Your Talent Strategy Should Contain These Top 3 Elements

Authored by Natalie Terchek

It’s no secret that we are in the middle of the “Great Resignation.” Many baby boomers are retiring, and there are now a record-breaking number of roles available at multiple levels. Companies are now fighting over applicants – and many have realized that they need to restructure their talent strategy and offer more than just a nice salary to capture a candidate’s interest.

The Horton Group held a seminar on this topic hosted by Alex Chausovsky, Director of Analytics and Consulting at Miller Resource, who works with companies to help strengthen their recruitment and retainment strategies. He says that there are three key elements to every talent strategy, which are described in more detail below.

Element #1: Offer a Competitive Benefits Package

Ask yourself this question: how do I attract people to my organization? If you cannot answer this quickly and efficiently, you need to re-think your talent strategy.

There isn’t a “one size fits all” answer for this question, as each candidate has different priorities and rankings. Salary is important, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle. For example, many job seekers are looking for remote options. According to Chausovsky, 3-4 percent of jobs offered remote opportunities pre-pandemic. Now, it has increased to 16-20 percent, allowing more opportunities for employees.

Creative benefits are an opportunity to show candidates how you can help them inside and outside of the workplace. Do you offer flexible work schedules? Are there options for childcare? How have you adapted to the pandemic (are you enforcing a vaccine)? All of these matters are important to candidates.

To understand what priorities matter the most, Chausovsky recommends asking employees to fill out a survey about their different preferences and priorities. The survey focuses on CLAMPS – an acronym standing for Challenges, Location, Advancement, Money, People and Security.

Element #2: Streamline the Hiring Process

Before the pandemic, it was common for companies to conduct four or five interviews before they offered the candidate a position. But requiring too many interviews without indicating a timeline could raise a red flag for job seekers, as it shows that the company might not be respectful of their time. And with so many opportunities available, it’s possible that your ideal candidate could receive an offer from another company before they finish a five-step interview process with you.

Chausovsky recommends cutting the interview process to one or two interviews (although this could slightly vary based on the industry and the role). It’s also important to reveal the process and anticipated decision date to the candidate early on in the process. This transparency will show the candidate that you are honest, direct and mindful of their time.

Element #3: Prioritize Retention

Many companies are experiencing high employee turnover rates – but are you taking action to make changes and keep your employees happy? Measurement is key to achieve success in this area. Chausovsky recommends tracking your offer-to-acceptance ratio, which should be as close to one as possible (although most companies currently have a ratio of less than 0.5 percent because of multiple offers). If you see that your ratio is gradually increasing over time, this means that you are on the right track.

Evaluate the retention history of your organization – what makes people leave? Company culture is important, but it is really a baseline for many prospective job seekers. In a way, culture is like hygiene – it’s the norm if you have it, but it stands out if you don’t and could turn people away.

According to Chausovsky, the main reason employees leave an organization is because of their direct manager. This is why it’s important to hold exit interviews and track important details. Are there common trends when evaluating the feedback of a specific manager? Are certain departments experiencing higher turnover rates than others? Take this information and use it to implement long-lasting change in your talent strategy.

Does your team have the tools needed to result in real change? It’s no longer enough to set up HR systems to track this data – your people are the ones who can actually make a difference. It’s crucial to loop executive management into these conversations, and people need to be held accountable if you want to increase your offer-to-acceptance ratio.

Take Your Talent Strategy to the Next Level

Leaders who focus on their employees and the future of their company will ultimately attract top talent. Now, the question is if you are ready to take your talent strategy to the next level. Do you desire to be an industry leader? Do you need help with a plan to get you there? We can talk you through it – give one of our risk management or employee benefits consultants a call at (800) 383-8283 to start your path.