If your company has been struggling lately to find enough talented, and dedicated employees, you’re not alone. Rest assured, it’s not just your neighborhood, your state, or your industry. Businesses all over the world are having trouble filling skilled positions and competition for professionals considered to be top talent has become incredibly fierce. Many companies have discovered that the online nature of modern business has changed what the most desirable employees are looking for and a strict 9-5 position with the usual healthcare package just isn’t all that appealing anymore. Talented employees today, especially in the younger crowd, are looking for something new, interesting, and far less restrictive than the traditional job roles and if companies don’t want to offer a desirable package, they have an option that previous generations did not: online freelancing. If you really want to get talented employees into your office, it’s time to start thinking outside the box of usual benefits.
1) Flexible Family Scheduling
The first and one of the most popular new recruiting incentive is family-friendly hours in whatever form you can provide. Talented millennial professionals have seen what happens when parents work too much away from their kids and don’t want to do that to their own families. As a result, many are choosing to quit rather than take an impossibly short maternity and dads may quit because they don’t get any paternity leave at all. Then there’s spending time with the little ones as they grow up, picking them up from school, taking care of them when they’re home sick, and the usual work hassle of leaving early or arriving late because of a child has a doctor’s appointment.
By providing a family-friendly flexible scheduling policy, you can entice talented parents back into the workforce by ensuring that they will still be able to spend most afternoons at home and won’t’ get any grief for the usual collection of childhood emergencies. With the right policies, parents can even keep working remotely while they’re home the kids, an arrangement that works out well for everyone.
2) Remote Work Opportunities
Speaking of remote work, a large percentage of talented millennial professionals are some combination of self-taught, self-motivated, and not all that interested in coming into the office at all. They do want jobs and interesting projects to work on, just not in business casual with a boss breathing down their necks and who can blame them? These professionals tend toward freelancing and contracting for the freedom but you can lure them away from the purely independent lifestyle with the promise of a steady paycheck without the office by creating a few remote-friendly positions. Even a few days at home a week can be a powerful incentive for homebodies and freelancers considering your openings.
3) Disability Accommodations
Finally, it’s important to remember that great employees don’t always look the way you imagined them. People with disabilities often get incredibly good at the work they can do with a few basic accommodations. Physical and sensory disabilities, in particular, are well suited to highly skilled computer work but it’s often hard to find a truly accessible employer. If you’re willing to offer remote work or a few thoughtful accessibility options to new employees, you might be surprised how popular your company becomes with talented handicapped professionals. From adjustable desk heights to assignment swapping with team members, making your business welcoming to the disabled can be a lot easier and more rewarding than you might think.
Whether you’re a big firm or a brand new startup, finding top talent requires a certain kind of cooperation. If you’re worried about a favored candidate slipping through your hands, don’t just wait it out and hope they pick you. Negotiate. Ask what they want most in an employer and work with them to build a package you can provide and they would love to stick around for. This tactic will give you a distinct edge over every other company waiting for talented employees to magically appear. For more expert recruiting tips, contact us today!
