Attract, Retain Talent When You Don’t Have a Big Budget | 2-Minute Video

Is it possible to attract or retain talent when you don’t have a big budget?

After all, who wants to work where they can’t make the big bucks?

Good news: Yes, you can attract and retain employees without deep pockets.

What’s Up in This Episode: Attract, Retain Talent Strategy

In this episode of HRMorning’s 3-Point, our expert, Tina Wang, Divisional VP-Human Resources at ADP, explains three unique ways companies — and especially small employers — can find and keep top talent by focusing on things people want more than money.

Click, watch and listen for more details on how to attract and retain employees when you don’t have a big budget.

Transcript (edited for clarity):

Not every company can flash big bucks at new recruits. And not every company can keep upping salaries to retain talent.

In fact, most companies can’t. An ADP study found small businesses tend to pay less. And that’s a difficult place to be, considering first-time job seekers’ salary expectations have jumped about 25% in four years.

So what can employers do when they don’t have the means to offer the biggest salaries in their area or industries?

Tina Wang, Divisional VP-Human Resources, ADP: “If there’s an opportunity to go down the flexible work arrangements, that would be a great option. If that is not an option based on the company or the role that happens to be, where can you add some flexibility? So if things like part-time workers, whether it’s a part-time parent or retiree or a student, you know, like that college student that wants to learn, those are opportunities in terms of different types of flexibility.”

Naturally, not every business can offer flexibility. And, some employees may want or need full-time, less flexible work. In that case …

Wang: “Culture is always a big piece, right? What does an organization stand for? What’s their purpose? What they’re delivering, right? Because your people definitely feel a connection to the work that they’re doing. So that strong engagement, that strong tie definitely helps in terms of being able to offer that.

“I would tell you that there are other things as it relates to development, like skills development, right? So whether you’re small, mid or large, you could talk about growth because growth does not look like a typical corporate ladder anymore, like level one, two, three, four, all the way up to vice president or CEO, it kind of looks a little bit different. It’s more about developing your skill set as you move across the organization to become more valuable to the organization.” 

So when it comes to hiring and retaining employees when you don’t have a big budget, you’ll to:

• Be flexible. As much as you can, offer job candidates and employees flexibility. Let them have some say in how their role is designed or how work is arranged.
• Cultivate culture. Show what your organization stands to align and build engagement with future and current employees.
• Promote growth. When there isn’t room for upward mobility, give employees opportunities to gain skills and expand their talents through the organization.

Money isn’t everything when it comes to building and engaging your workforce. You can do it through flexibility, culture and growth.