I have previously written on the importance of individual and compelling Candidate Value Propositions (CVPs) and how HR leaders can segment audiences to promote tailored messages to specific groups of jobseekers.
As the competition for talent intensifies, innovative HR leaders are now realising that generic Employer Value Propositions (EVPs) are often ineffective and are beginning to discover the benefits of differentiating the value proposition to diverse candidate groups. However, in my experience, flexible working is still being underutilised as a tool to attract, engage and retain talent.
According to research by the Timewise Foundation, only 9.8 per cent of ‘quality job vacancies’ – that is roles paying over £20,000 full-time equivalent – are advertised as being open to some kind of flexibility. This is despite the fact that around three quarters of UK employees claim that flexible working benefits would make a job more appealing.
Millennials and Generation Z candidates, in particular, view flexible working as an important aspect of a potential employer’s EVP, with 82 per cent of this group claiming they would be more loyal to their employer if flexible work options were available. So why aren’t more companies responding to this demand through their candidate engagement strategies?
In the Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences sector, for example, there is very little differentiation between brand EVPs, despite a chronic shortage of skills. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch of the imagination to suggest that if just one big Pharmaceutical company was to promote flexibility as a CVP – in the way that professional services firms such as Deloitte do – it would widen its talent pool exponentially.
Flexible working isn’t just about reduced hours or job sharing. Flexible working can simply be the ability to work from home on an occasional basis or the flexibility to manage weekly hours around certain family commitments like childcare.
Here at Alexander Mann Solutions, we have made a commitment that every single role has the potential to ‘flex’ to some degree and the initiative seems to be succeeding. In 2015 48 per cent of our UK based team worked flexibly. By 2016 this had risen to 66 per cent. In APAC, meanwhile, the number of colleagues choosing to work flexibly increased from 25 per cent to 54 per cent during the same period.
We’ve discovered that flexible working is a key differentiator for us – many of our new starters say it was a key reason for joining Alexander Mann Solutions – and we know it’s key to our ability to proactively engage and retain our top talent.
On a personal level, flexible working is inherent in the way that I work with my team. All of my direct reports are parents. They have incredibly demanding roles that require them to travel and work across multiple time zones, and are all empowered to manage their working time as they see fit – and I’m actually quite proud when they decline meeting requests because they’re doing the school run or finishing early.
What’s more, aside from boosting engagement, a culture of flexible working also brings wider commercial benefits. A rise in remote working, for example, has enabled our business to better handle the often rising cost of infrastructure and office space – a key factor in the ongoing reduction of our corporate overheads. For HR leaders struggling to get buy-in from the board to expand upon flexible working practices, this may just be the hook required.
Flexible working will help companies to secure the best talent in the market, will help to build more diverse organisations, will help to engage and retain talent and will help to keep a lid on infrastructure and office space. Shouldn’t we all be doing more to promote it?
