Back in 2019, JobStreet Philippines presented a study called “Laws of Attraction (LOA)” to shed light on key drivers that are attracting the local workforce. The top drivers are salary compensation, career development, and having a work-life balance.
Recently, the online job portal platform said there a few other drivers when it comes to working in SMEs, startups, and province-based companies.
“This tool that we made is free. Everyone, even our talent partners, can access this anytime of the day without really having to pay a single centavo. We’d like our hirers and our talent partners to become more strategic when it comes to hiring,” said Ryan Tordesillas, senior manager for SMEs and startups at JobStreet Philippines.
Apart from just seeking a competitive salary and fast career growth, workers seeking employment in the startup and related industries also include in their consideration the level of flexibility, social involvement, existing bureaucracy, and job security.
Since only 1.2% of the 18,000 respondents base their interest to apply on the company’s size or market position, SMEs can leverage on job flexibility and closer relationship with management in appealing to more workers when they cannot provide a total competitive salary.
To be able to attract their target employees and retain top talent, SME hirers are shifting their management and leadership style from traditional conventions to a more fun, family-culture vibe blended with respectful management.
With the startup ecosystem on the rise, the main hurdle is attracting and retaining talent. Most of the respondents who ‘will definitely not consider’ a position from a startup come from industries like banking, healthcare, and computer information technology-software.
Besides the three top key drivers, this response is derived from a need of assurance in job security. If startup hirers offer contract roles and project-based assignments, Tordesilla said this big chunk of employees will be out of their reach since these respondents are looking for jobs where they are in for a long-term and will be financially secure.
Some SMEs are using a different approach to address this predicament, and it’s through engaging in CSR initiatives. Some of the most well-received projects are concerned with environmental causes (62.2%), welfare for the disabled (45.1%), and community-related activities (25.9%) and have reduced turnover rates by creating a sense of pride among employees.
Although there is no clear-cut solution that applies to all kinds and scale of business, hirers don’t stop at just picking the right talent for the position. By leveraging on data like LOA, these organizations will also be able to pinpoint the demands that they need to meet from the workforce they want to reach.
