Shutterstock
There has been a lot of discussion about enticing new employees into workplaces lately. You can’t go more than a few blocks in most cities without seeing several “help wanted” signs in windows! If you’re looking to make your business more competitive for potential employees, it can feel like you’re fighting an uphill battle.
What do today’s workers want out of their workplace? How can you appeal to a wider variety of potential employees without fundamentally altering your business model? Let’s take a look.
Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way. Most people will work pretty much wherever if the pay is right. One of the most straightforward things you can do to appeal to more employees is to just start offering higher base pay for positions. This is a tough one, as it can mean you might need to make concessions elsewhere to make the budget add up.
However, investing in your employees is some of the best money you can possibly spend. Employees that are paid better are happier, work harder, and turn in better work. It’s hard to motivate employees who are struggling to pay their bills. After all, why would someone who is struggling on their current salary want to work harder just to see the extra revenue they generate disappear into the bottom line of a spreadsheet they aren’t privy to?
In the same vein as higher base pay, a decent amount of time off is essentially necessary for workers to be happy and motivated. People who are constantly toiling with no consistent schedule for when they might get some time off tend to be much less motivated and inspired than people who can rely on consistent vacations.
Another consideration here is sick time. Without paid sick leave, workers might come in while they’re ill. This can cause other people at the workplace to fall ill, too, which can really hurt your revenue. Make sure everyone’s getting the time they need away from the office!
The last one is a bit more nebulous but no less important than the first two: your employees want to be respected. This takes a lot of forms, but it boils down to one thing: if you trust your employees to do a job, you need to actually empower them to do it. Sitting behind them and telling them how to handle each and every little thing doesn’t inspire confidence in employees, it makes them feel micromanaged.
Extend your employees the respect you expect to be treated with and your workplace will flourish!
