Employers: How to Stay Cool in a Hot Job-Seeker Market

Kasia McCormick

In a world where hopping from job to job is standard and employees have the option to review the company they work for (or used to work for) online – it’s important for employers to come up with creative ways to entice prospects and keep current employees engaged.

So as an employer, how do you stand out among the masses while attracting strong talent and keeping current employees happy? Keep reading.

Offer Competitive Compensation

This may seem like a no-brainer but you’d be surprised. Sites like Glassdoor and Payscale give job-seekers insight into not only industry standards for compensation and benefits but also give direct insight into your own company’s standards based on reviews from current and former employees. Do the research and be fair when deciding on compensation – it pays off in the long run.

Create a Fun Office Culture

Compensation is a big piece of staying competitive with other employers, but another consideration is office culture. Snacks, work-sponsored Happy Hour’s, and other seemingly “small” benefits go a long way. In fact, a recent study by Glassdoor reported that 57% of survey respondents said benefits and perks play a major role when they’re deciding to pursue a job offer. Make sure your office has an exciting and inviting culture that even you would like to be a part of.

Gather Feedback

The best kind of information comes straight from the source – your current employees. Take the time to sit down one-on-one and listen to what your employees have to say. Some suggestions may be difficult to adopt, but others will be easy fixes that highly improve your employees’ day-to-day office life. Not sure how to gather feedback? Try a platform like TinyPulse – they are experts at gathering anonymous feedback via surveys which result in actionable data that allows you to focus your attention on the important stuff.

Reward & Incentivize

So now that you’re compensating well, creating fun office culture, and gathering feedback let’s talk about the next piece to the puzzle – rewards and incentives. Using rewards to encourage a certain behavior is a great way to incentivize employees. We already know that rewards drive results. We recently polled 33 customers and found that 45% of them have increased employee engagement by sending digital rewards powered by Tango Card. It’s crucial to understand that rewards are not one size fit all. As far as value goes gift cards have been the #1 wished-for gift in the U.S. for the past nine years, so it’s safe to say handing out gift cards as a reward is appreciated. Combining the power of rewards with a digital option that requires little to no effort operationally is the best way to motivate employees and keep them interested.