The War for Talent Acquisition and Retention

In the seventh post of our series ‘Solving Your Key Business Challenges in 2023’, we look at how a business’s branding and marketing can influence the attraction and retention of top talent.

Attracting and securing top talent continues to be a significant challenge for employers in the current, competitive employment market.

“73% of executives suggested that attracting high-quality candidates is a major concern.” Deloitte’s

Attracting the right calibre of talent in your business really does matter. A recent Accenture survey found that by activating the combination of data, technology and people, companies stand to gain a premium of up to 11% on top-line productivity - the ultimate driver of profitability and revenue growth.

The following are some of the key issues that companies face today in attracting and retaining talented employees:

• Lack of brand awareness and recognition
• Negative reputation as an employer in the market
• Misalignment between the employer brand and the employee experience
• Competition from other companies for key talent

Talent Acquisition

Contrary to popular opinion it’s not always salary that attracts people to work for an organisation. In fact, building a strong employer brand and communicating it effectively to both potential and current employees will better help you attract and keep the best talent.

So, how exactly do you achieve this?

Build a strong employee experience
You need to ensure that your employee experience is aligned with your brand promises. This means providing employees with a positive work environment, benefits, and opportunities for growth and development.

Understand your audience - prospective employees
You need to understand your target employee audience(s) and tailor your recruitment messaging and outreach efforts accordingly. You should:

• Use data and analytics to understand your target audience
• Define what type of employee you are trying to attract and retain
• Understand what they want to see from a potential employer

Personalise your candidate experience
Make candidates feel valued and appreciated, from the moment they apply for a job to the moment they accept, or decline, an offer. This can be done by sending personalised emails, responding to questions promptly, and providing feedback throughout the interview process.

Show that you care about your employee’s well-being
Emphasising employee well-being in all of your marketing materials can help attract talent. No employee wants to work in an enterprise that doesn’t actively care about their employees welfare. This includes being seen to provide resources and support for mental and physical health, as well as fostering a positive work-life balance.

Create a culture that enables employee advocacy
Your employees are one of the best tools you have to market your business to new talent. You need to encourage your team to be advocates for your employer brand. You can help support this by providing them with tools and resources to share your content on social media, and by recognising and rewarding employees who go the extra mile to promote your company.

All of these elements when managed and implemented consistently build the perception of an attractive place to work for potential employees.

However, you still need to surface all of this to your prospective audiences and show them that you have an attractive employee value proposition. It’s essential therefore to clearly make this visible through all your business’s primary communication channels and should include:

• Ensuring your website communicates the right messages
  Make sure your website is up-to-date and reflects the key aspects of your employer brand. Regularly share content about your company culture, values, and employee benefits.
• Leverage social media
  Use social media platforms to promote your company culture, values, and mission, and showcase the benefits of working for your company. This particularly helps to engage with potential candidates.
• Use video to engage and communicate
  Video is a great way to build your employer brand. Using employee videos helps make your employer brand relatable. When used properly videos can show off your work space, facilities, company culture, commitment to diversity and employee well-being - all things that shape potential employees interests in your business and help you to secure top talent.

  “People retain 95% of a message when they watch it on video compared to when they read it as text, while videos are shared 1200% more times than links and texts combined” Forbes

• Use job postings creatively
  Use your job postings to tell your employer story and highlight the unique benefits of working at your company.
• Use employee testimonials
  Share testimonials and employee stories from current team members on your website and social media pages. This can help potential candidates see what it's really like to work at your company.
• Recruitment events
  Attend recruitment events and network with potential candidates. This is a great opportunity to learn about their needs and interests, and to share more about your company culture and values.

Talent Retention

Retaining top talent is just as important as acquiring new talent, perhaps even more so. The Society of Human Resource Management found that replacing a managerial role can in fact cost the business 20% more than retaining an existing employee.

With such a high cost to replace employees, especially highly performing ones, how do you ensure you can retain your best talent?

• Invest in employee development
  Invest in employee development, by providing training and mentorship that aids employees career development within your business. As well as improve the likelihood of employee retention, it increases employee engagement, experience and job satisfaction - leading to more efficient and productive performance.
• Emphasise benefits and perks
  Offer competitive benefits and perks such as flexible working hours, telecommuting options, and health and wellness programs.
• Celebrate and reward top performers
  Implement a rewards and recognition program to acknowledge and reward top performers. This can help retain top talent and improve employee engagement.
• Be transparent and open in communication
  Be transparent and open in communication with employees, involving them in the decision-making process and keeping them informed of company developments. This can help build trust and improve employee engagement.

Conclusion

By employing the above strategies and tactics you can develop and maintain a strong employer brand that will help attract and retain the best talent, ensuring your business benefits from the top talent on the market.

To find out how MC+Co can help you build a strong employer brand, call +44 (0) 1277 366898. Alternatively please fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you asap.