6 Areas to Consider to Hire Top Talent

6 Areas to Consider to Hire Top Talent

by | Aug 29, 2022 | Employment, Great Shift, Talent

*This article was originally published on great-shift.com

Why Should I Work for You? 6 Areas to Consider to Hire Top Talent

Even in the current crisis, the War for Talent continues.

The workforce is increasingly demanding and not willing to settle in just any organization.

There has been a paradigm shift, so I invite you to answer this question with me: why are many organizations having trouble recruiting?

Whilst in the past, employees were willing to compromise on work-life balance, accepting long commutes, constant relocations, and spending long days at the office overworking, which no longer holds.

Previously known as the malcontent and unstable, the trailblazers of Generation X, the followers of Gen Y, and now the even more innovative Gen Z have increasingly disrupted the way we work.

Our generation of workers is not moved by economic growth, climbing up the career ladder, or even the threat of job loss.

Particularly after the COVID pandemic, people started questioning themselves about the real meaning of work and what truly fulfills them at the workplace. And the answers to these questions are the key to attracting and retaining talented workers in your organization today:

  • Competitive and fair salary
  • Company history and employee engagement
  • Company values
  • Job location
  • Working hours
  • Benefits

So when a potential employee asks you why they should choose your organization, these are some of the aspects that might kindle a spark in their eyes.

Competitive and fair salary

Most employers put great emphasis on this one aspect: pay.

While salaries are still important, they have become just a qualifier.

When you reach your average salary, any dollar above that is less important, and the higher it goes, the less it impacts the talents’ decision. At the end of the day, it’s not about paying top dollars here but about offering a fair salary that complements other company elements and benefits.

And what is a fair salary? It’s a competitive salary for the market.

If you picture a job seeker having to choose between two companies with similar positions in the market, culture, and benefits, this person will choose the higher-paying bid. Or even someone currently employed that receives a better offer to change jobs. The chances of losing talent increase when the pay is not up to market trends.

Now, let’s imagine the higher-paying company has a less attractive company culture and benefits than the company offering a lower pay. If it, for example, offers the job seeker less flexibility, autonomy, and opportunities for growth, the job seeker is much more likely to choose culture over money. Especially in current times where talent is actively job-hunting for human-centric organizations.

When attracting talent, it is also essential to value your existing workforce. It’s an honest practice to ensure that new hires do not outearn existing talent with a similar job type, skill level, and years of experience. This could disrupt the culture and lead to lower motivation and engagement. If the employee’s performance then proves adequate, rises are rightfully justified.

Fair and equal remuneration is a crucial part of company ethics.

Company history and employee engagement

So, what else are people valuing the most these days?

I’d have to include here company history.

Why? It speaks to the job’s stability and the company’s stability, especially in economic crisis circumstances like the one we are now experiencing.

The workforce’s mindset seems to have been changing after the pandemic, with an increasing number of independent and traditional workers stating that independent work is more secure than traditional employment.

This makes it even more relevant to promote and prove to the employees that they will be able to stay in the organization for a long time or as long as they wish. You want to indicate that you’re a stable company, that you’re growing, innovating, and have a competitive market share that guarantees the sustainability of the business. Low employee turnover is something that you’d like to aim for.

And whereas the need and demand for stability vary according to the seniority and the lifestyle of the employee, job security always attracts more committed and engaged employees.

Company values

Culture is becoming more and more important for the workforce. People have become much more selective.

The more recent generation of workers are more attracted to companies that align with their values and are less likely to take a job that doesn’t resonate with their purpose, regardless of the position offered or package. This is effectively a big shift; whilst salary is important, there is a larger portion of the workforce that is no longer ready to compromise on these aspects. 

A one-size-fits-all type of organization has double the trouble in motivating and engaging everyone, and those who are wishy-washy about their mission, vision, and values soon lose the commitment of their people.

And just like when you establish the persona for your product or service, it’s become relevant to establish personas for your organization. What is its character? How are its relationships? How does it respond and contribute to the outside world?

This helps determine the work environment, as well as the type of people you want to work with. The key word here is synchrony, another aspect of a human-centric organization where the whole organizational system and culture resembles that of a community.

From then on, building up the values that influence the work environment and determining how you interact with all stakeholders is an easier task.

Overall, questions about culture have always been asked during the interview processes, but what the workers are craving now is to see how that translates into practice.

As a result, professionals are no longer asking questions like: “What are your Values?”  but rather: “You mentioned Trust is a key value. Can you share with me an example of how that translates into practice?”. Employees are tired of seeing nice company culture brochures and posters on the walls, they are hunting for “the real thing”!

Job location

Whereas in the past major cities were the optimal office location option, nowadays, it varies according to employee lifestyle and preferences.

And this is where you need to know your target market.

If you’re recruiting or retaining people that are in the life stage of having a family, the best job location for them is more likely to be a safe environment with less population density, good access to good education, and all sorts of infrastructures that support the growing family.

If you’re looking at attracting a younger crowd or a more social crowd, the demand here is more likely to be for good access to all sorts of amenities such as workout facilities, sports activities, eateries, nightlife, and adequate housing options.

If you’re trying to attract more impact-oriented people, it’s important to select a place with clean air and plenty of options to engage with nature and make a positive change in the community they are a part of.

Additionally, over the last years, people have been getting more and more used to working from home, and research indicates that 9 out of 10 employees want flexibility in where and when they work and that 54% of employees are likely to quit if they aren’t offered the flexibility they want. This means fully office-based work only gives you access to less than half of the talent pool. A larger number of organizations now offer hybrid work options to allow their employees to have some flexibility and, at the same time, have regular check-ins in the office and with their teams.

The Work From Anywhere (WFA) job policy is also on the rise. People in their early and mid-twenties, career changers, and independent workers are very open to traveling (digital nomadism) and even living in different countries. This means they are looking for flexible work models. The organizations that adopt such policies often organize company retreats and virtual events to create team bonding and collaboration, help build trust and improve communication.

Working hours

Working hours equals more or less flexibility for employees: will they be able to work and structure their days or follow a strict schedule? Do they have to work on weekends and not do activities with their families? Do they have to work long days?

One big trend to be aware of here is that more and more companies are experimenting with shorter work hours: from 40h/week to 35-30/hours a week and even 4-day workweeks. And these are the ones that are still tracking hours. Some organizations are going completely away from the concept of hours overall. Instead, they focus on the output rather than on the number of hours working.

This aspect is particularly important when it comes to work-life integration. The more flexibility you give your people to set their own work schedules, the more attractive the organization becomes. And while this can’t usually be done in every industry and trade, there’s always room for innovation and improvement of your people’s work-life balance.

Benefits

What are some of the benefits we’re talking about? The more standard and common benefits offered by organizations are health insurance, sick and medical leave, paid time off or holidays, career planning and progression, and educational assistance and training.

But nowadays, with the workforce increasingly valuing work-life balance and integration, progressive and human-centric organizations have started offering a new set of benefits to attract and retain their talent.

The rising trends include:

  • unlimited holidays
  • work-from-home days (hybrid work models)
  • work-from-anywhere days (fully remote or office-based companies that allow for up to three months of traveling and working from abroad)
  • flexible working hours
  • asynchronous work
  • company retreats
  • mental health days and assistance
  • wellness perks
  • volunteer time off
  • no overtime

The more the organization shows that it truly cares about the happiness and well-being of its employees, the more creative and comprehensive the benefits, and the more likely it is to increase its competitive advantage.

No, you don’t have to master all the aspects mentioned in the article to be in the market; there are plenty of average workers looking for jobs every day and considering modest bonuses and perks.

If you’re not able to offer a certain perk like, let’s say, working from home or flexibility then you should be able to compensate your people in another way. Maybe you need to offer a salary structure even higher than the market rate and team retreats and training to compensate for that. And if you don’t have the financial capability to do so, consider other benefits, be inventive, and ask your workforce what they want and, more importantly, what they need – in other words, what motivates them to get up in the morning and work for you.

However, to hold and attract top performers to your company, you should step up. At the end of the day, this is like a point system: organizations that tick off the most items from these lists increase their chances of getting and retaining the best talent out there.

Keeping up to date with current trends means you become less vulnerable and more competitive. HR work here is essential: to track your numbers (such as employee churn and lifetime, number of applications received for a position), assess your employee satisfaction rates, and understand where you can still improve.

As mentioned in the B4P – On People article, the whole employee experience, from recruitment to career progression and exit interviews, should be seamless. And just like in a Tetris game, you need to piece together the employee package in a way that fits both you and the workforce.

The live-for-work mindset is dying, and the work-to-live mentality is on the rise. Work-life balance and integration are a must.

Working for profit-oriented companies does not motivate people. A strong purpose and mission are needed to help engage the workforce. 

Organizations are groups of people that intentionally assemble to serve a purpose that is achieved through a set of planned objectives.

How Do You Connect To Your Team In A Virtual Setting?

How Do You Connect To Your Team In A Virtual Setting?

by | May 25, 2022 | Culture, Talent, Trust

Remote work is here to stay, no doubts about that.

So now that leaders and teams no longer look at working in a virtual setting as a temporary solution for the COVID pandemic crisis but actually wish to continue working in such a work model, some questions arise.

How can we deal with the change of setting? And what has really changed in the way people interact with each other?

There are still many leaders making an extreme effort to keep the same face-to-face initiatives while working remotely, while others have felt an increased need to try something different.

Get To Know Your People and Be Present

Let me share with you an example of one of the leaders that I coach.

So, this leader was saying, “Catching up with people is taking a lot of my time. As a result, my days are quite packed, and I’m spending half an hour with each of them every week, plus the team meetings. I mean, we have really connected well over the pandemic crisis, but I need to focus on my own work. Any advice for that?”

And I asked her a simple question, “How did you do it before in a physical setting, face-to-face?” She stopped and went quiet for a minute. And then she said, “Oh, I didn’t actually do it.”

So if you have 12 employees on your team, spending 30 minutes with each of them weekly totals 6 hours per week of bonding.

After she realized the impact of this change, she said, “Wow, I’m spending six-hour quality time with my team, yet we’re getting more stuff done than ever before. And yes I’m busy, but I’m actually not working extra hours.”

This is a simple example of how many leaders have shifted the way they drive their teams in a remote setting. In an effort to not lose the connection with the people, leaders have started setting up catch-up calls and team meetings with the purpose of bonding and supporting each other.

Create an Interactive Online Environment

As a fully remote worker, I am pleased to find that the resistance to online settings has decreased.

In our organization, we used to run a lot of in-person workshops; however, after COVID they had to be moved to a remote setting. This meant a reassessment of how and why we ran these sessions: what was the expected learning outcome in such a different setting? We were known for doing very interactive workshops. The question was, how could we translate the same interactivity into the virtual world?

How many times have you heard, “Online training is not as interactive, good, and effective as face-to-face?”

Well, we didn’t accept that and committed ourselves to changing the mindset of our partners and clients.

I can recall the numerous below-average face-to-face training sessions that I attended in my career.

So, is it actually the case that face-to-face training is more effective, or is it purely the fact that we remember some of the great good in-person sessions we had?

Haven’t we all had very poor face-to-face ones as well? Is it the setting or the way it is facilitated?

In our particular case, our participants never said: “I wish this had been face-to-face, it would have been way more interactive.”

I’ve been blessed to have been part of virtual teams for some years now. These teams have bonded quite well and some of us are still in contact.

Many people claim that it does take energy and conscious effort to lead remote teams. It does, but the truth is that it takes the same amount of energy and effort as when you choose to connect in a physical setting. I learned a great deal about this myself during my Global Executive MBA at the IE Business School.

There are, of course, elements that I do enjoy doing in a face-to-face setting. For example, at the beginning of a client engagement, it is nice to meet the participants in person.

However, with the development of technology, it is possible that we are fine-tuning the new norm and that some of these first encounters become less needed and necessary?

Begin Each Meeting with an Ice-Breaker

We have our team weekly meetings at the Great Shift which take one hour. We call them a lobby meeting, like if you’re meeting someone in the lobby on the way to your office desk and have a quick chat to go.

Before we begin those meetings, we always ask everyone an icebreaker question where we talk about our days, talk about how we feel, or simply ask random questions to have a laugh and get to know the person behind the screen. Understand that they are a human too and connect with them. This can be the most random question, such as, “What’s your favorite movie?” or “What’s your go-to TV series when you’re down?” Just the other week the question was, “If you were to be a cake, which cake would you be?”

Little things go a long way, that for us is replacing the casual, the water cooler.

Set Opportunities for Regular Interactions

What do some of our partners do? I was recently speaking to a startup in Singapore that has developed a virtual setting meant to connect anyone in the team at any time. It is like an office where people can go “sit” and have a conversation. So, employees can access the virtual network anytime to engage with others, exchange ideas, have meetings, or simply chat.

There is also this other startup that randomly matches people in the whole organization for 10-minute catch-ups. It’s completely voluntary, but these are the things that can be implemented without much difficulty, and, in some way, partly replace the daily interactions we used to have in an office setting.

In our organization, we also use internal communication software, Slack. I’ve personally used this for many years now, in different teams and in different settings, including in some of the mentoring I do in startups and on different professional networks. It not only makes the communication flow more efficiently, but it’s also a great means to share non-company updates.

Make Work Fun

I’ve mentored a company in the US that had 10 different recreation Slack channels, and its employees found so much about each other through them. Just by looking at the channel, I couldn’t believe people would connect so easily.

We have also created different channels in our team’s Slack channel from funny photos on the #frozen-screens-on-zoom channel to #bookjunkies where we share our best readings, and the #mental_health channel where we check in with each other, share our struggles, and challenges and post what we did to pamper ourselves on our monthly mental health day, and even a #ladies_lounge (I have no idea what happens there).

While it’s up to all everyone in the team to contribute and come up with those channels, they are captained by our project manager, Helena Cada, who meticulously keeps an eye on the app and looks at ways to improve it.

Build Trust

Yet another question that arises when working remotely is how to adjust to working with team members you’ve never met in person.

Of course, it’s great when you have met your team before, but when not, how can you actually make it work?

It’s arguably the same concept. There are a lot of things you can do in a virtual setting to build a meaningful connection. So far, I have only had the chance to meet one of my team members in person due to the travel restriction induced by Covid-19; however, none of the other collaborators have met before and I still believe this is the best team I have ever worked with.

I always make a conscious effort to build a solid relationship with every team member we onboard by scheduling regular one-on-one meetings. It is also a common practice for everyone to support and be empathic with each other. In reality, I believe that creating empathy and psychological safety is the foundation of a great team and the ultimate ingredient to building trust, and I believe this holds true for everyone on our team. Even our interview process is designed for applicants to meet as many team members as possible during the interview process.

Set Clear Expectations on Communication

There are incredible tools to learn more about each of your team members.

Take the 16 Personalities Test, for example, which we normally use in our team to better understand each other, and understand how we can better integrate everyone’s different ways of working.

Another important thing we also do is a working agreement, where you discuss with your collaborators how they want to be communicated to and with what kind of medium they want to use. For example, I have never in a team meeting forced anyone to turn on their cameras and that’s not something we demand anyone to do, but people voluntarily put their cameras on. Although I must admit I prefer seeing people on camera, my belief is that people should have the freedom to turn the camera off at times if they feel so. I would estimate that cameras are on 80% of the meeting times, yet, it’s not a mandate. 

Let Adults be Adults

Everyone is treated the exact same way in our company, regardless of their level of experience. And everyone responds the exact same way and treats each other accordingly.

Ricardo Semler used to say that when you treat people like grown-ups, they actually act like grownups. And I’m a strong believer in that, that if we treat people like adults, they will act like responsible adults. So far, from my own experience, this is true.

In our team, everyone is accountable for the work they have committed to do and has full responsibility to perform their tasks and ask for help and input whenever needed. By recognizing everyone is human and that there is always room and space for improvement, we openly discuss our mistakes without feeling judged; we even regularly do it in our monthly retrospective sessions.

Every team member behaves like a responsible adult that is empowered and capable of making both wise and bold decisions. And because transparency is encouraged, every one of us feels comfortable communicating our real thoughts and ideas regarding any process we are required feedback from.

And all this is done remotely without strict supervision or any sort of tracking system.

The knowledge and insights shared here with you are based on hands-on practices that have been working with the GS team and the teams we coach, so we do hope they will resonate with you.

We understand that every organization is different and, therefore, has different needs. So, if you are looking for solutions on how to build more cohesive remote teams, feel free to reach out, we’re happy to support you.

2022: The year of the Great Awakening

2022: The year of the Great Awakening

by | Apr 21, 2022 | Culture, Talent

I was at the Future of Work micro-conference that took place in February in Madeira Island and was asked if the power had shifted from employers to employees.

I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot lately, and I don’t think it has actually shifted. But what I think has been happening over the last year and a half, is that people are awakening to better ways of working and healthier work cultures with better leadership styles.

So, it’s not that the power has shifted to the workers, they are just claiming to not have their own power being taken away by an organization and their leaders. They have decided not to compromise, or at least not in the long term.

The requirements and needs of the workforce have increased. Now it’s not only important to have a great work environment. The talent wants to choose where to work from, work for a purpose beyond profit, perhaps have shares in your company and unlimited holidays and while we are at it, a 4-day workweek.

2022, is for me the year of the Great Awakening.

What do I mean by that?

Well, in 2020, a large majority of the workforce jumped into hybrid and remote work. At first, people simply accepted that they would have to adjust and balance personal with professional life for the upcoming months. A good portion of those people thought it would only be temporary and that was just their reality at that moment.

In 2021, that way of thinking started changing. The vast majority of people began thinking: “You know what, I’m actually enjoying this. There is more to life than just work. I do take great pride in my work, but it shouldn’t be the only thing that defines me. Work serves me to finance my lifestyle but it is not what I should be living for. It feels good not to organise my whole life around work anymore.”

Now, in 2022, that’s when the real mindset change took place. And that’s why I’m calling it the year of the Great Awakening. This is the year people started fully realising that it is possible to continue working remotely and recognising the benefits associated with it. After two years, the work is still being done and businesses are (not only) still up and running successfully, many are indeed thriving.
Work-life integration is possible after all.

Nowadays, more and more companies are adopting remote work and human-centric systems.
Take Safety Wing, Remote or Gitlab as good examples. Remote’s Handbook is even made public to help other companies adopt some proven, successful practices that support remote work.

And the workforce understood that they could actually work for companies like these that are more focused on giving people more flexibility and autonomy, more work-life integration, more chances to work at home or from anywhere they wish to, to have a healthier balance between personal, social, and professional life. To also spend more time with their loved ones, to see their kids being raised, to look after their pets and dogs.

And even if they are not aware that there are organisations offering all these options, people are quitting their jobs: the Big Quit movement that started in 2021, has now expanded throughout the globe. Change is no longer an option for all the leaders out there. When they don’t enable it, their people are the ones that make it happen.

When we look at some data from this year alone, 20% of the workforce around the globe feels disengaged at work, 41% plans to resign from their jobs and 46% of workers consider relocating and working remotely. For close to 50% of Gen Zs and Millennials office or hybrid work is no longer an option.

More and more, I see the people around me becoming increasingly selective with the list of companies they’d consider working for. When in an interview, questions regarding the company’s culture, environment, work policies, and flexibility are asked. They don’t want just a job – the role and career (progression) matter less than their own well-being and satisfaction or happiness.

And according to Gartner, these are some of the trends you can expect to observe this year:

  • shorter workweeks will become more attractive than salary increases;
  • employee turnover will continue to rise as people choose to work remotely or in a hybrid mode refusing to go back to the office;
  • employee well-being becomes a new metric companies will take into account;
  • an increased need of organizations to have a designated HR employee overlooking the question of purpose.

As I mentioned in my article The War for Talent in August last year: “In the past, the workforce was trying to get the best work-life balance out of the job they had. Nowadays, people look for jobs based on their lifestyle choices and are less likely to make sacrifices for a career than ever before.”

While it may seem like a gigantic step to upgrade your organization’s culture and leadership style, if you want to capitalize on a motivated and dedicated workforce that will move mountains for you, open yourself to creating a whole new way of working that fits both the business and the workforce.

We are living in exciting times when it comes to co-creating the future of work. It is not that we are reinventing the wheel as many of the workplace practices being adopted today have already been proposed and even tested by different maverick entrepreneurs who challenged the status quo in their own organizations. However, only now do we see a collective movement of employees and employers increasingly taking steps that challenge the way we do work and run organizations.

In my personal opinion, we are building better, sustainable work ethics where all spheres of our lives can be better integrated. People will finally be able to look at their work and professional life in a different light. We will not only work to have a source of income or something that will give us a certain social status, but to support a business we believe in, to give back to the community, to get involved in projects with different people, to challenge ourselves to keep learning throughout our lives and developing various skills and abilities.

As the Great Awakening is loading, I look forward to continuing witnessing and catalysing the shifts and upgrades that are taking place in organisations around the world. This change movement will define how we do work in the years to come.

The War for Talent

The War for Talent

by | Aug 11, 2021 | Talent

The Organization’s War for Talent

After running a few sessions for organizations last week I realized I keep getting very similar questions about the talent, salaries, and employment forms. I felt it was time to share a few of my thoughts on how these matters have shifted.

Priorities of the workforce have been changing for quite some time now and Covid-19 definitely sealed the deal.

Covid times accelerated the change in organizational patterns and brought it to a point of no return where traditional models got to a point of “we are going to give this a go”. I can only say I saw this coming as my own vision of how things work and should work has always differed from the norm.

The Big Exodus of the Workforce

Countries like Germany, the USA, Canada and Australia have been built with the support of many immigrants. But, gone are the days when people had to move continents to find a job.

Even my own story is quite aligned to that, as my grandfather and father both migrated to find better opportunities. I, myself, migrated again in search of a better lifestyle and career opportunities first to Dubai and later on to Australia.

And now, after so many decades of people migrating in search of a better life, a dramatic shift is happening.

A few years ago, I was running a workshop with public servants from local, state, and federal agencies. I still remember the look on their faces when I mentioned that councils are in fact competing with each other as their clients (aka citizens) can move if they prefer the Customer Experience of other councils or states. As a matter of fact, I had left Germany, as I preferred the “Customer Experience” that Australia was offering.

For the first time in ages, more people are rather moving out of big cities than moving into the cities to look for employment.

I also mentioned that it wouldn’t be too long for people to be living location-independent. At the time, at best, people might have thought I was just a lunatic. Yet, less than 4 years later it is happening: the big exodus from cities and countries. Worldwide, cities like Milan, New York, Sydney or Melbourne are witnessing this big exodus of professionals moving to the countryside or even to other nations. And this, of course, shifts company culture and employment rules altogether.

The Rules of the Game Have Changed

In the past, the workforce had very clear functions, roles, and responsibilities.

Even the division of functions in married couples was mostly clear, one partner focusing on the career and the other on taking care of the house and family, right?

After the industrial revolution, entire industries were built on values like status and career progression. The number of hours that would cost and what it would do to the work-life balance of employees was always secondary.

If work got tougher and people complained then a big bonus or a pay rise would fix it. And when that didn’t do the trick anymore, employees would keep looking for other status symbols at the workplace: things such as the corner office, the paid company vacation, etc.

Well, nowadays, all these past rules are no longer applicable or at least they don’t work as well as they used to. Call me crazy but I see so many talented people on the job market that are literally bypassing the system by choosing different career paths and alternative forms of employment. They are challenging the playbook and I would even dare say they are playing a completely different game.

The old ways are gone now as we are entering a new era – an era I would like to call the “war for talent”.

The War for Talent Has Only Just Begun

There is now a category of workers that is no longer motivated by the same values that worked in the past. Nevertheless, entire industries keep trying to fight new challenges with the same old tools and strategies.

I recently read an article about the hospitality industry in England. Granted, Brexit took its toll, but overall, hundreds of thousands of people decided to turn their back on an industry that they lived and loved in some cases for decades.

Why would people want to quit a profession they love so dearly? It’s quite simple: their values have changed!

And I am not only talking about the younger generations I see this across the board. In the last 3 months, the amount of people that have told me they turned away from a better paying job in favor of a better work-life balance is the highest I have ever witnessed. In the past, I heard many people saying they sacrificed time with their families for a career opportunity (“only for the next two years” they would say) but today they are actually more than ready to take on a lower-paying job in exchange for lifestyle benefits.

I remembered one of my first employers in Sydney, moving the office from St. Leonard’s to the CBD, as it was going to make the employer more attractive for talent.

The new priority is no longer the base salary. The new priority is no longer the great location of the office. The new currencies of the labor market are flexibility and autonomy.

Attracting Talent: Multinationals vs Startups

I have to smile when I hear multinational companies saying they cannot attract talent. When I ask them what they are doing to attract more talent the two most common answers I get are that they either increase salaries or reduce entry requirements.

On the other hand, I see startups that haven’t been in the market for even a year being overrun with applications. What are these companies doing differently and why is talent choosing them over big, powerful, successful, established companies?

Quite simply, they know what the workforce wants and have their priorities straight! These companies understand their workforce and are ready to join the war. The war for talent!

These new companies understand that flexibility, team culture, purpose, work-life balance, autonomy are values that are more important and valued than salaries and status symbols, like the corner office.

Offer Lifestyle Over Career

This war is different as it defies the traditional boundaries and rules. And I am not debating here whether or not this is right or not, I am just sharing what I can observe from my own experience of working with organizations and individuals.

People will find ways to support their lifestyles and even move countries if they have to. Not to find the right employment as they can find that no matter where they are. They will move to find a better and more suitable lifestyle within their budgets.

In the past, the workforce was trying to get the best work-life balance out of the job they had. Nowadays, people look for jobs based on their lifestyle choices and are less likely to make sacrifices for a career than ever before.

Food for Thought…

Imagine your Sydney-based company is struggling to attract new, motivated, and highly-skilled talent. Is there a chance that some other company in a remote place like Bali or Hawaii is set up to offer this talent better working conditions? And more, this company doesn’t really care if their workforce is based in an expensive studio in Sydney or in a large property in Tasmania as they can run remotely. Would your company be able to compete?

What is your company doing to win the war for talent?