Beyond remote work: How to attract and retain talent in a worker’s market

Attracting and retaining talent in a workers’ market

IN Partnership with

There are many options outside of remote work for attracting and retaining skilled employees, and automating various stages of the recruitment process can make a significant difference

THE TOP PRIORITY of almost every employer in the current Canadian labour market is the attraction and retention of talent. The Great Resignation and the Great Re-evaluation are drivers of this phenomenon. In the 2021 McKinsey report “Great Attrition” or “Great Attraction”? The Choice Is Yours, the consultancy notes that 40% of employees across most industries and five countries (Australia, Canada, Singapore, the UK, and the US) are “likely to quit'' by the end of the first business quarter in 2022.

Top

Insight Leaders

Overview

General Stats

Insights

Exclusive feature

The Indeed Hiring Lab is an international team of economists and researchers dedicated to delivering insights that help drive the global labour market conversation. The Hiring Lab produces research on global labour market topics using Indeed’s proprietary data and publicly available sources. Its work is available to the media, researchers, policymakers, jobseekers, and employers to help them better navigate the world of work. The Hiring Lab's analysis focuses on aggregated and anonymized data on job postings on Indeed sites around the world, as well as jobseeker search behaviour on these sites. Indeed has websites in over 60 markets and 28 languages.

Find out more

MAKING A GOOD IMPRESSION MATTERS

Percentage of job seekers in Canada who say reviews of employers on sites like Glassdoor and Indeed influence where they apply

57%

Significant negative impact

28%

Little negative impact

12%

Moderate positive impact

0.5%

“With automation like skills-based matching and virtual interviewing, you can get to great candidates in first interviews much faster than you could before”

Maggie Hulce, Indeed

And there’s more: 53% of employers across these countries are experiencing higher voluntary turnover – and 64% expect the problem to continue. Even more striking is the fact that 36% of employees who quit in the past six months did so without another job in hand. And two-thirds of employees expressing the intention to quit will do so without another job lined up. Employers understand that the employees they seek to hire and retain are in the driver’s seat. But do they understand what motivates talent to join and remain at their company? And, more importantly, what steps can they take to attract and retain quality team members?

The benefits of automating recruitment Thoughtfully employed automation better engages candidates and addresses recruiters’ key challenges. Fewer hours spent on repetitive and manual tasks such as screening and interview scheduling can directly affect productivity and the bottom line. When we recognize what candidates value at each stage of recruitment – the job search and research, applications, interviews, onboarding, and retention – we can begin to explore how to use automation to intuitively design an efficient, positive experience for everyone involved. For example, automated screening narrows the applicant pool

right away by confirming basic qualifications are met and managing assessments that help determine a good fit. Relying on automation at the interview stage allows teams to skip the endless scheduling back-and-forth, prevent no-shows, and present offers quickly so candidates don’t drop out or take their skills elsewhere. Once hired, onboarding is often boring and intimidating instead of welcoming or exciting. Automate repetitive tasks, like document signing, and use HR chatbots to help new employees with basic questions. This way, they can focus on connecting with teammates and learning their roles, not tracking down HR. Automating these tasks frees up organizations to spend more time on high-impact talent strategies such as ensuring fairness and skills-based hiring, looking to their current talent pool for transferable skills, initiating boomerang campaigns to bring back former employees and early retirees, and investing in their employer brand to attract talent. “With automation like skills-based matching and virtual interviewing, you can get to great candidates in first interviews much faster than you could before, and automation allows employers to devote more time and attention to human connection and the candidate experience,” says Maggie Hulce, executive vice president and GM of Enterprise at Indeed.

“Automation allows employers to devote more time and attention to human connection and the candidate experience”

Maggie Hulce, Indeed

Flexibility goes beyond remote work Remote work is often cited as a perk that can help attract and retain great talent by offering flexibility. For those in jobs that offer the option, remote work is the next new normal, and employers need to be agile and creative in adapting culture, infrastructure, and ways of working for both remote and office-based employees. This is particularly relevant for the Canadian labour market, which is experiencing an increase in roles likely to be a good fit for remote work. However, for many organizations, remote work isn’t an option – particularly among the in-person industries slowest to recover – which means the solutions are far from universal. The good news is that there are many options outside of remote work to attract skilled workers, such as on-site childcare, flexible shifts, paid parking, and upskilling, to name

just a few. These and other levers can be pulled to sustain the workforce while remaining true to the company’s brand and mission. The wider adoption of remote work also has its hazards. Proximity bias – the tendency to give preference to those who are physically close to us – is alive and well and often affects women, in particular women of colour. Remote work involves more flexibility, but also more responsibility, depending on circumstances, and this typically falls upon women as the “fallback catchers of the household,” says Jessica Jensen, Indeed’s Chief Marketing Officer. Retaining new hires Despite record unemployment due to the pandemic, many hiring decision-makers say that turnover remains a significant problem. Unfortunately, the dangers frontline workers face can lead to burnout and turnover. Even remote workers are reportedly facing digital overload, with many feeling exhausted during the workday. As a result, retention should remain a high priority.

KEEP CANDIDATES INTERESTED IN THE JOB

Percentage of job seekers in Canada who say the hiring process has become more impersonal due to digitization

36%

Source: Indeed

Dropoff rate for candidates if job applications have 30 screener questions

50%

Percentage of Canadian jobseekers who can tell within the first six months of starting a job whether they’ll stay long-term

79%

Source: Indeed

Ensure that your company maintains transparency to build trust and confidence among remote workers. Consider having bi-monthly calls with senior leadership, along with updates and new launches, to ensure everyone is up to date. Employees look to their managers for guidance. Management must model healthy stress-management behaviours by setting clear boundaries around their own work and encouraging employees to use any paid time off. Indeed, for example, created a monthly “YOU” day, a holiday for all employees, to ensure people take much-needed time off and are assured that their colleagues are doing the same. Your ability to retain talent and keep them engaged will fuel a positive employee experience that translates to an enhanced employer brand that can attract job seekers to your business, whether you’re in the middle of a global crisis or not. Employees today have more choice and control than ever before over how and where they work. Employers that don’t appreciate this power shift, and fail to adapt to these new workplace realities, could miss out on the best talent and the opportunity to engage their workforce and grow their businesses sustainably in the long term.

Source: Indeed

Companies People Newsletter

About us Authors Privacy Policy Conditions of use Contact us RSS

ASIA

News

SPECIALIzATION

Events

Best in HR

Resources

Companies People Newsletter

About us Authors Privacy Policy Conditions of use Contact us RSS

News

Specialization

EVents

Best in HR

Resources

ASIA

About us Authors Privacy Policy Conditions of use Contact us RSS

Companies People Newsletter

News

Specialization

EVents

Best in HR

Resources

ASIA