The focus on work-life balance needs to be turned on its head if HR is to
help organisations win the war for talent.
Consultant and author Mike Johnson said what matters in business is what
people think about you, not what you think about your company.
"Media coverage of business is often sensational and misguided, but
your future talent reads, watches and listens," he said. "Managing
your reputation is a key imperative."
Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s
recruitment conference in London last week, Johnson said HR now needs to engage
people on the basis of who they are, not what they do.
"Home life now defines who people are at work. It’s now about life-work
balance, not the other way round. People’s lives come first, they have a choice
these days."
He told HR professionals that they were always fighting a ‘rear-guard
action’ for retaining their best people and they needed to make it easy for
people to come and work in their organisations.
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"Today’s talent expects flexibility in work, reward, time and
life-style," he said. "I think organisations need specific talent
officers thinking about nothing else," he said.
The CIPD’s annual recruitment, retention and turnover survey, published last
week, showed 85 per cent of organisations experienced difficulties recruiting
staff last year, with more than three-quarters also reporting retention
difficulties.
