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With chronic skills shortages continuing to reverberate throughout Australasian
organisations, the spotlight has firmly been thrown on the importance of having
effective strategies in place to attract and retain key staff.
While today's tight labour market has meant that HR managers have typically
concentrated on attracting the right employees to their organisation, employers
can make significant gains by retaining, engaging and getting the most out of
the talent they already have. With competition for labour and skills so high,
an attraction centric recruitment strategy is almost fuelling turnover among
existing staff.
HR managers who engage attraction techniques as retention strategies fail to
make the distinction between extrinsic motivators (such as salary and working
conditions) which underpin an attraction strategy, and intrinsic motivators
(such as job satisfaction and personal fulfilment) which drive an effective
retention program.
To educate employers about attraction and retention
strategies, in Australia, Drake conducted a comprehensive survey among more
than 400 candidates get a direct insight into what they believe attracts them
to a role and keeps them there. The findings present some interesting insights
in terms of how to best attract, select and retain top talent.
ATTRACTION
Drake's survey revealed the number one factor that attracts people to a company
is training and development opportunities, with 89% indicating this was an
important consideration when choosing a company to work for.
Not surprisingly, the second highest attribute was salary with 86% of
respondents citing remuneration as an important element of an attraction
package.
The third key attractor was the promise of fun in the workplace. Over three
quarters (77%) of respondents said it was important to work in an enjoyable
environment. While tricky to define, employees are looking for more immediacy
in terms of fun. This means looking at cultural aspects of an organisation
which makes turning up to work everyday a pleasant experience, rather than, for
example, going on an annual abseiling trip!
Interestingly, the fourth highest attribute that appeals to job seekers is up
front salary advertising, with 75% saying it was important to know the salary
range before submitting a job application. This indicates that most candidates
are not prepared to undergo a potentially extensive interview process only to
find out upon being offered a role that the salary is significantly lower than
their current remuneration, or salary expectations.
Rounding out the top six attractors was flexible working hours, the equal fifth
highest attractor with 72% indicating it was important, along with a straight
forward application process, also considered important by 72% of candidates.
Today's time-poor candidates do not want to invest a great deal of time
searching and applying for jobs. The current war for talent also means that
often they do not need to. Organisations that advertise their likely salary up
front and have a straight forward application process are more likely to appeal
to job seekers.
There is a big movement away from intensive selection processes, particularly
within the public sector. One public sector authority reported a 30% rise in
job applications after removing the written component of their selection
process. Increasingly, traditional written response based selection criteria is
being replaced with standardised resumes tailored to the role, quick skills
tests and other psychometric assessments.
Interestingly, a recognisable company brand was the least important attractor
for job hunters, indicating candidates may be more attracted to individual
motivations, such as training and development and remuneration, which
collectively make up the brand promise.
Online job boards are the preferred method for people to find a job. 47.5%
solely use this channel to find a job while 43.8% use them in conjunction with
newspaper or magazine advertising.
SELECTION
Further highlighting the notion that candidates seek an efficient recruitment
process, Drake's research found 77.1% believed hiring decisions should be made
within two weeks of submitting a job application.
When it comes to selection activities, job hunters prefer resumes and one-on-one
interviews compared to panel interviews and written assessments, which were the
least favoured selection methods.
On average, candidates are open to sitting psychometric tests as part of the
selection process. This is a promising finding for HR managers, as psychometric
testing offers valuable insights into a candidate's suitability for a role
including:
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Can they do the job? Do they have the knowledge, skills and ability to perform
the tasks required
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Will they do the job? Do they have the motivation to apply themselves; and
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Do they fit the organisation? Will they work well with existing staff and fit
into the organisation's culture?
When using psychometric tests as part of the
selection process, it is good practice to provide feedback to unsuccessful
applicants as it helps to prevent candidates from making their own assumptions
about why they did not get the job.
RETENTION
Drake's key findings around employee retention highlighted that candidates will
be quick to move roles if something better comes along. While 81.5% of
respondents thought they should stay with employers for more than two years,
33.4% across all generations and 62.5% of Generation Y employees (aged up to
26) reported staying less than this period with a single employer.
When you consider that it takes on average 18 months for an organisation to
achieve a return on investment on a new hire, and that the average cost of
staff turnover is between 30% and 250% of a person's annual salary, a strategic
retention strategy is not just an HR imperative, but a financial one.
The good news is that reasons why people do remain in their jobs are relatively
consistent and often (although not always) relate to intrinsic motivators which
drive job satisfaction. The work itself (34%), good leadership (31%),
relationships with immediate supervisors (29%), recognition (28%), and
remuneration (26%) were cited as key factors for motivating candidates to
remain with an employer.
The top five reasons for leaving a previous role included poor management,
unsatisfactory remuneration, issues with immediate supervisors, limited
work-life balance, and unmet expectations. The increase in the number of people
who leave their job due to salary is not necessarily a shift away from the
importance of intrinsic motivators for staff retention, but a reflection on the
current competitive marketplace and the knowledge they can potentially earn
more elsewhere. Essentially the bar has been raised in terms of what is
competitive and fair when it comes to salary.
In terms of unmet expectations, HR Managers can better control the risk of staff
leaving through better advertising and selection practices, including the use
of realistic job previews.
While extrinsic factors such as pay and benefits are an important element in any
attraction strategy, organisations can compete for talent by focusing on
intrinsic factors such as development, recognition and good quality working
relationships to ensure job satisfaction - and therefore retention of your key
staff.
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