Elevating Employee Experience: The Biggest Challenge of Business Leaders in 2017

So what’s keeping up modern business leaders up at night these days? Well, if you ask them… lots of things, actually.

A CEO survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers a couple of months ago revealed that around 65% of businesses leaders think there are more threats to their businesses today than five years ago.

And for the vast majority of business people, retaining employees in a highly-competitive market lies at the top of the list of biggest challenges.

Why Companies Need to Offer More Benefits

The US economy has successfully bounced back from the recession, and it still continues to improve basically every day. According to WorldatWork research, in 2016, unemployment in America has been reduced to 4.6%, and this year, the salaries are expected to grow by 3%.

While this is great news for the nation as a whole, this also means that top employees now have more job options and that companies who want hire and retain those employees will have to offer more benefits, compensation and improve the overall experience of their workforce.

Employees Now Know Their Value in the Job Market

In the last couple of years, more and more workers started testing their value in the job market by doing research about the average pay in their industry, asking for higher salaries and even going to job interviews after work.

And they are confident in their abilities. In fact, Glassdoor recently discovered that more than 50% of employees think if they lost their job, they’d find a job that offers the same compensation as their current one within 6 months.

What You Need to Do to Retain Your Employees?

The bottom line is – if you want to attract the attention of top candidates and later keep them in you company, you need to try to improve their experience from the moment they step into your office for a job interview. Many companies rely on a Human Resources Management software to identify the best methods to attract, train, and retain employees.

So in order to help you attract as many top prospects as possible and retain your current staff, here are a couple of things you need to do to improve the employee experience in your company.

·         Give Your Workforce More Flexible Working Hours

Before, the most preferred employee benefit was healthcare coverage, but today, work flexibility takes the number one spot. Some workers are even ready to give up huge chunks of their salaries in exchange for the opportunity to work from home full-time.

As EY reports, almost three quarters of modern workers want to have the ability to work flexible hours and telecommute at least couple of days every month. The main reason behind this is that flexible work would allow them to focus on their home life and give them more control over their personal time.

·         Make Sure to Provide More Learning Opportunities

If you’re employees aren’t actively engaged in their work, they can quickly get bored with their jobs and start looking for better opportunities. And it turns out, according to Udemy research, that more than 45% of employees feel like lack of learning opportunities as the main reason why they are bored in their current jobs.

This is an area in which some business leaders might need some assistance. Luckily, some sales recruitment companies like Pulse Recruitment from Sydney, in addition to hiring services, can also help you employee training if you want to train the rookies or up-skill you current workforce.

·         Ensure Your Employees are Compensated Correctly

You have to face the facts – when it comes to employee recruitment and retention, money is one of the most important factors. It simply the best way to keep your staff motivated – according to a recent Vanity Fair poll, 35% of people say that compensation is the most important aspect of every job opportunity.

And as we mentioned before, today’s employees know their worth better than the previous generation did. They can easily visit a website like Salary.com and discover what the average pay in their profession is, compare it to your offer and leverage that information in your negotiation.

Final Thoughts

The bottom line is – if you want to win the war for top talent this year, you need to provide them with more flexibility and allow to work from home if possible; invest some money in employee training and provide them with the tools they need to thrive in your organization and if necessary, boost their pay.

If you don’t invest some time and money to engage your employees and meet their needs, you’ll just end up spending more money down the line. Just remember, it costs more to replace an employee than to make sure he’s completely satisfied.