‘Our people are our greatest asset’ is a mantra that many businesses quote but not every business appears to understand. However, creating a work environment that will help you retain talented staff as well as attract new talent has never been more important.
The pandemic lockdowns caused many of us to re-evaluate what we want from our lives and careers. It’s safe to say that employee satisfaction went under the microscope. In what became known as the ‘Great Resignation’ in 2021, thousands of people quit their jobs or changed their profession in order to move to something that was more suited to them. More recently, a combination of a skills shortage and rising inflation has resulted in higher starting salaries for both temporary and permanent staff, which makes the retention of talented staff more difficult and more expensive than ever.
The cost of recruiting a replacement
Replacing an employee is expensive - especially if it is an experienced and talented person. The Center for American Progress has estimated that for the lower-paid jobs, you can expect to pay around 16% of their salary and 20% for mid-range positions. However, for executive positions, this rises dramatically and can be up to 213% of their annual salary - so can you afford to replace them?
It therefore makes economic sense as well as business sense to do whatever you can to make your company a great place to work, then people won’t want to leave!
Ethics and sustainability
A recent survey of Generation Z found that a quarter of the younger workers said they would never work for companies that profit from unsustainable practices. Two-thirds want the company they work for to be committed to acting sustainably, and around half want businesses to become more sustainable. This research ties in with an earlier survey of UK employees which found that 62% of Millennials want to work for a company that makes a positive impact, with half preferring purposeful work to a high salary.
If you want to attract younger and talented employees, you need to demonstrate how serious your company is about ethics and sustainability. If you don’t have one already, create a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy. This could involve supporting a local charity, allowing staff members a day off to do voluntary work, making sure you only deal with ethical suppliers, and taking action to make your own business more sustainable.
Workplace culture
Creating a good workplace culture that shows your employees how valued they are is a hugely important factor in attracting and retaining staff. People will do their research to find out more about you before applying for a job, even if all they do is check you out on Glassdoor, so make sure your reputation is a good one.
There are many steps you could take to create a more appealing culture that will make all the difference. Hybrid working is one popular change, and many companies have switched to this in the last couple of years. More and more employers are taking practical steps to take care of their employees’ well-being, including the appointment of mental health first aiders, and encouraging employees to take screen breaks and lunch breaks to help them relax and recharge. Others offer better benefits packages, referral incentives or flexible working. Or they allow people to bring their dogs into the office or encourage a more relaxed and fun office environment through the use of bright colours, pictures and games. Creating the right culture in the workplace can pay for itself in terms of loyalty, motivation and productivity.
How can JPA help you attract and retain talented staff?
You might not think a new office fit-out would make that much difference, let alone give you a competitive advantage, but we can help you with a number of different targets:
Create an environment that looks great! We design and install attractive physical environments that appeal to everyone, whatever generation they belong to. In fact, by creating a fun environment, you can actually improve productivity - when people work in a fun workspace, productivity could increase by around 12%.
Meet your sustainability targets. Nothing goes to waste with us - nothing! We’ll repurpose as much of your current office furniture as possible, and then rehome or recycle the rest. All our new furniture is sustainable and sourced from ethical suppliers, but that doesn’t mean to say your refit will be expensive. Far from it - by being clever about reusing what we can, your project won’t be as expensive as you’d think.
Want to talk about creating a workplace that will attract and retain talent? Contact us to discuss how we can make your office space look great, last a long time, be appealing to new talent and keep your current employees happy.