For the past 18 months, the pandemic has hugely impacted both employees and employers. According to the CiPD, over 2/5 of UK companies had workers on furlough, a fifth of companies made redundancies, and many more put recruitment entirely on hold.
During this time, few organisations undertook initiatives to improve retention. Now that we have started to return to a new ‘normal,” employees are beginning to look elsewhere. Many feel disconnected due to working from home, and some just want a fresh start, believing that they can achieve a better package elsewhere. This has led to employers having to think very hard about retaining existing staff and competing with other companies to attract new talent.
As the Head of Talent Acquisition at Coniq, I manage our recruitment, and I see many talented people being snapped up at an alarming rate. Most candidates are interviewing with multiple companies and often receive more than one, typically within 10 days of starting their job search.
From my experience, the technology companies that are effective in attracting and keeping talent have a strategic employee engagement programme consisting of five core pillars – a solid recruitment process, employer branding, D&I, reward, and actively listening to colleagues. Let me explain what these pillars are and what we do at Coniq.
A Solid Recruitment Process
Retention starts with recruitment, and it is vital that a company has a transparent recruitment process to ensure a positive candidate experience. The first part of the recruitment process is identifying the need and creating an appealing and engaging job description that will reach – and appeal to – a wide audience. Secondly, the interview process must be transparent and communicated to candidates to respect their time and manage their expectations. The process needs to be swift. Promising candidates will be snapped up, so it’s important to move quickly and feedback throughout.
At Coniq, we all work collaboratively to create a transparent and swift recruitment process. We have a set template for our job descriptions and use an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) to advertise our roles. We also use our ATS to centralise our communication with candidates and each other. This ensures a smooth, transparent process and a positive candidate experience.
Employer branding
A company is only as good as the people who work for it, which makes it extremely important for employers to continually sell themselves to potential employees to attract the best talent. Creating a strong brand to showcase company culture, career prospects, and rewards will appeal to potential candidates. Using social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter will also widen the reach, and job descriptions will act as an opportunity to reflect this.
At Coniq, we want to be as transparent as possible, so we have included an ‘About Us’ section on our website with details about working for the company, employee stories, benefits pages and a careers section. We recognise that we need to attract potential candidates as much as future clients. Having a professional brand is an opportunity to stand out and create a positive, professional image.
Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) plays a considerable part in attraction and retention and goes further than just having a policy or program in place. Employers should respect and celebrate their employees’ uniqueness and embrace individual perspectives to create a culture of respect, trust, and collaboration. As a result, diverse and inclusive workplaces earn deeper trust and more commitment from their employees. Coniq is very proud of its 50/50 gender split and our multinational workforce: We have over 90 employees of more than 20 different nationalities.
Career Path
Many people leave their current roles because there is no career progression. Employers should listen to their employees and understand what each career path looks like. Where do they want to be in five years? What training opportunities are available? What areas can people move into? What is the career progression for each role? When looking at hiring needs, employers should also look at their existing staff members and look at opportunities for people to grow and move internally. This will inspire employees and create a strong culture of learning and development. All Coniq staff have twice-yearly review sessions in which clear objectives are set, and previous achievements can be rewarded.
Listen
A company that listens to its employees and respects and responds to their needs will be able to evolve with its current workforce. An employer/employee relationship should be one of respect, trust and collaboration. A company that has a culture of listening to its employees will encourage reciprocal respect where employees can fulfil their potential and allow the company to work at its best. Coniq has a very collaborative culture. We all work together regardless of tenure, team or seniority. Everyone has a voice, and we welcome feedback from our staff.
Final thoughts
Attracting and retaining employees is not easy, and what has appealed to people in the past may not be the case today. Employers should continually assess their recruitment strategies and staff provision and allow themselves to evolve to offer long term career opportunities.
