4 WAYS TO BECOME AN ATTRACTIVE PLACE TO WORK

The pandemic made a lot of employers lazy. Employees were grateful to have jobs, and were willing to put in all kinds of extra time and effort to keep things afloat.

Then the pendulum swung in the opposite direction – during the “great resignation,” those burned-out employees took advantage of big pay increases and the opportunity to re-think their careers elsewhere.

Now we’re at a new normal – one where you have to market your company to attract great team members just like you market your company to attract great customers or clients. Yes, your pay and benefits need to be in line with the market. But being an attractive employer is a whole different level.

So… what if you’re just not that attractive a place to work (yet)?

Here are 4 ways to become a more attractive employer:

1. Treat people like people, not generic employees. Your people are motivated by different things, and it can be complicated to learn about them. Falling prey to thinking they just want to show up for a paycheck when they do their jobs is lazy thinking. There are a number of tools like Motivators® reports that can give you insight on what makes each of your team members excited. At the very least, ask them what kind of an environment is most motivating for them? They’ll tell you, and they’ll appreciate that you’ve asked.

2. Challenge them to do great things. Even people who are under-performing today don’t take a job with minimum performance as their objective. What would be awesome and amazing for them to accomplish and how can that be tied directly to what your business does?

3. Hold them accountable. Everyone wants to know if they are doing a good job – doing what you expect them to do. The key to accountability is being clear on how you’ll measure that, and then “taking account” – working with people to make sure the work they do to produce those results is happening. Now when something seems to be “off” with their results, you can have the discussion to help them get back on track. Maybe their activity levels need to be higher. Maybe their activity levels are just fine, but there’s a step in the process that they need to learn, or you need to add. Maybe the activities need to change entirely to be more successful. When you’ve clearly defined the outcomes you expect, you have a starting point for both of you.

4. Share your vision for the future often, and make visible movements to get there. No one wants to work for a sleepy, hum-drum organization that does the same things day after day after day. Where are you headed as a company? What exciting things are happening this year to move you closer to that North Star? Your passion and excitement about how the day-to-day is helping realize your dreams as a company, is a compelling reason for people to seek you out – and to grow with you to get there.