Why a good talent attraction plan is the first step to retaining your best staff

While many businesses focus on sales and marketing strategies that generate immediate revenue, many fail to consider candidate attraction strategies as a key component that undoubtedly impacts the growth and health of the company in the long term.

Now that information is increasingly available online, job seekers are becoming savvier at navigating the complex world of hiring. Their improved access to knowledge of available job openings makes it easier than ever to make the switch to greener pastures when the opportunity arises.

As such, companies need to work even harder to attract proven and upcoming high-potential talent. After all, you can’t exceed any ambitious business goals without having the right people in place.

What makes a good talent attraction plan?

Offer standout benefits

Besides a values-led working environment and a standout salary, benefits are also a good way to ensure that you can attract the best talent.

According to our Talent Trends 2022 The Great X report, remuneration and benefits remain the top consideration when accepting a job offer. At the same time, 59% of respondents in Mainalnd China are willing to accept a lower salary or forgo a pay rise or promotion for better work-life balance, overall well-being, and happiness. That simply means that salary, alone, is no longer sufficient for candidates to accept a job offer.

If you are unable to compete on salary, offer non-monetary benefits. Benefits such as flexible schedules, hybrid work models, attractive upskilling opportunities and childcare benefits indicate to candidates that you care just as much about welfare as you do profits. This can be the deciding factor in persuading a potential hire to apply, or in making a current employee stay.

Offer professional development opportunities

Constantly investing in your employees can be a key incentive for highly skilled talent. Employees want to improve at their jobs and learn new skills so that they can advance in their career journeys. In our report, 45% of respondents say they consider leaving their current jobs due to a lack of career progression.

These opportunities will benefit your employees’ personal and professional growth, and also add value to your business when they apply their new skills, which in turn improves their morale, motivation and loyalty.

Establish a well-defined company brand

Millennials are set to make up 75% of the global workforce by 2025, so attracting and retaining candidates from this talent pool will require a people-first employer brand.

Using employer branding techniques like improving your onboarding process and defining your company culture can make a positive and lasting impact on candidates in the job market today, while ensuring that the talent you hire has values aligned with those of your company.

A lot of big companies believe that being a well-known, established company will attract talent. However, that is not the case. Findings in our report reveal that employers overvalue their company brand by 95%.

Employees, on the other hand, are attracted and moved by a company’s culture and values, leadership and having a greater sense of purpose in their roles, which are elements that contribute to a well-developed employer brand.

Develop a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) strategy

40% of respondents in Mainland China will stop pursuing an interview or job offer if the company does not have a clear DE&I policy and commitment. As more candidates expect companies to implement clear DE&I policies, organisations need to go from paying lip service to ensuring that change is instituted in a quantifiable way at all levels of the firm.

People want to work in a place where they are heard and valued, and where there’s psychological safety to express their ideas and opinions. This means having to reckon with tough issues and acknowledging that time, effort and resources will need to be allocated accordingly for meaningful change to happen on the ground.

The correlation between talent attraction and retention

In the profit-driven world, it’s easy to get lost in the numbers and forget the people who make a company’s success happen. Leaders play a key role in motivating employees to stay for the long haul, and the same ideals in a good talent attraction plan will positively affect their decision to commit to your company for many years ahead.

Like a stellar talent attraction plan, retaining your top talent requires similar actions that include charting a clear path for career advancement, which can be measured by key behaviours, goals and specific performance indicators. The lack of growth opportunities and certainty can be easily negated by ensuring transparent communication takes place frequently.

Fostering a positive work environment, where regular feedback is given and implemented, is also integral to showing your employees that their opinions matter. Lastly, offer non-monetary benefits that help employees maintain a good work-life balance, such as flexible working hours or childcare.

Why should you care about talent attraction and retention?

Job security — especially during these uncertain times — might be foremost in the mind of most employees, but we have found that as many as 59% of those employed are looking for new job opportunities in 2022.

According to survey respondents in the Talent Trends 2022 report, the top five reasons for leaving a job voluntarily include a desire for a career change, career progression, better remuneration packages, not feeling aligned with the employer’s strategy and direction, and wrong culture fit.

In addition, companies also often underestimate the cost of turnover. The more information-driven the job is, the greater the threat to productivity when your top performers leave, and more resources will have to be channelled into searching for and onboarding new hires.

Competitors who poach your talent will also have inside information on your business and operation strategies, as well as your company culture. For current and potential hires, your talent retention rate is also a factor in determining whether your company is worth working for in the long run.

As the very best performers and high potential talent become scarcer and more discerning, companies that aren’t demonstrating well-rounded talent attraction plans will find their top employees cherry-picked by competitors who are.

Employing the right talent attraction strategies will have a ripple effect on talent retention and your business's employee productivity, as well as their overall happiness.

Discover the latest in our 2022 Talent Trends report, The Great X: This survey report covers what hiring professionals need to know to address talent attraction and retention for the year ahead.

It also highlights a change of times in the hiring outlook as job candidates and employees now prioritise their well-being more than ever. Download our report to find out more.