5 keys for companies to attract and retain top talent

The renewed dynamism of the job market across Europe is driving talent volatility. As the skills shortage continues to hit in many sectors, from healthcare to catering, from manufacturing to IT, the issue of attracting and retaining talent is becoming more important than ever for business leaders and human resources. What are the solutions for maintaining the performance of organisations in terms of human capital? How to respond to current HR issues? 

The importance of rethinking recruitment processes

To attract talent, it is necessary to act on the recruitment process and include a stronger CSR dimension, in line with the new expectations of candidates. It is now essential to gain in agility and flexibility by integrating technologies to facilitate the application process and its follow-up, limit travel for candidates in the process and shorten recruitment times. Fluidity and transparency must be the key words. The aim is to put the candidate back at the centre and to offer an enhanced experience enabling professionals to "leave the process with something about themselves". Thanks to courses integrating assessments and personal development tools, particularly around soft skills, the process becomes interactive and offers a "win-win" dimension.

The question of remuneration remains central in times of inflation

This matter is a reality for all, including C-level professionals. Without going overboard, organisations must endeavour to offer fair remuneration that correctly values the employee's skills and is in line with the tasks of the position to be filled. For example, one could imagine Compensation & Benefits systems that include benefits in addition to the fixed salary. Performance bonuses, with quantitative but also qualitative objectives, individual as well as collective, etc.: different approaches make it possible to unite around common interests and improve collaboration within the company while responding to the prevailing concern about purchasing power.

A need for transparency in career development and mobility

It is now essential to make the professional development plans within the company clear. Are there predefined internal career paths? Gateways? How does your company encourage or support the development of skills, via your HR but also via all your management teams? Offering such a level of transparency allows a future employee to project what is available to them, both in terms of personal and professional development. Showcase your HR policy but also its concrete implementation. Communicate on your training courses, the tools used, underline the innovative side of your approach. Also highlight the results (number of promotions, equality between men and women at all levels within the company, supported retraining and skills upgrading, etc.) and share internal success stories.

Environmental commitment: a new catalyst for the meaning given to work

More than 2 out of 3 candidates would not join an organisation that is not committed to social and environmental responsibility. This figure from PageGroup's latest European study sends a strong signal to companies. Indeed, if CSR originally reflects the need to act to meet the social and ecological challenges of our society, it is now at the heart of issues intrinsically linked to human capital. To attract professionals, organisations must now not only fix ambitious objectives and clearly display their commitments, but also and above all highlight their concrete achievements in terms of CSR.

Companies must therefore give form to their commitment, particularly through their employees. Half of the employees working in the company want to actively participate in the sustainable development actions initiated by their company. Involving employees in actions that have a positive impact on the environment or society means allowing each of them to contribute to something bigger than themselves, it means helping to give or restore meaning.

Inclusion and changing governance at the heart of equality and social issues

The link between diversity and performance is no longer in doubt. Recruiting differently, seeking skills from new pools of candidates by integrating behavioural skills more into the selection criteria: two key elements to enable the emergence of new potential, at all levels of the company and right up to top management. This is not only a performance issue, but also a real social issue.

It is necessary to contribute to the accession of women, senior employees, people with disabilities and talents from all social backgrounds to positions of responsibility, in order to move towards increasingly diversified management bodies. The increase in the number of women in management bodies, driven primarily by the legal framework, already appears to be a virtuous trend. It brings with it a collective awareness allowing for an opening up to plural profiles of managers with less standardised experience.