility: Consider your organization to be a WorkNet (coined by Gary A. Bolles).
An organization exists to get work done. There are endless possibilities as to how it gets that work done, and it is more convenient and cost-effective to follow non-traditional paths today than it has ever been.
If you can’t hire for what you need, fill that gap another way. Expand beyond being a destination employer to being a destination organization. When filling a resource, skill or knowledge gap, Leverage all the connections your organization has developed and look at new connection opportunities like online communities, cloud workers and teams. Share your needs with these connections and solicit their ideas on how they can help you solve the issue.
In addition to the suggestions shown on the image, consider: Software; robotics; apply machine learning to build the capability into your own intellectual property; or purchase I.P. from someone else; joint venture with another company; or ask your employees how they would address the gap you are trying to fill.
For issues as challenging as a tight and changing labour market, it pays
to build and lean on your network and employees to produce creative solutions.
