4 ways to attract and retain talent in a tough market

A tight labor market can make it hard to fill open positions—not to mention filling them with the best people for the job. With workers weighing a return to the office against safety and family responsibilities, job openings reached record numbers this year, rising 10% from March to April 2021 alone. It’s no surprise that employers are struggling to find and hire qualified people, and that candidates are seeking more money and flexibility.

But hiring is only half the equation. Remote work can make it difficult to integrate new employees into the company, address problems, and maintain morale. And even at times when qualified candidates abound, the best way to keep top talent on the payroll is to build a culture of learning and growth at every stage. Here are four ways to start:

1. View training as part of talent acquisition and retention

Amid ongoing conversations about flexibility, balance, and equity, employees are gravitating to companies that walk the talk in the form of strong personal and professional support, with 88% of job seekers prioritizing learning when weighing a job offer. In this climate, HR directors rank learning technology that supports career agility as the top factor in recruiting and retaining talent. It’s no surprise that Forbes calls learning “the new pension”—an essential ingredient of any competitive benefits package.

2. Give onboarding the attention it deserves

Most HR execs view their onboarding processes as adequate. But in a Gallup poll on the state of the American workforce, only 12% of employees said their companies do a great job of onboarding. And the 88% of companies that don’t make the cut? They risk lower productivity—and worse. In fact, new hires who have negative onboarding experiences are twice as likely to look for other opportunities in their first year on the job. That’s a gigantic flight risk in a tough market. Interviewing and hiring costs time and money. Do it right, back it up with a supportive onboarding experience, and those are resources well spent. In contrast, losing an employee can cost you up to twice their annual salary thanks to lost productivity, recruiting costs, and onboarding time for a replacement. The impact of effective onboarding on the bottom line is clear.

3. Learn from the truth in exit interviews

Too often, employees don’t reveal what’s not working until it’s too late. Many employers learn only in exit interviews that departing employees saw few opportunities for growth and skill development in their jobs. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In a LinkedIn survey, 94% of employees said they’d stay at a company longer if it invested in helping them learn—and more than a quarter cited lack of opportunity to learn and grow as their top reason to leave a job. It’s evident that many employees are dissatisfied with their employers’ learning and development opportunities. The effect on businesses is huge. But what if you could meet employees’ needs with easy-to-create courses that help them grow their skills and advance their careers? And how much more could you accomplish as a business with those committed, engaged people on your side?

4. Support a culture of curiosity with engaging learning

Your business success depends on your employees. And in this tough hiring market, you need
employees who are engaged and focused on their current jobs, not their next ones. The good
news is that what they want is clear—jobs where they can learn and grow. So how is your
company building a culture of learning to nurture them?

Rise can help. It’s an all-in-one system that makes creating a culture of learning easy, with interactive learning experiences that are easy to create, enjoyable to take, and simple to manage—giving you the power to attract top talent and retain your best people. Learn more at rise.com, or sign up for a free trial and see for yourself why so many employees love learning with Rise.