Attracting candidates requires an emphasis on showcasing an attractive brand, or harbouring engagement with candidate-centric content, even rethinking how you facilitate bespoke working as part of your offering to become a more attractive employer.
In this insight, we look to whether ‘smart working’ is a viable strategy to attract and retain candidates.
Over the past two years, many businesses have opted for either a fully remote or hybrid model of working and look set to continue this model. Added to the mix of flexible working is the topic of smart or deskless working, which sees employees make their own choices about where they work from and what suits them best. This agile way of working isn’t reliant on a specific physical workspace or set time or working. Instead, it is about individual choices to complete the goal. But does this work in reality?
Flexible options
Attracting talent is a huge challenge for many sectors, but only one side of the story as employee retention is also impacting talent and skills shortages. The great resignation has been widely reported and some reports claim over 40 percent of the global workforce are considering leaving their employer. Flexible and bespoke working models could be a strategy that can assist with engagement and alleviate the talent challenges we face.
The pandemic and shift to hybrid working have grown into something more flexible, opening up options for how employees can and want to work. Recruitment teams, talent teams and HRBP’s are having to rethink candidate engagement and understanding of the talent landscape to adjust strategies to remain attractive and competitive. Retaining employees is prevalent, and creating flexible options that suit individuals can be an attractive plus to staying with an organisation.
One size does not fit all
Bespoke work arrangements can build loyalty and retention. It also opens up a broader geographical opportunity to reach a wider talent pool, but the challenge is that a flexible model will not suit all sectors. CIPD published a ‘Mega Trends’ report on what’s driving the rise in remote working. It looks at trends, most prevalent role types who work remotely, what holds back remote working and benefits of how it can create a better work-life balance in avoiding the daily commute and such.
Whatever mix of ‘smart working’ you decide can work for your organisation, it is worth remembering that there will still be a need to bring people together and engage the workforce as a whole.
Understand candidate attraction for your sector – free report
The Candidate Attraction Report 2021/22 reports back on challenges, trends and behaviours across the recruitment landscape, with the primary aim to identify the effectiveness of candidate sourcing channels and sector differences. You can pre-order your copy of the report here and be ready to align your recruitment strategy for the best success.
