We are currently living in the era of customisation. There are many different ways people today can personalise their experiences, whether it be using recommendation engines or tailoring apps. It would of course make sense in the current climate for companies to start customising employment offers.
In most companies, recruiting for a role usually means starting with a standardised job description and hiring someone who can do these tasks. As time progresses, people get stuck in these roles and if they cannot grow in the position, they become disengaged. Leaders often try to combat this problem through teamwork, perks etc. however they are missing a simple solution, employees are engaged when they have engaging jobs!
Job personalisation is one of the best ways to maximise engagement. You should ask candidates or even current employees to describe themselves and their career. This way you can find out what they are particularly good at and passionate about, and what they are not good at or dislike. It is possible to create roles which will accelerate their personal progress whilst at the same time benefiting the company.
When it comes to potential candidates it is important to think about the type of employment package you can offer them. When negotiating employment packages, companies very rarely ask for anything other than salary requirements. This however is not always the right thing to do. A salary requirement is going to change based on other aspects of the offer. For example, if a company allows an employee to work from home one day a week they may accept a lower salary because this flexibility is more important to them. Another example would be if a company offers a significant amount of equity, the salary requirement may change. If the company would like the employee to travel for a week every month, the salary requirement may also change. There a many other different factors that could influence the salary requirement.
A number of different studies have suggested that people who are happy and fulfilled are better employees. A study from the University or Warwick found that employees who are happy are 12% more productive. If a company takes the time to learn what is important to a candidate, they could tailor their offer in order to make it more attractive to the candidate. In some cases, this could allow the company to save money as well as give them the opportunity to see if there is a culture fit.
Most companies would make the same offer to each of the candidates. This could in fact cost the company the perfect candidate. If you think about it the same offer is not going to be attractive to both a single 25 year old and a married with kids 36 year old. If they were going for the same position they would more than likely be made identical offers. If, however you took the time to find out more about the candidates you could make a more customised offer which would entice the candidate, for example the 35 year old may accept a lower salary if he could work from home one day a week.
Customisation in the workplace is a challenge. However, if tailored job descriptions keep employees motivated and engaged it would be worth the challenge. In the current era of customisation, instead of having one generic offer for each potential hire, organisations need to start tailoring the offer to each individual candidate. Each of the candidates will have different wants, needs and motivations and so it is hugely important to take this into account when making an offer.
To find out more about recruiting for cultural fit click here.
Solomon, N (2018). Why you should customize your job offer. [Online] https://www.tlnt.com/why-you-should-customize-your-job-offer/
Bapat, V. (2018) Why you should let employees personalise their job descriptions. [Online] https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/let-employees-personalize-their-job-descriptions.aspx
Oswald, Andrew J. , Proto, Eugenio and Sgroi, Daniel. (2015) Happiness and productivity. Journal of Labor Economics, 33 (4). pp. 789-822