What Can You Do for Me? Attracting Top Talent to Your Organisation

If you think in the current market that a good brand reputation and a decent salary is enough to attract great candidates, then think again.

The return in economic activity has meant a sustained improvement in the national unemployment rate and the strong economic recovery is fuelling national job ad growth¹.

It is a competitive job market, and the advantage is firmly in the candidates’ court. While the demand is ever-there for talent across the workforce, the COVID-19 impact through the closed borders and the lack of immigration, candidate reticence to move roles without a compelling reason and a fundamental shift in how people want to work has all played a part on influencing this change.

There is also a greater demand for job security² and as candidates are holding all the cards, they are not necessarily committing to the full recruitment process resulting in many candidates ‘ghosting’ potential employers as they examine competing offers³. While this is not a new problem it is exacerbating the current workforce supply crisis.

Fundamentally, what candidates are willing to consider to make a career move, their expectations of what they want in a role and what they expect of their potential employers has changed. Employee expectations are shifting to flexibility and working from home arrangements when considering making a move. And they are also looking beyond salary to what other benefits may be on offer.

Onus is on employers to meet the market

Employers are focusing on safety, wellbeing, virtual benefits and communication more than ever but must use these as a lever to attract and retain talent in this competitive talent market⁴.

Wellbeing should also no longer be considered an optional benefit or reward, it should be front and centre as a business imperative for leading, high-performing organisations.

The opportunity exists to redesign a benefits program to reconsider high cost, legacy benefits with enhanced wellbeing, flexibility and working from home arrangements.

The most common health and wellness benefit offered by organisations are employee assistance programs (EAPs) being fully paid by 93 per cent of surveyed organisations. EAPs have emerged as a top priority for organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic to help protect and support employees. Other common health and wellness benefits included vaccinations (fully paid by 85 per cent of organisations), standing desks (fully paid by 77 per cent of organisations), and health evaluation/medical checks (fully paid by 35 per cent of organisations)⁵.

New benefits introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic as indicated in Aon’s recent COVID-19 pulse surveys included flexibility, working from home wellness programs, paid pandemic and parental leave and reimbursements for home office equipment⁶.

Ultimately, employees are looking for benefits with substance. The questions employers need to ask are whether the benefits on offer are attracting and retaining key talent or are they simply entitlements that employees don’t value? What are the signature benefits on offer, and is the organisation known for this in the market?

If the answers to these questions are no or unknown, then organisations should evaluate if they have a strong case to make to candidates in the competition for talent.

To attract, retain, engage and protect employees through benefits, employers should engage with their workforce to understand what they value and overlay this with the organisation’s desired culture.

Strengthening your employer value proposition through revaluating and boosting your employee wellbeing programs can be a key result of this shift in Australian workplaces, and will be lasting factor in differentiating the organisation’s ability to attract and retain top talent.

¹ Seek Employment Market Update April 2021

² ibid

³ Korn Ferry

⁴ Aon’s Global Wellbeing Survey 2020

⁵ Aon Employee Benefits Survey December 2021

⁶ Aon Employee Benefits Survey December 2021