Learn From the Best: How to Attract Your Best Talent

Attracting and retaining staff is no easy job in the current job market. If The Great Resignation has shown us anything, it’s that employees are ready to move on to a new job that will better suit their needs. 

So, it’s never been a better time to re-evaluate how your company attracts and retains your best people because at the end of the day, your team are your biggest asset and you don’t want to lose them. 

We’re running through five different ways you can not only recruit top staff into your team but keep them around with some real-world examples from some amazing start-ups, scale-ups and companies worldwide. Ready to learn from the best? Let’s dive in. 

1. Values-Led Hiring: Patagonia

Patagonia is more than just an outdoor apparel company. In fact, Patagonia’s chief human resources officer, Dean Carter said they are “a cause disguised as a company.” Patagonia has a clear mission and vision statement for why their company exists and this trickles down to their recruitment and retention process and their day-to-day activities. 

Company culture, beliefs and values play a massive role in attracting and retaining employees and it works both ways. Companies want to find employees who fit into their company culture and vice versa. Employees who are driven by the company's mission are 54% more likely to stay with a company for five years and are 30% more likely to become top performers.  

On top of that, millennials are increasingly searching for companies that are making strides to better social and environmental outcomes, with 64% of employees saying they wouldn’t take a job if the company doesn't have strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) and 83% says they would be more loyal to businesses that contribute to social and environmental issues. 

Aside from the great strides, Patagonia makes through their self-imposed Earth Tax, donating 1% of sales to grassroots organisations, they also provide employees with an opportunity to volunteer at grassroots activist organisations through their Environmental Internship Program. 

This allows employees from all parts of the company to work for an environmental organisation of their choosing for two months while still being able to earn their regular pay and benefits. 

2. Employee Benefit Schemes: Canva 

Canva is an online design and publishing tool that makes design accessible for anyone with thousands of free and professionally designed templates. 

But, aside from changing the design game, Canva offers its employees a stack of benefit schemes to attract and retain the best staff possible - it even won the 2018 Great Place to Work award. 

Employee benefit schemes are a great way to not only attract employees but keep them there. In a candidate market, employees are constantly searching for workplaces that offer them benefits on top of their salaries. Employees are likely to see the value in workplaces that invest in the health and wellbeing of their employees, in turn, increasing job satisfaction, productivity and loyalty.  

Let’s take a look at how Canva attracts and retains its best employees through employee benefit schemes: 

• Extra 5 days of paid leave to support their team to balance work and life
• A month off and a budget for employees celebrating 5 years with Canva 
• Flexible work arrangements
• Vibe & Thrive: a dedicated allowance that each employee can claim to support their wellbeing 
• 18 weeks of paid parental leave
• Force for Good: 3 days of paid volunteering for employees to give back to their community  

3. Professional Development: Adobe 

We all know Adobe as a global leader in digital media and marketing but did you know that they create a workplace culture that facilitates and encourages continuous learning and development for their team? 

Researchers at ResumeLab found that 54% of working professionals surveyed said they would leave an employer if professional development was not delivered. The same study found that 56% of people would participate in professional development if their employer provided them with the opportunity.  

The reality is that many employers aren’t investing in the career development of their team with one-third of employers saying they don’t do anything to improve their employee's current skill sets.

That’s where Adobe comes in. Adobe’s Professional Development Reimbusmant benefits provide roughly $1000 a year for learning opportunities for their team members to attend conferences, workshops, webinars and even language courses that are directly related to career development. 

On top of that, Adobe Digital University provides its employees access to online training and learning opportunities to upskill so they don’t always rely on skills and knowledge that might be outdated. This facilitates a culture of continuous learning, which in turn, keeps them motivated, engaged and satisfied. 

4. Encouraging Creativity: Google 

You may have heard of Google’s popular ‘Innovation Policy’ which allows Google employees to spend 20% of their working hours on side projects. This policy actually led to the development of some of Google’s most successful products including Gmail, AdSense and Google News.  

Although not every company can afford to give their employees 20% of their work hours away to work on innovative and creative ideas and projects, they can, however, facilitate a culture that encourages creativity. 

This could be on a small scale like a one-day offsite to work on innovative projects or even removing some barriers to exploring creativity such as grant programs. MyPlanet uses an alternative to Google’s 20% innovation policy called ‘Awesome Time’ which sees employees taking Fridays to work on self-directed projects   

Employees at both Google and MyPlanet have said even though they don’t always use the time to work on creative projects during work hours, knowing that it is available to them makes them feel like their companies value their personal growth. 

5. Asynchronous Working: Cape 

In a post-pandemic world that enabled working from home, workplaces are constantly evolving and employee expectations of the workplace are also changing. A study conducted by Swinburne University shows that 58% of workers are looking for non-traditional working arrangements and if not delivered, it could be a dealbreaker. 

To combat changing employee expectations, employers are offering Asynchronous working models where employees work on their own time. This means they don’t have to be online and available during the traditional working 9-5 period. 

The team at Cape use an asynchronous working model, where autonomy and trust are at the forefront of their work culture and acknowledges that not everyone performs efficiently at the same hours of the day. Instead, they give their employees an opportunity to get all their key tasks and deliverables met in a time that works around their lifestyles. 

There are various benefits of asynchronous work including greater flexibility - which is something incredibly important for the modern workplace, and greater productivity with a 58.8% reduction in task completion. Asynchronous working also removes time zone barriers which means you can attract the best staff from all over the world.  

To ensure the asynchronous working model is successful, Cape uses a company engagement survey to understand what is and isn’t working to constantly improve their asynchronous working practices and, keep their employees engaged.  

Amongst all these incredible workplaces, there are key takeaways all companies can learn from to improve their workplace culture to better attract and retain the best possible employees. While not all businesses can implement the same employee benefit schemes, they can implement little changes on a small scale that makes potential employees see the value in working for your company. 

Ready to give your people the tools they need to work at their best?

Here at Recess, we believe work happens from anywhere - whether that’s your spare bedroom, a coworking space or an office. Recess takes the hard work out of giving your hybrid team the tools they need to succeed. 

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