FEATURED ARTICLE — April 25th, 2018
By Katie Lunden
Small businesses face a common challenge.
According to the 2018 Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Summit report, 70% of small businesses struggle to find and retain skilled talent.
At 70 percent, this issue is nearly a pandemic among small businesses.
In fact, according to the Summit (the largest gathering of U.S. small business owners), recruiting was the top barrier preventing small businesses from growing more quickly.
Without the right employees, it’s hard for small businesses to grow and thrive.
So, what’s a small business to do?
The good news is that there are many ways to attract and retain high-level talent. You may just have to play outside of the traditional benefits sandbox.
Let’s take a look at five proven ways your small business can recruit and retain top talent.
1. Offer Flexible Work Schedules
Today’s employees value flexibility.
People live unique and varied lives. And – this may come as a surprise to some – employees are people. (More about this later.)
Flex hours, flex days, and remote work provide employees with the ability to balance their work lives and their personal lives.
Whether your employees struggle to juggle daycare schedules, band practice or trips to the gym, everyone benefits from some flexibility in life.
Ctrip’s Remote Experiment
Chinese travel website Ctrip conducted an experiment where they allowed half of their workforce to work remotely for 9 months.
When the experiment ended, Ctrip found that their employees were 13% more productive working from home than the office and that the business had saved roughly $1900 per remote employee.
Your Action Plan
Offer flex time. Flex time can be executed...
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