7 Tips To Attract and Keep the Best Talent

Are you losing your best people, or struggling to attract new hires fast enough? The war for talent is fierce right now. Hybrid work, The Great Resignation, labor shortages, and skills gaps have organizations scrambling to hire, retain, and develop employees. It’s overwhelming.

We’re here to help, and to do so we created this thought-provoking checklist to help you address the most critical areas that we’ve found can impact whether folks stay or go.

7 Tips To Attract and Keep the Best Talent

Tip #1: Know Your Why and Share It Boldly

What’s your mission? Today’s employees want to know the ‘why’ behind their work. Money and benefits are not enough. Your employees want to be part of something purposeful.

The good news is that business is about solving problems. Consider these three questions. If you can’t answer them with absolute certainty, taking the time to do so will help you retain and attract new talent:

1. What problem do you solve?

2. What solution do you provide?

3. Can every person in your organization answer the first two questions in the same way?

Tip #2: Listen and act when your employees give feedback

Employee experience is not a fad. In a recent report, Josh Bersin, noted that surface efforts to improve employee experience will backfire. You need to understand your employee’s experience to know what’s working at your organization, and what needs to be addressed. You don’t have to change everything overnight, but small, incremental changes that are celebrated will make a difference and show your words and actions are aligned.

1. Do your employees feel heard?

2. Is there an easy outlet for them to provide feedback?

3. Is the feedback publicly celebrated and acted upon?

Tip #3: Foster belonging and celebrate differences

Employees want to be able to express their individuality. They crave a safe environment where they can be themselves and know that they are accepted for their contribution, regardless of their hair style, clothing, gender, sexual orientation, and/or skin color. Everyone wants to work at a place where they feel they belong and matter.

1. Is diversity celebrated at your organization? Do you have an intentional DEI strategy?

2. If so, is it separate from, or embedded as part of the culture?

3. When was the last time you polled your employees on diversity and belonging?

Tip #4: Commit to clear career pathing

Your people need to know where they’re heading in their career. Clear career pathing is vital to driving engagement with your people. Just like roles and responsibilities, success metrics for advancement need to be spelled out.

1. Does each role have a path to the next role?

2. Are there clear expectations for success and advancement?

3. Are there systems in place to help your people advance?

Tip #5: Implement mentorship and coaching

A mentoring and/or coaching program is one of the easiest ways to increase employee engagement and retention. Employees desire guidance from people who have been where they are. How much time do your leaders spend mentoring and coaching others, versus working as individual contributors themselves?

1. Do you have a mentorship program? Do your leaders have stellar coaching skills?

2. What leaders in your organization could drive this initiative?

3. How can employees be involved in the creation of the program?

Tip #6: Improve team alignment and dynamics

With hybrid work, the Great Resignation, labor shortages, and skills gaps, it’s normal that many employees and teams are cracking under pressure. Emotions can rise and people can be complex, and this can be overwhelming for leaders. Consider exploring coaching or tools to help understand and improve the dynamics of your team.

1. Is the team clear on the work they need to execute on?

2. Are there gaps in capability on the team?

3. Are there gaps in capacity on the team?

Tip #7: Help your leaders to be authentic and transparent

Employees need to trust leadership. They’re looking for authenticity and transparency. Any breach in ethics or trust can crush engagement. Investing in your leaders’ self-awareness is vital. Leaders need to know their strengths and their shortcomings. They also need to know the people they lead, and the dynamics at play on their teams.

1. Are leaders of critical teams aware of their gaps?

2. Are there teams that are struggling, but it’s unclear why?

3. Do you find yourself wondering why a team can’t deliver?

In light of retention concerns, employee engagement, and hybrid work, missteps are costly. Leaders are stressed, which stresses employees. Engagement and productivity are at risk. Disruption stretches the cultural fabric of organizations, creating turmoil and frustration.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

The stakes are high. Losing good people is costly. It can suck the energy out of your organization. Leaders have the opportunity to win the war for talent. Contact us to learn how to engage top-notch talent, and create an environment in which people grow and thrive.

People At The Center is a Certified Partner of Predictive Index. Contact us to find out more about Talent Development tools and services.