The ability to entice, engage, and retain the brightest talent is key to long-term business success, but in a rapidly evolving professional world, modern companies have to up the ante to stay ahead.

We’ve recently partnered with some fantastically forward-thinking organisations, creating attraction strategies that frame them in the best possible light, so here’s a rundown of what we’ve learnt and a few ideas for getting the best candidates on board.

Constructing Your EVP

Attracting quality talent is all about forming an Employee Value Proposition that aligns with your overall branding; everything you do reflects on your public image, so it’s crucial to take this seriously.

Companies that are renowned for treating staff well are more likely to be looked upon favourably by potential clients, as well as potential employees, so building these strong foundations is an obvious win-win. 

Your EVP covers everything from career development opportunities to working conditions, and even items such as company benefits, and policies on sick days and parental leave. The areas you focus on will depend to some extent on the size of your team, and their individual needs. 

With this in mind, here are some simple ways to reward success, recognise individuality, and inspire positive action within and beyond the workplace, regardless of the size or age of your business.

Creative Incentives

There are many ways to inspire your team to go the extra mile, and reward them for doing so. Moreover, the best incentives are those that also encourage health, well-being, and the development of new skills. This means staff can work towards their personal goals, with mutual benefits for themselves and the company.

• LinkedIn Learning offers a range of skills-focused courses which can benefit your whole team. Why not include these in your quarterly objectives? Allow learners to choose courses best-suited to their needs, and ask them to report back to the rest of the team, with an overview of what they’ve learnt. 

This combination of flexibility and shared knowledge is incredibly valuable, and can also help strengthen bonds within your team.

• To help your staff stay active and healthy, you could consider supplying Fitbits as part of their employment package. This will help to raise each employee’s awareness of their personal well-being, which ultimately should mean fewer sick days, and a team that feels happier, healthier, and more productive. 

You can even encourage some friendly competition, by advocating participation in Fitbit challenges, or setting up a community league, and rewarding the top performers with incentives such as cinema tickets, vouchers, or days out.

Celebrate Success

Recognising success is one of the surest ways to make your staff feel valued and appreciated. As such, it can be extremely beneficial to implement an employee recognition programme, rewarding team members for their achievements, and encouraging them to keep working towards the next goal.

For example, you could set up a Lunch Club, rewarding star performers for meeting, or exceeding, their targets each month. Similarly, as your team approaches the end of a large project, why not acknowledge their hard work with a celebratory dinner, or an afternoon out?

Software such as Northstar is helpful for setting targets and tracking progress, while simultaneously producing valuable analytical data that can boost engagement and keep your performance management strategy on track. 

Remember, however large or small the reward might be, it’s the act of showing appreciation for your team’s efforts that is most important. Acknowledging hard work, and encouraging each employee to keep working towards their individual aspirations builds a positive community spirit in which everyone benefits.

Embrace an Employee-Centric Culture

To maintain a positive outlook and unified employee culture, it’s important to keep the needs and goals of your staff in mind at all times. This means making provisions not just on an individual level, but also implementing business-wide initiatives that offer quality of life benefits to everyone. For example, a popular choice is to give staff members the day off, fully paid, on their birthday.

Another is to increase paternity leave to allow new fathers a bit more time to spend with their newborn, and to support their partner in the weeks following the birth. Statutory paternity leave is currently capped at two weeks, except in cases where parents are eligible for Shared Parental Leave.

However, many companies now offer six weeks of leave for new dads. This can be particularly attractive to younger talent with plans to start a family in the near future. Furthermore, your business benefits by giving staff time to adjust and spend time with their family, rather than compelling them to return to work when they’re likely to be tired and distracted.

Your employees will appreciate your consideration, and the chances are, after six weeks they will be more than ready to get back to work, and catch up with their colleagues!

Listen To Feedback

Bilateral feedback is helpful for any business, as it not only enables you to gain an insight into how your employees are feeling, and the problems they face, but it also empowers your staff by providing opportunities for them to influence their work environment.

One-to-one and group feedback sessions are a great way to come up with new incentives, find out which strategies are being received most favourably, and learn more about the long-term goals and aspirations of your team.

Ultimately, the employee journey should be mirrored by your overall talent strategy, ensuring engagement at every stage to enable effective solutions that evolve with your business. If you’d like to hear more about our bespoke talent consultancy services, please contact our experienced team today.