How to Attract and Retain Top Talent

The market for top talent is tight. Other companies are seeking out the best. If you’re not actively hunting for skilled candidates, you’ll miss out. But how do you attract and then retain these employees?

It takes more than a good paycheck to keep your company staffed. That’s a piece of the puzzle. However, you need more than just a competitive salary to see the entire picture. Read on to uncover more pieces of the puzzle so you can compete in a competitive hiring environment.

Benefits and Perks

Employees seek out quality benefits offered by the company to accompany their pay. Benefits, perks, and a corporate discount program all offer added incentives for joining and staying with an organization.

Benefits can include things like health insurance, 401(k) matching, and tuition reimbursement options. Health insurance packages are one of the most sought-after benefits. They can be traditional group health insurance or health reimbursement arrangements. A company may instead offer health and wellness fringe benefits. They may include free access to a gym, paid visits to a chiropractor, or pet-friendly workspaces, which can boost mental health.

Perks may include nap pods, childcare, or free meals. They vary widely between companies. For instance, Baskin Robbins offers free ice cream for its workers. Google offers on-demand cooking classes and art programs. MillerCoors offers free onsite pubs in their Chicago and Milwaukee offices and encourages new employees to taste-test their beers.

Flexible Work Schedule

Before COVID-19, the nine-to-five workday was the norm. Companies offered very little in the way of flexible schedules. But the pandemic changed all that. Many companies were required to go remote due to government-mandated restrictions.

In 2019, 47% of businesses offered limited availability for flexible schedules. However, as of the end of 2023, 67% of employers now offer at least partial flexibility. Some companies even went completely remote with employees across the continent, each working on their own time.

One of the main benefits of offering flexible schedules is the ability to attract and retain top talent. Since employers don’t need to focus on hiring locally, they’re able to expand their reach across the country and the world. One downside to a non-linear workday is that it’s difficult to plan meetings that suit individuals across the time zones. However, with technology such as Slack and Zoom, employees can keep in touch regardless of where they live and when they work.

Learning and Development

Offering educational and career advancement is beneficial to employees and the organization alike. Employees can grow and develop, expanding their skill set and enabling further advancement within the company. On the other hand, businesses have access to knowledgeable employees with improved performance and higher retention rates.

Learning and development opportunities can range from webinars to university tuition reimbursement. Even small businesses can direct employees to available development openings. Stanford and Harvard Universities both offer free courses, such as strategic leadership podcasts, cyber security classes, and AI courses.

Larger organizations usually have the financial standing to offer greater advancement opportunities. They can send the HR manager to the Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference and Expo for an immersive learning experience. They may allow the marketing manager to return to college to update their knowledge of current social media trends. Regardless of the type of offerings available to employees, career advancement possibilities will attract top candidates and retain current staff.

Workplace Culture

Workplace culture is important to candidates seeking a new role. What good is a high salary if you feel stressed at work? Employees want a work environment where they feel recognized and valued. They want it to be positive. They want it to be okay to be themselves.

Companies have been doing a much better job regarding culture with 72% of employees sensing a positive atmosphere at work. Employees are more likely to be productive in a positive culture. This productivity lends itself to the success of the organization, as workers feel like their work adds to the company-wide goals.

Diversity and inclusion are both important aspects of a good work culture as well. A diverse workforce brings together people with different experiences and perspectives, enabling them to see problems from a different angle. Solutions can be a mix of results not otherwise seen. An inclusive environment results in higher rates of engagement, as employees feel empowered to contribute to the company’s success.

Quick Hiring Process

Hiring processes sometimes take weeks to complete. SHRM reports that the average length of the recruitment process in the U.S. is 36 days. Do you think those talented individuals are waiting around over a month to hear back? The answer is no. The best candidates are snapped up quickly, making the length of the hiring process critical.

To figure your company’s recruitment rates, determine the average time-to-hire. Subtract the day a candidate applied for a job from the day they accepted the offer for each role. This includes time spent reviewing resumes, Zoom interviews, in-person interviews, and the time to make a decision and prepare an offer. How long is it? If it’s over 10 days, it’s probably too long.

You can do everything right to attract top talent, but if you can’t hire quickly, you’re likely to lose them. Speed up the hiring process by decreasing or eliminating downtime. This includes the time it takes to pick up a resume after it’s been submitted, the days between scheduling an interview and conducting it, and the time between making a decision and making an offer.

Top Talent

In today’s fiercely competitive job market, securing top talent requires a multifaceted approach that goes beyond offering attractive salaries. By piecing together all the above elements of the puzzle, organizations can not only attract the best candidates but also retain them. As you refine your hiring strategies, remember that you will need to stand out in a crowded market. How you stand out determines whether you secure the exceptional talent your company needs to flourish.