It can be very difficult to find qualified workers in any field today, especially if you are looking to hire people with specialized skills or in an overly competitive industry. In the post-pandemic economy, companies have been forced to rethink their strategies for compensation and benefits in order to compete in a whole new marketplace for talent.
As a business coach in the Louisville, Kentucky area, I have had many clients who were seeking assistance in recruiting. You probably have heard about or experienced labor shortages yourself as a business owner, and we all understand how damaging it can be to be without a key player in your company by having a vacant role for long periods of time, or to have to fill a role with a less talented person.
While I can help in many ways as a coach, such as suggesting local associations to recruit from or assisting in effectively advertising the open position, I have had to have some difficult conversations with clients recently regarding their compensation and benefits strategy.
You can build a fantastic culture, have an attractive opening and advertise it in all the right places, but if you’re getting beat by other employers on salary, benefits or work life balance issues then you are going to not only lose when recruiting new employees, you are likely to lose current ones as well.
The marketplace today demands a change in our mindset when it comes to recruiting, compensation and benefits. You must get creative and give your employees specialized packages which fit their needs and advance their own personal and professional goals.
This can look different for people in different fields, but I always tell my clients to ask their people what is truly important to them and then try to make it happen. While you must be competitive regarding salary, this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to pay more. Offering a better 401(k) plan, giving people the option to work from home, offering a great benefits package or giving people the option to take more time off for sickness, the birth of a child or other major life events all factor in and should be evaluated.
If you feel you are losing qualified candidates, are experiencing high turnover rates or simply need an experienced voice to help you determine the right compensation plan, I am here to help. I have included a quote from a recent coaching session below for reference, and if I can help your business please give me a call or fill out the form on my website to get started today.
You need to make changes; you need to adapt. It’s not about just paying people more money or giving more perks and benefits. Those are nice, but those types of things may not apply to everybody; everybody’s different.
It used to be, we used to do more vanilla, cookie cutter benefits and packages that we give to everybody. I don’t think that’s the way to do it going forward. What I think, as we continue to personalize and customize our products and services to meet the needs of our clients and customers, we also need to personalize our pay and our benefits to meet the needs of the employees.
