Businesses across the globe are struggling to keep full employment and even the usual recruitment delays can’t explain the number of open positions. The fact of the matter is that modern companies, their functionalities, and the demand for their services has at least briefly outgrown the available skilled workforce for the roles required. This leaves most companies in a highly competitive environment not for customers, but for talented employees able to fill key company roles. In order to make themselves more appealing to the new wave of millennial professionals, many companies are adopting a whole new set of HR policies based on modern millennial values.
1) Transparent Charity Policies
Millennials are notorious for wanting more than just a career, they want to make a difference and be proud of the companies they work with. This means that they don’t just want you to donate to charity, they want to see the donations, know where they’re going, and be a part of the giving culture. Being transparent about your charity policies and even opening them up to employee involvement and participation is a great way to entice young professionals to your company.
2) Work-Life Balance Policies
As we can all admit, previous generations have set the bar for how not to manage a work-life balance. Latch-key kids, absentee dads, and single moms who almost never get to spend time with their children are something that the current generations would like to put behind them. While work challenges and long hours happen from time to time, employers who offer parent-friendly work hours and generous maternal/paternal leave policies will find a much larger number of eager employees looking to join their ranks. Good family policies can also include having a company daycare or child care compensation, great family health plans, and work from home policies for parents during parental leave.
3) Self-Enrolled Benefits Packages
Healthcare plans are not all the same, and these days it’s acknowledged that every family might need something a little different. Then there’s the fact that you’re dealing with a large variety of employee types from single ambitious young graduates to growing families with big responsibilities to retirees on their second career. By letting your employees self-enroll in several easy-to-compare programs or build their own benefits plans, you can ensure that every employee has the plan that is most appealing to them rather than optimizing for only one or two types of employee.
4) Health and Wellness Policies
Finally, most modern jobs have minimal physical demands and those that do require exercise come with an increased risk of injury. Top that off with the fast-food and restaurant lifestyle of most busy professionals and you have a growing health problem among highly skilled employees. One of the most appealing features any company can include are perks like company gyms, in-office massages, and healthy catered lunches. The easier you make it for employees to stay healthy, the happier and more efficient they will be. Many modern employees appreciate an employer that will help them maintain a healthy lifestyle even if they like to spend all their time at work.
What policies will you implement to give your company an edge in the competition for talented staff? Which policies do you already have in play? The key to enticing the employees you desire from their freelancing, retirement, or work with someone else is to make your company more welcoming, more accommodating, and a better life choice than the other available options. By offering choices, flexibility, and a positive attitude toward employee personal values, you can make working for you even more appealing than working for themselves.
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