A minority of organizations are achieving strong business impact through an engaged workforce committed to delivering positive outcomes, according to the “Stepping Up: Workforce Practices That Raise the Bar on Business Performance” report released today by Allegis Group.

Building relationships through great candidate and employee experiences is essential to developing an engaged workforce, yet only 31% of employers report they are very satisfied with their recruitment process. A lack of prioritization of the candidate experience creates several issues for employers, including an inability to find great talent, cited by 74% of respondents, an inability to achieve business objectives at 65%, a poor employer reputation online at 57% and greater recruiting costs at 53%.

Allegis Group found that successful organizations consistently apply a relationship-focused approach to four fundamental phases of talent acquisition: job definition, sourcing, screening and onboarding.

High-performing organizations optimize job definitions and create descriptions that set the stage for positive employee relationships.

• Seventy-two percent of high-performing talent organizations always provide accurate, up-to-date job definitions, versus just 20% of all other respondents. And 65% always align job descriptions with an onboarding 30-, 60-, 90-day plan versus 16% of all others.
• The report also found high-performing talent organizations are more than three times more likely (69% versus 23%) to always clarify must-have and nice-to-have skills and requirements in their job descriptions.

Align sourcing strategies to connect with talent on their terms.

• Train and promote within: Seventy-eight percent of employers and 83% of workers believe human resource teams need to make internal job openings more visible to all employees. Further, 81% of employers and 83% of workers agree management should do a better job of encouraging employees to apply.
• Embrace digital acquisition tools: High-performing talent organizations are nearly three times more likely (64% versus 22%) to always ensure prompt responses to submitted applications. Innovations in digital recruiting technology, such as boosting data intelligence and automating many high-volume, low-value activities, help employers improve responsiveness, and high-performing organizations are three times more likely (55% versus 18%) to employ such methods.
• Personalized communications: High-performing talent organizations are more than twice as likely as others (55% versus 21%) to always provide personalized responses to applications.

Establish screening processes that boost the candidate experience.

• Eliminate bias: High-performing talent organizations are more than twice as likely as others (89% versus 42%) to always take steps to eliminate unconscious bias during screening.
• Facilitate two-way communication: A candidate should be given a chance to respond to any concerns about their qualifications; however, only 25% of surveyed employers always share their concerns with candidates, with high performers being much more likely to do so (67% versus 23%).

Treat onboarding as the foundation of a great employee relationship.

• Be ready on day one: High-performing talent organizations are more than twice as likely (72% versus 33%) to always engage new hires in a community of peers and helpers during the onboarding process, are always prepared for the new hire’s first day (77% versus 35%) and always set clear expectations in the onboarding process (75% versus 32%).

“The results of these findings confirm what we have long known as a leader in talent solutions: a great employer-employee relationship begins with great relationship-based talent acquisition best practices,” Allegis Group President Andy Hilger said. “In order to attract top talent, employers need to establish trust on all fronts by better understanding and prioritizing the employee relationship.”

The report is based on a survey of more than 1,000 employers and nearly 7,000 candidates and employees worldwide.