September 28, 2022 
We are in a candidate-driven market – this is no doubt the 2022 corporate buzz sentence. With fewer workers and more job positions, potential employees have all the choices, and will choose carefully. Companies are struggling to entice candidates, and while they might be offering benefits and perks, they just might not be offering the right ones…
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that life is too short. In the past years, we have seen a monumental shift as to what employees want. The Great Resignation, or rather, The Great Reshuffling, has shown that the ‘traditional’ way of working is no more. If you want to win candidates over, you should consider these four things that talent is looking for in companies.
Flexibility
It will come as no surprise that flexibility is one of the big drawing cards for candidates. If you thought it just meant remote work, you would be mistaken. Flexibility can be offered in many forms and will be enticing either way. A free work schedule can be given in the form of: part-time and full-time work, flexible hours, and hybrid work options.
Hybrid work is incredibly enticing, with a survey conducted across the US, UK, France, and Australia finding that over 50% of employees prefer a hybrid-working model. Flexible hours are equally attractive; they give employees a work-life balance that they crave even more so following the pandemic. In addition, the benefit for the company is higher productivity; a survey found that flexible hours were the main reason for an increase in work productivity at 43%.
Career Development
In a candidate-driven market, companies need to compromise on what they want for an employee, especially skillswise. Talent wants a job that offers career pathways and training to upskill. This is a win-win for both the company and the candidate. On the employee side, it gives them the knowledge and expertise to move up the corporate ladder; for the employer, it helps them in retention and succession planning. Succession planning saves employers time and money in the long run. It’s well-known and accepted that hiring externally is more expensive than internally, and the same goes for keeping employees rather than hiring replacements.
A LinkedIn survey found that 94% of employees would stay longer at a company if they were to invest in their career. However, it’s important to know that employees want to be able to learn at work and do their training during work hours. If you want to attract candidates, you need to offer training and ensure that employees can do it at work and not just in their own time.
Company Culture
We’re in the working era of Employee Experience. You need to understand that the employee mentality is, I want to work here, not I have to work here. Embodying that notion will help your business immensely in appealing to and keeping employees. Employees consider your company’s culture, which is a big deciding factor for many industries.
Culture underpins the entire office and dictates working life. While your company might have hybrid working and flexible hours, if that’s not supported and reflected by the attitude of the managers – then it’s not flexible at all. Culture treacles down from leaders, so be sure to analyse your business’ culture and check that your values, mission and vision are accurately and properly represented at all levels.
Great Compensation & Perks
Of course, compensation and perks are deciding factors for candidates. Perks can vary in industries and companies; some examples include:
– Company car
– Gym membership / Discounted membership
– Vouchers / Discount vouchers
– Day off for your birthday
– Friday drinks
Benefits are a big draw to retaining employees, with a study finding that 78% of employees would consider staying longer with the company if they had a benefits program in place.
Attracting candidates is hard at the moment and will be for the foreseeable future. In addition to baby boomers ageing out of the workforce and a low birthrate across most of the world, the population will get smaller and so will the talent pool. Years ago, the most important thing for candidates was job security and decent pay – that has all changed, and to keep up with the changing talent market, your company needs to seriously consider the above ‘wants’ mentioned, and make the benefits clear from the job description to an eventual employee offboarding.
