Employer of Choice: How to be an Employment Hero

What does it mean to be a true Employment Hero or an Employer of Choice? Well, it is ideally an employer who is said to go above and beyond and offer a work culture and environment that is able to attract , retain and develop employees into highly engaged and happy employees. Employees that want to work for you.  An employer of choice is also said to be favourable towards the wellbeing of its customers and employees. However, sometimes the contributing factors may be situational as well. Not every employer can be an employer of choice to the extent it meets of every employee. The one thing that employers of choice have in common is that what you define as an employer of choice may not be someone else’s definition. But in order for you to remain happy and engaged at work, your employer needs to align with your definition of what that means to you personally.

What are the characteristics that define you as true Employment Hero?

Usually an employer of choice pays its employees the kind of compensation that which is a tad better that the current market trend or an equivalent rate. They also offer their employees a comprehensive employee benefits and perks package that entails added benefits such as health insurance, extra annual leave, extra holidays, gym, yoga, lunches and maybe even a ping pong table. If an employer can’t offer such compensation or offerings, in order to be ranked as an employer of choice it needs to substitute with either a powerful vision or mission in place of such benefits. For instance, a non profit organisation which has a mission to take care of cancer affected children.

Listed below are some additional factors that can help you qualify as an employer of choice:

1. Job Security:

When employees are certain of the employer’s strong financial background, it makes them feel secured. It frees their concern of losing jobs and they are able to concentrate on their job much better sans any worry or fear.

2. Empowerment and Authority:

Employees experience true empowerment when they can make decisions and take responsibility as to how they can perform in their jobs. They are given a strategic framework that encompasses the company’s vision, mission, values, goals, and feedback, but they have the freedom to control their choices and how they can perform the core functions and make steady progress towards achieving the goals.

3. Respect:

Everyone understands the fact that employees may not always be right and their ideas may not always set the company’s direction and choices, but if you work with an employer of choice, you feel fundamentally respected by the leaders as well as your peers.

4. Opportunity for Growth:

If you work with an employer of choice, you feel encouraged to continue to develop your existing skills, and also learn new skills. These employers provide various plans that help employees in performance development planning, provide various internal and external training opportunities, and allow them to follow career paths that help them meet their aspirations.

5. Access to Information:

Employers of choice share all kinds of information openly with employees. This information may range from the financial progress and results of the organisation to the success framework that has been referred to above. It makes the employees feel as if they are part of the group because they know what is happening inside out.

6. Commitment:

Employers of choice are seen to be committed towards the employees and their customers. This is projected right from their Human Resources policies to business strategies. This kind of commitment is a major factor for retaining employees. Apart from this they offer various perks that ranges from free lunches and beverages to monthly team lunches, annual parties, project success parties, and family events. They also organize lunch with the leaders and include the employees to participate in recruitment drives which give them a sense of commitment and involvement.

7. Involvement:

Employees feel as a sense of belonging with an employer of choice, as they are involved at various stages of decision making. They can encouraged to offer suggestions, brainstorm on new products, innovate, and be a part of the employee committees to plan various events and work processes, and also be a part of some crucial meetings and provide their input pertaining to work processes that seems to be impacting their jobs.

8. Positive Relationships with Coworkers:

An employer of choice facilitates and encourages in building positive relationship with coworkers so that they can work in harmony and enjoy working with each other. A bad boss is also dealt with effective before he or she can negatively impact the employees as well as the work culture. Hence it is always believed that employees leave bosses and never the organization.

9. Work-Life Balance:

An employer of choice promotes work-life balance initiatives such as promoting flexible work timings, working from home, having crèche in the campus for female employees etc which help the employees to work feeling much more satisfied and undistracted by the family and life events. These initiatives help to minimize the stress level of employees and help them deal with life’s challenges even while working.

10. Performance Culture:

An employer of choice smartly ties the performance and the interests of employees with those of their own. They accomplish this through their variable compensation system that ties back rewards to performance. They also create a process that provides regular guidance and feedback for their employees.

11. Fairness:

Employers of choice formulate and apply employee friendly policies and they treat employees with the same regard and consideration which ensures that the workplace guidelines are clear and enforceable across the organization for everyone alike.

12. Recognition:

Employers of choice provide regular feedback to employees pertaining to their performance, accomplishments, areas of improvement, and growth prospects. They are also known to provide regular recognition for their employees.

Obviously these are not all of the characteristics of an employer of choice, but if you as an organisation are able to implement even a significant number of these factors, you are on the right track to becoming an employer of choice for people as it will help to attract and retain superior high potential employees.