Leverage flexible working arrangements to attract the best talent, here’s how.
According to a 2016 Workible study, flexible working arrangements is number three on the list of important factors for job seekers when applying for a new role, behind salary and location. With three out of four office-based workplaces in Australia reportedly offering negotiable working schedules, flexibility is increasingly expected by employees across all office-based industries.
Major corporates including Deloitte, PWC Canberra, Cisco and Expedia have all embraced the move to alternative working arrangements, including working from home and hot desking, and have significantly reduced their office space as a result. Other organisations have chosen to offer workers flexible hours/working from home arrangements on a case by case basis as requested.
Ultimately each organisation has to determine what’s right for their operation, however flexible working arrangements are a growing trend in the candidate market. If you do offer any benefits in this space, it can give you a competitive edge when it comes to attracting talent to your organisation, and positively impact the perception of your employer brand in the market place.
In my current role with Employment Office, I enjoy a flexible working arrangement to suit my family arrangements and it’s made a huge difference to my home and work life.
My advice to organisations that do offer any employment flexibility, whether it’s on a case-by-case basis or as a formalised agreement with all staff, is to make sure you share this with candidates during the recruitment process. In my experience a candidate will opt for a role that offers flexibility and location convenience over salary, as ‘life balance’ is more valued by individuals than salary.
Read on for my tips on how to communicate workplace flexibility to boost your talent attraction strategy.
- Showcase both full-time and part-time employees on your careers website. Employee stories that include a more personal element paint a strong picture for candidates. Use these people stories to highlight how your organisation values each of their people’s personal life and endeavors to support them.
- Advertising vacant roles in both the full-time and part-time categories on job boards. The key words ‘part time’ is a highly searched across Australian job boards. By including your role in the part time category, you’re tapping into highly experienced candidates who are looking for flexibility.
- Include workplace flexibility in your recruitment advertising content. Many organisations that offer flexibility on a case-by-case basis won’t advertise it, and this is a mistake. Don’t miss out on the perfect candidate because they don’t know what you can offer them.
Whatever your organisation offers in regards to flexible working arrangements, the important point is to ensure you communicate your offering throughout the recruitment process. In an increasingly candidate-driven talent market, anything you can do to keep up (or stay ahead) of the competition is critical to attracting the best people to your organisation.
Author: Sacha Price
Editor’s note: Employment Office provides cutting-edge employer branding services to help organisations attract the very best candidates. Contact us to find out how we can discover your employee value proposition and establish your organisation as an employer of choice.
