Strategies for an employee’s market

It’s very much a job seeker’s market at the moment. If you’re fortunate enough to have in-demand experience, skills or qualifications, you can have your pick of jobs. This presents employers with challenges not only in terms of recruiting new talent but in holding onto the people they’ve already got.

But sometimes the solution lies closer to home than people think. "Companies often think they need to look externally for the skills they need," says Skillnet Ireland executive director Tracey Donnery.

“They need to look at the talent they already have and look at how they support and develop their people internally to develop their skills. To succeed in a fast-paced economy, companies need a workforce that is also fast-paced and flexible.”

The key to this is helping employees develop new skills through workplace learning and development programmes. These programmes can be as simple as giving people opportunities to work in other parts of the business or can be more formal. “Companies need to ask what skills they have, what skills they need to ensure future success, identify the gaps, and then look at the programmes needed to bridge those gaps,” Donnery advises.

Companies can work with Skillnet Ireland-supported Learning Networks to get help in designing those programmes, she adds. “Other network members may already have developed talent mobility plans and the networks may have worked with other companies on this. Companies share their knowledge on increasing the flexibility of talent within organisations and this allows other companies to learn how to develop their talent.”

Legal firm Matheson casts it net widely in the search for new talent, according to HR director Lorraine Roche. "It's always a challenge to access the best talent and you can never be complacent about it," she says.

“We build talent pipelines for the future in a number of different ways. We offer a bonus to employees who refer candidates to us. We also work closely with recruitment agencies to ensure they are fully briefed on Matheson. They are our front of house when it comes to recruitment, after all.”

And the search is not confined to Ireland. “We also build international talent pipelines,” Roche says. “Our recruitment agencies have overseas office networks and we are using them to look for people abroad who may either want to return to Ireland or come here to work at some stage in the future. We provide visa support to help ease the move to Ireland for foreign nationals.”

Brand and reputation

An employer’s brand and reputation are critically important when it comes to attracting and retaining talent, according to Niamh Graham, vice president of HR with Workhuman, the social recognition and continuous performance management software specialist.

“Every conversation I hear in this area is about people wanting to work for an employer where they have a sense of belonging, where they feel they are making a difference and adding value,” she says. “They don’t want to be just a number. People want to work for companies that focus on their people.”

The company recently changed its name from Globoforce, for a reason. "We are in the human era," says Graham. "Even though people talk about the digital era, we feel strongly that it is the human era as well. It's about putting people first and putting people at the centre of everything you do. We have done a lot of research with IBM on the employee experience and a number of different elements stand out which contribute to a positive employee experience. These are what make organisations stand apart from the rest when it comes to attracting talent."

The first of those elements is a positive culture linked to values. “Employees want to be part of organisation with a positive culture,” she says. “They also want to be part of a workplace which has a purpose and where they make a difference and feel a sense of belonging. They want to be appreciated and recognised and receive real-time feedback for their contribution.”

Employers also have to allow employees to be themselves, she says. “You don’t want employees to feel they have to leave their inner selves outside the door when they go into work, that’s why we embrace the whole human. Employees want the opportunity to grow and develop and employers have to give their people training and development opportunities.”

Creating that environment has worked for Workhuman. “Our employees become our ambassadors,” says Graham. “If you put your employees first, they will put you first. We get a huge amount of candidate referrals through our employees.”

Job design

Deloitte director Ian Curtin believes job design comes into play as well. "You need to design jobs to make them compelling for people," he says. "The overall offering has to be compelling as well. The employee experience is much more important now and people are able to use social networks to look at an employer's reputation. There is much more data available now to help people make up their minds if they want to work for an organisation or not."

He agrees with Graham on the need for purpose. “It’s very important that a business has a real purpose and we are seeing a move globally to purpose-driven organisations. They are more attractive to millennials than bottom line or production-driven organisations. Another key characteristic of millennials is the desire to take responsibility quite early. Employers need to give employees responsibility and autonomy early on and offer them the opportunity to shape how the business works.”

Employers can also work to develop new skills in the wider labour force by working with Skillnet Ireland, according to Tracey Donnery. “We support companies to develop programmes for people who are currently unemployed or others who wish to return to the workforce,” she says. “We have helped design very successful programmes for the ICT and medtech sectors, for example. The training is combined with work placements to help people become more work ready.”