HRM Essay Sample: Employer of Choice

With the increasing competition in the employment sector, most employers are making every effort to differentiate themselves in the market with an aim of attracting a talented, qualified, and skilled workforce. The challenge of locating, attracting, optimisation and retention of talent among employees have forced companies to position and brand themselves as the employer of choice to better compete in the labour market. The phrase "Employer of Choice" means a company with a work culture that attracts and motivates employees and contractors to work with them as opposed to joining others when presented with choices (Leary, 2004).

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The major benefit for a company that has positioned itself as an employer of choice is the reduction in costs of advertising for jobs in the media which is an expensive undertaking. People will approach the company inquiring about employment opportunities and recruitment will be easier as the focus will shift from hiring recruiters of labour to screening the best talents among those that drop their applications for job consideration (Pride, Hughes, Kapoor,2014). This saves the company the costs of advertising and recruitment agency fees leading to saving of resources in the human resource department that can be used to improve employee welfare.

Additionally, the employer can optimise performance as the recruitment process attracts quality people on board leading to higher productivity as they are motivated by the desire to work in their company of choice. The employee will also work longer with his employer, gaining more experience and skills that enable the employee to get tasks done more quickly, thoroughly and more accurately leading to high-quality output (Carter, Ulrich, & Goldsmith, 2012).The many years of service mean that the employee also understands the work processes well, can bond with others well leading to high level of trust and comfort leading to enhanced teamwork, efficiency and effectiveness at work. The employee also understands the customers, suppliers and they can relate well to them leading to professionalism inside and outside the work environment that promotes the company image.

Furthermore, the company will experience low labour turnover because employees are loyal and committed to working for their employer of choice. This helps the company build stronger relationships and morale among the employees, motivating them to commit and dedicate their efforts to produce quality products or services reducing incidences of after sale product returns. A Company such as Microsoft has a reputation for being a top employer of choice for software developers. It has been able to attract a high calibre of employees as the company employs talented individuals in that field and retains them for long creating a sense of pride among the staff which assist in motivating the employees to produce quality work (Ricky & Van Fleet,2013).

However, to achieve this status, a company should first refine its recruitment process through gathering data on staffing requirements before conducting interviews to avoid a situation where there is either shortage of staff or more are employed to perform similar tasks (Alastair, 2001).When there is a shortage of staff, there will be overworking of those employed and this may lead to low morale and productivity. Alternately, when the staffs are over the required number, there will be the duplication of roles and under-utilized labour that will add to company total expenditure on maintaining such as workforce and it may lack the resource to train, develop and motivate the labour force adequately.

Additionally, the company should improve the induction process for new employees to achieve the employer of choice status. New staffs need to be trained and retrained on technical skills, organisational culture and coping with the new work environment. This face will enable a company to identify the different talents and skills among the new recruits and help in assigning roles and responsibilities (El-Shamy, 2012). It becomes easier to retain such a workforce as they are given responsibilities that match their talents and lifestyle hence they are satisfied with the roles assigned to them and their productivity will be improved. Similarly, the company should make an effort to motivate and provide a right environment for the employees sourced. This can be regarding offering facilities that assist them in their operations such as gas masks, eye and ear protectors and safety clothing as well as medical insurance.

In addition to this, the employer should involve the employees in their operations.Vodafone, for example, has a project called All About You' that is commissioned to have a team of agents check on employees and find out problems affecting them in the workplace and update senior manager who then act to improve the working environment (Pride, Hughes, Kapoor,2009). Such initiates encourage employees to perform well as they are motivated and aware that the company cares for them leading to low levels of employee turnover hence workplace stability.

It is evident that positioning and achieving the status of an employer of choice has many advantages to a company such as sourcing the right talent, low labour turnover and ease in managing the workforce. To achieve and maintain this status in the labour market, companies should strive to refine and hone its recruitment processes while at the same time inducing its employees to get new skills and technical knowledge that will assist them in their workstation.

References

Ahlrichs, N. S. (2000). Competing for talent: Key recruitment and retention strategies for becoming an employer of choice. Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Pub

Ashby, F. C., & Pell, A. R. (2001). Embracing excellence: Become an employer of choice to attract and keep the best talent. Paramus, NJ: Prentice Hall Press

Herman, R. E., & Gioia, J. L. (2000). How to become an employer of choice. Winchester, Va: Oakhill Press.