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Most organisations today are justifiably focused on sourcing and retaining top talent. With the popular belief that incentives or bonuses are the right way to go about increasing productivity, organisations may be failing to generate that crucial RoI from their talent pool. Some of the popular incentives are bonuses, health insurance, benefits for commuting employees and extra vacation days, all of which sound very exciting at first. A formal process, or system, to measure the productivity outcomes and their profit margins is surprisingly lacking in many organisations. Of course, this makes it significantly challenging to set a structured incentive plan in place. Another often occurring issue is one when the plan isn’t clear to employees, which usually happens with the discretionary model which could lead to them being confused and in turn demotivated.

When structured and executed the right way, incentives go a long way in improving the overall productivity of the organisation and yield a better return on investment. Different employees seek specific incentives and respond differently and because of that, companies must come up with a unique system where each employee feels recognized for his/her work. There are several ways of looking at incentive models and if they work:

Increase in Sales

One of the most important questions to ask is if incentivised benefits would lead to a more effective increase in sales and client numbers. According to a study conducted by Harvard Business School, monetary incentives do work in most cases when they are properly administered to motivate and reward workers. Another result which can be seen from the study is that employees respond better to quarterly bonuses compared to annual bonuses, especially for sales people who usually work on a commission. Due to short term incentives, employees in sales also work beyond their quota which goes to say that incentives may increase the sales of the company when executed properly. 

However, there are a few areas a company can go wrong with their incentive plan for sales employees – for example, if it is solely based on making sales because products/services sold at a loss would not turn out to be the best precedent for a bonus.   

Motivation and Turnover  

As an employee, one would be happy to know that their work is appreciated and recognized by their employer. Putting a monetary value for these recognitions are perhaps one of the highest forms of motivators out there. Sure, this is materialistic but contrary to popular belief, most people enjoy the bonus and tend to work even harder to keep it going. Appreciation alone is enough to boost morale and mayb  even attract prospective employees from other areas which would inevitably lead to better overall performance. There are certain instances where an employee could feel demotivated to work because of an incentive plan for instance, when an employee just misses their threshold to gain a bonus, the employee would feel frustrated and may even feel demotivated the next time.

What To Remember

While organisations may want to embark on incentivising benefits, they’d do well to keep the following in mind too while they’re at it:

#1 Micro-Management

Having that constant feeling of being on a leash at work is something the new age workforce is much more intolerant of than any in the past. They’d rather have work independence, even if it comes with more stringent follow ups and penalties. Organisations are increasingly evolving in this direction, and the results are coming in backing up this model. Multiple studies report employees report being more productive at the end of a workday where their own methods of work were encouraged and they were free to work as per their requirements. 

#2 The Healthcare Question

A healthcare plan being offered as an incentive is unlikely to go down well with your workforce for a variety of reasons. Due to ethical, and even cultural sensitivities, healthcare can be one of those items many would consider essential. Further, an incentive plan here may mean that certain folks may healthcare benefits while others may be held back. Such a scenario is likely to negatively impact team dynamics and job satisfaction levels. On the other hand, if healthcare benefits are offered on a more universal level, it’s value can often be underrated – since it impacts multiple other aspects of the employees’ lives – such as their financial wellness.

The Conflicts Associated With benefits plans

There are times when incentive plans may backfire and turn out to be a problem. Employees might find themselves in a very competitive environment where they’re all competing against each other for a limited share of reward which could turn into a very hostile environment to work in, even if the incentive plan is outlined perfectly. 

Sometimes an incentive plan might also lead to office malpractices, especially if there is a loophole to be exploited. 

Taking a step back for a broader view, however, it’s reasonable to conclude that the pros outweigh the cons here. Incentivising your benefits with a well structured incentive plan is the best way to go about providing employees with the recognition and appreciation they deserve, while also locking in their loyalty and increasing overall company performance. 

Keeping up with a modern workforce dominated by a generation of millennials is all about embracing the impetus for change in the traditional ways of work structures and employment patterns. To attract and retain critical talent, organisations need to go beyond focusing on their teams in the context of measurable and attainable goals. Sure, metrics, key performance indicators and other tangible factors are important to indicate an enterprise’s success. However, intangibles – such as employee engagement, ideologies, culture, authoritarianism, etc are also vitally important in the impact they have on the productivity levels of your human capital.

Company culture is an aspect that largely influences employee experience, satisfaction and talent retention. A strong organisational culture lowers the stress for management to develop and regulate formal rules and regulations. This makes it important for organisations to invest time and effort in improving it.

Corporate culture can be defined as a shared understanding members have about the organisation. It is the perception held by employees about the characteristics of the organisation. Company culture therefore forms a basis for how things are meant to be done and how members are expected to conduct themselves.  Let’s dive into some of the ways organisations rely on to foster and propagate positive workplace culture.

1. Communicate 

When communication from upper management is clear, direct and free from ambiguities, the code of conduct and code of ethics are conveyed with clarity. It’s crucial that the organisation’s perspective on ethical behaviour is communicated both top down and in parallel on all levels as well. After all, a code of conduct and ethics are the primary values an organisation would expect its members to follow, and developing a perspective on their consistency is likely to help.

2.Reward and Penalise

It is important to invest time and effort in reviewing the means taken to achieve the said goals. A positive culture follows an ethical code of conduct and those acting in accordance with it must be rewarded visibly. At the same time, it is equally important to to penalise unethical behaviour – perhaps more so, as such moves communicate the organisation’s values and intolerance for what it may consider unacceptable. Encouraging employees to report unethical behaviour without fear of reprimand may be another corrective step in this direction.

3. Train to Gain

Training can pave the way in elevating organisational culture, as it can help employees learn about the practices that may or may not be permissible. Employees are assisted in clarifying and reinforcing the organisation’s standards of conduct. Employees should be trained to focus and follow righteous actions and behaviour congruent with the system.

 4. Endorse Transparency

Transparency plays a significant role in building the trust of employees in their organisation and employer. As many would agree, trust forms the foundation of a company with an admirable culture. Transparency in the decision making and distribution of rewards can assist in achieving fairness  at all levels. This further helps the employee to resonate with the organisation and to stay with it. 

5. Encourage employee participation

The behaviour of top management is a force that plays an important part in sustaining culture. Employees’ participation in decision making, autonomy, liberty to communicate and bottom-up feedback are some of the characteristics that help to create a strong culture. With higher employees’ participation, expect your employees to exhibit the right behaviour and produce higher product quality. 

Conclusion

An organisation’s culture is its essence. Whether they intend to or not, its founders and top management will be perceived as role models whom employees will look up to as a benchmark for the most appropriate and accepted behaviour. Therefore, actions from the top are going to be a reflection of how things are expected to be done. 

This does assign disproportionate responsibility for this concept to the upper management, but justifiably so. Culture is indeed set top-down. Authentic leadership can enlighten the road to a positive and strong culture that ultimately generates cohesiveness, loyalty and organisation commitment from the top talent available. 

As technology continues to change the corporate landscape rapidly, we witness the emergence of the latest trends in HR management and the recruitment landscape. An expanding gig economy, a demand for creative employees who can keep their skills updated and adapt to changes and a digitally savvy workforce are all driving an evolution of the recruitment system. 

Skills are in short supply, and the market for good talent is more competitive than ever. In such a situation, it is important to keep abreast of the recent trends in recruitment. Here’s what to watch out for in the coming year.

Candidate Experience

Even as unemployment rises, a parallel dearth of talent is also seen. A report by Deloitte predicted that the skills deficit, which was numbered at around 23 million in 2019, will grow to 29 million by 2030. 

This means genuinely talented job seekers have the upper hand in recruitment. Along with ensuring the applicant is the right fit for the job, recruiters also need to provide a great experience to candidates. 

Recruiters can use tech to make the process easier and offer a personal touch to candidates throughout their recruitment journey. They can also stand out by giving constructive feedback to candidates at each step rather than ‘ghosting’ them. 

Job seekers also consider how their work environment will be before they join. Hence, a ‘day in the life of an employee’ video, providing genuine behind-the-scenes glimpses about life in the company can also help enhance the candidate experience.

Flexible Work Schedules

In the increasingly competitive hiring market, recruiters must know what the candidates desire. While 9-5 jobs were the trend until a few years ago, job seekers now highly prioritise flexibility. In this post-COVID world, remote and flexible working has emerged as one of the latest trends in HR management.

According to a survey by the International Workplace Group, 80% of the respondents reported a higher preference for a job offer that came with flexibility. Further, 85% of businesses said that productivity increased with higher flexibility. 

Of course, flexibility depends on the job’s nature and is unsuitable for every kind of work. However, an offer of flexible work schedules whenever possible increases the chances of a candidate accepting the job offer.

Collaborative Recruiting

Building a business through networking and connections with current employees is a great way to bring quality talent to the organisation. An employee referral program that incentivises current employees to refer people they know for recruitment can benefit the employer and the employee. 

The highly competitive recruitment market calls for creative measures to cut hiring costs and get the best talent, and connections are far more viable and compelling than job boards in such a situation.

Employer Branding

To attract talent, employers must shape their brand reputation. One of the emerging trends in human resources is that job seekers now prefer to look up employers’ brands before applying. So, companies boasting a superior brand image are more likely to find perfect candidates. 

Unlike earlier, when all employees cared more about monetary incentives and perks, they now also look at culture, values and ethics alignment. The newer, more ‘woke’ generation prefers to work for organisations that have a positive impact on the world.  

Making your brand attractive would require more than just corporate marketing campaigns. People now expect more of a personal look at what to expect. Great employee reviews on Glassdoor and other social media sites, a professional website clearly stating the vision and mission of the company and an active social media presence are all important to building your organisation’s brand.

AI in Recruitment

One of the latest trends in HR management is the emerging use of Artificial Intelligence and other advanced technologies. AI has been portrayed equally as the answer to recruiters’ problems as well as the biggest challenge they would have to face. Of course, the reality lies somewhere in between. 

AI is being used to enhance the role of recruiters but not replace them entirely. Artificial Intelligence brings fewer biases to the candidate selection process than humans do, though it does not make completely unbiased decisions. 

Recruiters can leverage AI during the recruitment process to free recruiters from tedious manual processes like paperwork. Chatbots, which use AI technology, can engage candidates throughout their journey. 

AI would do the heavy lifting when it comes to screening candidates without bias and creating a seamless experience for them. Human recruiters would, of course, still be required for the parts that need creativity and intuition, like designing the recruiting process, interviewing the candidates, etc.

In an industry environment that is continuously changing, it is easy to worry about the uncertain future and the role technology will play in it. However, one thing is for sure – the role of human beings will not diminish, although it will change. 

The above trends show technology playing a supporting role in recruitment, rather than taking centre stage. This is because even as tools become more sophisticated and automation pervades every field, the end goal remains – to attract the right candidates by creating a great experience with a human touch. The target audience, after all, is human.

Knowing the emerging trends in human resources is crucial to giving your organisation a competitive edge in achieving its goals and hiring the right talents. If you are looking for instant credit solutions to help your employees get quick access to funds, you can opt for Fibe’s Salary Advance Loan. 

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FAQs on Recruitment Trends to Watch out for in 2020

What are the 5 main areas of HR?

Here’s a quick rundown of 5 critical areas of the Human Resource Management:

• Recruitment and Onboarding
• Compliance Management
• Workforce Planning
• Employee Engagement and Satisfaction
• Training and Development

What are the 4 pillars of HR?

These pillars form the building blocks to manage a company’s workforce efficiently. Here they are:

• Talent Acquisition and Recruitment
• Talent Management
• Performance Management
• Legal and Regulatory Compliance