The winning practices for attracting Candidates
In stable economies that are always knowledge-driven, the war for talent has escalated due to the rising demand for skilled workers. The high competition for talent means that companies endeavor to attract and retain strong skills. One of the most winning strategies employed by strong economies to attract talent is the employer branding practice. According to Ärnström and Bergman (2011), employer branding is an emerging field within the principle of brand management. It is a practice used in the management of the potential employees ‘perception and awareness of the company.
The employer branding seeks to portray the organization’s image as a great work environment to be for potential employees. The idea of branding a company is to foster an emotional connection with the best talent and offer prospective skills, tangible benefits, and rewards. According to Jiang, Xiao, Qi, and Xiao (2009), awards have proved to be practical tools employed by organizations in attracting, motivating, and retaining employees. It exceeds the remuneration standards since it embraces the organizational culture and focuses on empowering employees in company operations, which in turn improves employee performance. The employer branding also encompasses compensation plans, both monetary and non-monetary, aimed at attracting the right talent. Organizations have developed compensation and benefits plan whose objective is to reduce employee turnover and strengthen job security (Lois, Bart, Silva, & Jennifer, 2010). Besides, the non-monetary compensation plan is also availed to employees include leaves and Holidays and sick leaves, flexible working hours’ schedules, insurance, and the transport facility for winning the war of talent. Employer branding plays a huge role in the business world in establishing industry competitiveness. This branding practice helps the company to attract, retain, and motivate the appropriate talent for business continuity. Effective employer branding facilitates the internalization of the values of the company and gives the company a competitive advantage in attracting top talent. According to Ärnström and Bergman (2011), the concept of employer branding has been improved to encompass the employer value proportion practices, which communicate the reasons as to why the current and future employees should resort to working with the organization.
Besides, the company utilizes effective communication practices to achieve employee attraction through employee awareness, which is aimed at getting the right talent (Ärnström, & Bergman, 2011). Communicating with various candidates is fundamental as it enhances the odds of attracting the right individuals and builds brand awareness on the minds of the people. The communication is majorly done at the individual level even to the point of personal meetings to ensure the attraction of the preferred candidate. This communication goal is to align the promises and expectations of the organization to that of the candidate and come to an agreement. This is because an individual who might have been attracted by the organization through broader communication might not be sure if the company is the right employer. A narrow communication practice at the individual level would help in attracting such candidates.
Building Relationships w/ Candidates
Talent sourcing either from external sources to referrals is not a key concern for the company; what matters is how the company handles its relationship with their candidates. According to Flecke (2016), Organizations have the role of rethinking their approach to talent acquisition in light of the evolving candidate expectations. Accordingly, employers need to build a relationship with their candidates at all stages of recruitment. This is only possible if employer s will incorporate candidate management practices which aimed at strengthening the employer-employee relationship. One such practice is the use of effective communication. In this practice communication means informing the candidates about all necessary things they ought to know and keeping promises related to their status of application. According to Trost (2014), communication not only leads to an excellent candidate experience but also builds the relationship between the candidate and the company. This is because, the more the information regarding the job role offered by the organization, the more the candidate will engage with the employer. Regular communication helps in always informing candidates of the hiring and recruitment process and thereby, if effective in building a relationship with candidates. Besides, regular feedback is also another practice for relationship building. Regular feedback helps in the identification of the existing gaps in the candidate relationship process. For example, the candidate feedback can be used by organizations to gain an understanding of their candidates’ concerns and come up with solutions thereof and, in so doing, improves relationships with these candidates. Feedback is the first positive impression that an organization should consider in nurturing and building a relationship with their candidates. While it is in the best interest of the company to give timely feedback to candidates at all stages of the job application, including the decisions of not hiring, this feedback is essential in establishing a sense of candidate connectedness with the company (Holm, 2012). Notably, companies can schedule events and interviews with their candidates to assure the company’s interests in their skills. These practices will help maintain a constant connection with the candidates and further build their relationship with the organization.
Question 3 and 4
Total reward refers to the full value of each component of the reward package of an employee. Rewards include not only direct currencies and forms which can be converted to currencies but also good organizational, interpersonal, involvement in decision making, and opportunities for growth. Organizations in offering total rewards put into consideration things beyond cash rewards, and this less tangible but significant element is known as the work environment. Many companies are nowadays encouraged to incorporate the work environment in their total reward package. This entails the specific things that make an organization the right working place. Most of the time, the physical work environment is what makes the difference in a company. Examples of an organization that takes work environment as an element of total reward are the Google and Microsoft companies. To begin with, google’s company’s total rewards are composed of the basic pay and the bonuses, which are determined through the use of the objective and critical results method. The company developed an objective and essential result(OKR) method of rewarding and motivating employees based on their performance and achievement of objectives and outcomes. The OKR method of employee formulated through a mutual agreement between the employees and departmental managerial persons. Google employees are permitted to access and view the level of achievement of their peers and the bosses as well. Besides, the company incorporates aspects of the work environment in its total rewards as a way to promote its culture of ‘people operation’’ (Tran, 2017). These aspects include striking a balance between work and life by giving its employees reasonable and flexible working hours and engaging employees in crucial decision making. The company’s culture of respect for the uniform, which permits workers to put on traditional clothes is also definitive of their work environment. On the other hand, Microsoft company’s total rewards include the salary, benefits such as medical and health insurance, including learning and development opportunities (Rumpel, & Medcof, 2006). Besides, non-monetary entails paid leaves and holidays and sick leaves, flexible working hours’ schedules, insurance, and transport facility fees. The company develops sustainable and strategic programs which offer highly competitive and differentiated portfolio in order to attract, reward, and retain its top talent to motivate employees to perform best at work. These programs and total rewards offered by Microsoft are aligned with their work environment in order to reinforce the company culture and values. The company supports performance-based pay and distinctive benefits, which fosters their culture and global performance.
Origin of Trends in Total Rewards and Work Environment
Total rewards are a holistic approach to work environment related returns. The notion of total rewards and work environment forms part of the behavioral economic model features which were developed in the 20th century. This was a period when organizational productivity was greatly influenced by corporate management practices, which incorporated the individual needs and behavior-related aspects. The total rewards evolved as performance tools, as well as the tools for the enhancement of human resources. Since employees make use of their intellectual faculties in problem-solving and decision making, more exceptional support in terms of relational rewards is needed.
The organizations have drastically changed, including the pay and salaries, and this has resulted in changes in the workplace environment. These changes have had a considerable impact on employee reward and satisfaction. Accordingly, organizations have made steps to incorporate the elements of a non-financial reward system into their total reward. According to Block and Davidson (2019), this strategy was first used in 1990 by human resource managers, and it became recognized in 2005. It started with the development of the total reward model. The model focused on employee’s opinions and rewarding their work by putting into consideration monetary and relational rewards, also known as workplace environment rewards. Some of the elements of this model included tangible rewards, inspiration, and value, opportunities for growth, the balance between work and life, and an enabling environment. The model was developed to create a dynamic relationship between employers and employees. The work environment as an element of Total reward originally applied to the health care sector intending to provide a meaningful salary increase to the employees. Additionally, these elements, including talent development and performance management, are strategic tools for the achievements of organizational goals.
The future of total rewards and work environment
Globalization and technology advancement has shifted the workforce composition, including how people work and interact. However, work is not entirely focused on these advances in technology. Still, instead, it is centered around a workforce that is more diverse in demographic, religious, and ethnic dimensions, among others. The work environment and total reward are subject to change significantly in the future.
Consequently, more significant technology usage in an organization will translate to high financial reward expectation by the employees (Joshi, 2016). The implication is that employer will shift to the work environment as a relational reward to motivate and retain employees. This change will be accompanied by greater mobility, job restructuring, blending personal and work time, and alternative employment relationships. According to Burke and Ng (2006), The workforce needs will likely change, resulting in a more diverse and demanding workforce, which will translate to more complex total reward programs. Accordingly, organizations will change their policies and practices to be people-centered as part of changes in total rewards and environment. Human resource professionals will be forced to address challenges relating to increased autonomy in reward making decisions, more certain employee expectations, and managerial responsibility.
References
Ärnström, E., & Bergman, J. (2011). Attracting the right employees: A study of successful employer branding.
Block, L., & Davidson, M. (2019). New Perspectives: How to Work, Rewards, and Benefits Have Evolved Over the Past Century.
Burke, R. J., & Ng, E. (2006). The changing nature of work and organizations: Implications for human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 16(2), 86-94.
Flecke, L. K. (2016). The Effectiveness of Recruitment Sources in Attracting Qualified Job Candidates (Master’s thesis, University of Twente).
Holm, A. B. (2012). E-recruitment: towards a ubiquitous recruitment process and candidate relationship management. German Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(3), 241-259.
Jiang, Z., Xiao, Q., Qi, H., & Xiao, L. (2009). Total reward strategy: A human resources management strategy going with the trend of the times. International Journal of Business and management, 4(11), 177-183.
Joshi, P. (2016). Relational rewards: creating a fulfilling workplace environment. International Journal of Engineering and Management Research (IJEMR), 6(4), 1-5.
Lois, E. T., Bart, L. W., Silva, N. D., & Jennifer, M. H. (2010). “Individual differences in attractiveness of jobs based on compensation package components.” Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 22(3), 195-211.
Rumpel, S., & Medcof, J. W. (2006). Total rewards: Good fit for tech workers. Research-Technology Management, 49(5), 27-35.
Tran, S. K. (2017). GOOGLE: a reflection of culture, leader, and management. International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, 2(1), 10.
Trost, A. (2014). Talent relationship management: Competitive recruiting strategies in times of talent shortage. Springer Science & Business.