An A-Z guide to become an employer of choice in 2023

As the year comes to a close, many businesses are looking to the New Year, hopeful that they can do bigger and better things in 2023.

Every action an organisation takes directly impacts its reputation and onboarding, offboarding, stay interviews and outplacement all contribute to making an organisation an employer of choice. 

To keep things simple as we round out the year, we’ve put together an A-Z guide to help you and your organisation solidify your status as an employer of choice, so you can succeed into 2023 and beyond. 

A: Know your alignment markers – as you go through recruitment and onboarding, there are seven alignment markers you should be looking for and keeping in mind: shared values, structure, style, skills, strategy, staff, and systems. 

B: Identify your best and brightest – who are the people in your organisation who are invaluable? These are the individuals you want to invest your time in to make sure your organisation continues to thrive. 

C: Don’t neglect candidate care before onboarding – recruitment begins before the first interview, and your candidates are forming their opinions about your organisation before you’re even aware they exist. Make sure you’re caring for candidates and making a good impression from day dot. 

D: Use values to drive your business forward – values aren’t just a ‘nice to have’, they can impact every area of your business. Make sure operations are aligned with your values every step of the way.

E: Don’t make Elon Musk’s mistakes – the latter half of 2022 saw the billionaire’s takeover of Twitter and a huge volume of poorly communicated layoffs. These stories can be shocking, but make sure you learn from each of the wrong moves made. 

F: Finish strong – saying goodbye to employees can be sad and frustrating, with emotions running high on both sides. This doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to burn bridges as you farewell employees. Keep your reputation intact by showing care and consideration at every step. 

G: Retain employees through the Great Resignation – expectations have shifted over the last few years, for myriad reasons. Learn what your ideal candidates are looking for and adapt. 

H: Give HR teams the tools they need – to effectively care for employees, HR teams need the resources to conduct stay interviews and provide outplacement. 

I: Gather insights from stay interviews and exit interviews – these check-ins aren’t just a box to tick. Make sure you’re gathering helpful insights as you speak to employees.

J: Remember the job mobility rate – it’s likely your employees are keeping their eyes open for new opportunities elsewhere, even if they like their current role. Work to meet their expectations and uncover what’s motivating their career moves. 

K: Focusing on keeping your employees – support your employees with thorough onboarding processes to embed them in the organisation, and follow up with stay interviews to ensure you’re doing everything you can to retain them. 

L: Learn from bad recruitment – this year saw the short stint of Liz Truss as the UK Prime Minister. She wasn’t right for the job and there were warning signs. Make sure you don’t make the same mistakes. 

M: Take measures to act on feedback – gathering insights is useless if you don’t act on what you learn. 

N: Nurture your culture – as employees come and go from your organisation, it’s important to keep the culture stable and instantly recognisable. 

O: Support your employees with outplacement – letting employees go can feel like it’s out of your control. Providing them with outplacement services can help to regain some of that control and do right by your team. 

P: Stay proud of the work your do – layoffs can be a tricky part of the job for HR and leadership teams. Sleep well at night by knowing you’ve done everything you can to support your team, even through the tough times. 

Q: Question who you can afford to replace – did you know it can cost organisations anywhere between 30-150% of an employee’s salary to replace them? Know these costs and be prepared to feel the sting if you lose your best people. 

R: Reflect on your processes – what has worked within the last year? What could you be doing better to look after your employees? Take some time to work it out. 

S: Conduct stay interviews – knowing who your most valuable employees are is the first step. You need to check in with them via stay interviews to understand what makes them stay and what could be tempting them to leave. 

T: Help your employees transition in their career – whether it’s taking on a new role internally or moving to another organisation, support your employees as they take control of their own careers. After all, you never know when they might be back as a boomerang employee. 

U: Expect the unexpected – the past few years have been defined by unpredictability. Keep this in mind as we head into an increasingly volatile future. Have processes in place now to help you weather the storms. 

V: Put your values front and centre – knowing your values inside and out will help you make better hiring decisions, securing employees that are the best fit for your team. 

W: Avoid the wrong people for the job – the job market is tight but don’t make the mistake of hiring a candidate simply because they’re the only one to apply. Make sure your advertising, recruiting, and interviewing processes are zeroing in on the right people.

X: Learn from EXiting employees – employees leave for all kinds of reasons. Learn what those reasons are so you can fix any problems. 

Y: Look after you – managing employees isn’t always easy and emotions can run high. Look after yourself so that you’re ready to tackle whatever each day brings with care and compassion, knowing you’ve done the best job possible. 

Z: Get some zzz’s – whether you’re managing 3 or 3000 employees, you need to put your best foot forward