In today's business world, which is largely characterized by a shortage of skilled workers, companies need to rethink their strategies for attracting, retaining and developing employees – because they can no longer afford to exclude certain target groups. Decision-makers are therefore working flat out to find solutions to the omnipresent question: "Which approach to increasing employer attractiveness is most effective at present?"
Answering this question requires a continuous reassessment of what employer attractiveness means in a professional context. In addition, it is necessary to examine which precise measures are required in order to build up and retain a resilient and motivated team.
Even though employer branding is an important part of the concept of employer attractiveness and fundamentally shapes a company's external image, numerous other characteristics are essential with regard to the attractiveness of a company – both for the existing workforce and for potential new employees.
Which approach to employer attractiveness will determine the future?
Whereas in the past it was often enough to offer generic offerings and hierarchical career opportunities to appeal to a broad target group, employees' job requirements have now changed enormously. Driven by demographic change and an increasingly complex working world, the "one size fits all" approach is becoming less and less important. Instead, individualized, life-stage-specific concepts are coming to the fore, aimed not only at attracting new colleagues but also at retaining team members in the long term.
In order to remain competitive in this market environment, companies must clarify fundamental issues that have a significant impact on their positioning as an employer:
- Who is our target group and what factors do they find attractive in an employer?
- What distinguishes us as an employer and how can we satisfy and inspire employees?
- How can we effectively differentiate ourselves from other companies in the competition for qualified specialists?
The first question is essential to creating an effective approach to increasing employer attractiveness, and is therefore the primary focus of this article. Managers must be clear that their target group today is all employees with their life-stage-specific needs and priorities.
Rethinking is the order of the day: The "one size fits all" approach is a thing of the past
To enable greater personalization, the traditional "one size fits all" approach to employer attractiveness must be replaced by the "one size fits one life stage" approach. It almost doesn't matter whether prospective employees are just applying for a new job with a company or employees in a similar phase of life are considering staying with their employer – what inspires people to come also inspires them to stay! This requires a flexible modular system of measures tailored to the individual needs and wishes of employees in different phases of their lives.
Who is going to pay for all this?
However, the implementation of such a tailored strategy requires an adequate financial basis. It is therefore essential that companies make sensible budget reallocations between employer branding, recruiting and retention. For example, an effective budget strategy could involve automating certain employer branding and recruiting processes, freeing up resources that can then be used for individually tailored employer attractiveness measures. This includes, for example, introducing a digital twin for better target group understanding as well as targeted AI-based location analyses to analyze the geographic whereabouts of potential employees.
However, savings must be made in the right place. They should not come at the expense of necessary human interactions in the application process, but should be limited to activities that do not add value.
These saved costs mean that investments in employer attractiveness measures can be largely cost-neutral – depending on the savings and the range of measures employers wish to offer. However, HR responsibles must be aware that not all measures can be mapped in a cost-neutral manner.
A path to sustainable, long-term employer attractiveness
The "one size fits one life stage" approach represents a viable way to increase employer attractiveness sustainably in the long term. It enables an individual, life-stage-specific approach that appeals to all prospective and current employees while ensuring a high degree of flexibility.
However, companies must carefully consider how they can and want to cater to the individual requirements of their employees without overstretching their financial resources. This will be a challenging but necessary exercise in the intensifying war for talent.
In this ongoing pursuit of excellence, it is critical for companies to continually evaluate and adapt their employer attractiveness strategies to remain competitive in the rapidly changing employment landscape.
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