A talented workforce can drive your business to success, but finding high quality candidates and holding on to existing talent has never been more of a challenge.

With a record number of employees reconsidering their careers following the pandemic, businesses can't afford to be complacent about making their job offers competitive and solving any problems that could be harming their company culture or image.

If you're struggling with a talent gap, here are some effective ways you can recruit and retain employees over the competition.

Listen to your employees 

If you're losing talent faster than you can replace it, there may be deep-seated problems in your organisation that you need to address.

Whether these concern compensation, lack of opportunities or a toxic workplace culture, the only way to find out what these issues are is to ask your employees directly, either through personal interviews or surveys.

As a caring employer, you need to make sure you understand your team's concerns and respond promptly, before you lose more valued employees and need to expend time and money on training replacements.

Provide flexibility 

Flexible work arrangements are a deal breaker for many of today's job candidates and for existing employees returning to work after the pandemic who are conscious about maintaining their work-life balance.

Depending on the nature of your workplace, offering work-from-home options, flexible shift patterns or other personalised arrangements can make employees feel valued and help to keep your workforce more productive and engaged.

Invest in your employees

Workers who may be re-evaluating their career paths and are concerned about threats such as automation will appreciate opportunities to expand their skill set on the job. Investing in training and personal development is beneficial for employees and employers.

As well as improving their sense of job security and satisfaction, up-skilling or cross-training your employees can ensure they are capable of meeting new challenges in the future and could mean you're able to fill some vacancies internally, rather than having to train new workers from scratch every time.

Offer tailored benefits and rewards

Employee benefits and rewards help to motivate workers, make them feel valued and build loyalty to your company, but only when they truly offer value to every individual working for you.

With benefits packages now being commonplace, companies that offer a personalised experience can stand out. A specialised benefits platform can allow your employees to choose from a wide selection of perks and merchants to suit their needs.

Self-managed reward platforms

Setting up and managing a diverse network of reward partners yourself can involve a lot of time and cost, which is why more businesses now rely on established ecommerce platforms.

My Rewards International (ASX:MRI)

My Rewards International (ASX:MRI) is a fast-growing global provider of subscription-based Customer Engagement Technologies, including loyalty and rewards programs for corporates and consumers, custom marketplaces and live streaming eCommerce solutions. 

The Company currently connects over 5.8 million members with over 4,500 global, national and local brands. MRI completed a successful IPO raise at the end of 2021 and commenced trading on ASX in February 2022. 

To keep up to date with their news and progress, and for more information about loyalty and reward programs as a whole, subscribe to the My Rewards International Limited Chairman's List.