Winning the race for talent

Organisations need to view employees through a new lens, and invest in offering them a meaningful and valuable experience—just as they do for customers.

- STEVEN VAN BELLEGHEM

Over the past decade, I have often spoken at many HR conferences, but I was always the odd-one-out–the customer-focused man in a group of HR experts. It was always a good experience, but I often got the impression that HR was somehow evolving less quickly than marketing.

This has now started to change, and has been significantly accelerated by the COVID crisis. However, when it comes to innovation in the war for talent, one of the most frequently asked questions is still: “In which technology do we need to invest?” when it should be “What kind of experience and culture do we want to offer our employees?”

The Offer You Can’t Refuse for employees

Customers have always had the choice about who they want to buy from, and this level of competition is why companies have been investing in their customer relationship for years. Now, as a result of growing talent scarcity in certain fields, companies are facing a similar challenge and must do the same for their personnel.

The challenges for keeping employees satisfied are looking increasingly like the same challenges for keeping customers satisfied. For customers, the very basic level is the need for a good product and good service at a good price, and for employees, the same lowest level is the need for good job content and a good salary. These are minimum requirements and they are important, but they will not be enough for an employer to differentiate his or her company.

There are, however, three more levels to the offer you cannot refuse, and for it to be implemented successfully, leadership is crucial.

Ultimate convenience