Life Balance

To Recruit and Retain Top Talent, Focus on Work/Life Balance With a million jobs added since January, the American job market currently belongs to the buyers.Candidates have mora options to choose from, which means your company must offer roles that appeal to both their financial and emotional needs if it wants to win over top talentFree lunches and401(k) matchingare no longer enough to attract the best talent. In fact, research indicatesthat, above all else, high-quality candidateswant to work for companies that both align with who they are and provide personally relevant development opportunities.If your organization wants to stand out in an increasingly competitive job market, here are some perks you should consider offering1. Rolling Stones Gather No Moss and Produce Better WorkNo matter how great your workplace may be, people want the freedom to work from wherever they want. Thanks to technological advances, people can do more than work from hom e they can work from any country in the world. We call behauptung people digital nomads those who utilize telecommunications tech to work from virtually anywhere. With just a modem and a passport, these talented folks can see the world while maintaining a steady income.As the concept of digital nomadism becomes more popular, new products and services aimed at simplifying this practice are popping up.Nomad House, for instance, is a housing network that offers safe and comfortable co-living spaces that facilitate the remote work lifestyle. Similarly,YouRoamgives users the ability to place calls using WiFi or 3G, making it possible for nomadic workers to stay connected to their teams wherever they are without incurringmassive bills.2. A Little Bit of Freedom Goes a Long WayIf you would prefer your team members stay closer to home, it might be time to evaluate how you structure their hours. Thanks to 24/7 connectivity, the 9-5 workday has become a bit antiquated for many.Our organizati on helps facilitate a better work/life balance by scheduling our workdays around core hours. These are set hours during which all team members must be on site to attend daily meetings, contribute to group projects, and participate in essential activities. Beyond these hours, however, team members are free to structure the rest of their workday as they see fit. This gives them a great deal of freedom to accommodate their personal needs and responsibilities outside of work.Our core-hours scheduling has become especially popular with the parents we employ, who find this professional independence incredibly beneficial. It has also proven to be an excellent recruiting tool that allows us to attract the best talent in our industry.3. Keep People Engaged by Keeping Things FreshNo matter how much your workers may love their jobs, the monotony of their day-to-day tasks can always eat away at their enthusiasm. To combat the tediousness of regular responsibilities, some organizations now encou rage their teams to switch things up every once in a while.For example, you could allowsomeone on your sales team to work with marketing for a week, or perhaps someone in HR would like to try their hand at operations.The benefits of such arrangements are threefold. First, they ensure that nobody gets bored. Boredom can lead to higher levels of turnover, which is damaging to productivity and a companys bottom line.Second, these arrangements allow you to capitalize on talents yourteam members dont get to exercise in their regular roles.Sometimes, an outsiders perspective can lead to suggestions that will enhance productivity.Finally, these arrangements afford each team member a better understanding of what other departments do. Ultimately, thisleads to a better understanding of how each part of the organization works together for business success.Mike Williams is CEO of RingPartner.