To deal with labor shortages, employers must go beyond the basics of pay and benefits. Money is important, but it’s just a starting point. Many companies are already offering employees $15 an hour even without legislative mandates. At higher salary levels, offers for sought-after professionals are met with counter-offers, and people are likely to hold out for more than just the paycheck. Winning the competition for talent will be a matter of company culture and quality of life.
Working remotely gave many employees a taste for the joys of autonomy and control; they don’t want to be stuck in rigid structures.
Although employers are considering a wide range of options — e.g., staggered schedules in which only part of the workforce is in the office at any one time, or giving everyone the same Wednesday off — what people really want is the chance to make choices. Keep in mind that a major motivator is self-determination. When people are trusted to work it out, they are more productive and innovative.
For this reason, a company might want to customize the perks it is offering new employees, or allow them to decide whether they’d like to work remotely or in the office.
Flexibility on a daily basis is important too, such as flexible start and stop times, enticing reluctant workers worried about traffic congestion or their children’s school schedules.
Opportunity
People in every industry are looking at jobs where there is potential to advance. For instance, a bartender might be able to showcase his people skills to try for a job as a bank teller because it promises career growth.
To attract and retain the best people, companies must enrich jobs with opportunities for learning and skill development, allow employees to have a say in big decisions, open up clogged career paths, and promote people faster. A rising professional I know at a health care company in the South loved her job and her boss, but was about to leave because she didn’t see that she’d have any upward movement in the current hierarchy. The company responded by making her more of a peer to her boss, adding responsibilities and a better title, with more voice in decisions.
Camaraderie and belonging
Leaders must never underestimate the power of human connections. One lure of a job is the feeling of community, from compatible co-workers who enjoy being together to bosses with empathy who bother to know the names of employees’ partners and children. Frequent recognition celebrations that applaud employees for their accomplishments, family picnics, treats such as ice cream deliveries on a hot day, employee art exhibits or lunchtime concerts where employees can show off their musical talents are signs of a caring culture that recognizes people’s individuality.
Causes and values
Employers who want to attract and retain workers should give people a chance to act on their values and advance causes they care about.
Employees at Bain & Company, for instance, can volunteer to tutor at schools, serve meals at homeless shelters, and work in teams to offer consulting advice to nonprofits around the world.
Enabling people to act on their values on the job helps attract and retain them.
Improving the rest of life
Competition for talent will continue to require strategies beyond the paycheck. Rising expectations about the culture of work are unlikely to change even when labor shortages ease. The return on these people investments will come from greater loyalty and lower turnover costs, more and better ideas from workers who feel responsible for the fate of the enterprise, and communities that ensure that people can work without worrying about the rest of their lives.
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