Peacocking for talent. It's game on.

It's time to share my views on what I am seeing, hearing, and witnessing in the market around talent attraction and retention.

If you listen to everything the media said, we are all doomed, it seems...

People are retiring in droves.

Graduates are choosing to stay in education or planning on buggering-off galavanting around the world as things open up again.

Employees are burnt out after businesses cut the team headcount while piling on more workload and saying, "Think yourself lucky, you still have a job".

Then, laggard businesses who don't trust their employees are now selling the 'hybrid' agenda but setting expectations for employees to be in the office 2-3 days a week. Those complying are getting public praise and promotions for turning up like a good egg with a shiny apple for their boss and answering to the boss' whistle like one of the Vonn Trapp family. Wake up if this is you and your business culture. Most of your staff have run for the hills in true Julie Andrews style ( quite literally). This approach is not sustainable for retaining people or attracting the talent you need—Nicht Sehr gut.

Employees that moved to WFH environments have realised how much time they were not spending with their loved ones and got to experience that work-life balance isn't just a buzzword. It's a real thing, and it's lovely. It's good for them, and they're playing hard to get on coming back to the office.

This new world of problems we find ourselves in has many names, but one thing is clear...

...This is a CANDIDATE and EMPLOYEES market.

Suppose you believe that YOU (as a business) are assessing talent to join your business OR you are going to retain your staff by sending them a branded box full of goodies and a little card that says, "Thanks for working 300-hours a week and getting no sleep for the past two years, Steve". In that case, you are approaching it all the wrong way.

You are going to have to work far harder than that. You're turning up to a Peacock fight like a manky pigeon that you see hanging around London train stations. It's a grim sight, and you've got as much chance of attracting and retaining talent as I have to win the lotto next week. The best talent is assessing you, and the talent you have is being hunted like a rare and highly desired truffle right underneath your nose.

If you don't believe me, you can stop reading here and good luck to you.

Don't be annoyed (or surprised) if a top candidate/employee walks into a meeting with you and says, "I've got three offers on the table, all paying great salaries; why should I choose you?". And this is for the employees that you've even been lucky enough to hire and retain or those you've done well to get into the hiring process (which isn't easy at the moment).

Why is this happening?

A few reasons.

On one side, the media are pumping out that 'There is a talent shortage, everybody panic!' so that's one little problem you've got. Thanks, Rupert Murdoch.

There is a shortage in some areas, BUT it's temporary, so cool your jets. COVID19 claimed many victims, but it didn't kill off an entire workforce. Yes, International Talent fled home due to losing their jobs and being stuck on the visa front. Still, talent is also returning home (the other way), and the international talent flood gates will be opening again in a jiffy. Hang tight.

ScoMo and BoJo have played nicely and shook hands on a trade agreement that includes the free movement of people (talent) on three-year visas. This is excellent news for Australia! As an Englishman who relocated here, I can say that the UK would have been grim for the lockdowns. I can bet your bottom dollar that talent from the UK will be coming at you thick and fast. They'll be itching for the white sands and sun down-under, as will many other internationals too.

Time to dig out the Chris Hemsworth, Tourism Australia advert again (what a cracker, what a voice).

'Scotty from Marketing' has changed his tune and started to open things back up again on visas and borders. HOORAH! So internationals will be flooding in. When you look at how hard our lockdowns were, the positive side of all of this is that we are likely one of the safest countries to be in right now, so let's not be so glum.

Fear, not folks, things are looking up, but you will still have to fight for talent. The giants like Google's recent investment in Australia is ramping up the competition, but it does have a positive ripple effect. Their brand will draw a lot of talent to old mate Straya and talent moves around like musical chairs these days. Big brands are like the bright lights of Vegas. They draw a crowd, act as a vacuum, and then not everyone wants to be there all that long, so you can pick up a few stragglers off of their hard marketing spend and relocation packages—cheeky little hack for you there 😜

We, humans, are like elephants. We don't forget much. Those working in 2008 and got cut from their jobs like a frostbitten finger have PTSD and are not going to fall for any more of the corporate BS they were being fed and then stripped out of the OPEX like a dirty secret. Employees and candidates see through this now and expect more from their prospective employers. They're far wiser now than to fall for the charms of the corporate playbook.

Finally, while more businesses realise that high performing talent brings in 400% of their salary in ROI, that same talent that perhaps you might have worked too hard during the pandemic now has a higher value and is aware of the impact they have on your revenue. So, they want more money like Oliver Twist wanted more porridge. They know their worth. The problem here is, now everyone thinks they're entitled to a pay rise. So even your low performing hires that are likely costing you money (as mentioned in one of the links above), are sticking out their hand for more money, too...buggers.

It's a Mexican stand-off between the business and incredible talent, but unfortunately, great talent, whether it's internal or external, is in the power seat (for the time being).

You need them.

They know you need them.

They know you're struggling to attract talent.

They know others are leaving for a variety of reasons (mentioned above).

They also know that losing talent costs you heavily in lost productivity and revenue.

So they know you'll either crumble and cough up to get them onboard or dig deep to keep them as a good amigo should. Salary increase demands for hot talent in tech and digital are anywhere between 20-40% at the moment (bonkers). My advice and personal opinion on this is to only pay for top-performing talent that has been deeply assessed and has references so shiny you can see your face in them.

Regardless of what you believe, you're just going to have to fight harder for talent.

Putting a positive spin on it. If you are working for a business that understands the above, they'll invest in what you need on people, processes and technology to hire and retain successfully. IT'S A VERY EXCITING TIME TO BE WORKING IN TALENT, despite it's challenges.

If you're not being understood and invested in, find a new job. You are wasting your time.

Your business has to do something because doing nothing and hoping for the best will kill you and your CEO's hopes and dreams of 'Revenue Utopia'.

For a fighting chance, you need to be turning up to the fight like a Peacock pumped up on steroids with Inspector Gadget and Seth Godin in your corner.

Firstly, there are no quick fixes.

Pay peanuts, expect monkeys.

Invest in a long term strategy to attract and retain talent, not a short term one to get bums on seats because your Board is in panic mode. Bums on seats increase the risk of poor/low performing hires. That won't work and will only cost you more money in the long run.

As I have said before, this isn't a market where you can throw some sleazy buzzwords together on your culture page and pull together some fluffy perks that make you sound all the little bit more alternative to your nearest competitor. It's game on, and you need to prepare to roll your sleeves up on what needs to be done to win the fight for attracting and retaining talent.

There are dozens of things you could be doing to attract and retain staff, but here are some of my top tips.

What's luring great Talent in? What are the bright lights?

OFFER HYBRID FLEXIBILITY TO ANYONE IN THAT CAN PERFORM THEIR JOB ANYWHERE.

Healthcare, mining, hospitality, retail workers know what they are signing up for, so this doesn't include them.

Hybrid flexibility is a term you should get very, very familiar with. It's the latest in 'must-haves' from top talent, so if you aren't offering, you should be. And if you are offering it, this is something you should be screaming from the rooftops of EVP/IVP.

Profile your star employees with some IVP prowess. For example, launch a series of non-cheesy videos of 'Steve from Finance' splitting his time from the office and working from his cottage up in Black Heath in the blue mountains using his two screens to complete customer reconciliation work with his chai latte, with wifi boosters that Elon Musk would be jealous of that your company paid for on your new 'hybrid-flex policy'. It even sounds cool.

Show Steve in full work-life-balance mode, clocking off when he wants, tending to his vegetable patch between meetings, preparing a blue cheese salad before his children, Pippa and Egbert get home from school (I'm joking, grinding your gears on the scenes here. You get my drift.)

Give the people what they want to see. Hybrid-flexibility and work-life balance.

TRUST AND ENABLE YOUR STAFF TO DO THEIR JOB.

No one wants to work for a business that sells hybrid flexibility and then watches their every move, click, email and phone call like a giant creep. They'll be gone before you can say 'First 90-days.' Ask yourself, are we giving our people the right technology they need to be high-performers. You are better giving people all the rope they need to see if they use it wisely or don't use it and then give them 'Thanks, but this isn't working chat.' If you have people working for you who are revenue-focused (i.e. sales), they know the numbers they need to hit, so set the expectations, tell them you trust them, give them the tech they need and let the rest play out.

The results will speak for themselves.

Project teams working in an agile fashion are also goal orientated but, of course, in shorter sprints. It's the same concept. Given everyone a clear line of sight on the group or individual goal, let them run to the hills and let the results speak for themselves. I think it's pretty simple. If you don't perform after being given everything you need to complete your job, either you are just not that great at what you do, and we should have assessed you better or, you're just that not into it.

BE CLEAR ABOUT INTERNAL MOBILITY AND CAREER PATHING

So many companies sell the dream and deliver a very harsh reality regarding career pathing and internal mobility opportunities.

If you're lucky, as a candidate, you'll be told, 'We are an organisation with offices all over the world. The world is your oyster, and the opportunities we have are your pearls.'. Then, twelve months in, you get the itch for wanting more, and your manager is stressed out, so you don't want to ask them, and you have no way of seeing where the internal roles are being advertised. You don't want to set off the alarm bells to your boss, so the easy thing to do is to go and find a job elsewhere. Sounds familiar, right? This is commonplace for businesses not thinking smartly about their existing internal people capabilities.

Any decent employer worth a grain of salt will have seen that internal hiring is as important (if not more critical) as external hiring. You don't want to lose your best talent because it'll be a nightmare trying to replace them.

There are no excuses now.

There are so many great platforms that can use AI to find you a diamond in the rough from within your employee base, assess the gaps in your organisation where they might fit in. Taking it a step further, these tools then give them a little tap on the shoulder to say, 'Hey, Steve from Finance in Sydney, you're a top performer, and we think you'd be great for a Senior Analyst role in the team in London and we'll give you the training we know you're craving to be successful.'...

Yep. It exists. It works. Buy it and watch your retention %'s drop faster than you can say, 'Bugger, we lost Steve from Finance.'

Humans love empathy and so don't just rely on tech. Whether it's a candidate you are trying to land or an employee you are looking to keep hold of, sit down and get real about what they really want in their role, career, development and what it will take to retain them. Good people will open up with some decent demands. Anyone that starts throwing around demands like they're Maria Carey in her Green Room, you don't want in your org anyway. Byyyye.

This is also a great opportunity to look at who is high performing talent and who isn't. Look at and assess your internal skills, capabilities and gaps and then invest in upskilling, reskilling, and mobilising your talent internally.

Suppose you have this technology or capability in your business. In that case, you should be promoting to potential suitors in your EVP, IVP, Recruitment Marketing and during the process that you have this and that you will commit as the employer to having them use it to carve out their careers and development. It should be part of their onboarding and something the employee can hold the employer accountable for. Empower talent on their career path destiny within your organisation with a clear and agreed plan (with some agreed flex too), and you will attract/retain them.

THEY ARE NOT COMING TO YOU; TAKE YOUR PRETTY FEATHERS TO THEM!

I won't spend heaps of time on this topic because I spent much time talking about this in a previous article I wrote, 'How far are you reaching to attract, select, and hire the best talent?'. The short story here is folks, spraying and praying on the job-boards is about as valuable for attracting talent as a chocolate tea-pot is at a tea party. So have a read of that blog and get creative. It doesn't have to cost you the earth either if you work smart.

There is nooooooo doubt about it. This is not a 'walk in the park' kind of hiring market BUT I believe this whole situation has proven that talent and Talent teams are what keep the lights on at companies of all shapes and sizes so companies need to invest to stay in the game and ahead of the curve.

Be excited about your role and its importance to the company you represent. Your impact is bigger than you probably realise. So feel empowered about what you do in your job in Talent and if you are feeling undervalued or underinvested leave. There are amazing companies doing cool things out there with people, processes and tech.

I am always happy to share insights, tips, tricks and anything I am seeing and hearing in the market. Just ping me a message and let's find time to connect.