Hilary Burgess, Employment Law Solicitor, and David Dixey, Employment Law Specialist, start off 2023 introducing our forthcoming series of articles and frequently asked questions taking you through the life cycle of an employment relationship. Each month Hilary and David will delve into the life cycle starting with recruitment and ending with exit/separation.
The purpose of the series is to highlight the importance of the lifecycle in terms of employee performance, efficiency, retention levels and of course, minimising legal risks. We will also address and answer those tricky questions that HR professionals and Employment Solicitors are often asked.
So, what is the lifecycle of the employment relationship? As you may know, it reflects an employee’s lifecycle stages of employment from beginning to end. There are various iterations of the lifecycle, but the classic version which we will follow tends to have five stages which are:
For our purposes and before we get started with recruitment in our next instalment, we thought for completeness we would briefly touch upon ‘attraction’, which can be considered a pre-requisite to the recruitment stage. Attraction is also obviously important to employers but particularly so in a candidate-driven market where attracting the best staff can be more of a challenge.
So, what is it that attracts employees to an employer? Of course, it is worth saying that what is of primary importance is subjective and depends on that candidate’s personal circumstances and professional aspirations.
It is fair to say that historically, many would say that remuneration is the number one priority. Although there is no doubt that this remains of great importance to many particularly now with the cost-of-living crisis, it is perhaps not as decisive a factor as it once was.
Increasingly talent is also attracted to other factors such as workplace culture, flexibility and scope for development and/or promotion.
With regards to workplace culture, what we mean by this is the environment created for employees. Workplace culture can be formed by various different factors including the employer’s values, attitudes, employees, behaviours and traditions. Candidates will often choose to join (and stay) with a company that aligns between their personal values and respective company’s values. Of course, achieving a positive workplace culture does not happen overnight and takes hard work but it can include factors such as having a diverse and inclusive working environment, fair and consistent treatment, rewarding staff and transparency in terms of the employer’s vision, ideals and policies and procedures.
Flexibility can also be an influencing factor in attracting staff. Flexibility in terms of where and when employees work is becoming increasingly important to employees. With COVID and lockdowns having forced many employers to work in ways that they were previously unaccustomed to or reluctant to try, it has shown that there can be significant benefits to working in a more agile way. Similarly, many employees (particularly working parents) have indicated in recent surveys undertaken that they would prefer to maintain flexible working practices going forward.
Opportunities to develop professionally can also affect whether or not a candidate is attracted to a particular company. Employers will often be asked by candidates what training and development is available and what options for progression exist within the organisation.
In our next instalment, we will look at recruitment. If you would like to be notified when this article is available, please complete the form below.
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