Do you feel it? The work world is shifting. Some of the change is fairly dramatic, and some more subtle. But one thing's for sure: Hiring has gotten more high-stakes.
In this month's newsletter, what one progressive tech company is doing differently when it comes to the workplace, strategies for boosting retention, and how to tap into a hidden talent market you have at your disposal. Read on.
Unconventional Leadership for an Unconventional Time
Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price often makes waves with his progressive attitude toward managing employees. There was the time he raised the salary of every single employee to at least 70K a year. A few years later, he claimed the move had reduced the turnover rate by half.
When faced with potential layoffs during the pandemic, he polled employees for their ideas, and came up with a highly unconventional plan: be totally upfront with employees about the dilemma, and let each individual employee decide whether they could afford a pay cut to make it through the hard times. The result? Zero layoffs.
And when it came to returning to the office versus staying remote, right in character, Price refused to make a grand sweeping policy. Instead, he Tweeted: "Do whatever you want. As a CEO, what do I care?"
For conventional CEOs used to a top-down approach, this utterly transparent, highly democratized style of leadership may seem irreverent, but it works for Gravity. As someone who has worked in the hiring space for 12+ years, it’s always encouraging to see new leadership ideas enter the arena.
Read more on Inc.
Strategies for Boosting Retention
86% of professionals would change jobs for better professional development opportunities, according to one recent report. Another from LinkedIn found that professional development opportunities are the number-one way any company can improve its company culture. It seems pretty clear that if retention is on your mind, you’re going to want to assess the professional development opportunities at your company.
Not only do professional development opportunities create a more conducive environment for employees to thrive, employees given these opportunities tend to be more engaged with customers and each other. Exactly what this looks like varies from company to company. But as a recruiter for 12+ years, I can tell you that job seekers are drawn to companies that support them in their careers and seem truly invested in their futures.
Read more on Harvard Business Review
A Hidden Talent Market
A previously untapped talent market that’s getting a lot of positive press these days? The recently unemployed.
After a few years of a pandemic turning everything we once thought we knew upside down, hiring managers suddenly recognize that resume gaps are not a red flag, after all. And this is creating a whole new pool of candidates.
In my recent experience as a Executive Recruiter, I can certainly attest that resume gaps during the pandemic are not weird. Not weird at all. But as you consider such candidates, be smart. Do they explain why they took a break? Does that explanation make sense?
A recruiter can help you sort through the riff-raff and assess whether a candidate’s resume gap is a logical result of the times or a red flag. If you’d like to chat about this or anything else, reply to this newsletter or call me today!
Read more on SHRM
More Recommended Reading
7 expressions that can kill employees’ trust in managers on Fast Company
What Consequences Can Managers Enforce Instead of Firing Someone? on Inc.
This CEO Lets His Employees Work Whenever They Want—From Wherever They Want on Wall Street Journal
James Johnson
Johnson Recruiting Group