Are you winning the war on top talent? Is your “inflexible” approach harming your business chances of securing the ‘winners’ on the market?

With many candidates holding court when it comes to the employment market, bringing on board the best talent is crucial if your business is to grow and become more profitable.

If you’re like many businesses however, accessing and engaging with high-quality potential employees can be difficult. With many commentators calling it a “war for talent”, the very best candidates are in high demand by companies across the world, meaning that your business has to do everything in its power to secure these high-quality people.

Flexible working: The statistics

If you’re still not convinced, take a look at the results of this survey from Powwownow.

  • 67% of employees wish they were offered flexible working
  • 58% of people believe that working away from the office would help them become more motivated
  • 53% of people feel that they would be more productive if they could work outside the office
  • 70% of workers feel that offering flexible working makes a job more attractive to them
  • 40% of people would choose flexible working over a pay rise if they could only choose one
The change in the power dynamic…

It’s important that over the past few years the ‘power dynamic’ has changed. Once upon a time, the power was all with the employer, and it was simply a case of advertising a position and then picking the best candidate. The situation is now much more complicated. We now know that the best candidates may not necessarily be those that are actively looking for a new role. We also know that the very best people will have a range of considerations before accepting a role at a company. In regions like the Southwest where it is undoubtedly tougher to find and retain talent compared to somewhere like London, businesses need to think what they can do to differentiate themselves and attract the very best talent they need to grow. One issue they need to consider is flexibility.

Increase the chance of securing the very best talent

Flexible working is becoming more and more common amongst employers, but many are still dragging their heels over introducing it. Flexible working doesn’t necessarily mean seismic and expensive changes for your business, as there are varying degrees of implementation. The fact is evident though, by implementing some form of flexible working, you are dramatically increasing the chances of securing the very best talent.

If your business currently has a rigid 9 – 5 structure, then you are limiting your talent pool to those people who can work within those times. Think about all of those other people who may be the perfect fit for your role who may have other commitments such as family. A simple policy of having flexible start and finishing times could dramatically increase the numbers of excellent candidates you have to choose from.

The fact is too, that more and more high-quality candidates expect some form of flexibility in the workplace. In industries such as digital marketing, most top talent would not even consider a role without some form of ability to work flexibility or from home at least a couple of days per week.

Imagine if you were to consider candidates who would work from home full-time… you could feasibly have candidates working from anywhere in the UK or even the world. It could be the key to filling that business critical role that you’ve been struggling with.

If you’d like help speeding up your recruitment process to ensure that you get the best candidates for your key hires then get in touch with King Recruit today. T: 01392 790725 E: enquiries@kingrecruit.com MD – Helen Plumridge. M: 07808 537696 (in confidence)