Four Ways Business Owners Can Attract New Employees and Retain Existing Talent

By Joe Camberato – CEO National Business Capital.

The Great Resignation has placed a particular hard burden on small businesses that often struggle to attract employees. Already facing supply chain issues, businesses can hardly sustain the one-two punch that occurs when they’re unable to fill a new position or keep inventory in stock. So now a question comes – how to attract employees and retain them?

Attracting new employees and retaining your existing ones has never been more important. Fortunately, there are methods to do both. At my company in New York, we’ve implemented to following four strategies to ensure our workplace stays both vibrant and, most importantly, staffed.

How to Attract Employees (And Retain Them)

1) Build an Engaging Culture

Right now, employees want two things. Recognition for their efforts and a fun workplace to come back to. Lockdown had us all working from isolated bubbles. With the workplace re-opening, it’s important for businesses to recommit to providing an engaging workplace culture, where coming back into the office has its own sets of rewards.

First, bring back the camaraderie and sense of belonging that working for a common cause provides. Hold team meetings, team building events, and outside the office team meals and group activities that encourage employees to bond and reawake their networking muscles.

In addition to a fun workplace, we’ve found that recognizing performance is a good way to boost productivity, retain talent, and even attract new talent across the entire company. We don’t just offer monetary rewards, in the form of bonuses, but we also provide fun experience-based rewards, like tickets to a sporting event or gift cards to a local eatery.

Employees that feel appreciated and valued for their work are more motivated to perform at their best. Colleagues soon realize that performance pays, and renew their efforts to get noticed. Rewards help employees stay engaged with the tasks before them and make them even more likely to recommend their workplace to others.

2) Capitalize on Available Assistance Programs

Right now, there are a number of government programs and grants that will reward small businesses for hiring minorities, former offenders, veterans, workers with disabilities, or local workers. Many state or municipal programs offer tax credits and other rewards for diversifying your staff. Working to establish a diverse staff allows your business to cast a wider net for talent at lower risk.

Another option is to turn to a small business loan or business line of credit. These financing options can help you mitigate cash flow disruptions, cover short-term expenses (including employee bonuses and raises), and even invest in larger projects and initiatives so your business shows growth and direction.

3) Show Flexibility

A recent survey by Future Forum revealed 76% of polled employees want more flexibility in where they work, with 93% asking for more flexibility when they work. Lockdown and job interruptions have shown workers that workplace flexibility is the new must-have. So employers need to be more accommodating than ever before.

Be sensitive to these new needs and show scheduling flexibility. In the meantime, focus on making your workplace a fun place. Consequently, people will look forward to coming to the office. This way, employees will be less likely to push for full-time remote work.

Job one for managers right now is to maintain an open-door policy and demonstrate, in action, that they are willing to listen to their employees. This doesn’t necessarily mean caving into every demand – but it’s important to show that management is considering the employee’s input and acknowledging their concerns.

4) Promote a Cause That’s Bigger Than Yourself

Salary is not the top priority with today’s job applicants. Instead, they want their employment to mean something in their personal lives and for their employer to support and reflect a culture of sustainability and paying forward.

At our business, we promote an overall mission of “Driving Growth for All”. That means for our customers, our employees, and our community.

Our goal at National Business Capital is to help businesses grow their ventures.  So we provide them the necessary financing to kick-start that growth. But at the same time, we also want to help our teammates grow. So we have a number of programs in place to help them grow personally and professionally. In addition, we want to support a community cause that’s bigger than ourselves. So we donate 10 meals to Feeding America for every new business we fund.

Employees tell us they like these programs and opportunities. They make working at our business something bigger than just a job.

Conclusion:

The post-pandemic job market is all about being flexible about the new needs and values employees discovered during the lockdown. Employers who are responsive to these needs will be the ones who attract employees and retain them.

Contributor:

Joe Camberato is CEO of National Business Capital, the leading fintech marketplace offering streamlined small business loans. His passion has defined an entrepreneurial journey that began in his spare bedroom in 2007 where, after discovering a world of private lending that few small business owners knew existed, Joe turned his fascination into a business.

 

Smart Hustle Resources:

How to Engage, Motivate and Retain a Remote Team

Four Simple Ways to Find and Retain Talent Using Technology

How The Streaming Network Created Powerful Employee Experience to Boost Employee Productivity

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