How to Compete for Top Talent: Culture, Values, and Benefits

April 6, 2018

By: Brad Stenke

In today’s crowded and ever-evolving job market, high-quality candidates are on the hunt for much more than an ideal role. But to many, where you work is just important as what you do. A company’s values, culture, and employee benefits are vital to luring and retaining top talent—and hiring managers should tailor their recruitment strategies accordingly. Below, let’s break down just how these three components can be leveraged to make the most of hiring top-tier talent.

Why Company Culture Matters

If you examine the success stories of some of the most progressive, industry-leading companies, you’ll notice that company culture isn’t an afterthought. In fact, company culture is an increasingly central ideal that helps guide employee behavior, create a healthy, productive atmosphere, and ensures that employees stick around. As a hiring manager, consider the daily mood and flow of your company and its office. How are talents cultivated for leadership? How is company work/life balance? Do employees from different teams or departments

have any crossover? Would you consider your office casual or strictly systems-based? Ask these questions as a way of getting a true sense of your company’s culture, and you’ll be able to pitch your prospective talent with clarity.

Why Company Values Matter

You’ve probably noticed an increasing trend these days: company values like honesty, transparency, and charitable giving are major draws for top talent. Employees who believe in the work they do are much more likely to give it their all and take a vested interest in their daily roles. Company values set guidelines for office behavior and tie into a company’s public and private brand. All in all, employees want to have faith that they’re contributing to a larger picture, and they’ll be much more motivated to grow and contribute their talents if they know their company cares about the world at large. As a hiring manager, it’s important to be clear about your company’s professional philosophy. In many ways, company values impact company culture and employee expectations. To net top talent, you’ll want to highlight your company’s belief system, as well as their ability to follow through on it.

Why Employee Benefits Matter

While company culture and values play a big part when it comes to office atmosphere, coworker interactions, and overall retention—employee benefits may rule the roost. After all, employee benefits are personal. Team members spend a majority of their daylight hours contributing to the company’s health. It’s important that top talent feels respected in their roles, and one way to demonstrate respect is to invest in quality employee benefits that show workers they matter, even beyond the office. In addition to comprehensive healthcare packages, many hires like to see motivational benefits—like a subsidized gym membership, or a bike-to-work or public transportation incentive program. Modern choices—like the occasional catered meal or Food Truck Friday events—can inspire fun, while providing a morale boost along the way. For hiring managers, the bottom line is this: if you want to find and keep top talent, you must have a competitive benefits package that demonstrates the seriousness with which you regard their role.

By taking stock of these three central ideas now, you’ll be primed and ready when the time comes to recruit next-level talent. Take a twenty-first century approach to hiring and recruiting, and keep company culture, values, and benefits at the forefront.

Visit www.grapevinerecruiting.com   or call 952.856.2984.