In a tight labor market, old strategies for recruitment don’t work.
Todd Nelson was Special to the Star Tribune.
June 14, 2022, at 2:01pm.
Today’s tight labor market requires creativity. New benefits being offered by companies include those who aren’t looking for work, emphasizing diversity and rewarding employees for helping bring in new workers.
Tracy Bruckschen, director of talent acquisition at Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America, said that recruiting the way companies have done in the past no longer works when businesses are competing for and seemingly replacing the same talent.
How do you differentiate yourself as an employer of choice? Enhancement of employee-referral bonuses for hard-to-fill or key roles is going to be one of the keys that will be successful.
The “sourcer” role has been added by Allianz Life to find diverse hires. Mental health benefits have been enhanced by it. Increased referral bonuses were instituted by it.
Every employee in the organization should be looking for work.
Stressful events of the last two years, including a global Pandemic, have changed what employees want. John Kammeyer-Mueller, an industrial relations professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, said that most workers want a job with face time.
Employers are adapting to the fact that they want a mix of the two. The only way they’re able to hold onto people is with flexibility.
In the last few years, the Employment Experts, a three-time Top Workplace, has doubled referral bonuses, added an on-demand virtual-fitness application for employees, and begun helping workers pay down student loan principal according to the CEO.
“Benefits are just as important as paychecks in the employee attraction strategy today,” she said.
The staffing and recruiting firm works with companies that are raising their pay to compete for employees. They’re speeding up the application process, reducing the number of interviews, and reducing the number of paperwork needed to start.
According to the vice president of talent services, investments in the company’s “doing the right thing” culture, employee development, and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion help land new hires.
The “Champions of Change” program at Ovative gives employees opportunities to increase their social impact through cultural-awareness education, skills-based volunteering and pro bono services. A $10,000 scholarship is awarded to a student from the nonprofit BrandLab, which aims to increase diversity in the marketing and advertising industries.
Aberg said that they were committed to continuously focusing on their team and trying things out. “If people like it and it’s meaningful to them, then we keep it going.”
Jim Link, chief human resources officer at the Society for Human Resource Management, said that all things related to inclusion and belonging are getting more attention from job candidates.
Link said employees are looking for organizations where they can identify a piece of themselves. “If a company can talk about what it’s doing for the good of society or how it’s aiding in the development of people who are underprivileged or in need or who can get help from the company, that’s very attractive to a younger generation of workers.”
