In the battle for top talent, small businesses are often the underdogs that put up a spirited fight, but end up losing to large organizations. One primary reason why top professionals overlook small businesses is because they get better benefits from big companies.
This fact is underscored by a Gallup study that found 64% of employees say pay and benefits is the most important consideration factor before accepting a job offer. Thus, without a well-considered talent attraction strategy, small businesses have little chance of wrestling top talent away from large corporations with the financial muscle to pay top dollar and benefits.
As a small business owner, you must be savvy and offer unique job benefits to lure top candidates to your business. And you must play to win. Here are some knockout strategies for structuring alluring job benefits to win and retain top talent in your small business.
Prioritize Professional Development Through Career Pathing
An up-skilling study found that 90% of Millennial and Gen Z employees prioritize career education and professional development when evaluating potential employers. As a savvy business owner, you know Millennials and Gen Zers are the future of work. So, you must prioritize their career desires to attract the top employees to your business.
One surefire way to cater to employees’ professional aspirations is through career pathing. It involves creating a roadmap that deliberately aligns employees with career growth opportunities. Implementing a career pathing strategy at your small business will make it an attractive work destination for modern workers who care more about professional development and career growth.
Foster a Sense of Community in Your Company
Big companies may offer employees hefty perks and benefits like health insurance, catered lunches, and an onsite gym. While you may not afford to match their benefit packages, you can offer your employees something priceless — a sense of community and belonging.
With fewer employees than large firms, small business employees have more opportunities to create long-lasting relationships with co-workers. As the owner, you can take advantage of this benefit and initiate activities that further strengthen the sense of community.
You can organize luncheons, team-building activities, or local charitable events involving your employees. Such actions make employees feel more connected to their co-workers and the community at large.
Additionally, as your employees interact with customers at a closer level, they’ll witness first-hand the impact of their services. For instance, if you run a house remodeling company, your lead architect will most likely interact face-to-face with most customers and see how a remodeling project transformed their homes. They also get to make new friends and get to know the local community better.
These are the social benefits that big companies can’t guarantee employees. Thus, if you foster a deep sense of community and belonging in your company, you’ll attract top candidates who want to experience purpose in their work.
Offer Flexible Time Off (FTO)
FTO is one of the contemporary benefits progressive companies use to entice employees. It is a time-off policy different from the traditional policy in that employees don’t earn or accrue time-off hours. Flexible time off combines sick leave and vacation time, allowing employees to use all their flexible time off days at once, or at whatever intervals they wish.
In most companies with FTO policy, employees don’t feel pressured to use or lose their time off days when they’re due, as they can claim them at their convenience. FTO policies also accommodate more flexible reasons for taking time off beyond the traditional ones. It considers time off days for reasons such as mental health and wellness.
You want to structure your FTO policy to favor employees and, at the same time, not hurt your company’s operations. For instance, you may require your employees to seek authorization from you or a designated manager before claiming FTO. You may also cap how long employees can take time off within a specific duration.
Well-thought-out FTO policies will attract modern employees who desire more flexibility in their time off days.
Invest in a Collaborative Office Space Design
Gone are the days when office cubicles were fashionable, and professionals had to work their socks off to earn the corner office with a window and scenic view. Thanks to new office designs, millennials and Gen Z employees favor collaborative office designs where they can share ideas and learn from peers.
The traditional office designs with dull wall colors, file-crammed office cubicles, and basic lighting don’t inspire younger employees. These workers want inspirational office interiors that ignite their creativity and make them feel calm and productive.
Let Resourcing Edge Help You Design Benefits to Attract Top Talent
A good talent attraction strategy calls for more than designing a list of benefits and putting it out there on job boards. Far from that, it calls for a detailed talent market analysis to understand what’s pushing top talents into the arms of large companies. And this is where Resourcing Edge comes in.
At Resourcing Edge, we understand how the rapidly evolving talent market stretches small business’s HR capacity. You may not even have a dedicated HR department. This means you’re dealing with the ever-increasing recruiting pressure alone. And competing against more prominent companies with extensive HR departments and budgets.
That shouldn’t be the case. Why worry over HR recruiting while Resourcing Edge has your back? Contact us today, and let us help you land the top talent your business deserves.
- Do Your Employees Feel Secure About Their Financial Wellness? - March 28, 2024
- How Small Businesses Can Reduce Employee Burnout - March 28, 2024
- How to Integrate Gen Z and Millennials into the Workplace - November 30, 2023