HR behind in the talent game

AUSTRALIAN BUSINESSES need to take more of a marketing-oriented approach to the way they attract, retain and develop their employees to win the talent game and get ahead of competitors, recent research has found.

While 86 per cent of HR professionals are committed to strengthening their company’s core value proposition for employees, only 42 per cent acknowledge that they do not currently have the right value proposition to attract and retain the talent they need.

The research, which encompassed 410 senior HR professionals and 1,024 employees nationally, also found 53 per cent of employees do not believe their current employer provides them with a clear sense of why their organisation is a great place to work.

The figures should serve as a reality check for employers that are not marketing their employment experience more assertively to their current and prospective employees, according to Warwick Bowd, national practice leader for employment branding at Hudson, which conducted the research.

“To be really effective, human resources and marketing departments need to work closely together, with HR drawing on marketing’s expertise to brand and promote the employment experience,” he said.

“At a time when hiring and retaining the right people is more critical than ever, employers must take more of a marketing-oriented approach to talent acquisition and management.

“This starts with viewing current and prospective employees as ‘customers’ who need to be satisfied and nurtured, and the employment experience as the ‘product’ being offered for their consideration and purchase.”

Above all, Bowd said, employers must be honest with what they are promising current and prospective employees, and deliver on that promise.

“In the same way that misleading product-marketing practices attract and win customers initially, but ultimately fail to retain them, the same goes for companies misleading candidates.”