2. Start developing new ways in which you can provide a better lifestyle for your people:

- Talk, listen and observe your team. - Find out what their biggest frustrations are with their existing lifestyles. - Are they stressed from juggling work with a young family? Are they trying get healthy and lose weight, but too tired to get to the gym in the evening? Do they want to spend more time on their favourite hobby but never have the time?

3. Look at ways in which you can help them achieve these things without compromising your business Learn about the lives of your team and then make sure that you as an employer become the solution to their problems, not the cause.

How come they can charge you five times what it’s worth and we still go and buy it? Ever wondered what’s going on here?

Well, the reason is: they are not just selling coffee – they are selling us a lifestyle.

Their position is that coffee is more than a drink. It's an experience, an enjoyable moment set in pleasant surroundings where we can relax, savour the moment and engage in conversation.

In a similar vein, to recruit and retain talented right people these days you need to offer them more than just a job, a career and a pay check. You need to offer people the kind of lifestyle they desire at the same time as they are working for you.

The world of work has most definitely changed in the last 10 years and people are no longer in the market for a ‘job for life’ – instead they want a job with life.

Businesses that succeed in offering this will succeed in finding and keeping people.

If you can promote the lifestyle and not the job - you can succeed in finding and keeping the best people without spending a penny.

Think about it; if you could promote a lifestyle for your staff that promised them “less travelling,” “more time with your family,” “more time for your hobbies,” “a healthier you,” “less stress” – how much of a problem do you think you would have with finding and keeping people?

So how can you use this notion of lifestyle to find and keep the right people?.

FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE

1. Identify the top 3 lifestyle benefits of working for your business. If you get stuck, look at the paragraph above for ideas or speak to your existing staff.

2. Look at how you can promote these as part of your recruitment process. Remember to “sell the sizzle and not the steak” – i.e. promote the benefits and not the features of working for you.

3. Have some real stories about real people that you can incorporate into your recruitment. This will make the ideas more believable and help people to really connect with them.

For example: “Despite working in a demanding job, John is home in time to read a story with little Joshua and put him to bed at least three times a week.” This is much more powerful than talking about abstract terms such as “flexible work patterns” and “home working options”

KEEPING THE RIGHT PEOPLE

1. Ensure you are actively promoting the above benefits to your existing people.

People always think the grass is greener elsewhere so make a point of reminding them regularly about what is great about working for you.

2. Start developing new ways in which you can provide a better lifestyle for your people:

- Talk, listen and observe your team. - Find out what their biggest frustrations are with their existing lifestyles. - Are they stressed from juggling work with a young family? Are they trying get healthy and lose weight, but too tired to get to the gym in the evening? Do they want to spend more time on their favourite hobby but never have the time?

3. Look at ways in which you can help them achieve these things without compromising your business Learn about the lives of your team and then make sure that you as an employer become the solution to their problems, not the cause.

The world of work has most definitely changed in the last 10 years and people are no longer in the market for a ‘job for life’ – instead they want a job with life.

Businesses that succeed in offering this will succeed in finding and keeping people.

If you can promote the lifestyle and not the job - you can succeed in finding and keeping the best people without spending a penny.

Think about it; if you could promote a lifestyle for your staff that promised them “less travelling,” “more time with your family,” “more time for your hobbies,” “a healthier you,” “less stress” – how much of a problem do you think you would have with finding and keeping people?

So how can you use this notion of lifestyle to find and keep the right people?.

FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE

1. Identify the top 3 lifestyle benefits of working for your business. If you get stuck, look at the paragraph above for ideas or speak to your existing staff.

2. Look at how you can promote these as part of your recruitment process. Remember to “sell the sizzle and not the steak” – i.e. promote the benefits and not the features of working for you.

3. Have some real stories about real people that you can incorporate into your recruitment. This will make the ideas more believable and help people to really connect with them.

For example: “Despite working in a demanding job, John is home in time to read a story with little Joshua and put him to bed at least three times a week.” This is much more powerful than talking about abstract terms such as “flexible work patterns” and “home working options”

KEEPING THE RIGHT PEOPLE

1. Ensure you are actively promoting the above benefits to your existing people.

People always think the grass is greener elsewhere so make a point of reminding them regularly about what is great about working for you.

2. Start developing new ways in which you can provide a better lifestyle for your people:

- Talk, listen and observe your team. - Find out what their biggest frustrations are with their existing lifestyles. - Are they stressed from juggling work with a young family? Are they trying get healthy and lose weight, but too tired to get to the gym in the evening? Do they want to spend more time on their favourite hobby but never have the time?

3. Look at ways in which you can help them achieve these things without compromising your business Learn about the lives of your team and then make sure that you as an employer become the solution to their problems, not the cause.

So how can you use this notion of lifestyle to find and keep the right people?.

FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE

1. Identify the top 3 lifestyle benefits of working for your business. If you get stuck, look at the paragraph above for ideas or speak to your existing staff.

2. Look at how you can promote these as part of your recruitment process. Remember to “sell the sizzle and not the steak” – i.e. promote the benefits and not the features of working for you.

3. Have some real stories about real people that you can incorporate into your recruitment. This will make the ideas more believable and help people to really connect with them.

For example: “Despite working in a demanding job, John is home in time to read a story with little Joshua and put him to bed at least three times a week.” This is much more powerful than talking about abstract terms such as “flexible work patterns” and “home working options”

KEEPING THE RIGHT PEOPLE

1. Ensure you are actively promoting the above benefits to your existing people.

People always think the grass is greener elsewhere so make a point of reminding them regularly about what is great about working for you.

2. Start developing new ways in which you can provide a better lifestyle for your people:

- Talk, listen and observe your team. - Find out what their biggest frustrations are with their existing lifestyles. - Are they stressed from juggling work with a young family? Are they trying get healthy and lose weight, but too tired to get to the gym in the evening? Do they want to spend more time on their favourite hobby but never have the time?

3. Look at ways in which you can help them achieve these things without compromising your business Learn about the lives of your team and then make sure that you as an employer become the solution to their problems, not the cause.

For example: “Despite working in a demanding job, John is home in time to read a story with little Joshua and put him to bed at least three times a week.” This is much more powerful than talking about abstract terms such as “flexible work patterns” and “home working options”

KEEPING THE RIGHT PEOPLE

1. Ensure you are actively promoting the above benefits to your existing people.

People always think the grass is greener elsewhere so make a point of reminding them regularly about what is great about working for you.

2. Start developing new ways in which you can provide a better lifestyle for your people:

- Talk, listen and observe your team. - Find out what their biggest frustrations are with their existing lifestyles. - Are they stressed from juggling work with a young family? Are they trying get healthy and lose weight, but too tired to get to the gym in the evening? Do they want to spend more time on their favourite hobby but never have the time?

3. Look at ways in which you can help them achieve these things without compromising your business Learn about the lives of your team and then make sure that you as an employer become the solution to their problems, not the cause.

2. Start developing new ways in which you can provide a better lifestyle for your people:

- Talk, listen and observe your team. - Find out what their biggest frustrations are with their existing lifestyles. - Are they stressed from juggling work with a young family? Are they trying get healthy and lose weight, but too tired to get to the gym in the evening? Do they want to spend more time on their favourite hobby but never have the time?

3. Look at ways in which you can help them achieve these things without compromising your business Learn about the lives of your team and then make sure that you as an employer become the solution to their problems, not the cause.

Initiating these changes shows people that you take a healthy interest in their lifestyle away from work and builds a greater degree of loyalty.

You see, the foundation of any business is based on solving problems. If your customers have a problem and you have a solution that benefits them, then you have yourself a business.

The same applies to your people. If you can find out what the frustrations and problems of potential employees are and you can find a solution, then you will succeed in finding a new employee. If you can then do this on an ongoing basis and make working for you a lifestyle decision, your people are less likely to jump for some more money or a slightly better job.

Just like that coffee at Starbucks, the money becomes less important as it’s the lifestyle they are buying into, not just the job.

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