"I don't have people, my people are leaving" – this has become a common topic among business owners. This phrase marks the beginning of most of my business meetings over the past few years. Many of my clients reach out with this exact concern: how can I hire and train staff? Unfortunately, there is no simple solution. The global shortage of labor has reached our market as well.
Let’s take a look at the past decade, during which many of our people left for a better life in Western Europe. I’m sure everyone knows at least one person who has left the country in the last ten years. People left in search of better living conditions, work, and higher pay. Simply put, they left to secure the basic level of "hygiene" for themselves and their families (Herzberg’s theory). Hygiene factors represent key aspects of work that meet basic physiological and safety needs, such as security, pay, fairness, and working conditions. When these factors are met, individuals feel satisfied and comfortable in their role. On the other hand, when these hygiene factors are lacking, an individual’s commitment to goals significantly decreases.
This is the first question I ask my clients: Can your employees meet their physiological needs with the salary they earn, and do they feel safe at work? These are the first two levels in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. If they are not met, employees will stay at their jobs only until they find better conditions.
Due to the imbalance in the labor market, many jobs today meet the first two levels of Maslow’s hierarchy. People can meet their physiological needs and need for security. Many employers believe offering a competitive salary is enough. However, when we motivate employees through external motivators (material rewards) alone, this factor becomes a demotivator if the compensation level does not increase. This is why we see high employee turnover. "Nothing ties me to the employer; I go where I can get higher pay." We face a new problem: even when I manage to hire workers, they easily leave their jobs. Another common question from my clients is: how can I retain employees? Again, there’s no simple solution.
More and more employers are trying to solve the labor shortage by importing workers from densely populated countries. This may be a short-term solution, but it’s not a long-term one. Every person is driven by their own needs (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs), and the people who come to us from the Far East are no different. They came here to satisfy their basic level of "hygiene." According to Maslow, lower-level needs must be at least partially satisfied before a person can strive for higher-level needs. Every person seeks to fulfill needs from the next level.
The question now arises: is importing labor just a "quick fix" or part of a long-term strategy? In order to ensure employees stay at their jobs and deliver the required performance, it is necessary to motivate them on the higher levels of the "pyramid."
As a company, we need to connect employees to our "values." This may sound abstract! As employers, we must create an EVP. The era of “hire and pay” is over. This time was characterized by a labor market where many employees competed for one job. Back then, the rule was simple: hire the best, pay them, and that was the end of the process. Today, the process looks very different.
Create Your EVP
EVP (Employee Value Proposition) represents a unique set of benefits that employees receive as members of an organization. This includes various aspects such as salary, benefits, development opportunities, work culture, and working conditions. EVP is the fundamental element that defines what an organization offers employees in exchange for their skills, knowledge, and labor.
Large retail chains have EVP, but this becomes a serious challenge for small retailers with underdeveloped HR functions. Since this topic is unfamiliar to many, I often ask: why do your employees work for you?
An interview with long-term employees can be the first step in identifying elements for a good EVP. It’s important to listen to the problems they face and what they would like to have. Based on the information you gather, you can create the foundation for your EVP.
It’s essential to identify the "values" the company lives by. What are "values"? I would say they are the point where everything in the world either connects or divides. Identifying the key values of an employer can be the next step in creating a strong EVP.
Working conditions are one of the most important elements for creating a good EVP. Make sure employees have good working conditions and enough time for rest. It would also be helpful to provide a balance between work and personal responsibilities. Ensure that important days are acknowledged – like parental leave for fathers, reduced working hours for mothers adjusting children to daycare, or remembering employees’ birthdays!
Make sure that everyone in your company has a clear career development plan. In practice, people often leave because they don’t have a clear roadmap for their career progression. After addressing these steps, we also come to compensation and benefits, which are important factors in building a solid EVP.
The issue of labor shortages is becoming chronic and requires a strategic approach to recruitment. When thinking about your hiring strategy, it’s important to identify which functions in your company are bottlenecks and which are critical functions. What are key functions in a company? These are functions that will create a competitive advantage in the market in the future.
From all of this, it seems clear that there are no easy or simple solutions. Traditionally, creating a competitive advantage in the market was done by attracting and meeting consumer needs. The question now is whether "employees" will become the competitive advantage for every employer in the future. It seems to me that the “war for talent” is just beginning, and it’s up to employers to decide whether they will continue to put out fires or create a strategy for attracting, hiring, and retaining employees.
BIOGRAPHY
Nada Niklanović is a consultant with extensive experience in management, organization, sales, marketing, communication, and motivation. She began her career in the advertising and FMCG industries. After a decade of experience, she dedicated her career to training and educating teams to improve their skills and performance. With a certification in "Management 3.0" and expertise in agile methodologies, Nada specializes in inspiring and innovative approaches to people and organizational management. Additionally, Nada is an accredited expert in "Inspire Happiness at Work" motivation, Coaching, and Organizational Transactional Analysis, which further strengthens her work in enhancing employee satisfaction and motivation. Through her years of experience, Nada has gained significant knowledge and skills in the areas of organization, sales, marketing, and communication. Her approach includes working closely with clients to address the most challenging issues facing companies. Nada successfully applies modern sales techniques and methodologies, providing concrete and measurable results. As an experienced trainer, Nada has conducted numerous training sessions for companies across the region, where she is known for her practical and experiential methodology. Her trainings are characterized by an interactive approach and the transfer of knowledge from everyday work with various companies. Clients value the methodologies she uses and successfully apply the skills they have learned in practice. Nada regularly participates in seminars and symposiums both locally and internationally to continually improve herself and stay up-to-date with the latest trends and achievements in her field. During her consulting career, she has been involved in creating and implementing significant projects in various areas:
As a recognized expert in organization, sales, and marketing, Nada specializes in organizing and leading sales and marketing teams, as well as managing organizations. Her consulting activities include organizational diagnosis, sales sector diagnosis, revenue source analysis, defining organizational structure from a profit logic perspective, adjusting the sales department within the organizational structure, creating job descriptions for the sales sector, developing sales policies, preparing sales plans with key elements and planning criteria, defining and creating operational planning systems, developing sales strategies, identifying and enhancing the key competencies of the sales team, setting short-term and long-term goals for the sales team, defining and implementing systems for measuring and tracking business goals, and defining reward policies and creating reward systems.
Through her dedication and expertise, Nada Niklanović has left a lasting impact on the teams she trains, providing them with the tools and skills for more successful operations and achieving top results.
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