The Way We Attract And Retain Talent Is Wrong
Jacob Morgan
Keynote Speaker, Professionally Trained Futurist, & 5x Author. Founder of "Future Of Work Leaders" (Global CHRO Community). Focused on Leadership, The Future of Work, & Employee Experience
This is part of LinkedIn's new Newsletter Series. To get weekly exclusive CEO interviews, and insights on leadership, the future of work, and employee experience hit the "subscribe" button here.
We’ve been attracting and retaining talent the wrong way for decades.
Traditionally, we entice prospective employees with stories about what it’s like to work for our company. We share perks and promises to get them to accept the job.
No one starts out hating their job. New employees are excited to jump in and work for the company.
But over time, that excitement wanes. Outdated workplace practices, negative employee experiences, office politics, and red tape pull employees away from the connection they initially felt with the company. When that happens, the organization does an employee engagement survey, sees low scores, and goes to HR to introduce a new perk. Leaders think something trivial like free lunch once a week will solve all their problems and roll it out with great fanfare to employees.
And at first, it works! Employees are happy with something new, and their job satisfaction goes up. But over time, the enthusiasm wears off. They realize those outdated workplace practices and negative employee experiences are still there, and their satisfaction drops.
That’s when the company does another employee engagement survey and introduces a new perk. It’s a vicious cycle that doesn’t actually do anything meaningful to change how work gets done.
Too many organizations view employee engagement as an adrenaline shot. They distract employees about what it’s like to work for the company instead of actually making the company a better place to work and creating an environment where people want, not need, to come to work.
To effectively attract and retain talent, companies need to focus on making lasting and substantive changes in three core areas: culture, technology, and physical space. It’s not about the surface-level perks--it’s about changing core workplace practices that keep employees engaged and connected to the work.
I put together a video which talks about this in more detail. Please check it out below and if you want more content like this you can subscribe to my Youtube channel.
------------------------------------------
This episode is sponsored by Workplace from Meta.
Workplace is a business communication tool from Meta. Think Facebook, but for your company.
It's part of Meta's vision for the future of work. A future in which we'll all feel more present, connected and productive.
Start your journey into the future of work at workplace.com/future.
------------------------------------------
In case you missed it, I just launched a subscription version of my podcast. Get ad-free listening, early access to new episodes and bonus episodes with the subscription version of the show The Future of Work Plus. To start it will only be available on Apple Podcasts and it will cost $4.99/month or $49.99/year, which is the equivalent to the cost of a cup of coffee.
Fast-track your path to leadership success with The Future of Work Plus. I can’t wait for you to hear all the content we have in store!
Staffing Partner/Connecting Top Talent/Building Top Teams/Executive Search
2 年Jonathan Lee so true!
HR Generalist and Change Management Professional with a side hustle as a cheerleader of human kindness in pursuit of all things happy!
2 年So true, over sell and under deliver. When I see a job add that firsts introduces the company in a two paragraph explanation of how amazing they are, it’s a red flag for me. Culture and employee engagement needs to start by the leadership team doing the work to create a safe and engaging work environment that promotes innovation and fosters trust. Thanks for posting, very insightful ??
Menopause Health Mediator and Strategist | Lifestyle, Healthcare Navigation and Health Literacy
2 年So true! Thank you for your perspectives. Where would red tape and bureaucracy fit in your 3 categories? For example, the process needed to get something approved, or for filling out time sheets?
Senior IT Manager
2 年One of the best books I read that helps attract and retain talen is from teh book Smart and get things done by Joel Spolsky. It was written a while ago, however a lot of the concepts in that book are still relevant today. To the point of your article, companies need to be open to change especially in the technology sector, they need to embrace the iterative cycles. Try something for a short cycle and gain feedback.
?? Here to help develop better leaders! ? Leadership consultant and coach, author of ?? Empowering People Through Caring Leadership ?? Individual & peer group coaching.?? Thinkers360 Thought Leader.
2 年Spot on Jacob Morgan, thank you! I'm not a fan of those large surveys. I believe employee engagement is generally about leadership. Caring leadership and people focused culture will yield maximum engagement, performance and loyalty.