Is the new year time for a new focus on making yours a winning employer brand that outshines the competition?
Largely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some key things have changed when it comes to candidate and employee needs. Be strategic about these priorities as you adapt your brand for 2024:
Mental Health
Long before the pandemic, mental health issues were a silent killer in the workplace. Anxiety, depression, and related challenges caused a significant threat to employee well-being and productivity. This trend took a sharp upturn during COVID-19 and holds steady as the new year dawns.
- Reassess your company culture. Pay closer attention to the individual health and job-related needs of each individual to ensure you are fully supporting their well-being. Your culture should allow everyone to freely share their concerns and remove any negative stigma that may be present within our organization.
Work/Life Balance
While on shutdown, many workers came to realize that balancing their personal lives with their work was no longer a “nice thing to have” but a non-negotiable requirement. It’s no longer all about climbing the corporate ladder, but rather about achieving and maintaining this equilibrium. This mindset shift extends across all age groups, industries, roles, and functions.
- Research continues to support the importance of giving employees work/life balance. In one recent study, 41 percent of workers said they were attracted to a role by such balance – more so than by a higher salary. This represented a shift from pre-pandemic results.
Flexible PTO
During the pandemic, employers were forced to make changes on the fly to their time-off programs. Whether you did or not, now is a good time to take stock of your offerings and look for opportunities to make them more talent-attractive. For instance:
- Combine vacation and sick leave into a single PTO plan. This not only gives employees the desired flexibility but also streamlines your administrative work in tracking time off.
- Review your paid holiday schedule. Rebalance it as needed with more floating days. This is also a great way to enhance your commitment to diversity.
Remote and Hybrid Work Options
Be cognizant of which roles can be done partially or fully remotely – and stay open to the possibility that there may be more of them than you thought.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents to McKinsey’s most recent American Opportunity Survey said they could work from home at least one day a week – and 35 percent said they could work completely remotely. This feedback came from workers in all varieties of jobs, including those traditionally labeled “blue collar” that might be expected to demand on-site labor. The same survey revealed that when people are given the chance to work remotely, 87 percent take it.
- The underlying message: Be aware that when a person is deciding whether to accept – or keep – a job, remote or hybrid work options may very well be a deciding factor.
For additional feedback on your employer brand and how to keep it current and relevant with top talent, contact Haley Marketing today.
