In a tight labour force market, sourcing candidates has become a real struggle, particularly for the health care and social assistance sector. Candidate numbers via online job boards are rapidly dwindling yet many organisations still favour these channels.

Not only are we seeing a huge reduction in active job applicants for care roles, but one might also question the quality of candidates still using these channels to get a job. The term “revolving door” comes to mind.

Benefits of Diversifying Recruitment Sources

Research suggests that diversifying recruitment sources can lead to better hiring outcomes, such as:

• A more diverse pool of candidates and thus
• More diverse hires
• A better company cultural fit
• Broader candidate reach
• Higher quality candidates
• With longer tenure

Some examples of recruitment sources are online job boards, agencies, employee referral, social media, community outreach, flyer drop, vocational institutions and migration programs.

The power of your employees

Employee referral programs have been found to be one of the most effective ways to find top-notch candidates. Research published in the Journal of Business and Psychology found that employee referral programs were the most effective recruitment source for finding candidates who were a good fit for the organisation. Additionally, research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that employees who were referred by someone they knew were more likely to stay, resulting in lower turnover rates and greater retention. As an added bonus, the referring employee also had longer tenure!

Moreover, employee referral programs have been found to be cost-effective. A study published in the Journal of Labour Economics found that employee referral programs had a lower cost per hire compared to other recruitment sources. Monetary referral rewards also go directly back to employees and thus become an investment, instead of an external spend.

Employee referral is also an ongoing source of new staff, as for each new hire, organisations can tap into a whole new, often local, network. It’s the low-hanging fruit of recruitment sourcing, yet completely under-utilised in many organisations.

How to turn referral from a drip to a drizzle

“It’s too cumbersome to manage!” is a phrase often uttered when talking about employee referral programs. And it is indeed, when using a spreadsheet. So 20th century. There are modern solutions that streamline the referral process and make it fun and rewarding for employees, either integrated in a recruitment system or via a dedicated app. Organisations using an employee referral app, such as Care Friends in Australia and the UK, are creating a culture of referring and get up to 30% of new hires via this high-quality source. On average, these referrals have tenure more than double that of staff sourced via other channels, making referral an important source to add to your mix.

Questions to ask yourself now

To overcome the challenges of a tight labour market by diversifying recruitment sources, organisations need to ask themselves a few important questions: What is the breakdown of our current recruitment sources, the number of hires and retention by source? Are we overly reliant on a single recruitment source, and how can better leverage our existing employees to help us recruit?

If you are finding that you’re not yet getting more than 15% of new hires via referral, then you have at least one new recruitment source to tap into.

With nearly two decades of experience in Human Resources, Marleen Galligan is a seasoned professional with a diverse skill set that includes recruitment, change management, training, marketing and communication, EVP, and psychometric assessments. Leveraging her educational background in psychology, Marleen provides valuable guidance to clients through a range of services and tools, including their Employee Referral app, Care Friends, to help turbocharge the power of employee referral and their Psychometric Assessment tool, Care Advantage, to effectively screen candidates.

Sources

Seek.com.au

Breaugh, J. A. (2008). Employee referrals: A review. Journal of Human Resources, 43(2), 262-276.

Cable, D. M., & Turban, D. B. (2003). The value of organizational reputation in the recruitment context: A brand‐equity perspective. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33(11), 2244-2266.

Chua, R. Y., & Ingram, P. (2013). A tale of two cities: Competing logics and practice variation in the professionalizing of mutual funds. Academy of Management Journal, 56(1), 1-33.

Dineen, B. R., Noe, R. A., & Shaw, J. D. (2008). What leads to the referral of job candidates? An exploratory field study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(1), 50-59.

Holm, H., Eriksson, T., & Åkerman, N. (2018). Examining the effectiveness of employee referral programmes: A quasi-experiment. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(17), 2459-2478.

Martin, A., & Liao, H. (2016). Do birds of a feather flock, fly, and continue to fly together? The differential and evolving effects of attraction, selection, and attrition on personality-based within-organization homogeneity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(5), 679-696.

Rynes, S. L., & Cable, D. M. (2003). Recruitment research in the twenty-first century. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 93-119.

Slaughter, J. E., & Zickar, M. J. (2006). Referral source and applicant reactions: A study of fairness perceptions and organizational attraction. Journal of Business and Psychology, 21(3), 313-328.

Turban, D. B., & Keon, T. L. (1993). Organizational attractiveness: An interactionist perspective. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23(22), 1858-1876.

www.carefriends.com.au

The post Why Online Job Boards are No Longer Enough: The Power of Employee Referral Programs appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

Research from Money.com.au found that:

• Two-thirds (67 per cent) of Australian employees admitted they are plagued by distractions when working remotely be it TV, social media, errands or having visitors over; and
•  43 per cent spend less than half their day working productively.[1]

These results and potentially some other anecdotal views are leading to an increasing workplace issue around flexible working arrangements and working from home (WFH).

While these options can offer numerous benefits for both employers and employees, there are also a number of legal issues to consider when implementing flexible working arrangements or allowing employees to work from home. These issues include:

– The right to request flexible working arrangements under the Fair Work Act 2009;
– Whether the employee is entitled to paid leave during periods of illness or injury;
– The safety obligations of employers when workers are based at home

Flexible working arrangements requests

Requests for flexible working arrangements are now covered under the National Employment Standards (NES); as such, this provides a right for certain employees to request flexible working arrangements (such as changes in hours of work) from their employer. An employer can only refuse such a request on reasonable business grounds.

The right to request a flexible working arrangement usually is in the form of:

• Changes to hours;
• Changes to patterns of work;
• Changes to location of work.

This type of request can be utilised if there are carer or family obligations, family responsibilities which include a child or close relative with a disability, or support to immediate family or someone in the household in regards to violence.

The request can be turned down on reasonable business grounds and this includes reasons such as:

• The new working arrangements requested by the employee would not be commercially practicable;
• There is no capacity to change the working arrangements of other employees to accommodate the new working arrangements requested by the employee;
• It would be, from a business perspective, impractical to change the working arrangements of other employees, or recruit new employees, to accommodate the new working arrangements requested by the employee;
• The new working arrangements requested by the employee would likely result in a significant loss of efficiency or productivity;
• The new working arrangements requested by the employee would have a significant negative impact on servicing clients and customers.

Employers are required to approve or reject the request within 21 days.

However, a big change has been the ability for employees to directly arbitrate any decisions on flexible workplace arrangements in the Fair Work Commission if they cannot be resolved in the workplace. This is a guaranteed dispute resolution mechanism that many, outside of Enterprise Agreement-covered employees, have not been able to access.

Work from home

Work from home has provided so many layers of flexibility and even become an employer branding exercise to attract and retain staff.

It has also led to 43 per cent of workers spending half their time productively, according to Money.com.au research.

In saying this, WFH is likely here to stay – and, amongst other issues, employers and HR need to consider the legal obligations, duties and responsibilities.

Legal HR issues to consider  

1. Employment law – what contractual obligations have been put in place regarding their WFH arrangement?

This could take the form of variations to an employment contract or a flexible working arrangement agreement.  It may simply be a policy in place where there are parameters for its use.  For example, there may be required “touch point” days where employees are all required physically in the office on a Wednesday.

2. Health and safety – what are the health and safety risks associated with WFH?

Managing psychosocial risks is now a positive obligation that employers (and officers) need to get familiar with. Our article Managing Psychosocial Risks: How Do You Identify Them? (6 Hazards Under The Code) identifies some hazards of working from home, such as:

• isolation; and,
• remoteness.

These two hazards, without proper assessment of risk, may well turn into psychological health concerns – which in turn leads to workers’ compensation claims or even resignation.

There are also other general health and safety aspects to consider, including electrical safety, hazardous areas when walking, and even ergonomics.

3. Data protection and confidentiality  – how will the company ensure that confidential data is protected when employees are WFH?

Apart from data protection, the issue of confidentiality is also a live one. Work product undertaken remotely is the responsibility of the employer.  They will be vicariously liable for any actions of an employee; conversely, they also own the intellectual property of the work product of the employee as long as this is expressly covered under an employment contract (there are some implied obligations but it is best not to rely upon implied obligations).

This article only really touches on parts of the issues associated with flexible working arrangements and working from home.  Cultural issues that stem from these changes and also shifting a workforce back into more in-workplace days has various challenges.  For all employers and HR teams, those challenges also bring about a number of legal ones.

Jonathan Mamaril is a Director with NB Employment Law, leading the Employment Law and Workplace Relations team. Jonathan assists employers in mitigating risk and liability and advises clients on all aspects of Employment Law. His focus is on being practical and providing value for clients through education and training; and advising on matters to prevent problems from occurring and solve problems when matters become litigious and difficult. 

The post Flexible working arrangements and WFH – 3 legal HR issues to consider appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

We spoke with Abdullah Haddara, Director of Haddarco, a Melbourne-based construction company, to understand more about the challenges of recruitment in the construction industry over the past few years and what has worked well for them when it comes to combatting these challenges.

Q: Could you please tell us more about Haddarco?

Haddarco is a Melbourne-based construction company that focuses on providing high-end support and service through our work, which mostly consists of government and private sector projects.

The company was established around sixty years ago by my father, Radwan Haddara. It started out as a very small, family-owned business that was a 1-3 man band – this approach built a great foundation for the business.

In the last ten years or so, we’ve really shifted direction and grown to more than 20 employees, with many projects on the go. Since we don’t really do advertising and rely mostly on word-of-mouth, maintaining our strong reputation within our industry and ensuring our projects are of high quality is paramount.

At the heart of our work is our people. Throughout the organisation’s growth, we’ve maintained our values and culture of loyalty, trust, respect and understanding each other on a deeper level. Focussing on these values and our culture has enabled our team to collaborate and adapt effectively, which in turn means we are able to deliver high-quality projects consistently.

We gathered our people in a team building exercise in which we asked them to describe best what they felt working for Haddarco. Words like, honesty, integrity, professionalism, innovation, foresight and purpose were prevalent. From this, our team chose our company motto, Building with purpose. Soon after, our mission statement was formed:

“Haddarco’s mission is to deliver better builds by providing the highest level of professionalism and workmanship, to deliver the client’s dreams through integrity, innovation, and foresight, and to serve with a sense of purpose.”

Q: How has recruitment been for Haddarco over the past few years?

As with any industry, you need the right people in the right place – and in the construction industry recently, the right people have been very hard to find.

COVID caused a huge workforce shortage – people have left the industry across the board, from direct construction roles (blue and white collar) to related consultant roles, such as architects and engineers. They either moved away from Melbourne to escape lockdowns or, in that time, reassessed whether they really wanted to be in the industry – there was already a lot of pressure in the construction industry and the pandemic gave a lot of people the push to make a shift in their career.

Another challenge is that during the last couple of years, we’ve seen a lot of companies in our industry willing to pay above and beyond to fill their vacancies and snap up talent, causing further scarcity in an already thinning construction recruitment market.

This workforce shortage has caused increased pressure to complete projects – our deadlines are still there, and now the workforce available to meet them is smaller.

I think it would be safe to say that recruitment is definitely one of our top challenges.

Q: What strategies has Haddarco used to combat recruitment challenges?

We’ve focussed on retention and being adaptable. When the pandemic first hit and no one knew what was going on, we brought all our team members into our office before the lockdowns and reassured them that we would do everything possible to ensure that everyone would be retained – and we followed through on that. We retained all those team members and an important part of that was that they felt they were in safe hands.

Retention is an ongoing focus for us – as mentioned, we have a strong culture of loyalty, trust, respect, and understanding each other. What this looks like for us is making sure we are constantly communicating and collaborating with each other. We have regular team exercises and activities, where we ask our team members what they think of how things are going, what we can do better, and how they are feeling. The effect of COVID on organisations has only made it more clear to us that we will always hold fast to that culture no matter what.

We’ve also become more adaptable with our recruitment. Since our focus is on finding the right person and we recognise that skills can be learned, we’ve widened our scope to include people who may not necessarily be from our industry or have specific experience, but whose skills and background are transferrable to the roles they are applying for.

For example, we were looking for a contract administrator and found there was a shortage of talent with experience in that specific role; so we looked at someone who was an office administrator. They had experience in data entry, so we brought them across and got them to focus on certain aspects of contract administration that they would be proficient in.

We’ve found a number of ways to adapt to recruitment challenges – it really depends on the role, but we’ve found success in thinking outside the box.

Q: What do you look for when recruiting?

In our industry, there are a few key things we look for to meet our business needs. Firstly, efficiency is key – with pressure to meet deadlines, we look for people who have the right skills and, most importantly, attitude.

Obviously, having the technical know-how is important, but being able to work alongside our team members and adapt to client needs is key. We really look for proactive problem solvers – people who can identify problems before they become big issues, and not only identify them, but offer a solution. These people are valuable additions to our collaborative and adaptive team culture.

Finding talent who want a career in construction fits in well with Haddarco, too, because we are big on upskilling. Investing in our team’s training and upskilling means we can support their growth and more easily pivot in times of recruitment strain.

We work with an external talent acquisition partner, Scout Talent, who helps us find and hire for roles through their recruitment campaigns. What set them apart was that they facilitate psychometric testing, which helps us go that one step beyond just finding someone with the right skills – with these psychometric tests, Scout helps us find candidates who are the best matches for our culture and organisation. Since our culture is so important to us, this service is so valuable in helping us really get that personality match right. 

When we were looking for a recruitment partner, it was important to us that we find a partner that wanted to get to know us and understand our bigger picture. We’d encountered many other recruiters whose approach was a cookie-cutter business model; for them, it was a matter of making sure they get their commission on whoever they find for us – then six months down the track, they may even try to recruit that person for another client. 

The common theme was that they weren’t really focused on building that customer relationship with us – and we found that understanding and partnership with Scout Talent.

Q: What is your advice to other construction HR teams struggling with recruitment?

While a lot of businesses went under during COVID, Haddarco stayed its course as a rapidly growing business. And to keep facilitating that growth, I don’t want to speak to 5-6 recruiters, I want to talk to a dedicated point of contact. My advice to external recruiters working for a particular client industry such as construction is to definitely focus on your customer service and building that personal relationship. 

Our priority at Haddarco is to have a cohesive workforce and environment, so finding a recruitment partner in Scout Talent, who really understands our bigger picture and helps us find people who align with our work culture, has been invaluable. 

My advice to construction companies is that when you’re hiring, look for longevity. A quick fix isn’t going to solve your problem, so don’t settle for just anyone you can find. It’s really about looking for the right fit and working with your external partners to ensure that you’re looking at the big picture.

Abdullah Haddara is the Director and Head of Operations of Haddarco, a Melbourne-based construction company. He has almost 20 years of experience the industry, and holds a Bachelor of Construction Management & Economics, a Diploma of Building Construction, and an Advanced Diploma in Business Accounting. 

The post How Haddarco has navigated recruitment in the construction industry appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

Despite the country slowly returning to pre-COVID “normalcy” there are still huge workforce shortages in the healthcare and social assistance sector, particularly aged care – regardless of whether talent is needed in residential care settings or in regional/remote areas, there is a continued battle to fill shifts. 

In a sector that is already struggling financially, the pressure on recruitment teams and managers to fill vacancies is an ever-building crescendo. Reduced candidate numbers, no-shows to interviews and even no-shows on the first day on the job are increasing, leaving managers at their wits’ end. 

The need for speed

But with pressure comes risks. The need for speed to snap up any available care staff is a slippery slope to hasty hiring decisions. We’re seeing organisations using fewer reference checks, removing additional screening or going from one (video) interview straight into sending a contract. 

Although speed-to-hire is important, preventing hiring mistakes remains critical, as the cost of a hiring mistake is not only front-loaded but continues to ripple long after the bad hire has been dismissed.

Research finds that a bad hire can cost an employer between 15 – 21 per cent of that employee’s salary, with the extent of the impact depending on the industry and seniority of the role. They furthermore found that 61 per cent of employers have settled for a candidate that did not sufficiently match the job role, ultimately hindering growth and incurring additional costs to the organisation.

For a talent acquisition platform that can help you post jobs, manage candidates, and hire the right talent all in one place, click here to learn about Scout Talent’s service-enabled software.

Reasons to keep psychometric assessments

Psychometric assessments are becoming increasingly popular for frontline care roles because they effectively showcase a candidate’s soft skills, which can be more challenging to identify through a standard resume. One provider of psychometric assessments for the care sector, Care Advantage, has screened close to 200,000 Australian care applicants in the past seven years. 

However, they too have seen a change in how their assessments are being used and a push-back from managers who just want to get their shifts filled. Although it may be tempting to skip additional screening, there are compelling reasons why these types of assessments work:

• There are many different types of assessments that give insight into aspects of a person that are more difficult to uncover otherwise, such as personality style, risky attitudes to work, cognitive ability, level of emotional intelligence and more. 
• They can identify people with the right fit for a job without necessarily having relevant experience. Perfect for hiring people from different sectors. Skills can be taught!
• Every part of the recruitment process can be exaggerated or faked by the candidate and it’s estimated that 40 per cent of people lie in their resume and another 45 per cent of candidates admit not having been fully honest in an interview. While psychometric assessments can also be exaggerated, many assessments will mention in the final report if this may have been the case.
• Candidates who complete the assessments are often more motivated for the role than those who do not. 
• Psychometric assessments are no longer cumbersome and time-consuming. Many have short-form options, gamification elements and an excellent candidate experience.

Speed and due diligence are not mutually exclusive

Increased speed and efficiency can be achieved by using a recruitment system and automating regular tasks. It is important to keep that human touch when recruiting for frontline care roles. Contacting applicants by phone or text message soon after they apply appears to be best practice. Emails tend to get lost. In addition, many organisations choose to invite applicants to complete psychometric assessments before even looking at a resume. This is particularly handy for passive job seekers who may not have a resume on hand, or for job applicants from different sectors. Plus, it helps sift out applicants who weren’t really interested.

Although the Aged Care Worker Registration Scheme could come into effect this year, due diligence remains important and the responsibility of the organisation. In the end, it is better to get it right from the start than to smoothen the far-reaching ripple of hiring mistakes. 

Want to incorporate psychometric assessments in your talent strategy? The Care Advantage is offering readers five FREE candidate assessments – click here to get in touch and redeem.

With nearly two decades of experience in Human Resources, Marleen Galligan is a seasoned professional with a diverse skill set that includes recruitment, change management, training, marketing and communication, EVP, and psychometric assessments. Leveraging her educational background in psychology, Marleen provides valuable guidance to clients through a range of services and tools, including their Employee Referral app, Care Friends, to help turbocharge the power of employee referral and their Psychometric Assessment tool, Care Advantage, to effectively screen candidates.

The post How psychometric testing can help you recruit faster – without skipping due diligence appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

While this tightening job market has plenty of implications for businesses of all sizes, it’s particularly stressful for managers who are feeling the strain of constant demands while battling with the loss of top talent. Devising employee retention strategies is therefore critical in this market.

The post Five ways to improve talent retention in a tight labour market appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

So what exactly are psychosocial risks? And what can be done to mitigate them?

What is a psychosocial risk?

Psychosocial risks are those that relate to a person’s psychological and social well-being. They can be caused by many different factors, including work-related stress, bullying, and harassment, and can lead to a range of health problems.

It is defined as a risk to the health or safety of a worker that arises from or relates to:

• the design or management of work;
• a work environment;
• plant at a workplace; or
• workplace interactions or behaviours; and
• may cause psychological harm, whether or not the hazard may also cause physical harm.

These risks could arise by way of the design of the work itself – take for example the naturally hectic area of call centres.  The psychosocial risk in such environments may be higher than others due to the management of the work.  Another example might be formal performance management steps taken or discussions around working from home and flexibility plans.

What is the new Primary Duty?

It is now a requirement of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (the Act) that persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the psychological health of workers and the elimination or minimisation of risks to psychological health arising from work-related stress.

This is commonly referred to as the ‘primary duty of care’.

The primary duty of care applies to all PCBUs regardless of their size or industry sector. It is an ongoing duty that requires PCBUs to take proactive steps to identify and control psychosocial risks in the workplace.

From April 2023 the duty goes further:

• Expressly requiring a recognition to consider the psychosocial risks to meet the primary duty;
• Imposing an express obligation to manage and identify the psychosocial risks via risk management on the basis of elimination and if not reasonably practicable to do so minimisation of that risk using the hierarchy of controls.

What does this mean for the duty holder?

From April 2023 there will now be a positive obligation on the duty holder to determine control measures implemented and all relevant matters including:

• the duration, frequency, or severity of the exposure of workers to psychosocial hazards and how the psychosocial hazards may interact or combine;
• the design of work,
• the systems of work;
• the design and layout and environmental conditions of the workplace, including:
  • safe means of entering and exiting the workplace; and
  • facilities for the welfare of workers;
• the design and layout, and environmental conditions, of workers’ accommodation;
• the substances and structures at the workplace;
• the workplace interactions or behaviours; and
• the information, training, instruction, and supervision provided to workers.

Duty holders will need to demonstrate:

• deadlines set are reasonable;
• the tools, equipment, and support provided to perform the role or meet deadlines are adequate;
• menial tasks outside of the job description are a regular feature of work;
• distribution of work and capacity;
• observation of resilience (or lack thereof); and
• sufficient workplace training.

What needs to be done by employers?

There are a number of ways to manage psychosocial risks in the workplace. These include:

• providing support and training for employees – the NB Employment Law team are running specific management training programs to educate managers and decision-makers on the new changes, especially in the context of mental illness, psychological safety, psychosocial risks, and potential legal claims in jurisdictions such as unfair dismissal, general protections and discrimination, workers compensation and workplace health and safety – click here for more information.
• implementing policies and procedures for the elimination and if not reasonably practicable to do so minimisation of that risk using the hierarchy of controls.

Jonathan Mamaril is a Director with NB Employment Law, leading the Employment Law and Workplace Relations team. Jonathan assists employers in mitigating risk and liability and advises clients on all aspects of Employment Law. His focus is on being practical and providing value for clients through education and training; and advising on matters to prevent problems from occurring and solve problems when matters become litigious and difficult.  

[1] https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/many-australians-frequently-stress-at-work-c-1913638

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A report from KPMG has found that 77 per cent of business leaders have cited talent as their biggest challenge in 2023. The specific talent challenges being faced will range from attracting the right candidates, candidate drop off, and quick quitting.  Creating a strategy to address these challenges is key to retaining your people, and growing your business. One facet of this strategy should be Employer Branding. 

In this article, we’ll explore how organisations that prioritise Employer Branding can address the common talent acquisition problems mentioned above:

• Quick quitting
• Candidate drop off
• Building a talent pipeline

Scout Talent’s Employer Branding service and talent pool management software module, :Engage, are designed to help create a long-term Employer Branding strategy, and articulate your EVP. Scout Talent works with you to help you understand your “why” – why should someone work for you and not someone else? What makes you different? What makes you better? When you have articulated answers to these questions, it will help candidates understand your “why”, too. 

Employer Branding: a TA technique that solves problems

How does Employer Branding solve quick quitting?

Quick quitting is a phenomenon where a candidate takes a job, only to quit within the first year. Recruiting to replace the new hire can be a time-consuming and expensive process – plus, the gap they leave behind in your team can affect productivity and morale. So how do organisations tackle this phenomenon?

Many employers believe that quick quitting is the result of something negative about the candidate (for example, they do not want to do hard work or they found a higher paying job elsewhere). However, it is often related to a poor candidate experience during the talent acquisition process, which can lead to a lack of connection between a person and their organisation. 

Employer Branding addresses quick quitting by building a great candidate experience from before the person applies, to long after they have accepted the job. 

Once an organisation is able to articulate its Employer Brand (with the help of Scout Talent’s Employer Branding specialists perhaps), they are able to incorporate key elements of it throughout the entire application process. From the job ad, through the interview process, and right up to when an offer is made, organisations should be communicating their unique values and benefits to applicants. This ensures candidates are aware of the “why”, and are actively connected with the organisation’s purpose and values. 

An organisation can continue to build the connection that new hires have with them as part of their onboarding process. By showcasing the organisation’s Employer Brand that was spoken about as part of the attraction stage, new hires will start to feel like they are part of the team. Now is the time for them to see the organisation’s purpose, values, and benefits come to life!

New hires who have received a positive candidate experience, and who have been onboarded with care, are not going to be immediately looking for a new role. Quitting within a year comes from a lack of connection between an employee and their organisation. Strong employer branding addresses this throughout the entire talent acquisition process.

Want to learn more about articulating your EVP? Get in touch with Scout Talent’s Employer Branding specialists here.

How does Employer Branding reduce candidate dropoff and ghosting?

Some employers find that candidates start to disappear during the application and interview process. They may have expressed initial interest but at some point became disinterested or preferred their prospects elsewhere and moved on. In many cases, these applicants “ghost” the organisation altogether, disappearing without giving feedback.

Why does this happen? Often, it’s because the candidate applied for the role with no excitement or passion. They weren’t interested in working for that specific organisation – they just wanted a job. Then, something else came along and they moved on. 

Employer Branding can help to prevent this issue. When organisations clearly showcase their benefits and values that set them apart, the applicants they attract are more likely to be connected to the organisation and stay invested in the application and interview process. 

In the event that a promising candidate does take another job, having a strong Employer Brand is still a benefit as it will make the candidate more likely to communicate rather than disappear – ghosting an organisation would mean possibly burning the bridge for future opportunities. 

The great news is that Scout Talent has tools to reduce dropoff and support various candidate journeys. Alongside their Employer Branding services, their software module :Engage allows you to build and nurture talent pools, so that you can stay in touch with previous candidates for future vacancies. 

How can Employer Branding support your talent pipeline?

Another issue that many organisations face is losing out on highly skilled candidates who did not get hired simply because there was only one vacancy. This issue worsens when these candidates do not receive feedback on their application; if they feel they had a bad experience, unsuccessful candidates may not speak positively about an organisation, which could affect its ability to draw in future candidates.

In this current competitive talent climate, organisations can stay proactive by responding to every candidate and adding them to their talent pool through software modules such as :Engage. By building a talent pipeline and engaging with promising candidates about new opportunities, organisations will be more prepared to address future talent acquisition needs.

Scout Talent’s platform is a Circle Back Initiative certified provider. This means that their technology empowers organisations to provide quick and branded feedback to every candidate, regardless of whether or not they were successful in their application. From an Employer Branding perspective, this helps an organisation to build a reputation as an employer that is communicative and treats people as more than just a number.

From the applicant’s perspective, they are receiving a better candidate experience and are more likely to want to stay engaged with an organisation. This sets your organisation up for success as it provides a future pipeline for your talent acquisition needs.

If you’d like to explore how Employer Branding can help your organisation solve quick quitting, reduce candidate dropoff, and build a talent pool, contact Scout Talent’s Employer Branding specialists today.

The post Solve the top three talent acquisition challenges with employer branding appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

There are a number of headline changes that have already incited a lot of discussion, such as:

• The final nail in the coffin for the construction industry watchdog, Australian Building and Construction Commission, with its powers shifting to the Fair Work Commission;
• The set up of an Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee to examine the suitability of income support payments ahead of each federal budget;
• Preservation of the BOOT (Better Off Overall) Test, that is with any new enterprise bargaining employees will not go backwards in new negotiations;

Putting aside the headlines, here are some of the more practical changes that employers need to be aware of — and get ready for:

Pay secrecy (and therefore transparency)

We already foreshadowed this potential change in a previous NB Employment Law article with the prohibition of “pay secrecy” clauses and the ability for employees to ask and disclose their remuneration.  This will also form a workplace right, which has some consequences in the General Protections provisions.

There are a number of ramifications for this.  Firstly, confidentiality clauses in contracts that set out remuneration as confidential will not be prohibited under the proposed Bill.  Secondly, such clauses will have no effect.

This causes some consternation from a number of vantage points:

• Rewarding discretionary effort;
• Succession planning;
• Keeping up with market salaries;
• Using increases in pay to retain key personnel;
• Creating a workplace culture where staff are constantly asking for pay rises (at least initially) and potentially causing toxic behaviour as staff get paid different remuneration.

On the other hand, the purpose of this transparency is twofold; the first being that gender equity has been put forward as a key object of the Bill.  The argument here is that pay transparency will generally lift the remuneration of all staff whatever gender they may be.

The second purpose applies to contexts such as where two people are working on one site.  There may well be one employee who works for the Principal while the other is a labour-hire employee.  The idea of this potential transparency change is that if they do the same work (with all else being equal), the remuneration should be – in theory – the same.

Contract reviews and communication with staff will be integral to combat this change.

Sexual harassment

The Bill expressly prohibits sexual harassment and is a natural extension of the workplace health and safety laws – in particular, it specifies that unlawful sexual harassment and discrimination are work health and safety hazards.

The Bill stresses the positive obligation of employers to manage the psychosocial risks and take all reasonable steps to eliminate sexual harassment.  This is a much more proactive obligation and although there have been avenues in the past in unfair dismissal, general protections and discrimination, this Bill provides more express provisions for “stop sexual harassment orders” – similar to the current FWC workplace bullying jurisdiction.

However, one prime difference between the bullying jurisdiction and the new sexual harassment provisions is that there is a compensatory avenue.

The new provisions also capture behaviours that are not directed at an individual, such as sexual innuendo, banter of a sexual nature, sexualised jokes and displays of offensive material – which would constitute a breach.

Employers and human resources must expect that sexual harassment complaints will likely increase – and unlike bullying complaints, there is a direct avenue for compensation for such complaints.

This increases the risk substantially, and policies – in particular, management training – will be integral.

Flexible workplace requests

As part of the post-covid 19 workplace – and with employer branding, the war for talent and “quiet quitting” being headlines across all Australian workplaces – flexibility has some extended protections under the Bill.

The Bill will enable employees to directly arbitrate any decisions on flexible workplace arrangements in the Fair Work Commission if it cannot be resolved in the workplace. This is a guaranteed dispute resolution mechanism that many outside of Enterprise-Agreement-covered employees have not been able to access.

In particular, it will speed up the process of making a decision for a request, with a requirement to either approve or reject the request in writing within 21 days.

Flexible working arrangements, such as carer responsibilities and family or domestic violence, obtain an extension where an employee may request a flexible working arrangement if the employee has a disability or where a member of the employee’s immediate family or household, experiences family or domestic violence.

Enterprise bargaining

There has been no doubt that many Employers have found the current bargaining system ineffectual and of negligible commercial value.  The new changes saw a number of employer and industry associations provide submissions on the proposed changes.

The biggest change is the single-interest bargaining authorisation.  It will allow the making of multi-employer agreements with a group of employers, such as franchisees, who share “clearly identifiable common interests”.

This change was particularly pushed by the Union movement to allow traditionally non-unionised workplaces to negotiate as a collective. Employers, especially those in franchise or quasi-franchise arrangements, should expect an uptick in Union-initiated bargaining with multiple employers. Those employers should be looking at legal advice as a matter of urgency to mitigate liability and risk.

Thankfully, small businesses with less than 20 staff will be excluded (one of the last-minute changes from the crossbench) from the multi-employer bargaining.  Furthermore, businesses with less than 50 staff can opt out of the bargaining, with the onus on Unions to set out a case as to why they should be included.

Another change that may affect companies with long-expired enterprise agreements is that a majority-support determination will no longer be required and a Union can initiate bargaining after 5 years have lapsed (past the nominal expiry date).

Fixed term contracts

Fixed term contracts have come under the microscope with the aim of preventing rolling contracts and, in principle, providing better job security.

Namely, any fixed term contracts exceeding two years will be restricted and require an identifiable term of termination.  Some of the restrictions include:

• Changes to the period of time or terms of a fixed term contract;
• Delaying re-engaging an employee for a period;
• Changing the nature of the work or tasks the employee is required to perform.

There are exclusions, including one-off government-funded positions, training arrangements and contracts for distinct and identifiable tasks expressly permitted under a modern award.

Other requirements include:

• A ‘Fixed Term Contract Information Statement’ to be issued;
• Prohibition for longer than 2-year fixed term contracts;
• Requirement for employers to issue a new ‘Fixed Term Contract Information Statement’ to employees engaged for a fixed or maximum term;
• Prohibition of fixed term or maximum term contracts for a total of more than two years (including under rolling contracts or extension/s) and a right to renew the contract more than once; and,
• Rendering ineffective any contract that breached these prohibitions (subject to exceptions, e.g. if an applicable modern award expressly permits a particular provision).

Employers with regular fixed term contracts and non-government-funded positions should be careful about their engagement of fixed term contracts. The above restrictions will need to be taken into account because penalties could be as high as $82,500, or $16,500 for an individual.

Jonathan Mamaril is a Director with NB Employment Law, leading the Employment Law and Workplace Relations team. Jonathan assists employers in mitigating risk and liability and advises clients on all aspects of Employment Law. His focus is on being practical and providing value for clients through education and training; and advising on matters to prevent problems from occurring and solve problems when matters become litigious and difficult.  

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As a recruitment service provider that works closely with small businesses across Australia and New Zealand, Recruit Shop is tasked with always paying attention to recruitment trends and looking for new ways to stay ahead. In this article, they share top recruitment trends that will give you the best chance at securing the highest quality talent this year.

Recruitment trends to capitalise on in 2023

In: Prioritising skills over experience

What does “5 years of experience” mean? Does it mean they are 3 years more qualified than someone with 2 years of experience? Does it mean they have more talent? More ability? Does it mean that they are ready to start the job immediately upon hire?

What more and more organisations are realising is that it doesn’t necessarily mean any of those things.

Experience is not exactly the same as talent, ability, or capability. It is not proof of strength, on its own. There are even situations where it can be a disadvantage, as they may not be agile enough to adjust to your new needs.

Skills and potential, on the other hand, are universal. Maybe the person has less experience, but they demonstrate that they can learn quickly and that they’ll be able to competently do the job. It’s also good to consider that all new hires – including those with 5, 10, or 20 years’ experience – take weeks if not months of training and handover to adjust anyway.

Finding people with the right skills is the new way to hire, especially when the labour market is tight.

Out: Posting generic job ads

People are no longer desperate for work. The best talent is already employed and, if anything, they are trying to find an organisation that speaks to them, one that makes them truly consider leaving their current job and finding a home somewhere new.

An engaging job advertisement is your most important tool to attract new candidates. You need your job ad to be written in a way that is unique to your business, and you need it to excite people to work with you, kind of like you are trying to sell them a product.

Although copying and pasting a generic job description from the internet will save you time, it’s not going to attract highly motivated, skilled candidates to your role. You can learn to optimise your job ads like a pro, or you can get expert advice on how to market your vacancies most effectively from one of our recruitment consultants.

If you can offer unique qualities and benefits to your new team members, highlight that. If you offer a close-knit team or a flexible culture, candidates want to know that! Pay transparency is important, but marketing your uniqueness will go a long way to entice candidates who resonate with who you are.

In: Extensive onboarding, training, and handover 

Recruitment doesn’t stop at the hire. Extensive onboarding and training is the best way to make sure your new hire not only thrives at the job, but stays.

Along with training and handover, the first few days with your new hire should be spent sharing your business’s story, and inducting them into your culture so that they feel supported professionally and socially. It goes a long way to build trust and lines of communication that will help your new team member to feel like they belong, and like they are empowered to be highly productive in their new role.

Try to support your new hire with handover notes that outline key processes and procedures, what to do if things go wrong, who to ask for certain kinds of information. Plan ahead to spend a lot of time with them, particularly in the first week, and ongoing to check in and ensure they feel comfortable in their first few months.

Here’s a guide to onboarding your new hire to help you.

Out: Targeting only active job seekers

When recruiting, there are two groups of candidates to consider:

• Active candidates, who are actively looking at job boards for new roles, making applications and scheduling interviews; and,
• Passive candidates, who are not actively seeking a new job, but could be interested in the right opportunity if they come across it. They might browse job boards occasionally, but they’re not actively applying for roles.

Your unique job ads will help you grab the attention of the active candidates, but it helps to have a plan for attracting passive candidates, too, particularly when the labour market is so tight.

Reaching out to passive candidates directly can be very effective, particularly when you can follow it up with really engaging information about the job and the benefits of working with your business.

If this kind of outreach is a little bit time-intensive for your team, Recruit Shop offers a digital headhunting service that can be used in conjunction with our standard recruitment service to help you expedite the process. Combined, the package helps you to pool together active and passive candidates, and make even better hiring decisions on account of having more options.

In: Maintaining relationships with ex-employees

Sometimes, the talent you need is the talent you had. We’re in an era where people leave companies for things like more money or more excitement all the time, even if they generally like their job. This isn’t the same market as a few decades ago, where employees were loyal or felt like they couldn’t experiment and try new things.

This change in attitude can be beneficial to your business: it means that an employee that leaves your organisation may be more than willing to come back, and that person may be exactly what you need. Often, hiring “boomerang employees” as we affectionately call them, can reduce the time taken to onboard and train, as they may remember a lot of your processes and procedures from days gone by.

We highly recommend maintaining positive relationships with all of your ex-employees, as you never know when one of them will be open to returning.

Out: Ghosting unsuccessful candidates

We live in a connected world, with online reviews, social media, and so much more. It is not only bad ethics to forget about unsuccessful candidates – it can be harmful to your business and your hiring efforts.

Those “ghosted” candidates now have a voice they can use to discourage people from joining your team.

It’s best practice to contact each and every unsuccessful candidate to grant them the closure of knowing which of their opportunities are still on the table. A simple, empathetic email can show immense respect and create a more positive experience for the candidate, which reflects well on your business. It could also leave the door open for future hires – ask talented candidates who happen to be unsuccessful if you can add them to a mailing list for future opportunities with your team!

In: Speeding up your time to hire

Imagine that you are a highly-skilled candidate who is in high demand in the current market. You find a job that appeals to you and you apply. More than a week passes before you are invited for your first interview. More than a week passes before the second interview. You are offered the job, and told that you’ll start a few weeks later. By now, you’ve waited more than a month to see if you even have a chance at this one job.

What would that make you think about this organisation?

You might think they are disorganised, or that the position is not a priority.

And what might happen in that time?

You’ll be scheduling other interviews, and fielding other job offers. You’ll become less passionate about working for the first organisation. You may even decide to stay at your current job because things aren’t taking off.

Speeding up the time to hire is critical for businesses that want to stay ahead of their competition. At Recruit Shop, we ensure a fast and efficient process that gets results. We have the resources to spend time keeping your candidates engaged and well-informed as you make your decision. If you want to discuss how we can help you improve your recruitment process without breaking the bank, you can request a callback here.

Out: Trying to do it all yourself, if you’re struggling 

Recruit Shop works closely with small businesses to achieve real results. If you want to capitalise on these recruitment trends but you’re not sure where to start, we can work with you to create a robust recruitment campaign that meets your needs. You can reach out to our team today on +61 1300 901 721 or send an email to info@recruitshop.com.au with information about your vacancy and the kind of candidate you’re seeking. Alternatively, you can request a callback from one of our recruitment specialists to chat about your goals in detail.

This article was originally published on the Recruit Shop website and was reproduced here with permission.

Kyra Kirrane is a content marketing specialist with Scout Talent and its sister company Recruit Shop. Her focus is on coordinating up-to-the-minute content that helps small to medium-sized organisations gain a competitive edge by leveraging high-value trends and best practices in their industry.

Recruit Shop is a low-cost recruitment service provider that supports small businesses across Australia and New Zealand to achieve their goals for growth. Through dedicated advertising and sourcing channels, Recruit Shop helps its clients to secure the best talent, in less time, for a low flat fee.

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Indeed and Glassdoor recently released their very first joint Hiring and Workplace Trends Report, which explores the projected areas talent acquisition and HR teams will need to focus on in 2023 – including the value of company culture; an increased demand from candidates to see DE&I initiatives; and working with team members to enact feedback and change in the workplace.

In line with these three key trends, Recruitment Marketing Magazine Editor, Susie Mather, gives her thoughts on how organisations can leverage these insights to see growth in the new year. With over 20 years of experience in business and recruitment, Susie’s reflections are informed by the strategies and successes she has seen in the organisation she co-founded, Scout Talent.

Key insight 1: Company culture is valuable in both attracting and retaining team members

Susie: Commercial reality, authenticity and good old common sense are key when it comes to building a robust company culture. Firstly, culture needs to be totally authentic in order to have value; and secondly, businesses have to make commercial sense. The good news is that it’s a straightforward formula: without one of these things, a culture can often be lacking. 

The bad news is: organisations can’t simply “incorporate things” they think would appeal into their culture in the same way they might add Lego bricks to a Lego castle. Think of organisational culture like an individual’s personality – a mixture of DNA and ‘nurture over time’ that is somewhat set and not terribly easy to simply “add things to” in order to appeal to candidates. 

The “adding of things” can definitely be done, but it definitely puts authenticity (at the very least) at risk. For example, you can’t just add trust and integrity as items to your company culture if you haven’t taken the steps to ensure there is transparency within your teams or facilitated situations where team members have to rely on each other. In order to make something a part of your culture, you need to get buy-in from your team members and ensure that adding it aligns with your business goals.

Similarly, “cultural bricks” that contribute to a viable business can’t simply be easily removed later on like a Lego brick is, if the organisation feels they’re no longer ‘needed’. If your team members have operated on a system of transparency to maintain trust within the team, you can’t suddenly decide that information should be siloed – doing so would cause your team members and perhaps even external stakeholders to question the authenticity of your culture.

All the above is why employer branding often goes disappointingly (and expensively) wrong. If an employer branding company offers, even very obliquely, to “add things to your culture” that will help you attract more or better talent – please, run a mile. In fact, just call me and I’ll shout you an Uber. 

Why? Because employer branding is all about identifying, articulating and amplifying an organisation’s actual employer brand, not adding things to enhance it. And the identification phase should involve workshops with key stakeholders, and in-depth talks with at least 40 current employees across the full range of roles and tenures, just for a start.

I’m not saying an organisation can’t improve its culture. Not for a second. But it’s nothing to do with employer branding team or company. Changing culture requires the careful and focussed attention of a group of existing stakeholders in an organisation, and buy-in and ownership at all levels including executive and board. 

If you’re looking to elevate your organisational culture in 2023, remember that it’s never quick. It’s never painless. It can be done well. And don’t let any employer branding consultants tell you about adding Lego bricks.

Key insight 2: Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives – and employers’ progress on them – matter to employees

Susie: This topic is dear to my heart. At Scout Talent, we’ve made a particular focus this year on DEI&B, with the B standing for Belonging – which is an important facet because you can create all the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the world, but if your team members don’t feel like they belong in your workplace, then what are you doing it for?

One of my favourite memories, when I think about DEI&B at Scout Talent, is the International Foods Potluck hosted by one of our content marketing specialists and resident DEI&B champion, Kyra Kirrane. I asked her to share more about the Potluck for Recruitment Marketing Magazine, as well as her thoughts on the importance of DEI&B and how employers can do better in 2023. Here’s what she said:

DEI&B seems like a huge undertaking, but it really can start with a conversation and a light-hearted internal event. We have a real passion for food at Scout Talent, so the idea to host an International Foods Potluck came very naturally. As our first DEI&B initiative, it was something that many people could get excited about, everyone could participate in, and there was no cost required of the business to host this really engaging event. 

I put together some collateral, which included a few colourful posters and some carefully crafted Slack messages, and started “marketing” the campaign internally about three weeks out from the date. I recruited some champions to organise the same event in our other offices around the globe, which really helped to make the event feel more impactful. 

Finally, I prepared a little “speech” for the start of the event to set the scene. I explained why we’d gathered: to celebrate our multiculturalism through food. I emphasised that because food is embedded in culture, it’s also deeply connected to identity, and an event like this allows us to preserve and celebrate our diverse cultures in a multicultural society. This is particularly true for people whose culture is not the dominant culture i.e. Australian. As an immigrant myself, and with many, many colleagues who are immigrants to Australia, it was important for me to make space for the myriad cultures that we have the privilege of experiencing every day at Scout Talent. 

I also took a moment to acknowledge that food practices are influenced by access and that we should reflect with gratitude on our access to the delicious food we’d prepared and keep this in mind as we tucked in. 

The event was a great success: we got a really good amount of participation from people bringing in homemade snacks, and I encouraged everyone to come to try them out even if they were unable to bring something along themselves. Our various offices around the world participated and our Slack channels were flooded with pictures of everyone taking part. In particular, some of our team members who are typically more reserved came out with amazing spreads and loads of engagement – a great sign when you’re trying to nurture a culture of inclusion and visibility! 

Upon reflection, I think the following takeaways were key to making this initiative happen, and can be valuable points for organisations looking to improve their DEI&B or start similar initiatives in the new year:

• Empowering your teams: Key to my ability to host this internal event and create a business-wide project team that includes an executive team member, was truly feeling empowered to pursue something I cared about during work hours. 
• Engaged and forward-thinking leaders: Identify strengths in your team members and encourage them to explore them, and flourish.
• A level of independence and autonomy: Once I was empowered to take this project on and turn it into something real, my leader supported me and always gave me her best advice, but let me drive the initiative independently, which reinforced my own communication and leadership skills. 
• A culture of learning and development: Not only was this my most direct pathway into DEI&B (we have dedicated weekly learning hours, which I used to prepare for the potluck) but it is key to creating an inclusive culture because by its nature, becoming more diverse and inclusive asks people to HEAL: harmonise, empathise, accept, and learn (a concept from motivational psychologist and speaker, Eve Ash). Humbling yourself in the face of learning new ways of thinking about the world and its people can be challenging – the more positive, safe, and collaborative your culture, the easier it will be to implement new and exciting initiatives.

Key insight 3: Workers have more leverage to demand change in the workplace

As mentioned in the Indeed and Glassdoor Hiring and Workplace Trends Report, a demographic shift towards an aging population means hiring will continue to be a challenge for years to come. This is translating to workers having more power to demand change in the workplace. 

This isn’t a bad thing at all – in fact, employers should view this as an opportunity to start 2023 strong and ask their team directly for feedback on how they can improve, so team members are shown that their opinions are valued.

One way to ask for feedback is to simply listen. Make the time to really listen to employees’ comments and requests when they come in, with your only intention in that moment being to understand them – the response can come later, after you’ve heard all they’ve had to say.

While you are listening, stay measured and calm. When it is time to respond, protect the organisation fiscally (after all, it does support all these people) by not making reactive decisions. If you don’t have an immediate answer, tell your team member(s) that you will come back to them, and take the time to formulate a well thought-out response, as well as a plan for how you will communicate it.  

Another way you can collect feedback on a wider scale and regular cadence is through a Employee Engagement Survey (EES). At Scout Talent, we conduct an EES within the entire organisation every year to check in with our team – we ask them what they’re happy with, what we could do better, and give them an opportunity to give specific feedback. The most valuable part of doing this is that afterwards, we review the results and discuss feedback as a wider group, then within our divisional teams to implement change. 

In between EES and tidbits of feedback, it’s absolutely essential to constantly show your team members they are valued. Tracey Mathers gives great tips here on how to do exactly that – so that when your team comes to you with requests for change, they’ll feel more comfortable and empowered to do so, and the request itself will feel like exactly that, and not a demand.

A key thing to remember is that any changes that come from employee requests need to be authentic and aligned with the business’ goals both now and into the foreseeable future. Why? Because circumstances will continue to change, and any changes you promise need to be viewed in the whole picture of the company’s culture. After all, cultural bricks aren’t like Lego bricks that can be added and taken away again.

The post From the editor: How you can set your organisation up for talent acquisition success in 2023 appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.