No one outside the scientific community may have seen the coming of the COVID-19 pandemic. But come it did, and with it came significant shifts in various aspects of our life, including changes in the labor market.
The last thing that employers would have thought of when working on their 2020 human resource strategy is that a pandemic would emerge and force them into laying off or furloughing employees. As such, most employers were caught off guard. Many of them were forced to reduce their employee pool to remain afloat.
However, things are starting to look up again. Movement restrictions have been lifted in many places. Businesses have begun seeing an upward trend in their productivity and require more employees to uphold this trend.
But the pandemic has changed the workforce dynamics. Candidate experience is now radically different. Employers looking to attract top talent post-Covid need to ensure that what they are offering is in line with people’s needs. Incentives such as coffee and pool tables that were game-changers previously will no longer cut the chase. Below are some pointers on how to attract the best employees after COVID-19.
Offering hyper-competitive pay and benefits
Let’s be honest; nobody fancies working in a place where they are paid peanuts. If you want to get the best employees, you must be willing to offer them attractive salaries and other benefits such as bonuses.
Recently, it seems like many businesses are adopting this tact even as they recover from the effects of COVID-19. For instance, Chipotle just raised its average hourly wage rate to $15. McDonald’s has also given its employees a raise. Employees working in restaurants owned by this burger chain will also have their salaries increased by 10%.
Offering employees hyper-competitive pay and benefits such as medical insurance and bonuses seems to be the way to go. You will not only be able to attract the best employees, but you’ll also retain your best employees.
Flexibility: Allowing employees to work virtually or in-person
According to the Lead Data Journalist of YouGov, Matthew Smith, 57% of people who were working before the pandemic began and intend to continue being a part of the workforce say they prefer working from home even when the crisis is over.
This underscores the fact that virtual work is here to stay past the COVID-19 period. More people are advocating for either part-time or full-time remote working via social media platforms such as LinkedIn.
However, despite the increasing popularity of remote work, there are those employees who can’t wait to be back in the office. If you want to get yourself the best talent, you should be flexible to allow both virtual and in-person workers when the world regains some normalcy.
Creating stability in the workplace
Would you rather work in a stable or an unstable workplace environment? Most people would choose the former, and rightly so. A stable workplace ensures that employees can perform their tasks efficiently. As a consequence, their productivity increases.
Employers should demonstrate stability in two ways
Firstly, when looking to attract new employees to your firm, ensure that you showcase the stability of your business. Given the rate at which many employers have closed their doors in the last two years, it is understandable that jobseekers may be wary of the longevity of the firms they want to work with. Be sure to demonstrate the dominance you have in your industry and that you have a sound vision for the foreseeable future.
Secondly, show those employees wanting to join your business that their job is secure. With the unemployment rates off the roof, the fear of a department downsizing or a business being dissolved is very real. Ensure that you give employees a sense of their jobs being available in the long term. Show the potential employees that this isn’t a quick short-term job but rather a career they can grow in.
Be Transparent
According to Tiny Pulse, transparency is the main factor that contributes to employee happiness. Whether someone is unemployed or leaving their current position to join your firm, these individuals put a lot of trust in you.
It is only fair that their trust is rewarded with complete transparency on your part. Don’t sugarcoat your business position. For instance, if you’ve faced some bottlenecks, you should be upfront with the potential candidates so that they know what they are getting into. Being honest will go a long way to uphold the reputation of your business.
Add a social place to your office setting
You can set a social place where employees can socialize. The post-Covid working environment will have some aspects of guidance, policies, and signposting. Create clear symbols and signs to show places that are out of bounds. For instance, you can mark places where people shouldn’t sit.
Apart from the social place having games, it can also have magazines, newspapers, and other reading materials to help with social work conversations, more so materials that are specific to a certain industry.
Think about your employees’ future
Another way of attracting and retaining the best employees post-Covid is by thinking about their future. There are many ways you can do this. For starters, you can periodically offer them training opportunities to help them become more skilled. But more importantly, you should think of their future past their employment period. You can accomplish this by developing an employer-sponsored retirement plan for them. Ensure that your employees actively participate in these retirement contributions.
Make it known to them the benefits that they can accrue from these plans, such as reducing taxable income, growth of deferred tax, and getting “free” money at the end of their employment period. If you develop a lucrative employer-sponsored retirement plan, you are guaranteed to get the best employees because they know that you care about their future.
Your business is important to you. Your employees are equally important to you. Having happy employees will ensure that the productivity of your business increases. Use our Retirement Plan Evaluator to learn which retirement plan is best for your business and employees.
If you need help finding which plan makes sense for your company, schedule a plan discussion with us or take 30 seconds to find which plan is best for your company with The Retirement Plan Evaluator.