Angela Murphy — June 27, 2018 — June 27, 2018
Current State of the Workforce
According to key indicators, the economic outlook for 2018 is moderately healthy. Experts forecast steady growth, with total employment expected to increase by 20.5 million jobs over the next two years.
Of course, with growth comes demand. As the economy improves, hiring has seen a steep increase resulting in a candidate driven market. Top candidates are also more likely to be employed and content in their current position. In other words, competition for the best candidates is higher than ever. In fact, 2018 is the first year that the number of jobs available exceeded the level of unemployed.
This could create challenges in hiring. But these challenges are not insurmountable. To attract the best candidates and appeal to their interest in your available job opportunities, you must first refine your recruitment strategy.
Rethinking Recruitment
Making the right additions to your team is a decision that requires thorough preparation and execution.
A recruitment strategy typically includes the following steps:
- Drafting an accurate job description for the open position
- Promoting your opening on communication outlets most likely to reach potential applicants
- Compiling a list of standardized interview questions for each position
- Scheduling and conducting applicant interviews
- Selecting the most qualified candidate
- Making a job offer
However, finding the best candidates is not as cut-and-dry. Before you can hire outstanding individuals, it’s crucial that you understand what contributes to and drives their high performance.
Understanding High Performers
High-performing candidates are more than just their work experience, track record, and suitability for a job opening. If you’re seeking top talent, you must be able to recognize certain personality traits.
The personality traits that are correlated with high performance are easy to infer:
- Well-defined goals and a commitment to accomplishing them.
- In tune with passions and pursuit of career paths that play to their strengths.
- High levels of emotional intelligence that lend to navigating the workplace to create powerful allies.
- Adept at managing their own emotions, which is essential for motivation, creativity and staying focused.
The question that remains is how to know if your candidate embodies these traits. A successful way to assess a potential employee is by administering a pre-employment test. Consider using a tool that collects unbiased behavioral data and offers career recommendations, such as pymetrics.
The Three Elements of Motivation
Even though top talent is naturally motivated, they still need encouragement to continue doing great work. Most employers believe the best way to motivate people is with rewards. While the carrot-and-stick approach worked successfully in the 20th century, it’s not the most effective way to motivate people in today’s world.
In his book Drive, author Daniel Pink asserts that true motivation is reliant on three elements: the desire to direct our own lives, the urge to continually get better at something that matters, and the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves. To put it more concisely: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
Based on Pink’s findings, high performers are already in tune with what drives them. High performers want to be empowered at work. They need assignments that stimulate them along with opportunities to learn and grow. Lastly, they need to know that their contributions to the organization are valuable and genuinely appreciated.
An Innovative Benefits Package
Once you’ve attracted top talent to your organization and interviewed the best candidates, your next step is to make your offer. Since we know high performers aren’t motivated by money, how do you seal the deal?
A recent study found that employers are moving away from salary and focusing more on benefits. Wages and salary now make up just 68 percent of employees’ total compensation. Fortunately, this aligns with what employees want: an innovative benefits package.
A survey of 2,000 employees by content marketing firm FRACTL found that 57 percent of people reported that benefits and perks were among their top considerations before accepting a job offer in 2017. Eighty-eight percent of respondents would even consider a lower-paying job to get better benefits.
This bodes well for employers. Offering robust benefits not only helps recruit top talent, it can boost your bottom line as well since offering comprehensive benefits is generally less expensive than increasing salaries.
The Benefit Employees Want
Perks like free food and gym memberships are not enough – you must offer the benefits that today’s job market demands. Workers have come to expect much more from their employee benefits packages than just the typical offerings, i.e. investment plans and health benefits.
Consider the facts: In 2017, the number of identity fraud victims reached a record high with 16.7 million U.S. consumers affected. Fraudsters succeeded in stealing $ 16.8 billion from U.S. consumers.
If one of your employees becomes a victim of identity crime, the stress often spills over into the workplace, disrupting productivity and halting workplace performance. In fact, 22 percent of identity theft victims took time off from work to deal with an identity theft issue. There’s even the added threat of losing your key staff if the impact of an identity crime is detrimental.
Consequently, identity theft protection has become an integral component of the employee benefits landscape. Many employers are aware that identity crime has become a pervasive threat that can no longer be disregarded. It demands attention and requires proper protections.
The EZShield Difference
Having a comprehensive identity protection plan as part of your benefits package can be a strategic differentiator for your organization.
With EZShield, employees receive 24/7 identity theft and fraud support. This assistance is paired with convenient online and mobile access to their protection, ongoing education and alerts, and dedicated access to U.S.-based certified Resolution Specialists.
Your ideas and vision drive your organization. But, it’s your employees who will have the most impact on your long-term performance.
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