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For companies to gain and retain talent today, they must shift their focus on how to ensure comfort and productivity among their staff, regardless of where and when they work.COVID-19 has shifted the state of the workplace – perhaps for good in some cases. Over the past year and a half, organizations and employees have learned that, in many situations, jobs can be done efficiently regardless of one’s physical location. This has led a number of companies to adopt a hybrid or remote work setup as their new normal, especially after observing impressive productivity rates and high employee satisfaction. According to ManpowerGroup’s 2021 Employment Outlook Survey, over half (59%) of employers are planning to offer flexible work options for the long-term, with 20% offering the option to work remotely 100% of the time and 39% planning to support remote work some of the time. [1]How can companies continue to evolve in this new normal to attract and retain workers in both the short and long term? One of the most important factors is for organizations to understand the unique motivations of employees and ensure that they feel seen and heard when it comes to how, when and where they want to work. From Roamers to Homers – new work personalities emerge Seven new workforce personas are emerging post-pandemic, each with different needs that range across a spectrum of management, physical space, technology and socialization issues, [2] according to Grantley Morgan, Global Practice Lead and Vice President of Talent Solutions Consulting at ManpowerGroup. Understanding more about these personas can help organizations better adapt to create a more collaborative and productive work environment. The RoamersThe Roamers are typically in leadership or field-based roles that require frequent travel. Hence their name, many Roamers split their time drifting between the office, various client locations and third spaces (e.g., coffee shops). Balancing work with health, well-being and family is important to them and especially so post-pandemic. What they want: Companies can help Roamers feel a sense of security as they constantly settle into new locations to get their jobs done efficiently. This can be done by helping them manage traveling between workplaces by providing club-based access to flexible workspaces as well as creative options like Marriott’s work-from-anywhere day pass that enables employees to find quiet workspaces in destinations around the world. [3]The NomadsThe Nomads have a goal of balancing their life and work goals while having fulfilling experiences and meeting new people. Nomads tend to thrive in environments that help fuel their extroverted personalities, and they feel more productive simply by being in the presence of others. What they want: Nomads prefer a more flexible, work-from-anywhere set-up such as hubs and third spaces akin to Spotify's new model which allows workers to first choose a remote, hybrid or office-based model, then select which country and region they want as their base with support available for relocation and paid co-working members. The InventorsThe Inventors appreciate in-person collaboration done safely. While technology has proven itself to be a useful workaround for client communication and team collaboration, especially during these times, Inventors are more likely to miss the office as a creative social hub. They would rather stick to the traditional methods of work rather than solely rely on their digital devices. They also appreciate spaces that encourage serendipitous innovation, learning and team-building in a way that technology can’t replicate for the majority of us. What they want: Companies can cater to Inventors by offering a “hoteling” approach, a reservation-based seating where employees reserve a workspace before they come to work in an office. This enables small group meetings to occur safely. The First-TimersThe First-Timers are those who have very recently entered the workforce or feel like they have missed out on important parts of the onboarding process due to remote working. They believe that real, person-to-person connection is vital to kicking off a successful career. What they want: To make First-Timers feel more at ease and confident in their careers, even for the time being, companies can designate physical spaces for in-person training and other learning opportunities. The CommutersThe Commuters, previously committed to a traditional five-day work week, now expect greater flexibility in the workplace from their companies – particularly upper management and key decision makers. What they want: Satisfy Commuters by adding satellite office spaces close to where your employees live, i.e., decreasing the amount of time they need to commute to and from work each day. Another solution is to adopt a more versatile model that allows workers to travel to the office only a few days a week instead of every day. Telecommunications company Vodafone created a zonal approach to workspace design that features dedicated spaces for different types of work.[4]The Front-linersThe Front-liners, considered “pandemic heroes” by many, include those who work in supply chain, manufacturing, healthcare and other essential services. While their lines of work may involve advanced technologies, people in these industries must still perform their jobs in-person rather than solely behind a screen. What they want: Since they’ve been on the frontlines throughout the pandemic, Front-liners desire technologies such as bespoke apps like Beekeeper which enable workers to give and receive information without needing direct access to corporate systems. These tools improve the workplace experience and help alleviate health concerns as workers reacclimate to public transit and crowded places. The HomersThe Homers are masters of routine who prefer a fixed work location that provides them with better control of their schedules, productivity levels and deliverables – like a static home office. Homer's keen focus is a result of minimal disruption and having the ability to remain in the same place. What they want: Companies can consider offering workplace benefits packages to Homers with state-of-the-art equipment and tools to make the at-home workspace comfortable and efficient. No matter where one falls on the employee persona spectrum, it’s the responsibility of businesses to respond to their workers’ needs. Small companies and large corporations alike can benefit from embracing a more fluid workplace structure, as it helps provide an even balance and greater satisfaction among workers without negatively affecting the bottom line – especially in today's fluctuating economy. Read Working Anywhere, Anytime during the Big Resurgence by Grantley Morgan for additional insights on these workplace personas. To learn more about how ManpowerGroup can help your organization adapt to the remodeled global work environment and to read more on this topic, visit the Future of Work.References[1] https://go.manpowergroup.com/meos#%20[2] https://preview.shorthand.com/nHPktdq8cpI1z6WQ\[3] https://workanywhere.marriott.com/?scid=96b2ed49-30d6-4226-8f75-bf5c04343308&dclid=CKOK44nNhfACFVQAiwodOioJ8A[4] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/future-ready-reimagining-our-office-spaces-leanne-wood/

Organizations can build their brand by focusing on the hiring experience – which has positive or negative ripple effects.The experience of hiring an employee is just the start of a journey. Even if a job candidate isn’t hired, the process starts to create a perception of your company in other people’s minds. More than half of potential employees say that a negative hiring experience makes them less likely to buy a company’s products or services in the future, according to findings published in  Add to Cart: Candidates are Consumers, Too. There’s a ripple effect too: 61% would tell others about a negative hiring experience, while 50% say the negative experience of a friend would make them less likely to buy a product or service from that company. This is why it’s important to pay attention to the impact that hiring experiences can have on future purchase decisions. But the hiring process can be used positively, too. Here are five ways organizations can strengthen their employer brand, along with examples of how ManpowerGroup has helped organizations implement these recommendations. Make a case for investment It’s important that HR teams quantify the impact that employer brand has on sales, and vice versa. This can demonstrate that HR teams help solve broad business problems, not just talent problems. Example: A fashion retailer who planned on entering a new market required significant investment in order to fill a large number of job openings, while simultaneously establishing its brand in the region. We worked with them to develop effective and consistent messaging, and implemented a comprehensive marketing plan to introduce the retailer to the public – encompassing broadcast media, organic social messaging, advertising and more. The outreach reached more than 200,000 people across the duration of the campaign. In total, 100% of vacancies filled, and the communication push impacted a far greater population. Help overwhelmed recruitersMany HR teams are overwhelmed by requisition loads and administrative burden. This takes their focus away from brand building. Expanding headcount in HR functions or providing support through outsourcing can ensure their employer brand gets the focus it deserves. Example: A large financial services and retail banking company turned to ManpowerGroup Solutions when they had a backlog of hundreds of priority requisitions that needed to be addressed immediately. They decided to outsource this to our team, and we designed a solution for these hard-to-fill, specialist roles, with a significant emphasis on innovation. We used cutting-edge CRM technology, social media, events and name generation research to clear the backlog of 100+ priority requisitions within six months of program launch. Be Transparent One of the key things that job seekers look for from a potential employer is transparency in salary, job description, opportunities for advancement and culture. In fact, 42% of candidates say that a lack of employer-employee trust has a negative impact on their purchase behavior. There are plenty of low-cost, practical tactics to ensure ongoing transparency in the recruitment process, such as responding to job applications with feedback and surveying existing employees to find out what they really think about your organization. Example: A global renewable energy company was hiring across 46 countries, and had inconsistent processes and candidate communications, which led potential candidates to feel that they lacked transparency. By conducting a thorough region-by-region review of their entire recruitment process, we were able to address the challenges that had emerged from their decentralized recruiting processes. Internal HR experts were transitioned to focus on operational efficiency and employee relations, to ensure that the internal employer brand is consistently advanced. Employer branding initiatives were redesigned and relaunched, working with local stakeholders and in local languages. By improving its transparency, the company now enjoys a stable global recruitment strategy, which has enabled 6,300 hires in two years. Cultivate the Consumer Talent Pool Lots of companies are investing in talent communities, which look to engage rejected applicants for future job vacancies and build relationships with passive candidates. Your customers already understand and interact your products and services. In many cases, they will share your core values too, and could make ideal new recruits. With this in mind, it’s important that marketing, sales and HR teams come together, to incorporate HR messages into broader brand communications, to entice these individuals into your talent pipeline. Example: A telecommunications giant faced a number of recruitment and retention challenges, and needed to find a more sustainable source of talent. By making their marketing and talent acquisition efforts more integrated, they were able to target existing customers with recruitment marketing messages. They were able to use their marketing spend for the dual purposes of cultivating customers and candidates, and they have been able to grow both their talent pool and their potential customer base as a result. Pose as a Secret Shopper Secret shoppers have been used in the retail industry for decades. The same tactic can easily be applied to the hiring process, to help HR executives understand first-hand what the hiring experience is like. From glitches in your online application process, to insensitive automated replies, much can be learned by walking in the shoes of the people you wish to attract. Example: An institute of higher education was experiencing low job applications, even though they had invested in a number of targeted marketing activities to promote their job opportunities. By auditing their approach through secret shopping, we found that there were a number of technical issues with their application process, such as broken links and pages timing. On top of this, their systems were unable to parse data from uploaded CVs, and there were an exhaustive number of application pages. The secret shopping system can weed out these seemingly hidden problems from the organization, which are readily apparent to those in the system. Want to learn more about the impact of positive or negative hiring experiences on buying behavior? Download the whitepaper  Add to Cart: Candidates are Consumers, Too.