It’s no secret that a lot has changed over the past two years and we’re all probably a bit drained from talking about it. Nonetheless, when significant shifts are threatening to impact your operations and bottom line, you need to pay attention. While demand-side restrictions and supply-chain issues are obvious, you’d need to look between the lines to discover the impending problem of hiring, or rehiring, workers for your small to medium enterprise (SME).
The US has recently posted record job openings that businesses are struggling to fill, and it seems likely a similar scenario is burgeoning close to home. Closed borders limit foreign talent, and the ongoing lockdowns and border restrictions limit who has an incentive or ability to work locally. Whatever the reason, you need to be mindful of strategies your SME can use to secure the best talent in a competitive labour market. Here are a few pertinent tools to help you do so.
Sufficient compensation
One of the most obvious ways to attract the best talent is to offer more money. Of course, there isn’t a linear relationship between a higher pay rate and the quality of your staff, but there’s no denying money is one of the biggest draw cards for a candidate. In Australia, the minimum wage has recently increased by 2.5%, impacting mostly hourly workers. The front-facing staff are often more critical than their pay rate gives them credit for. Paying even slightly more than the minimum is likely to draw the attention of top-performing hourly workers who appreciate that their efforts are being valued. There is no right pay amount, but even small gestures towards your valued staff can make a big difference to your reputation in the employment market.
Financial wellness and lifestyle support
In addition to base compensation, employees want a company that cares about them and their life outside of the workplace. Flexible working and leave are high in demand, as are ancillary lifestyle services such as childcare support. Whether it’s the flexibility to pick up the kids at the end of the school day, or an in-house childcare option, parents are more likely to work for a company that cares about their children, for example. Other financial wellness benefits such as financial planning, counselling, service discounts and budgeting tools also attract workers that want to do more with their money than just receive a paycheck each month.
Paytime’s Earned Wage Access (EWA)
Even when candidates do land a job, the big picture for their overall financial wellbeing isn’t exactly rosy. In Australia, almost six million people are living paycheck to paycheck. It’s an astounding perspective when we consider what happens if these workers lose their source of income or encounter an unexpected cost they haven’t planned for. The answer is often credit card debt, payday loans or other potentially predatory borrowings that may very well leave these employees in a worse financial position than when they started.
Paytime is a convenient Earned Wage Access (EWA) mobile app that allows employees to draw down cash when they need it. EWA addresses the need for employees to have increasingly flexible access to their earned wages to manage their personal finances better. When an unexpected bill arrives, they can easily access a portion of their earned wages to cover any shortfall instead of turning to debt. It’s an attractive prospect for job seekers who are almost two times as likely to accept a 13% lower salary when EWA is an option.
For more information about how Paytime can help attract top talent in a tough post-COVID labour market, contact Paytime today.
