The war for talent: How to attract and retain talent in 2022

Irrespective of industry, leaders across the globe are discussing one thing: talent. Ever since the pandemic hit, there has been a shift in employee behavior. People are actively looking for remote work opportunities. The widening gap between the demand and supply of the right talent at the right time is causing companies to lose out on competitive advantage and revenues.

It is a fact that rising attrition and talent shortage are shared challenges for organizations globally, but can it be an opportunity to create a resilient global workforce?

In this article, we explore some options that can help you win the war on talent by hiring and retaining a global workforce.

Strengthen your employer brand

A strategic recruitment campaign is going to get you the best of the talent. For that to succeed you need to build a strong employer value proposition (EVP). And to retain your current employees you will have to have a solid employer brand. People are a lot more focused now on jobs that align with their values. How candidates view your company and its values play a pivotal role in the hunt for talent.

Why do you think startups and even companies like Google and Facebook promote their employer brand as a “cool” millennial culture? It is to attract talent by offering them comforts and perks that resonate with them.

Or so they thought. The pulse of talent in the present scenario is quite different.

According to an article by the Harvard Business Review, employees today are looking for opportunities that allow them to do meaningful work in a unique setting. This approach has proven to be a better success for companies in their efforts to retain talent in the long run. Work on promoting what makes your company stand out as an employer. The job market is very noisy, you need to be heard to reach the right talent.

Building a strong employer brand is the top priority for global leaders today. As talent is chased by hundreds of recruiters, this is one of the best strategies to stand out.

Decentralize your workforce

In an era where work location doesn’t matter, but productivity and collaboration do, it is wise to decentralize the workforce and tap into the global talent pool. The distributed workforce is going to be the future of work as Bill Gates famously quoted that 30% of the office space will diminish as more than 50% of employees will work from home, going forward.  

As an employer, you must focus on creating a decentralized workforce that can make you a lucrative employer if you want to attract new talent. According to a survey, 52% of employees who are willing to relocate because of work, want their employers to handle the logistic. Furthermore, 92% of the respondents said they will want financial incentives like a pay rise, housing allowance, or reimbursement of moving expenses for relocation. All of this leads to added costs for companies.

Allowing recruits to work remotely, on the other hand, is a solution that is saving employers from a lot of logistic and relocation costs and challenges. A decentralized workforce is a revolutionizing turning point. It enables companies to hire globally, providing access to the best professionals.

However, while building a decentralized workforce will save a lot on relocation, office space, and maintenance, you will have to create a digital workforce which will require investment in digital infrastructure.

Implement global supply chains 

To get the best of global talent you need to implement fundamental principles of supply-chain management. By setting up global supply chains for hiring talent, you will continually meet your requirement without prolonged delays and can stave off the competition. As there is a persistent misalignment between employers’ requirements and the talent available, when you have multiple channels to hire people from, you have the best talent available for the job, when you need it.

As the distributed workplace environment is becoming the norm, there is a need for sophisticated and expertly managed global supply chains for talent acquisition. You want to set your company on a path where your teams can endure talent shortages without affecting productivity or revenue.

Enable continuous learning 

Sometimes employees stop learning once the onboarding process is complete. When technology is changing at such a rapid pace, it is important that employees continually develop their skills and knowledge to future-proof their jobs.

When you make it possible for employees to keep learning at their jobs, you don’t just make it easy to retain the best existing employees, you also become more attractive to prospective employees. Continuously learning not only keeps employees competent and helps them to quickly adapt to any change but also helps them advance in their careers. It is an effective way to keep employees engaged and excited about their roles.

Create agile working environments

People want flexibility and autonomy in their jobs. By creating an adaptive and flexible workplace environment, and providing employees with the right tools for the right job, you give them the autonomy to make decisions on how they need to do their job.

Unilever defines agile working as “an approach to getting work done with maximum flexibility and minimum constraints. It goes beyond just flexible working or telecommuting and focuses on eliminating the barriers to getting work done efficiently”.

If you want to retain talent, you have to make policies that help people be more flexible at their jobs. In light of the recent pandemic, people are focusing more on the ‘You Only Live Once’ philosophy. This is why they want to work for companies that let them have more work-life balance. Agile work environments are much more productive and are known to benefit employees’ mental and emotional wellbeing. Digital workplaces are best suited to enable an agile environment and attract global talent.

Keep an eye on gig workers

As more people are becoming freelancers, it is easy to hire gig workers to get the work done on time. However, as an employer, you might want to keep an eye out for the skilled talent so that you can convert them to payroll employees. As the ‘gig’ economy is getting real organizations need to know how to hire the best of the contract workers.

Define a clear scope of work to attract the right talent. As workers are more discerning about how jobs add to the quality of their lives, it’s important to let gig workers know what you are offering. You also need to evolve the way you evaluate talent and when hiring remote workers, you should put less emphasis on corporate fit and focus more on proven ability to get results.

Now more than ever before, employers are faced with the challenge of retaining their talent. Retaining and attracting employees gets easier if you understand how to strongly portray your employer brand. Talent500 has been building global teams for Fortune 500 companies and we offer the best solutions to hire, build, and manage a distributed workforce. To learn more set up a consultation today.