What are the most effective ways to attract and retain talent during an expansion?

Speak about your work culture to potential talents through company website and social media using video. Give them a feel of what it is like to be a part of the company, growth prospects, employee engagement, work life balance and so on. Get senior and ex employees to speak about their experiences working with the organization.

IMO it isn't compensation that drives people to new roles. Comp is a factor in new roles, but not a driving force for retention. In terms of recruitment, people need to see an improvement in quality of life. The greatest area you can have this in in your benefits package and perks. The other part is transparency in your pay from the get go. Saying what the position pays up front will help people see if they see your compensation as competitive.

In my experience this is best done in conjunction with the employee. Understanding the career path the employee wants combined with the organization yields best results. Moving a person to a role that may be more responsibility, more travel, or goes from an individual contributor role to a leadership role sometimes can be the thing that actually will cause people to leave an organization to take a step back from that advancement. Do not assume everyone wants those new roles and having strong trust and communication can help retain those people.

This is huge. Number one reason people leave a job is they have an interpersonal issue with either a supervisor or co-worker. Building a healthy work environment that values all people. Having avenues for constructive criticism and valuing every person that works there. Having a workplace people want to be at because they feel valued, respected, and have the tools to succeed goes a long ways to retention. If someone is awaiting an interview and no one is happy, says hi, or smiles, it is going to be hard to attract that person to join your team.

Post-pandemic the work-life balance is even more key to retention and attraction. This means having teams at full-employment and not being overworked. It means letting people recharge and disconnect from work during PTO. It means requiring PTO and encouraging sick people to stay home. Flexibility around schedules to accommodate family and other commitments as long as the job is getting done.

People do not join companies. They team up within your team of teams. If the work your team does has a deeper meaning and is rewarding in many ways - you turn into a talent magnet. Protect your culture from souring - cynicism, pessimism, and machiavellism can be quite contagious. Let your culture evolve ?? with time, improve by creating & criticizing new ideas, and move forward towards a better version of itself.

People want to feel valued and respected. Treat people as an asset and not a commodity. One person can ruin a good team and cause havoc. This person may be the expert and most highly qualified, but if they make everyone jump ship, are they truly a value to your organization? Happy employees are more productive and less likely to leave. Happy employees are part of teams people want to join.