Attracting and Retaining Talent: What Employers Should Look For

Ask yourself: what do workers want? What makes a role attractive to them? What details catch their eye? Moreover, what keeps those workers engaged, motivated, and satisfied in their roles?

An oft-overlooked answer is “technology”. Consumer-grade digital tools that help facilitate an employee’s relationship to management, streamline their interactions with their co-workers, support work/life balance, and overall make their daily tasks easier, can go a long way towards attracting and retaining talent.

Many organizations are making investments today to court these future workers. Gartner reports in their “Market Guide for Workforce Management Applications” that by 2025, 80% of large enterprises with hourly workers will have invested in workforce management solutions to support digital workplace initiatives. These solutions not only impact worker’s roles, but they consistently prove to improve an organization’s agility, innovation, and profitability.

WorkForce Software CEO Mike Morini recently spoke to StrategicCIO360 to discuss what modern workers are seeking from potential employers. Here are some important insights he had to share:

Ask: How Do Today’s Workers Use Technology?

Today’s workforce is more diverse than ever when it comes to age. For the first time, there are five distinct generations of workers in the active workforce, from the Silent Generation to Gen Z. Of these groups, a full 73% are digital natives who have grown up relying on digital technologies. These workers are carrying miniature supercomputers in their pockets every day via their smartphones, yet many businesses have not tapped into this power when considering ways to engage and support employees.

Multiple customers were surprised to find that employees given the option to “opt-in” for mobile solutions to their teams, signed up at a rate of roughly 95%. The vast majority of workers have come to prefer the ease and productivity advantages of instant access through mobile devices. Studies show that workplaces where employees lack digital access can even handicap an organization when attracting and retaining talent.

Employee Experience: Capitalizing on Moments That Matter

“Employee experience” refers to the individual moments and interactions that make up an employee’s relationship with their employer.

Digital business technology is an overwhelmingly important factor in attracting new talent and fostering employee experiences that make them want to stay. Studies show that when choosing their next positions, employees prefer workplace technology that enables flexibility. According to FlexJobs’ eighth annual survey, 30% of respondents have reported leaving a job because it did not offer flexible work options. Without technology capable of providing these options like digitized scheduling, scheduling processes and employee input into schedule availability, many organizations will struggle to meet this need.

Satisfied workers are more engaged and less likely to leave. Incorporate technology that supports them in their roles and provide a positive employee experience.

The Deskless Worker

Deskless shift workers (those who work on-site, in the field, on the assembly line or otherwise in a physical location to perform their jobs) did not receive many of the new benefits of workplace technology that office workers did. Despite making up 80% of all workers worldwide, only 1% of workplace technology is designed for deskless workers’ specific needs.

The key is to choose technology that supports all workers. Be sure to look out for solutions that support these specific capabilities.

Scheduling: Advanced scheduling capabilities can be used to support greater employee flexibility and optimized use of labor.

Communication: An open communication channel allows all employees to interact in groups or one-to-one to share ideas, instructions and help one another. Real-time communications can also notify managers and workers that messages are being received and assure that their voices are being heard.

Task Management: Digital checklists provide the ability for managers and workers to collaborate.

Training: By enabling digital training to be immediately sent and easily accessed through their smartphones, workers can learn how to perform certain functions when and where work is happening.

Agility, Flexibility and Work/Life Balance

The primary function of workforce management technology is to optimize labor management and to make work easier for your entire organization. This is best accomplished by its contributions to agility, flexibility and work/life balance.

Agility – The ability to communicate, adjust and schedule workers easily, as needed, and quickly, will be an asset to any organization.

Flexibility – Even more than compensation, modern workers value their freedom. The ability to move with independence through their work and personal life is of paramount importance to employees.

Work/Life Balance – Though people can love their work, it is no substitution for time at home with friends and family. Technology that allows employees to easily request time-off, do their jobs easier, and not wait on HR to handle things for them will go a long way towards keeping them happy.

Your employees are your most important asset. By considering their needs and implementing technology to support their roles, you can not only make their day-to-day operations easier and make them more satisfied in their roles, but organizations can benefit from a dedicated engaged workforce that enjoys their position. Labor and Management are the yin and yang of business; the better and more cooperative they exist together, the better outcome for everyone.

Seeking the next generation of workforce management to help attract and retain talent? WorkForce has everything you need. Transform the future of work with Modern Workforce Management.

A different version of this article was previously published on StrategicCIO360.com