What attracts human capital?

The need to attract human capital has become important now more than ever. Organizations are constantly on the lookout for better ways to attract quality candidates as employees around the world are quitting their organizations at record rates. Without access to talented individuals whose skillsets are consistent with your organizational needs, boosting business growth can become a huge challenge. Directing your money, energy, and effort towards attracting human capital is an investment, not an expense. The kind of human capital that you attract decides the quality of the products your organization creates and the kind of service it provides its customers.

If you are wondering how to hire better and grow your human capital, we've got you covered.  Attracting talented employees depends not only on your recruitment process but also on how you treat your existing employees and the strategies you implement to retain them. Here are four simple tips to attract your organization's greatest assets:

• Pay close attention to employer branding

Employer branding is the key to attracting experienced, skilled, and high-quality human capital. In today's candidate-driven job market where there are endless opportunities, every candidate makes it a point to research thoroughly about the organization they are interviewing for. Even a small amount of negative feedback that candidates read online or hear from your existing employees can prevent them from engaging with your organization. That's why it's important to amp up your employer branding game.

Your organization's culture, mission, and values play a huge role in influencing how candidates perceive your organization. Look out for toxic workplace traits like poor communication, rigid rules, negativity, demotivation, and more, and take steps to mend these weak points. Revisit your organization's mission statement and values and make sure they reflect what your organization truly stands for. Social media is also a great tool for spreading the word about all the good work your organization does. Learn more about how to build a strong employer brand. 

• Streamline your recruitment process

The experience your recruitment process provides plays a huge role in attracting human capital. Recruitment, being one of the very first interactions between a candidate and your organization, has to be glitch-free, non-repetitive, and simple for your candidates. Review your recruitment process, right from the time you collect applications until onboarding begins, and collect candidate feedback from both successful and unsuccessful hires.

It's important to make sure your pay and benefit plans are on par with what your competitors offer as well. Ensure transparency and fairness throughout the process, whether that's during sourcing, evaluating, or interviewing. Keep your candidates informed about your hiring timeline and when to expect updates. If possible, always try to be frank about the salary range candidates can expect so they aren't blindsided later on. 

• Find ways to improve employee engagement and satisfaction

Your employees are the face of your organization. They play a fairly huge role in influencing how the outside world, including candidates and customers, perceive your organization. Even a single positive or reassuring piece of information coming from one of your existing or former employees can easily convince candidates to apply for your openings. That's why it's super important to keep your existing employees engaged and satisfied, ensuring that they have fulfilling and joyful careers. It's important to carefully analyze every touchpoint that affects an employee's journey within your organization. When it comes to their career, aspects like feedback, recognition, and growth opportunities can keep employees motivated and loyal to the business. When it comes to work-life balance, enjoying a positive work environment, fostering better workplace relationships, and encouraging flexible schedules can help employees feel cared for by your organization.

• Build loyalty among your existing employees

Improving employee engagement and satisfaction is surely required to improve your employees' journeys within your organization, but those efforts alone may not be enough to retain your top talent. Happy employees will be more loyal, but true loyalty will come from building a compassionate, thriving corporate culture and offering services that benefit employees, customers, and communities as a whole. It's more than just an HR initiative; it's a belief system that starts at your organization's roots.

That sounds like a lot of work to assess and adjust, but it's worth it. Higher employee retention will save you the strenuous job of finding replacements for your talented employees to some extent. Also, loyal employees will leave no stone unturned when it comes to improving your organization's corporate image. There's no shortcut to making employees loyal. It comes automatically when employees are convinced that their organization wishes nothing but the best for them.

Wrapping up

Human capital is the greatest asset your organization can ever have. That's why it's essential to attract the top candidates, optimize your recruitment process, and make sure they enjoy their time at your company enough that they don't want to leave.

How does your HR team attract human capital in the era of remote work and digital nomads? Let us know in the comments below!

Also read: What is the aim of Human Capital Management?