Leadership
How Do You Attract New Employees?
Introduction
In today's economy, it's tough to attract new employees. Factors such as salary, company culture, perks and benefits all come into play when you want to grow your workforce. Here are some concrete suggestions on ways you can make your company stand out from the crowd and get new blood in the door.
Build a great company culture.
Strong company culture isn't just important for employee happiness — it's also your best bet for attracting top-tier talent.
Studies have shown that employees who are proud of their company's mission, and believe they're working towards a greater good, are more likely to stay with the company. They'll also be more likely to recommend it as a place for others to work.
A great way to build a stronger culture is by making sure everyone on board shares the same values and goals. That means hiring based on potential rather than previous experience (and salary), having an open-door policy so employees can ask questions without fear of judgement or punishment, and encouraging employees' passions outside of work by offering flexible hours or telecommuting opportunities where possible.
Offer a competitive benefits package.
Aim to offer a competitive benefits package that includes the following:
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Health insurance. You'll want to offer health care coverage so that your employees can see doctors, get prescriptions filled, and stay healthy. This includes dental insurance and vision care.
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Retirement plan. Provide a retirement plan for your employees so they have enough money set aside for their golden years. A 401(k) is an easy way of doing this; you can also consider adding on additional funds like any other type of investment account or plan (like a 403(b)).
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Vacation time. Give them paid vacation time in addition to sick days! The more time off you give them, the happier they'll be at work—and the better results you'll get from them as well since they'll feel less stressed out about their lives outside of work, too.
Highlight what makes your company unique from other companies.
To attract new employees, you'll need to highlight what makes your company unique from other companies. The best way to do this is through some combination of perks, culture, and benefits.
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Perks. What will make their day-to-day lives easier? Are there any on-site amenities that will improve the employee experience? Do they have access to free coffee in the break room or a gym membership discount? These kinds of perks can help showcase what it's like working at your company, which helps build a sense of community and camaraderie among employees.
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Culture. The next step is showing off the culture of your organisation and how it differs from others in its industry. You could write an article explaining how various aspects of your corporate culture set you apart from other employers (for example, if you have flexible work hours or offer unlimited vacation days). You can also post pictures of team building activities or company lunch-and-learn sessions to show how much fun employees have interacting with one another. Or perhaps you want to showcase awards won by past employees for innovation or creativity within their departments. By highlighting these activities and achievements on social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, people outside the company will be able to learn about them as well!
Sell the perks of the job.
Flexible working arrangements, free coffee and snacks, and company cars are among the many perks you can sell to motivate employees to work with you. Aside from these, you can also sell the intangible perks of working at your company, like learning new skills and having the opportunity to work with interesting people.
You want to make sure that even if an employee decided not to take any benefits from you (like health insurance), they'd still want to come and work for you anyway because they love what they do.
Caution: Make sure that whatever you are offering is worth it! Don't give all your employees some sort of benefit that costs more than it's worth to the company, because then they'll just be using up all your budget on something unimportant.
Create an employee referral program.
A referral program is one of the best ways to attract new talent. It works especially well if you have a small team and need someone with particular skills or experience, like technical support or inbound sales.
To create an employee referral program, follow these steps:
- Identify your hiring needs.
- Define the qualifications required for each role (such as education and experience level).
- Decide what incentives employees can earn by referring candidates who are hired.
Knowing what people want and offering it will help you attract new employees.
As a business owner or manager, you know that attracting new employees is an integral part of your business' success. But how do you go about doing this? There are many factors that go into attracting the right people, including what they want and their skillset. However, there are also things that can be done to help attract the right people:
- Know what your employees want in terms of benefits and perks. If possible, try to offer something unique or competitive in this area.
- Highlight what makes your company different from others — this could include anything from its location and culture to its mission statement and values.
- Sell the perks of working at your company! We all love free food as much as anyone else does, and sometimes it's worth walking away from an opportunity because we'd rather have fun on Fridays than work through them.
Conclusion
How do you attract new employees? Building a great company culture, offering competitive benefits, and highlighting what makes your company unique from other companies will definitely help bring in more workers. Creating an employee referral program is also a good idea because it recognises people who are already working for you. The key to attracting new talent is knowing what people want and offering it — whether it's competitive salaries or flexible work schedules. In the end, building a company that’s fun and fulfilling to work at is the key to not only attracting new employees, but making them want to stay.