Employment levels in the U.S. are currently very high. In fact, the unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in roughly 50 years.
Low Unemployment Rates Make Recruiting Challenging
Recruiting and keeping top employees during low unemployment can be, frankly, challenging. First, it means virtually all companies are working at peak levels. They all need a high number of employees. Second, low unemployment often goes along with a strong economic picture – and that’s often a good environment for businesses to expand in. So not only are businesses working at peak levels, they may be looking to grow beyond peak.
It also means companies are likely to incentivize all employees to stay. When the unemployment rate is higher, there may not be much emphasis on making average employees happy in order to retain them. But now, employers want existing employees to stay with them, so are likely to have robust retention strategies in place.
In a nutshell, if you’re recruiting in this environment, you have your work cut out for you.
Develop Robust Retention and Recruitment Strategies
What’s the solution? Develop strong retention and recruitment strategies.
Retention
First, make sure your employees are comfortable and engaged where they are. You may want to develop a survey to gauge the engagement and satisfaction of your current employees.
Second, make sure that your salary and benefits structures are competitive with comparable employers. If they aren’t at least competitive, you may have employees jumping ship.
Recruitment
On the recruitment side of things, you need to make sure you are competitive in attracting people. There are several ways to do this.
The first, of course, is to align your salary and benefits structures, so you can attract new people. If feasible, you might want to make sure you are in the upper reaches of competitive packages. Some employers sweeten salaries with signing bonuses or other perks. Consider offering new benefits, or enhanced benefits. If you currently have a 401(k) retirement plan, but not a matching one, try upgrading it.
The second is to emphasize your company’s strengths to new employees. If you offer training, for example, be sure to mention that to new employees. (And a training program can be a sweetener, if you don’t currently have one.)
Place these opportunities on your social media profiles, such as LinkedIn, so they can be publicized to potential employees.
Emphasize the positive qualities of your company’s brand as another way to promote your company to employees. Are you active in the community, sponsoring charity events, for example? Are you small and close-knit?
A Staffing Agency That Works With You
With such a low unemployment rate, the best move you can make is to implement these strategies with the advice and help of a staffing agency. We can help you recruit, with extensive networking and a competitive analysis.
To find out more about targeted strategies, contact us today.
