In today’s fast-paced world, the final step of any journey often defines the entire experience – whether it’s receiving a package or stepping into a new role.
In the e-commerce industry, this is known as the last mile – the final stretch where a package makes it from a warehouse to a customer’s doorstep. In the world of talent acquisition, the last mile is the onboarding process for new hires – the crucial transition from candidate to employee.
While these two functions may seem worlds apart, they share more than just operational significance – a fundamental truth: they both represent make-or-break moments that directly shape long-term satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.
The last mile is often the final and most memorable point of contact – for consumers and new hires alike.
The Amazon Paradigm: What Can We Learn from Logistics
Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, was among the first to obsess over the last mile. He recognized that even a perfect ordering experience would be forgotten if the delivery fails. His emphasis on speed, accuracy, and reliability in the last mile helped shape Amazon into the gold standard of e-commerce. According to McKinsey, 85% of customers will abandon a brand after having a poor delivery experience (1).
Bezos’ logic was simple yet powerful: the final impression is the lasting impression. And to dominate a market, you must control the moment closest to the customer’s memory. Amazon didn’t just win on product range or price – it won on follow-through.
This same logic applies with even greater emotional weight in the talent space. A candidate journey that starts strong but ends with chaos or confusion during onboarding leaves a lasting negative impact to the employer brand.
Onboarding: The Human Last Mile
In talent acquisition, onboarding functions in a similar way to logistics. It is not just an administrative step – it is a critical brand experience. A seamless recruitment process can be quickly undone by disjointed onboarding:
Filling out the same information multiple times due to non-integrated vendor platforms
Being asked to locate noncritical documentation for outdated background checks
Experiencing multiple start date changes due to delays in provisioning or compliance
These frictions create unnecessary stress, confusion, and disengagement. And when new hires show up on Day One with no laptop ready for them, no access, no training plan, and no one expecting them, it’s the equivalent of a package marked “delivered” that never arrived.
Unfortunately, such experiences are more common than we might think. According to Gallup, only 12% of employees strongly agree that their organization does a great job onboarding new hires (2). This means that nearly 9 in 10 people are walking into new roles with uncertainty or unmet expectations.
The Impact of a Broken Last Mile
This failure to invest in onboarding doesn’t just impact employee sentiment – it directly affects business outcomes. The onboarding phase plays a critical role in shaping:
Time to productivity
Early-stage attrition
Long-term engagement and loyalty
According to SHRM, organizations with a structured onboarding process found employees are 58% more likely to stay with a company for at least 3 years and are 50% more productive (3). These aren’t marginal improvements – they’re strategic outcomes.
Companies can quantify this for themselves by comparing early turnover or in job performance among employees who experienced start date delays, system errors, or compliance issues, versus those who entered the organization seamlessly. This kind of post-hire analytics is still underutilized but offers powerful insights into where experience gaps are damaging long-term value creation.
Further, research by Josh Bersin reinforces that effective onboarding programs are critical to long-term employee success, engagement, and retention. They must go beyond forms and checklists to include early feedback loops, immediate manager involvement, peer connections, and digital enablement.
And companies that do this well – dramatically increase engagement scores and reduce first-year turn-over (4).
Onboarding Is Experience, Not Administration
Organizations that treat onboarding as a compliance checkpoint or IT provisioning workflow are missing the point. Today’s candidates expect an onboarding experience that matches the consumer-grade interactions they’ve come to expect in daily life – from ride-hailing apps to real-time delivery updates.
The most successful onboarding strategies borrow tactics from logistics, e.g.:
Route optimization: for TA, this means leveraging integrated platforms that sync HR, IT, security, and background check vendors into one seamless workflow. Manual handoffs are where most delays happen.
Real-time tracking: just as customers can track a package in transit, new hires want to track their onboarding progress: completed steps, upcoming actions, required documents. This transparency reduces uncertainty and improves satisfaction.
Flexible delivery options: onboarding should be customizable, mobile-friendly, and intuitive. Candidates want to complete tasks from their phone, on their schedule, with clear deadlines and reminders – not clunky emails and PDFs.
When onboarding is reimagined as an experience rather than a checklist, it transforms into a powerful driver of culture, confidence, and clarity.
Reframing Onboarding as a Strategic Function
When organizations treat onboarding as a strategic differentiator, the results follow. Much like Amazon’s investment in last-mile logistics unlocked market leadership, organizations that invest in onboarding see:
Lower voluntary turnover within the first 12 months
Faster ramp-up in performance
Higher engagement and cultural alignment
Stronger advocacy and employee referrals
At a time when employer brand, agility, and retention are more important than ever, this is not a luxury investment – it’s a business imperative.
Onboarding is no longer just a transition between recruitment and operations. It’s the first real test of organizational credibility. The candidate is now your employee, and they’re watching to see if the brand promise becomes their lived reality.
So the next time you marvel at the speed and precision of a package delivery, ask yourself:
Are your new employees receiving that same level of care and clarity?
Because just like Amazon’s customers, employees remember their first experience – and it defines whether they stay for the long haul.
References:
McKinsey & Company “Digitizing mid- and last-mile logistics handovers to reduce waste”
Gallup “Creating an exceptional onboarding journey for new employees”
SHRM “Onboarding: The Key to Elevating Your Company Culture”
Josh Bersin “The Employee Experience: It’s Trickier (and more important) Than You Thought”
In the fast-paced realm of Human Resources and Talent Acquisition, staying ahead of the curve is not just a competitive advantage; it’s a necessity. As we step into 2024, the dynamics of the workplace continue to evolve, presenting both challenges and opportunities for businesses worldwide. The recently released report by Visier, 2024 Workplace Trends offers invaluable insights into these shifting landscapes, providing a roadmap for commercially savvy Heads of HR or Heads of TA to navigate successfully.
One of the key takeaways from the document is the emphasis on hybrid work models. As organisations continue to adapt to the realities of remote work, the traditional office setup is undergoing a profound transformation. Flexible work arrangements are no longer merely a perk but a fundamental aspect of attracting and retaining top talent. For HR and TA leaders, this means reimagining recruitment strategies, revamping onboarding processes, and fostering a culture of inclusivity and collaboration regardless of physical location.
The report also highlights the rising importance of data-driven decision-making in HR and TA functions. In an era where every aspect of business is increasingly quantifiable, leveraging data analytics is no longer optional—it’s imperative. By harnessing the power of workforce analytics, HR and TA leaders can gain deeper insights into employee engagement, performance metrics, and talent acquisition pipelines. This data-driven approach enables proactive decision-making, driving efficiency and effectiveness across the board.
The report covers the critical role of employee well-being in shaping organisational success. As the boundaries between work and personal life blur, prioritising employee wellness is paramount. From mental health initiatives to flexible scheduling options, HR and TA leaders must champion initiatives that support the holistic well-being of their workforce. After all, a healthy and engaged workforce is the bedrock of sustainable business growth.
The importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in driving innovation and fostering a culture of belonging continues to be critical. As businesses strive to remain relevant in an increasingly diverse marketplace, prioritising DEI initiatives isn’t just a moral imperative—it’s a strategic imperative. By embracing diversity in all its forms, organisations can unlock new perspectives, drive creativity, and ultimately, gain a competitive edge in the market.
By embracing hybrid work models, leveraging data analytics, prioritising employee well-being, and championing diversity and inclusion, HR and TA leaders can position their organisations for success in the years to come. As we embark on this journey of transformation, let’s embrace change as an opportunity to innovate, adapt, and thrive.
There is no business as usual anymore
At AMS we’re proud to be partnering with the Josh Bersin Company to produce a new series of quarterly reports on the Talent Climate. These reports will explore today’s challenging and turbulent world of talent, providing up-to-date and in-depth market insights, trends, and solutions for how to tackle the changing global talent conditions.
The first report, published earlier this month and available to download here, focusses exclusively on time to hire. Time to hire may not feel like the most strategic metric with which to assess the talent climate but it’s the metric that is most commonly measured by talent acquisition professionals and the metric for which I’m most often asked to provide benchmarks. The report leverages half a million global data points from AMS, in addition to The Josh Bersin Company database of hundreds of HR practices. For the report, the Josh Bersin Company analyzed hiring data from eight industries and over 25 countries. The insights offered are broken down by Industry, Region, Roles, and Country. It’s an incredibly detailed report which I know all talent acquisition specialists will find invaluable.
The findings of the report couldn’t be clearer. Despite continual innovation in talent acquisition, despite the deployment of automation and AI, virtual working, mobile applications, video interviewing, despite all the progress that recruitment leaders have made, it’s taking progressively longer to hire talent.
As of 2022, time to hire took an average of 43 days globally (measured from the approval of a hiring requirement to the point that a candidate verbally accepted an offer). That metric differs by sector (Defense, Energy and Engineering have a mean time to hire of 48 days whilst Retail & Consumer Goods have a mean of 38 days). The metric also differs by region but not dramatically, North America hiring takes a mean of 40 days compared to 43 days for the EMEA region.
In the report, the Josh Bersin Company explain three reasons as to why time to hire is increasing. They point to low unemployment rates, the exit of baby-boomers from the workforce and decreasing birth rates which are together stagnating or shrinking the working age populations in many countries. They point to changing behaviors of job-seekers and the demand for better benefits and flexibility. And they point to the changing demand from employers for new skills – skills for which demand outstrips supply.
So what can Talent Acquisition leaders do to slow or reverse the increasing time to hire? My companion article here shares six strategies for reducing time to hire:
Leveraging talent intelligence
Tailoring recruitment brand messaging
Deploying an expert candidate sourcing capability
Putting candidate experience first
Innovating and automating
Delivering on candidate care
Please do read the article for my thoughts on each of the above areas.
We’re excited to bring you the next of our Talent Climate reports later this year which will include updated time to hire trends as well as a focus on other key talent trends and metrics.
As always, if you would like to be notified when future articles are published, please click the ‘subscribe’ button at the top left of this page to receive a link in your inbox.
Despite years of advancements in recruitment technologies, data shows that hiring is getting progressively harder and taking longer than at any time in the last five years. As time to hire increases, businesses are working harder than ever to find the right talent for the right roles.
When clients approach us to come up with something transformative, we know it’s going to be a challenge we can help solve. So, when US-based healthcare service providers, LHC Group, asked us to help redefine them as the “destination of choice” for healthcare workers, we jumped at the chance.
The task for our Employer Brand and Advisory team was to attract and retain quality healthcare workers in a saturated US-market, while preserving the community-owned business feel, and positioning the client in a relatable, authentic way. We knew that to elevate the employer brand and make it connect with the targeted candidates, a well-thought-out mobilization plan was needed – starting with an EVP.
The EVP would serve as the foundation for all the LHC Groups’ brand and attraction strategies and used across all candidate platforms. But first, using our diverse perspectives and expertise, our team needed to understand the challenges, successes and candidate profiles to inform personas and key messages. Once we’d gathered this information from the client, the EVP pillars were created and tailored to each audience, along with messaging pillars and an activation strategy.
As part of the solution, we delivered an employer brand story, a relatable and engaging narrative, a new career website, and an employer brand and recruiter toolkit. We also provided LHC Group local care providers with customizable branded attraction materials, brand messaging, and assets to elevate the candidate and employee experience.
And the result? Through delivering a robust EVP strategy, we’ve seen an increase in social metrics and Google Ad clicks, attracting and retaining the best healthcare professionals and helping establish LHC Group as the employer of choice in the healthcare industry. If you’d like to find out more, read the case study here.
Why is everything seemingly about doing things quietly these days? We seem to have moved on in 2023 from “Quiet Quitting” to “Quiet Firing” and now to “Quiet Hiring”… The silence is deafening…..
But what’s the story about Quiet Hiring? Is it a good or bad thing? Is it a new thing, or just a trendy badge for something that’s always been there?
Quiet Hiring, for those unfamiliar, is the practice of assigning additional tasks and responsibilities to current employees, rather than hiring new staff. This approach has grown in popularity in recent times, particularly in 2023 with today’s economic uncertainties as businesses look for ways to optimise their workforce and minimise costs.
On one hand, Quiet Hiring can offer significant benefits for employers. By leveraging the existing workforce, companies can avoid the costs associated with recruiting, onboarding, and training new hires. It can help to create more agile and adaptable teams, as employees become familiar with a broader range of tasks and responsibilities.
Rebecca Knight, correspondent on all things HR and Talent said “Quiet Hiring can be an excellent way for companies to maximise the potential of their existing workforce. By doing so, they can unlock hidden talents within their team and foster a sense of ownership and commitment among employees.”
However, quiet hiring is not without its drawbacks. As employees take on additional tasks, there is a risk of skill gaps emerging within the organisation – because not every skill is easily developed. Companies may find that employees lack the necessary expertise or resources to perform their new responsibilities effectively, resulting in a decrease in overall productivity and efficiency.
Lou Adler emphasises the importance of addressing these skill gaps: “While quiet hiring can be a cost-effective solution, organisations must be careful not to stretch their employees too thin. Investing in training and development can help ensure that employees have the skills they need to succeed in their expanded roles.”
For employees, quiet hiring can provide opportunities for personal and professional growth. Taking on additional tasks allows employees to develop new skills, expand their knowledge, and gain a deeper understanding of the business. This can lead to increased engagement and a stronger sense of loyalty to the company. Easy access to developmental or career mobility opportunities is key here, as well as a culture that supports that more entrepreneurial approach to talent mobility.
On the other hand, quiet hiring can also be tough for employees if it’s not managed well or is implemented poorly. Additional workload and responsibilities can obviously lead to increased stress and burnout, affecting work-life balance and overall job satisfaction. This, in turn, can create low morale and a loss of trust in the company and its leaders. If people feel they are doing multiple jobs for no extra recognition or reward and can see that much needed heads aren’t being recruited, well forget “quiet quitting”, very vocal quitting might become the norm….
Matt Alder, host of the Recruitment Future podcast puts it this way: “Quiet hiring can lead to a decrease in employee morale and engagement. When organisations continually increase the workload without adjusting compensation or providing adequate support, employees may feel overworked and underappreciated.”
Quiet Hiring is definitely a double-edged sword. Organisations really do need to strike a balance between maximising the value of their existing workforce whilst ensuring employee well-being and engagement remain a priority. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out over the course of this year and which organisations are able to find that balance.
For me, quiet hiring is not inherently good or bad. It is merely a tool, and like any tool, it can be used for better or worse. The key lies in understanding its strengths and weaknesses and utilising it responsibly to achieve desired results. Simply taking a “sink-or-swim” approach is clearly significantly more risky than understanding skills and skills adjacency and then having a framework to support employees in their stretch opportunities….
And is it a new trend? Obviously not. Any organisations looking to retain and develop their people, whilst complimenting overall capability by hiring great talent have been doing this for a long, long time. But will this approach get pushed too far in these uncertain times, will the needle move to too far to the right? Only time will tell, but then who really wants to live a quiet life…..?
With the pandemic an almost distant memory, the wider economic and political events of recent months are now taking their toll on young job seekers. The end of 2022 gave us a glimmer of hope that confidence was returning to our Gen Z audience, but feelings of anxiety and nervousness have dashed this.
A recent report highlighted that 41% of females were experiencing these feelings compared to 27% of males. However, 32% of the male population is experiencing a lack of confidence compared to 20% of females. So what’s going on? Much of this can be attributed to the economy and financial uncertainty, but as the pandemic hugely impacted this group, they likely felt it more.
Feelings of being underprepared and lacking specific skills are now paired with economic uncertainty and finding their place in the world. And whilst many organisations might be scaling back on programmes, or in some cases headcount, there are ways in which they can still help and assist the Gen Z audience with these thoughts and emotions.
Provide support to your talent pools
Here are a few ways to support your talent pools for a ready-made group of prospective candidates without relying on reactive campaigns to get their attention or gain their loyalty.
Upskilling This remains a key need for our audience. If you can’t currently talk about your upcoming programmes, upskilling can help prepare candidates for registration. It helps keep you front of mind and enhances the candidate experience.
Skills training workshops This is best done in person as the audience responds well to face-to-face, despite being on their mobile devices most of the time! You can build this out with additional virtual or pre-recorded content available on-demand.
Mentor An informal mentor programme can be highly beneficial, even for a set period, so think about how to set one up.
Industry focussed sessions Educate your audience on the industry and try targeting new audiences who may not realise there are opportunities for them.
Strengthening your connection These three principles will guide you to get the best out of your Gen-Z audience, and create a connection based on an honest understanding between you.
See the individual beyond the grades Firstly, and most importantly, they need to know that exam results aren’t the key driver in their success. Gone are the days when academia counted for everything – the values of employees, businesses and society have shifted, and there’s a much bigger focus on the person behind the grades.
We want to know everything that makes the candidate who they are and what they can bring to your organisation as individuals with unique views and ideas. That’s not to say exam results don’t matter; there’s just far more to their story.
Detail, detail, detail Give them as much detail as possible about the role. From what their day-to-day will look like to career prospects and available training, the more up-front you can be about the job, the better. It enables students to opt out earlier if the role isn’t suitable, leaving you with applicants more suited to the job or programme.
Current figures show a distinct lack of loyalty from Gen-Z, with 44% expecting to move employers multiple times and the average student applying to between two and six programmes to secure employment. However, a focus on career development and investment in their individual growth will help them view us as an employer with longevity and can hopefully help reverse this trend.
Be honest about the culture Gen Z wants to know who you are and how they might fit in, so don’t pretend to be something you’re not, as they’ll see straight through you. It doesn’t matter if you still need to get the latest technology, your DEI strategy sorted, or you aren’t that company that rides scooters around the office. Instead, focus on what you do have, whether flexible or hybrid working, a great learning culture or impressive sustainable practices.
Whatever culture your company adheres to, everyone looks for different things, and it’s impossible to please everyone. So be proud of who you are and what you can offer while acknowledging where improvements can be made.
What does all this mean?
Getting under the skin of your audience to uncover their drivers is essential, but more is needed. An authentic campaign requires you to understand your company’s identity and find the link that connects you and your Gen-Z audience.
Ten steps everyone can take to improve hiring success
“Marginal gains is not about making small changes and hoping they fly. Rather, it is about breaking down a big problem into small parts in order to rigorously establish what works and what doesn’t.” Matthew Syed, Black Box Thinking
Volume hiring has always been hard, and it keeps getting harder.
Wage inflation, demographic challenges and unpredictable business demand – most likely in locations which have often always been challenging – have only added to the pressure. According to a recent Forbes analysis 74% or organizations in the service industry list recruiting as their top business challenge – and the result can be a kind of organizational paralysis. ‘This is just a problem, there is nothing we can do’ or, most commonly ‘we don’t have the budget’.
But simple initiatives can be quick to implement, and impactful and multiple simple initiatives can really start to move the needle. Most are free or – better – will stop wasteful spend and have a positive impact on your budget.
So: here is our AMS guide to help you Moneyball your high volume hiring.
Diversity and Data – Before, not After, Thought If you read no further read this: diversity and data matter. Understanding your hiring metrics (even the absolute basics) and how your organization reflects the communities you serve is a non-negotiable baseline. If you don’t have this, you are a chef without a recipe; a coach with no gameplan; a driver without a map. Do NOT be intimidated by the challenge. Not everyone can access cutting edge predictive analytics, but you have a finance function and almost everyone has a friendly team member with a head for numbers. Pull some basic data and build from there. And if you have those analytics but don’t have ‘the time’ to review them, cancel a meeting and look at them now. They are your friend not your enemy.
Needs Assessment – What and Who Are you Hiring? Everyone knows who they are hiring…don’t they?
Even if you do feel you know your most common profiles, get back to the floor – those roles you have been hiring for ever will most likely have shifted significantly in focus or even in skills required given the changes in the world post-Covid. What is important in that role today? Have any of your ‘must have’ requirements evolved or even disappeared? Plus, your employees can be inspiring: if anyone knows how to hire for their roles, it’s them.
Job Titles – Will Your Target Audience Understand? So many job titles have been designed with an internal audience in mind. Your CEO may get it, but your target candidates most likely do not. Use simple, natural language in your job descriptions so that candidates can find you, even if they are not looking for you. And keep descriptions short and to the point: has anyone ever told you they are NOT a ‘team player who can also work individually’? If key requirements matter, don’t bury them! Someone will confess that they do not have them at some point, so make it clear up front – better now than two weeks into the job.
Sourcing and Attraction Strategy – Average Never Works If you are lucky enough to have a budget, plan for where you spend and be ready to pivot. Programmatic advertising programs and partners are easier than ever to implement but their key role should be to fill gaps in local organic traffic. If candidates want to walk in and ask about a role, let them, and make it as easy as possible for them to do so (more on that later). Remember that local communities are always, always happy to help. Churches, sports clubs, housing groups, charities and local rehabilitation charities and will go the extra mile to align those in need with opportunities. Just make the time to ask.
Execute Your Plan – No One Else Will Having a plan is one thing, make sure to make it happen. A series of great ideas in a notepad or in a spreadsheet do not action themselves. ‘We are just about to’; ‘we do not have time to’, ‘I will get to it after’ are all off limits. Break it down and commit to trying something that will make a difference at least once a week, or even every day.
Take some swings.
Screening – Pull candidates IN do not screen them OUT This is your first chance to treat candidates as they should be treated. And this should not be by asking them aggressive questions, requiring hours of their time or understanding their life story. Align this stage to the critical data you need to know – really need to know – and make sure your process is aimed at keeping the right candidates engaged. Screening process as endurance event is helping no-one unless you are hiring for a role that requires endless form completion of parsable data.
Assessment and Selection – Relevant and Making a Difference? Formalized assessment tools can be useful – they can give candidates a sense of the role, help prioritize high quality candidates in bountiful markets and ensure rigor. They can – but do they do this for you? Or are you running a legacy battery of tests with only an indirect relevance for the roles you are hiring, most likely at a point in your process where quality candidates are looking to proceed quickly? Oh, and do you expect them have to set aside time at a desktop, remember a code and then follow complicated instructions to gather their results? Try the process yourself, you may be surprised how your flow chart looks great for you but not so good from the outside.
Interviews – Train, Train and Train Again People write books on this, so we’ll keep this simple. If someone is interviewing or spending any time with candidates (face to face, virtually or on the phone) make sure they know what they are doing. There are free resources out there on best practices, you may have in-house guides on a (virtual) shelf or maybe now is the time to pull something together?
And if you are running through multiple phases of screening, assessment AND interviews: think long and hard about the why and if there are opportunities to simplify further.
Offer and Onboarding – Stay in Touch Maybe you and you team concierge candidates all the way through to their first day, or maybe you hand a fully hire-ready candidate to an HR or business function. Consider either way that it is in your interest to keep in regular touch with candidates here: if it is in the thousands, leverage some basic tech to help: if numbers are smaller, keep the contact 1-1, direct and personable. If you don’t, someone else will.
Hire – Do Not Stop at Hire Volume hiring is relentless but that can also provide a rhythm to your activity that is difficult to manage in other areas. Schedule time after 10 and 30 days to check in on the most recent intake of hires. How is attrition? How are they performing? Find out from those hires what they think of their role. The elephant in the room can frequently be that it is on-the-job culture or management that most affects these numbers and can impact the overall perception of a TA function, so don’t ignore feedback and work with your partners in the business to make a difference.
In the words of Billy Beane: ‘If we pull this off, we change the game. We change the game for good.’
If you found this article helpful and you would like to talk more about how you can improve the effectiveness of your volume recruitment, please do get in touch.
It is a fairly recent thing for ADHD to be diagnosed in adults. In children, more males than females tend to be getting diagnosed. The gender imbalance in diagnosis is thought to be due to how ADHD presents in females – as an inattentive rather than a hyperactive type (you can have one or other, or combined type).
The research into adult ADHD presentation, effects and therapies is still emerging. In recent years, a range of personal bloggers, coaches and YouTubers have helped significantly increase awareness and understanding too, through sharing experiences of their own personal journeys or experiences of the condition. I enjoyed this article from Leanne Maskell (ADHD Coach and author of ADHD: an A to Z), writing for the of association of MBAs, where she explains how ADHD may show up at work.
By understanding and supporting ADHD at work, the benefits can be harnessed, resulting in an inclusive, diverse workplace, where people feel empowered to show up as themselves.
This is a fascinating article from Josh Bersin citing a leaked memo from Amazon that suggests that the company may soon start to run out of people to hire in a number of their US warehouses. With staff turnover over 100% in many areas (and in some cases over 200%), it’s reasonable to assume that the local available workforce for some Amazon locations will be rapidly depleting; particularly given that Amazon is in competition for talent. Amazon is the second largest employer in the US with c. 1.6m global employees. Just imagine the hiring challenges if their attrition is averaging anywhere close to 100%.
According to the original article, raising salaries and increasing automation are two of 6 levers that Amazon can pull to delay the challenge. Hopefully at least one of the other levers focuses on the employee experience – optimizing roles to make them meaningful and fulfilling, providing developmental opportunities and career progression.
I’ve written a lot recently about the extraordinary hiring market that we’re in, the fact that in both the US and the UK there are now more open positions than there are unemployed people. I’ve written about the need for employers to tap in to the ‘hidden workforce‘ to gain skills and talent that may not be an immediate match if companies are looking for job-ready candidates. And in my most recent article I wrote that “It’s important to also stress that reducing employee turnover should be a strategic focus for the boardroom, not just the HR leadership team“. Can you imagine many more pressing strategic challenges than the risk of running out of employees?
I’m sure there are incredibly clever people at Amazon with a plan in place to tackle their talent challenges. They will be operating on tight margins where productivity levels are essential to maintaining profitability. And presumably they will know exactly what their employee turnover is costing them in terms of hiring costs, onboarding, ramp-up time and management focus. And I’m sure one of the first things they will have done is to speak to their employees to understand what would make them want to stay in role for longer.
There are some great examples in the market of companies gaining strategic advantage by taking innovative approaches to hiring, retaining, reskilling, redeploying and valuing talent. Now is the time to be brave, whether you’re close to running out of people to hire or merely feeling the pressure of the current hiring market. Inflation and a stagnant or receding economy may ease the hiring pressures a little but this will remain a candidate-driven market for a long time to come.
The new world of work is different. Every company is dependent on its people, and the idea of “replacing low performers with high performers” is just silly. Your job as a leader is to hire the right people, then train and motivate them to succeed. If they’re in the wrong job then that’s your problem, not their problem.
Whilst employees still expect a competitive salary, the importance of meaning, purpose and company culture is prevalent post pandemic. Optimizing employee experience is a key business imperative against a backdrop of another challenging year from a talent perspective. We are still living through uncertainty and volatility, with businesses needing to recognize the drivers for high levels of employee satisfaction and welfare.
Establishing a clear purpose is one of the ways in which this can be achieved. This has been an increasing trend over the last couple of years, with many employees wanting to work for a company that has clear purpose and recognizes factors that are larger than the organization itself.
Recognition is also critical, with a recent survey showing that 77% of employees would work harder if they felt better recognized and 68% stating that they would remain loyal to their employer if they were regularly thanked for their efforts.
Collaboration, building strategy together, wellbeing, learning and development, a superb onboarding experience – the list of considerations that we need to give to the overall experience is not limited, and needs to be considered with a holistic viewpoint.
Salary is clearly important, but the value of these factors should not be underestimated, now more than ever.
An employee-centric workplace is where employees are valued, engaged, paid well for the work they do, have opportunities to develop, and their wellbeing matters. Workers want to be happy and to do meaningful work
