How to attract and retain talent in 2018

Until recently, corporate social responsibility was arguably seen as a compliance exercise companies had to fulfil, but now organisations are being judged by their future employees on how much they give back to society.

As the workforce demographic changes, companies must adapt and consider what the next generation finds attractive about an employer.

Organisations are now faced with the challenge of engaging talent to not only ensure they find their work rewarding but that it also supports a greater purpose.

So how can your organisation attract and retain the best talent?

1. Be clear on your business strategy and sense of purpose

Purpose and values lead to employees’ understanding their role and how they contribute to the success of your business; this creates loyalty and happiness.

Happy employees enthuse and promote the company, which in turn leads to customer loyalty, which drives a profitable business.

“Happy employees enthuse and promote the company, which in turn leads to customer loyalty, which drives a profitable business”

Create a forum for regular communication, create opportunities for employees to participate and encourage teams to use social media to share company news.

Fostering a sense of community and building that into a company’s purpose can help employees feel they belong to something bigger.

Here are three suggestions for how to engage in worthwhile community service:

• Sponsor a charity that resonates with the business purpose and become their dedicated and trusted partner. Offer resources – whether that is time, capital, people or skills. Dell Technologies is a Platinum Patron of The Prince’s Trust.
• Help save our planet. Be clear on how the business manages waste and is striving to be more sustainable across the value chain. Dell has partnered with Unilever to host a volunteering day to clean up the River Thames.
• Foster a sense of community. Developing simple workplace programmes that bring all elements of the business together can contribute quickly to building a sense of community. Try a volunteer outreach programme such as helping the elderly, the homeless, schools, etc.

2. Equip your team with the right tools

Allowing employees the freedom to work from wherever, whenever and however they like is statistically proven to improve job satisfaction.

The Randstad Workmonitor survey 2018 indicates that 82% agree that agile working allows them to maintain a good work-life balance and 81% say it improves productivity, creativity and job satisfaction.

Equipping your workforce with laptops, productivity tools and the right communications tools can significantly change how your business operates, attracts and retains young talent.

“82% of employees agree that agile working allows them to maintain a good work-life balance and 81% say it improves productivity, creativity and job satisfaction”

3. Move away from marginalising the next generation

It’s time to move on from language like ‘millennials’, ‘Gen Y’ and ‘Gen Z’. The reality is, they are all consumers and the next generations will naturally lead the way in adopting new trends and embracing new digital ways of working.

Rather than looking at how we can target this demographic, think about what we can learn from them. After all, in the age of diversity and inclusion, the more holistic we can be in our decision-making processes the better.

Dell Technologies currently runs a reverse mentoring programme to help bridge the generational gap.

This not only fosters a sense of community, but it provides excellent career opportunities for those at the beginning of their career and helps the less digitally savvy participants learn new ways to go about working, organising their week and learning new skills.