Staff retention: Power shifts from employer to employee

For years, small and medium-sized businesses struggled to compete with major multinationals when it came to attracting and retaining staff. Not alone could they not pay as well, but they hadn’t the flashy offices, cornucopia canteens or beers on tap to compete.

Nearly two years into a pandemic, however, and the things employees value have changed.

“We used to talk about the Employer Value Proposition but that has shifted. Now the Job Value Proposition is what counts,” says Robert Mac Giolla Phádraig, chief commercial officer of Sigmar Recruitment.

“In the past, the holy grail for employers would have been culture. When you think about all the big ones, you visualise flashy workplaces. They’ve lost a lot of that attraction now. The world has moved from five-star hotels to an Airbnb model, and a lot of those frills have been lost. It’s the job that counts now. It’s who your work with in your team, the impact you make, and how you deliver for your customers.”

The next evolution of the EVP will be the Experience Value Proposition, he suggests. “It will be about how am I likely to experience this employer on a daily basis? It’s how does this employer tally with the flexibility I demand now? It’s how does the employer show up for me, the employee? It’s a complete power shift.”

If you’ve wondered why so many employer-branding strategies have shifted from showcasing how great they are, to proving it, that’s why.

“Current employees are often given a voice to story-tell their own employee experience in their company through ‘day in a life’ content-like corporate videos. It is important potential candidates get clarity on what they will experience within the organisation directly from their future peers rather than by the leadership voice,” explains Marina Rivas, marketing and brand executive for Great Place to Work.

On the talent-retention side, employers are still focusing on the basics by listening to their employee voice through employee experience pulse surveys.

Collaboration

But “we see more and more collaborative ways to apprehend the future of working with employers including their employees in the building of new strategies and policies,” she says, warning that every organisation has an Employee Value Proposition, whether it is defined or not.

“The key trend we are seeing in the market is an effort from employers to build up and structure their Employee Value Proposition to be competitive. Part of that task is to reconsider their benefits and perks, which will have been considerably reshuffled with remote and hybrid working.”

That involves figuring out new metrics such as how virtual fatigue can be assessed, how to make a virtual performance review as effective and open as a physical one, and even, how can free food at the office be replaced.

“Younger employees give high importance to flexibility, whether it be working from home, from abroad, or being able to travel. Millennials and Gen Z are looking for an adaptable environment,” she says.

They are also actively looking for a high degree of involvement in the business, with an approachable leadership and clear career growth plan. Reverse mentorship, participative boards and inclusive leadership policies are best practices that tend to convince key talent to join organisations, she adds.

But younger employees are also more likely to join a company they have an emotional connection to, she points out. In what is therefore a battle for hearts and minds as well as for talent, it is employers who lean into that fact that will reap the benefits.

That works well for &Open, a fast-growing Irish gifting platform set to create 100 new jobs next year, including remote ones.

“Our vision is to make care and kindness everyday business practice, so it almost goes without saying that we put those things at the heart of our own business” says co-founder and chief executive Jonathan Legge.

“I believe what people want most from work is a flexibility that allows space for normal life, which is something we’re very focused on creating. As we consider how the workplace will evolve over the next decade, we’re thinking not about how we can have a gym in the office, but how we can give people a reason to connect in a meaningful way, like having lunch cooked for the team once a week, a time to really gather properly.

We’re also exploring how we can help with childcare and mental health and the stresses of modern life that the pandemic has so boldly exposed.”