Payroll Services Help SMBs Attract and Retain Top Talent

Total compensation plays an anchor role as recruitment strategies broaden their reach.

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Talent acquisition and retention have long been challenges for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), with new challenges continuing to emerge. The pandemic has permanently changed the underlying dynamics in employer-employee relationships, and that is reflected in new recruitment and retention strategies.

While the battle for top talent is waged on multiple fronts, payroll services play an important role in helping SMBs succeed in their efforts.

Seventy-seven percent of North American businesses polled for "The Talent Game," Hire Right's 15th annual benchmark report on workforce trends, cited finding qualified candidates as their most significant talent acquisition challenge in 2022, up from 63 percent in 2021.

At the same time, employee expectations are on the rise. The percentage of workers ranking total compensation packages including pay, benefits, bonuses, and incentives as their top concern jumped to more than 35 percent this year from its historical average of less than 27 percent, according to Jack Wiley, president and CEO of consulting firm Employee Centricity.

Workers want more than money

"In today's talent attraction and retention environment, what employees or prospective employees most want is competitive pay and benefits," says Wiley, who has been tracking these trends since 2012. But they are looking for more in other areas, as well. The percentage of workers in Wiley's surveys ranking positive working conditions as most important to them has doubled to 25 percent in 2022 from an historical average of 12.5 percent.

The rising importance of positive working conditions comes as no surprise to Michael Benyamin, managing director for talent & organization, global HR transformation & delivery co-lead at Accenture.