April 2017
Recent research from Robert Walters has found that many employment equity professionals consider career progression and a better work-life balance to be a highly motivating factor to join and stay within a business. The research also shows that traditional strategies such as offering higher pay may no longer guarantee a candidate’s signature.
Despite having to contend with a severely candidate short market, the results of the survey indicate that a large number of employers are neglecting to offer opportunities like career development and work-life balance to attract and retain EE professionals, undermining business’ potential for long term growth.
Nic Sephton-Poultney, Country Manager at Robert Walters - comments:
“A lot of companies acknowledge the importance of career progression or better work-life balance, but are not using this as a strategy to appeal to EE professionals. Businesses that act on what employees want from their career are more likely to appeal to a broader cross-section of the market.”
Businesses will need to review competitive recruitment strategies to secure top talent. Strategies like shortening the hiring process and reducing the time from interview to offer can be effective in securing candidates who are engaged in more than one offer.
Keeping existing staff motivated by offering the opportunity for training or the chance to take on new responsibilities as a way of developing their careers is also essential to retaining talent.
Nic Sephton-Poultney, Country Manager at Robert Walters - continues:
“One in five hiring managers say they do not have a plan in place and no intention of developing new strategies for addressing this issue. With many EE professionals not willing to move just for money, hiring managers need to revise their hiring strategies to reflect the changing environment and to appeal to a wider range of candidates.”
42% of hiring managers say EE talent shortages have resulted in higher costs to the business when it comes to retaining existing staff as many move to new employers to develop their career. 28% of hiring managers say that they have high staff turnover among EE employees.
Nic Sephton-Poultney, Country Manager at Robert Walters - continues:
“Employers have traditionally always been able to ‘pick and choose’ their ideal candidate. However as skills shortages become more acute, the balance of demand has begun to favour candidates.”
“In today’s competitive market employers can still secure top talent, but by doing so will mean broadening their approach and ensuring they are opening up new recruitment channels, especially to save costs.”
For further information, or to request a copy of the full survey results, please contact Janki Johri on janki,johri@robertwalters.com or +4420 7509 8339.
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