Small Business Hiring Challenges and What to Do About Them

Small businesses are a crucial economic engine in the U.S., with more than 33 million small firms employing 61.7 million Americans, according to the Small Business Administration. They account for nearly half of private sector employees. 

But a small business is a delicate balance of investment in the business versus a tight bottom line. Running a successful small venture requires good people, and good people have to be hired. That’s a harder endeavor for a smaller shop. 

“We hear about a lot of layoffs from many companies, so one would expect that hiring top talent would be easier,” says Steven Mostyn, chief human resources officer of Management.org. “However, many laid-off employees are taking a career gap and focusing on themselves and their families, making hiring a bit tricky recently.” 

Challenges of Hiring as a Small Business

Although small businesses run on a small headcount, managing that headcount is a challenge. For one thing, it takes resources to recruit, and small businesses lack the budget of a larger company. They also don’t enjoy the same name recognition. 

“You need top talent to expand, but it’s tough attracting them without the brand power or budgets of big companies,” says Finn Wheatley, a financial expert and risk analyst at The Small Business Blog. “It can feel like a Catch-22.” 

Additionally, small businesses have less money to work with, making competitive compensation a hurdle. And there’s less time to hire, since small teams are stretched across multiple responsibilities. 

“None of my customers have time or resources to quality check, reference and vet the workforce coming onto site,” says Lucy Clarke, founder and CEO of Fixed Construction, which helps construction companies hire vetted workers. 

Hiring Strategies That Work for Small Companies

Thankfully, small firms are also teeming with ingenuity and grit, so they’ve found a number of solutions to the hiring issue: 

Build a Strong Employer Brand

Business branding can attract workers and make sure you get talent that identifies with your priorities. That means giving your company a personality that brings in workers who agree with the direction you’re headed. 

“We’ve focused on building a strong brand that attracts potential employees,” says Eric Eng, founder and CEO of AdmissionSight, a college admissions counseling company. “We’ve highlighted our company culture and our dedication to our employees’ growth and development.”

Eng’s company has invested in promoting its brand on various platforms, with a focus on social media where many job seekers are active. “We’ve also partnered with local universities and attended job fairs to grow our presence and reach out to potential hires,” Eng says. 

Offer Creative Compensation and Benefits

In some cases, workers will choose a job with a less competitive salary if it comes with benefits that suit their lifestyle. Do you offer time off for volunteering, plus a great 401(k) match? Make sure prospective employees know it. 

“We highlighted flexible scheduling, remote options, professional development — perks that attract talent craving work-life balance and growth,” Wheatley says. “Where we couldn’t match salaries, we provided other enticing incentives.” 

Midwest Cards, a dealer of collectible trading cards, offers the full package: “This includes health, dental and vision insurances, HSA and PPO plans and year-end bonuses based on company performance,” says Jim Christy, owner and managing marketing director of the firm.  Also on the menu: a profit-sharing plan and cash balance pension plan. “These add significant value to our compensation package,” Christy says. 

Streamline the Hiring Process

By cutting back on unnecessary steps and automating what you can, you can make it easier for your already-stretched workforce to manage the hiring process. This could mean relying on digital tools to help with portions of the hiring process — or using digital tools for other tasks at your company to free up more time for hiring. 

You can also get ruthless about the resumes that make it to your desk. “To make our process more efficient, we’ve implemented a bold move: automatic rejection for applications without portfolios or signatures,” says Peter Howard, founder and managing director of Phd Design, a graphic design agency. “Automatic rejection if they are addressed to ‘The Manager’ or similar. Automatic rejection if it is 12-point Times New Roman on a white sheet. If they can’t be bothered, then why should we?”

Utilize Referrals

Some of your strongest assets are your current employees. Building an employee referral program can make hiring faster, lower costs to bring in new talent and help you find someone who’s a great fit. 

“Leveraging our existing network for referrals has proved invaluable,” says Jessica Moore, CEO of headwear company SilkyDurag. “People tend to know like-minded professionals.” 

Why Employers Should Offer Summer Benefits

When temperatures rise and business slows, offering some hot summer benefits can help brighten up your employee benefits package. Typically offered to employees between Memorial Day and Labor Day, summer benefits can include anything from reduced hours and additional days off (i.e., “Summer Fridays”) to flexible dress codes and increased remote work flexibility.

While certainly not a new benefits trend, a recent Monster poll showed just how important summer benefits can be when it comes to attracting and retaining talent as well as improving the well-being and productivity of your workforce. Here are five reasons why employers should consider heating up employee benefits offerings during the summer months.

Improve Work-Life Balance

Summer vacation shouldn’t end at adulthood. As a child, summer was synonymous with family vacations, pool days, and playing outside. As an adult, that restless feeling doesn’t necessarily go away when the sun is shining and you’re stuck staring at spreadsheets. Allowing employees to make the most of their summer can help improve their mental health and work-life balance, among many other benefits.

Matt DiBara, CEO of DiBara Masonry, remembers what it was like being in the shoes of the employees and can relate to the feeling of wanting greater flexibility in the workplace during the summertime. “I can tell you that flexibility, not only in terms of office hours but also in dress code, is very important, especially in summer,” he says. “We started offering summer benefits a few years ago and noticed positive changes, such as improved productivity, fewer absences, and greater work-life balance. We started with small changes, such as allowing workers to wear clothes they are comfortable in and offering reduced hours to our employees. This left workers with more time to spend with their family and friends, pursue other interests, and feel more relaxed. In addition, we chose to offer a few additional days off. Summer is a great time to vacation, and we want our employees to have a good time. Though controversial, the decision paid off. We ended up with happier employees and other benefits, such as increased loyalty and better work-life balance.”

Boost Productivity

When it comes to summertime perks, “summer hours” are one of the most popular benefits offered as well as workers’ most beloved summer benefit, according to Monster poll respondents. Even with employees working fewer hours during the summer, though, employers shouldn’t expect to see any decreases in productivity. You may even find that your employees are more productive when they have less time to get their work done. According to Monster’s poll, 97% of workers who receive summer benefits said these benefits haven’t negatively impacted their productivity, with 66% saying their work productivity has actually increased.

“Offering fewer workdays might sound counterproductive, but it really is not,” DiBara says. “The thing is that happier employees are more productive. When they work fewer days or when they get more days off to do other things, they are happier and more energetic. A four-day work week alleviates the pressures of juggling work and personal life. It gives workers more time to spend on other things, leading to improved physical and mental health and paving the way for a more engaged and productive workforce.”

Offset Costs

Amid inflation and rising employer costs, any chance to save money should be taken into consideration. “A penny saved is a penny earned,” right? Giving employees Fridays off during the summertime, for example, can help businesses reduce utility expenses, like keeping the lights on, running the A/C unit, and more. The best part is that most summer benefits are of low or no cost to implement. “At the end of the day, it impacts your bottom line,” DiBara says. “You’re making more money, you’re saving more money, and you and your employees are less stressed.”

Let’s not forget that employees are not immune to the effects of inflation and the rising cost of living, either. By allowing workers to have more flexibility in where or when they work, you can help your staff lower commuting costs and reduce childcare expenses for working parents when school isn’t in session.

Retain Top Performers

Despite the many perks that come from offering summer benefits, fewer employees were offered them in 2023. According to Monster’s poll, 66% of workers did not receive summer benefits, with 43% saying their summer benefits were removed or reduced over the past year.

Taking away some of the most beloved summer benefits, like the four-day work week, may result in negative repercussions for employers. In fact, 27% of Monster’s poll respondents said they would consider leaving their employer if a four-day work week or “Summer Fridays” were eliminated.

In light of inflation and mass layoffs, Amy Laiker, head of New York at Tiger Recruitment says, “Businesses may have offered summer benefits during more economically profitable times, but with the tough economic climate that many are facing, decision-makers are cutting costs by reducing benefits. This shortsightedness demonstrates a lack of understanding from employers of the benefits that fairly small initiatives can have on the productivity of the team and in the power of a strong benefits package to attract and retain top talent.”

Attract Top Talent

Offering summer benefits like a shortened work week or the ability to work remotely could give employers a competitive edge in today’s tight labor market. Especially when recruiting younger Gen Z talent, offering greater flexibility in the workplace can be a great way to show candidates how much you care when it comes to their mental health and work-life balance. Just look at this year’s cohort of college graduates—about three-quarters of whom said they would be more likely to apply for a job if the position allowed them to work remotely from anywhere.

For employers that do offer summer benefits, be sure to showcase these benefits in your employer branding and talk about them during the interview process. “It is important to promote what you offer,” DiBara says. “That’s when recruitment marketing and employer branding come into play. One has to carefully write job descriptions, highlight all benefits, spread the word, and ensure employees are aware of what they’ll get if they choose to work for you.”

To help communicate summer benefits as part of your employer value proposition and branding, download Monster’s free Employer Branding Guide today.

Creating Career Growth Opportunities to Attract and Retain Gen Z Talent

When it comes to attracting the new generation of talent, Gen Z has some pretty big demands. From salaries that start at six-figures to having the ability to work from anywhere in the world, Gen Z is redefining the way employers approach talent acquisition and retention.

Make no mistake—this generation is one that is motivated to find meaningful, long-lasting careers and understands that it won’t be handed to them without first putting in the necessary work. For employers looking to hire these up-and-comers, learn why providing career and growth opportunities can help drive your Gen Z talent acquisition efforts in 2023.

What New Grads Want From Their First Jobs

Gen Z may have a long way to go up the career ladder, but they know they won’t rise unless they are given opportunities to learn and grow within their careers. When it comes to securing their first job out of college, finding a company that provides job training, career coaching, and room to grow is incredibly important to them. In fact, Monster’s 2023 State of the Graduate report found that 54% of new grads would turn down a job at a company that doesn’t offer career growth opportunities (up 33% from 2022).

“Gen Z and recent graduates, specifically, are entering the workforce at a time of major volatility due to the fluctuating economy,” says Ashley Samson, chief of staff at National Business Capital. “As they scout new job opportunities, stability and growth are at the top of their wish lists. These job seekers are eager to begin their professional career with the intention of being in these companies for the long term.”

This Generation Won’t Wait Around Long

As the first fully digital native generation, Gen Z has grown up with virtually everything at their fingertips. For instance, they’ve never had to wait for dial-up internet; they simply open their smartphone and are instantly online. Just like they don’t have to watch ads on TV or listen to a sitcom’s intro song; they press “skip” and immediately start binge-watching their favorite show. It’s no wonder, then, that when it comes to their careers, Gen Z doesn’t want to wait for growth and advancement opportunities to come around—they want them now. According to Monster’s State of the Graduate report, 37% of recent college graduates said the most important aspect of a job is immediate growth and advancement opportunities.

“Gen Z expects everything they need is going to be at their fingertips,” says Kaelyn Phillips, vice president of talent management at Monster. “And if we don’t give it to them, they’re going to find another organization that will because that’s just the culture we’re in.” She’s not wrong—Monster’s State of the Graduate report also found that 43% of new grads said they would quit a job if they were not given opportunities to learn and develop in their positions.

Providing Career Development and Learning Opportunities

Fortunately, there are a number of ways to provide growth and learning opportunities not just to Gen Z, but to all employees within an organization, many of which can be free or of low cost to employers. “Mentorship is one, and it’s so important for underrepresented demographics,” says Ursula Mead, CEO of InHerSight, a company-reviews platform for women. “Our data shows that if ‘you can’t see it, you can’t be it’ remains true, especially for young women considering futures in leadership positions. Other learning opportunities include cross-training, job shadowing, stipends for certifications, career coaching, tuition and conference reimbursement, subscriptions to learning platforms, etc.”. Mead also adds that mental health resources are a good sibling benefit to learning opportunities because they can help employees, especially young employees, deal with stress and prevent burnout early on.

Companies like Monster provide excellent examples of how employers can take the ideas listed above and put them into action. For example, Phillips highlighted Monster’s Career Atlas as one of the ways in which the company supports the growth and development of their employees. The Career Atlas outlines all of the company’s job descriptions and core competencies and allows employees to compare roles within their own department or across the organization. Phillips says this has helped several employees prepare for interviews and land internal promotions within Monster.

Additionally, she says Monster’s career coaching program has helped improve employee engagement and decrease attrition at the company. In fact, only three months after launching the program, employee engagement went up more than 5%. When it comes to employee retention, Phillips says, “I can think of three or four examples of where people went through our career coaching program and because of the program felt more connected to Monster and have stayed with the organization as a result.”

Communicating Career Growth Opportunities to Job Seekers

Knowing that job seekers, especially Gen Z candidates, value and are looking for jobs that provide career training and resources, it’s important for employers to ensure these opportunities are made known to job seekers and their existing workforces. Employer branding materials, like an employer value proposition or a career site, can often be a good place to start. “Once you have a solid career growth plan in place, showcase it everywhere and often,” Samson says. “Include your plan in job descriptions, make it available to view on your company website, and speak about it throughout the interview process. You want to communicate as clearly as possible that career growth is valued as highly to you, the employer, as it is to the job seeker.”

One of the best ways employers can showcase career growth opportunities to job seekers is through good storytelling. Mead says, “Find employees who’ve succeeded because of your programming and ask them to share their experiences. What would they have done if the program didn’t exist? How did their leaders/managers support the change? What have the results been? Get them to share the ins and outs of the program through their positive experience, so other employees will be curious to experience it for themselves.”

Employers shouldn’t stop talking about and promoting their career development resources after a job offer has been extended. Continue to advertise these opportunities to employees via internal communications, like in a company newsletter or on a bulletin board in the office. Employers should also encourage managers to discuss career advancement and development opportunities with their staff on a regular basis, like during performance reviews.

For more information on how employers can convey their commitment to employees’ career development—along with many other useful tips for attracting today’s top candidates—download Monster’s Employer Branding Guide.

How small businesses can recruit and retain women

It’s a tough time for businesses and women. The pandemic resulted in alarming numbers of women leaving the workforce, and highlighted hurdles in American work culture – from pay inequity to childcare issues – that make it tougher for women to stay at work.

Recruiting women to work for your small business can sometimes feel like a challenge, but there are several strategies available to smaller companies, even with fewer resources available. Here are some things to try:

Pay women what they’re worth

This may seem obvious, but equitable pay is a good place to start. In a recent Monster poll that asked women what benefits they value most in the workplace, 82% of them chose “fair and equal wages.”

“Women want to know that they are being paid fairly and equally to their male counterparts,” says Claire Jarrett, marketing expert and founder of Jarrett Digital. “Small businesses can implement regular pay audits and make salaries publicly available to create a culture of transparency and trust.”

This is especially important in an era of increasing pay transparency requirements. Several states have laws requiring salary disclosures in job advertisements, and others allow internal employees to request the salary range for their job title. Make sure you understand the legal requirements in your state (and in the states around you, which are competing for your talent).

Promote a career path

Sixty-three percent of women Monster polled said they value having a clear vision for the future of their career. “Many women leave their jobs because they feel like they’re not given the opportunity to grow,” says Henry Purchase, lead of organic growth at online menu maker Menuzen. “If you give women opportunities to grow their skills and learn new things, they’re more likely to stay with your business.”

This is true for interviewees — who may be looking for clues about where they’ll be in five years if they join your firm — and for existing employees, who may be struggling to move up the chain.

“Women who work in male-led offices often struggle to be seen and heard, says Jocelyn Bermudez, a business consultant specializing in team development. “This can make earning a promotion, climbing the ladder, or even getting publicly recognized more complicated than it needs to be, no matter how qualified they are. Lay a clear pathway toward promotions.”

Focus on women in the workplace

Nearly a third of women (31%) in Monster’s poll said they value having female mentors in the workplace, and 45% of women said they’d consider turning down a job offer if the company lacked female leadership or female employees.

“Demonstrate your commitment to the long-term success of your high-potential female employees by linking them with leaders who can assist them in preparing for the next step of their career development,” says Edward Mellet, director at career site Wikijob. “A role model or mentorship program can make a significant difference for women seeking job advancement.”

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) for women can also help bridge the gap. “ERGs can provide a safe space for women to connect with other women in the workplace and provide support for personal and professional growth,” Jarrett says.

Read Monster’s advice on small businesses and ERGs.

Offer women-friendly benefits

A quarter of women in our poll said they value maternity leave and/or childcare benefits at work.

Competitive benefits that meet women’s needs can go a long way. That could mean paternity and maternity leave, childcare assistance or tuition reimbursement, among other things. If it’s too expensive to manage on your own, consider pairing up with a professional employer organization, or PEO, which can pool your needs with other companies and land lower-cost benefits for everyone.

“Setting up a competitive benefits package will show that you value the contributions of female employees and make them more likely to stay with your company for the long term,” says Alex Capozzolo, co-founder of real estate company SD House Guys in San Diego.

And don’t underestimate the impact of lower-cost perks for your employees, including having a pet-friendly office, casual dress code, wellness stipend, and even unlimited vacation, which makes employees feel trusted and valued.

Be flexible

Another perk you can tout: flexibility. Thirty-seven percent of women polled said they’d consider turning down a job offer if a company lacked adequate flexibility for working parents.

As a small business, you may have more leeway than a larger corporation to offer a nontraditional workday, including remote work options and flexible scheduling. There’s also the four-day work week, which is gaining steam since a large UK study showed that employees trying it felt less stressed and were more satisfied with their jobs.

“It is crucial that a company’s culture demonstrates that women will not be punished for choosing work-life balance options,” says Joe Troyer, CEO and head of growth for SEO firm Digital Triggers. “In addition, the advantages of emphasizing work-life balance are evident. Many employees who achieve a healthy work-life balance tend to be happier, more focused, and less susceptible to burnout.”

Navigating a Changing Terrain: Recruitment Survival Guide 2023

In our “Future of Work” survey (our biggest global survey of the year), industry professionals and candidates weighed in on finding, engaging, and winning the battle for talent in 2023. The results of this survey are compiled in the 2023 Recruitment Survival Guide., industry professionals and candidates weighed in on finding, engaging, and winning the battle for talent in 2023. The results of this survey are compiled in the 2023 Recruitment Survival Guide.

In this guide, we take a deep dive into:

  • The state of recruitment in 2023
  • The battle for talent, and the increasing skills gap
  • How to engage talent in a new, flexible present
  • How to get creative about finding diverse talent

Fill out the form below to download the report.












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Is your hiring process inclusive of people with disabilities?

Inclusive hiring is a great goal. Research shows that the majority of job seekers want to work for a company that values diversity and inclusion. And more than a third of HR leaders say DEI is in their top five priorities this year.

But as recently as 2019, only 13% of companies had hit the Department of Labor’s target of 7% disability representation, according to the National Organization on Disability. Building a workforce that includes people with disabilities requires looking at how you hire.

“The hiring process is one of the most critical stages of your company’s commitment to disability inclusion,” says Kimberley Tyler-Smith of online resume site Resume Worded. “This is where you bring in candidates who will make up the core of your team, and it’s also where you can start to build a culture of inclusivity.”

Here’s how to get started:

Widen Your Pool

Look outside your usual sources for job candidates, and try some spaces that focus on inclusion, like Inclusion Inc., Ability Jobs, Getting Hired and We Connect the Dots. Consider an organization like NSITE, a nonprofit that works to place blind and low-vision candidates in high-paying roles.

“Partner with schools and organizations that serve people with disabilities or neurodiverse conditions, such as the Autism Society of America, National Down Syndrome Society, and United Cerebral Palsy,” says Linda Shaffer, chief people and operations officer at Checkr.

Revamp Your Resume Process

Studies show that unconscious bias affects the way people make hiring decisions, with markers as basic as names leading to different outcomes. The music industry realized this decades ago and now often has musicians audition from behind a screen.

“I make sure to blind screen all resumes using a recruitment software that removes names and other personal information,” says Anthony Quint, CEO and founder of media company Get On Stream.

One thing that’s crucial to removing bias is to decide what qualities you’re seeking for a role before you look at candidates. Understanding what you want — technical skills, a certain number of years of experience, etc. — can help you make goal-based decisions.

Make Your Company Accessible

There are a variety of ways to make your company (online and in person) an accessible workplace, which both makes it possible for people with disabilities to work there and signals that you take accessibility seriously. For example, if you’re using video chat to conduct interviews with deaf or hard-of-hearing candidates, consider hiring someone who can help facilitate better two-way communication between the interviewer and the candidate.

“Ensure that your website is accessible to people with disabilities by using alt text for images, closed captioning for videos, and clear and concise language,” Shaffer says. Make online applications accessible and provide a hotline or page where candidates can seek assistance if they need it.

Showcasing workplace accessibility is also important. “This includes privacy chambers, installing ramps, removing floor bumps, removing any triggers (loud noises or strobe lighting), and making other changes to have all types of people comfortable to work in the office,” says Simon Brisk, CEO of digital marketing firm Click Intelligence.

Review Your Job Requirements

The language you use in your job advertisements can include or exclude various groups of people.

“People living with disabilities are commonly excluded from job descriptions,” says Adrienne Couch, human resources analyst with business site LLC.services. “Go through your job descriptions and add special accommodations that will be appealing and attractive to neurodiverse candidates or people living with disabilities.”

Inclusive recruitment language is an art form — you may not realize that some phrases you’re using exclude certain groups of people. And it can be helpful to note in the job posting that your company strives to create a diverse workplace.

Consider Flexible Interview Options

The traditional hiring process can be hard for candidates with disabilities who might prefer a different interview format. “Consider switching interview options and letting candidates who qualify choose an interview mode they are comfortable with,” Couch says.

Consider, too, providing candidates a chance to highlight their skills by performing tasks or otherwise showing you how they’d work on the job, versus a traditional interview format. “Judging them based on how they perform during interviews could give a false impression,” Couch says.

Walk the Walk

If you’re committed to inclusive hiring, it helps to show job seekers that you’re serious about your goals.

“One way to do this is by hiring people with disabilities or neurodiverse job seekers into leadership roles within your organization,” Tyler-Smith says. “This gives potential applicants an idea of what it’s like working at your company, while also allowing them to get a sense of what they could accomplish in their own careers if they joined your organization.”

A Win for Everyone

Research proves that a diverse workforce reduces turnover, boosts morale, and improves your company’s bottom line. In the end, hiring people with disabilities is a win for everyone.

When Can an Employer Make a Pay Cut?

Increased compensation, upskilling, mentoring, and morale-boosting perks. There’s no shortage of advice encouraging employers to invest in ways to improve employee performance and engagement. But what do you do when your company faces a financial challenge? Can you make a pay cut?

The short answer for most employers is yes. The longer answer is that there are some circumstances when it makes sense to reduce employee compensation to avert even harsher cost-cutting measures, but only temporarily and only after you’ve considered all the possible unintended consequences that come with cutting pay.

When It’s Okay for an Employer to Cut Pay?

Pay cuts should not be an answer to a short-term drop in profits. Nor do they make sense in the face of an unavoidable long-term downturn in your business. Your organizational strategy should account for short-term cashflow challenges. Longer term sales challenges are better addressed through staff reductions or a shift in strategy.

However, cutting wages temporarily may be the appropriate answer to prevent severe losses from adversely affecting your company’s viability — but only if the alternative is layoffs or going out of business.

How do you know when to consider cutting employee pay? First, calculate your current staffing costs and then, based on revenue forecasts, determine whether you can withstand expected losses and still maintain your current payroll. If honoring your current compensation levels means you might need to let staff go, then it may make sense to see if you can maintain your current staff levels at slightly decreased wages.

If you think a temporary decrease in compensation costs might help you keep your doors open, then it’s time to create a plan for how to communicate and implement pay cuts.

Legal Considerations

If your workers are part of a collective bargaining agreement or working under the provisions of a contract, you may be prohibited from cutting pay, hours, or benefits. Doing so could incur penalties or make you vulnerable to a lawsuit or other legal action.

However, most employees are at-will, which means that the employer, or the employee, can end or alter the relationship at any point for almost any reason. So, technically, if you do not have an existing contract with a unionized workforce, you can reduce your employees’ compensation — wages, benefits, and performance-based incentives — if you adhere to the following conditions:

  • You announce the pay cut before you implement it. Keep in mind that the amount of notification required differs by state.
  • You do not make the reduction retroactively.
  • You do not reduce earnings of hourly employees below the national minimum wage or your state’s minimum wage.
  • You do not exempt workers’ salaries below the federal or state threshold below which they would need to be redefined as hourly wage workers.
  • You do not reduce salaries in a discriminatory manner based on a worker’s protected status, such as race, gender, or disability, or implement wage reductions in a way that exacerbates existing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues.
  • You are not cutting pay as a punishment for taking time off to perform protected activities, such as jury duty, taking family leave, or military service.
  • You are not retaliating against an employee for whistleblowing, organizing a collective bargaining unit, or acting as an employee representative for union.
  • You give each employee the opportunity to agree to the reduction or resign.

Why Employee Pay Cuts Are Not Usually the Answer

In most cases, pay reductions are not a long-term solution to profit loss or poor performance, as they tend to:

  • Negatively affect morale, decrease productivity, and further depress profits.
  • Erode trust between workers and management.
  • Prompt your best performers to look elsewhere for opportunities, possibly to your competition.
  • Damage your employer brand and company culture.

The Problem With Across-the-Board Pay Cuts

Your business plan should be flexible enough to withstand a short-term dip in profits without necessitating layoffs or pay cuts. If your instinct is to cut compensation whenever times are tough, the message your frontline workers will take away is that they — rather than owners and top-level management — are the only ones making sacrifices for the benefit of the business’s overall health.

The Problem With Targeted Pay Cuts

You want your workplace to be a place where hard workers can thrive. Reducing pay communicates that your financial situation is unstable or that struggling employees will be penalized rather than supported. Either way, pay cuts are likely to cost you your highest achieving employees.

Offering support, upskilling, mentoring, and changing team and individual assignments are much better ways to improve the performance of an employee who is failing to reach their potential. If you have a problem employee who has very little chance of thriving in your company culture or your industry sector, or one who behaves in an unethical manner, termination is a better way to address the situation than a punitive pay cut.

If you decide to go forward with a targeted pay reduction it should be accompanied by a reduction in responsibilities or demotion. Asking an employee to do the same work for less pay is not likely to incentivize increased effort or performance.

How to Implement a Salary Reduction

As with a targeted pay cut to an individual employee, companywide pay cuts should be temporary and accompanied by a reduction in responsibilities. You should discuss the reductions with staff ahead of time and distribute a written announcement that outlines the terms of the compensation adjustment.

For example, you might keep base salaries at their current level but suspend bonuses. You may also want to specify that the reinstatement of previous compensation practices will be contingent upon a return to previous profitability levels or a change in economic conditions.

Cost-cutting Alternatives

Rather than implement wage reductions, consider offering your employees the following options that can help to temporarily — or even permanently — reduce payroll:

  • Offer furloughs in the form of voluntary or mandatory time off during times that are less busy or that work well for each employee. Some employees may even welcome unpaid time off to focus on family obligations, educational opportunities, or extended vacations.
  • Allow sabbaticals of various intervals, from a few months to a year, to pursue educational, volunteer, or other opportunities.
  • Institute job sharing for employees who want to work part-time for the short term to fulfill caregiving obligations or pursue educational opportunities.
  • Create a remote work policy to reduce overhead costs.

You may also want to consider filling critical openings with part-time or contract workers, at least for the duration of your current financial challenges.

How to Soften the Blow

If you are asking your workforce to sacrifice wages you should be prepared to offer something in return. You might focus on other aspects of your and more affordable incentives, such as making an extra effort to highlight workers’ performance, throwing an office party to thank people for their efforts, or working with community partners to provide gift certificates in lieu of cash bonuses for the near term.

You might also look to other non-monetary forms of compensation, such as increased paid time off (PTO) or offering top performers an equity stake in the company.

Learn More Ways to Reduce Costs Without Making a Pay Cut

Now that you know when an employer can cut employee pay, and how to temper the blow, learn about more ways to grow your bottom line, from crisis management to the latest hiring news and expert how-tos.

Legal disclaimer: None of the information provided herein constitutes legal advice on behalf of Monster.

How to Create a Veteran-Friendly Company Culture

You know there are many benefits of hiring veterans. But according to Monster data, fewer than half (46%) of veterans said they felt accepted at a new company right away. Are you doing enough to create a veteran-friendly culture and ensure your veterans and military workers feel welcome and supported?

William Davidson, Command Sergeant Major (CSM Ret.) and Senior Director of Veteran Outreach at Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Program dedicated to veterans, service members, and their families, spoke to us about the importance of building a veteran-friendly culture. “When it comes to veterans, recognizing the service and sacrifice of these individuals to serve our country is essential,” he says. “The veteran community appreciates a workplace environment that strives to show how their service and sacrifice are valued. Creating a welcoming environment will attract veterans to the workplace and allow other staff to learn about military culture.”

When it comes to creating a veteran-friendly company culture, Monster’s Veteran Hiring Guide outlines the top five ways leading companies are supporting veteran talent:

  1. Partnerships with veteran and military family organizations 
  2. Paid time off for military duty for Guard members and reservists
  3. Employee resource group for veterans and families 
  4. Veteran mentorship program 
  5. Skills translators/civilian job equivalents 

Below, we spoke with several experts to provide insight into how these tactics can help employers better support their veteran and military employees and effectively create a veteran-friendly company culture.

Partner with Veteran and Military Family Organizations

Any company can say they have a “veteran-friendly culture,” but for veterans to truly feel valued and supported is something that starts from the top down. Putting your corporate sponsorship or volunteer efforts toward organizations that support veterans and military families can be a great way to show veteran employees and candidates that you’re walking the walk—not just talking the talk.

Fiserv, a global financial technology company, sponsors several military organizations, including the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University, Our Community Salutes, Wreaths Across America, and more. By partnering with these types of organizations, Vivian Greentree, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Head of Global Corporate Citizenship at Fiserv, says, “A lot of our military engagement strategies come down to good HR practices that benefit all employees because they are meeting people where they are, resourcing them properly, and providing an environment where everyone can say, ‘I am a valued member of a winning team doing meaningful work in an environment of trust.'”

Even civilian workers, Greentree says, can benefit from Fiserv’s military sponsorships and activities. “We offer opportunities for all our associates and military-supporter partners to be involved in our military programming, opening communication and fostering increased interaction and camaraderie,” she says. “Volunteering with our military community partners offers our non-military associates opportunities to experience the Esprit de Corps and the connectedness our military associates share.”

Offer Paid Time Off and Flexible Hours

Monster’s Future of Work survey found that flexibility is most important to workers today, and Ryan Eden, Veteran Employment Manager at PRISM, Inc., a technical and professional services firm, says this can be especially appealing to military spouses who may have children or other family members to care for. “We really understand that military spouses are best suited for jobs that allow flexible hours, remote work, and paid time off due to the volatility of their spouse’s military obligations,” he says. “Flexibility is necessary for a military spouse to sustain both a job and family successfully.”

Reservists, too, can benefit from flexible hours and paid time off to recoup after assignments. For instance, Monster offers active reserve duty employees a “buffer” week of PTO between an active-duty assignment and when they return to work. 

At PRISM, Eden says they work closely with one of their reservist employees, who typically has very intense weekend drills that can make it difficult for him to return to the office the next day. “We’ve offered him a lot of flexibility after his weekend drills to work from home to help him regroup and recover,” Eden says. “And if he has to serve out a mission, we discuss a return to allow for flexibility if needed, so he can engage in and really come back ‘fresh’ into the civilian job.”

Provide Employee Resource Groups and Mentorship Programs

When it comes to company culture, Gary Patton, Vice President of Veterans and Military Affairs at CACI, a winner on Monster’s Best Companies for Veterans list, says it’s essential to create a sense of belonging. Employee resource groups and mentorship programs can give veterans a sense of belonging and camaraderie and help them assimilate into civilian life more easily.

Patton says, “We have a Veteran Transition mentoring program, where we take old hands, who are veterans within the company, and they’re able to pair off with recently separated veteran new hires, not as a supervisor but more as a mentor or coach who they can go to with problems, concerns, and questions to help get their feet on the ground. I think it’s a good program to help our veterans make that sometimes difficult and challenging transition from the military to the civilian workforce.”

CACI’s veteran employee resource group (VERG), which is open to all employees, regardless of veteran status, is another way this best-in-class company helps create a culture of inclusion. With activities ranging from laying wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier every Veterans Day to washing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.., Patton says, “These are the types of things we do as part of the VERG that promote a sense of belonging within our culture.”

Translate Military Skills for Civilian Jobs

Translating military skills and placing veterans in the right jobs is crucial to helping them feel accepted and supported right from the start. “It’s important for employers to understand how to translate military skills because finding the right fit for veterans is important,” says Sarah Blansett, Vice President of Military.com. “Some translation will happen as a part of a veterans transition process and by tapping into tools that can help them understand the civilian workplace, like our Veteran Employment Project. Yet, the other side is the employer who needs to have insight into how their open positions relate to veterans’ skill sets.”

Monster and Military.com offer a comprehensive suite of tools that employers can use to find and hire veterans, including a Military Skills Translator, Reverse Military Skills Translator, and Veteran Talent Portals. “We also have products that equip and educate the job-seeking veteran in the hopes that if we train both sides, we can facilitate a better fit for the employers and the veterans,” Blansett says. “Employers can expand their paid military time off policies for Guard and reserve members, support veteran and military spouse employee resource groups, and find and train recruiters who are veterans or military spouses to make their workplace more veteran and military spouse friendly.”

More Veteran Retention Strategies

Whether you’re just learning how to develop a veteran-friendly company culture or it’s been a priority for years, staying on top of effective recruitment and retention strategies for veterans is essential. Get started by signing up for Monster Hiring Solutions’ expert advice and information on the latest hiring trends.

5-Star Job Ads

Every recruiter writes their job ads differently, but they all have the same goals in mind. They want to create a job ad that is optimized for search, stands out from the rest, and sells prospects on the position. And that’s exactly what this article will show you how to do. To get more details on this subject as well as detailed examples, pro tips, insights, and more, sign up for our Job Ad Webinar and we’ll walk you through it – live.

Before we start, remember to think about search engine optimization (SEO) at every step.

  • Job Titles
    • Must be industry standard – if you want to see what both Monster and Google reference, check out the SOC 2010 List
    • No abbreviations, call to action, special characters or punctuation, or non-standard capitalization, job ID, etc.
  • Length
    • The entire job ad should be around 400 words
  • Keywords
    • Keyword density is an outdated strategy
    • Use synonyms for your job title and skills for better exposure
    • Main Keyword Placements: 1 in the title, 1 in the first paragraph, 1-2 or more times in the job ad
    • Job seekers are interested in jobs that will allow them to better manage their life, working hours, commute, and generally improve their work/life balance. If you’re offering a position that speaks to these desires, make sure to include some of the following keywords within your job description: Flexible Hours, Fully Remote, Virtual Work, Work from Home, etc.

5 Steps to Your 5-Star Job Ad

Click on each step below to learn how you can take your job ad to the next level.

Corner Office Q&A: Kevin Phillips

Kevin Phillips is Chairman, CEO and President at defense contracting firm ManTech International, Monster’s 2021 winner for Best Employers for Veterans.

Here, he talks with Monster about ManTech’s veteran hiring strategy, why veterans are such an important part of the workforce, and the hiring and recruiting challenges that are facing companies in a post-COVID-19 world.

Monster just awarded ManTech as the #1 Employer for Veterans. Can you talk about ManTech’s track record as a company that hires veterans?

As a company, we’ve always supported the Department of Defense. In the 1960’s, we started as a Navy contractor, in the 1990s, we supported the military during the first Gulf War and we’ve continued to support the military, intelligence community and other agencies after 9/11.

That history has given us a good view and focus on veterans as a trusted partner. As you may know, government missions change from time to time. Today it’s very much focused on technology and bringing digital capabilities to the federal government and to the Department of Defense, so we spend a lot of time on that.

How do you nurture and grow your veteran talent?

Veterans understand the mission sets the government needs, they have a lot of experience and passion for what that mission is, and today about 45% of our workforce are veterans. That’s not by chance. That’s something that’s very purposeful and intentional. It’s a commitment we make as a company.

So we mentor the veterans, we have career enablement initiatives, we have company-paid certification and degree programs, and we try to retrain and retool veterans once they join the company if they have an interest in it. We also work with online degree providers like Purdue University Global to establish tuition-free degrees in competencies that we think the government is going to need long-term. It’ll also provide greater mobility, better pay in the life of the veterans.

This last Veteran’s Day, we established a ManTech Vets Training Program. We’re training a certain number of veterans for six months on technical training that’s focused on a capability called Service Now as well as some cloud skills. Once they’re done, they have those Service Now certifications and we can put them directly on support for different government customers.

ManTech has retained 80% of veterans hired in the last year. Do you credit the programs you’ve put in place as being the things that have kept veterans there long-term? 

We have definitely spent a lot of time over the last four to five years focusing on those investments to train employees, provide mobility within the company, and give them career options.

Many of our employees are veterans themselves, so they help coach and guide new veterans. Veterans fit very well because they know that we’re here, we understand how they think, we understand where they’ve been. And I do think it provides a very good value proposition, but also an environment for these veterans to come in and expand their careers.

What specific attributes or skills would you say veterans have that are a benefit to ManTech?

They tend to be objective-driven because that’s how they’ve been trained — we call it “mission-focused.” And that’s how our government customers think: What do I have to achieve? What’s the overall timeline? What’s the objective? And they fit into that because timelines and outputs really do matter, and that’s a natural thing for them.

They’re already naturally disciplined to know what to do and what to focus on. Especially in the veteran community or the Department of Defense, if they have an urgent requirement, it’s a very compelling thing. It can be a matter of life and death sometimes. So our employees have to understand the importance of that. Veterans bring that to us and allow us to be a trusted partner to the federal government.

What hiring and recruiting challenges have you experienced over the last two years, and what do you predict is coming down the pipeline? 

There are two unique things we have to deal with in our sector compared to other sectors of the economy:  The first is whether an individual can receive a security clearance. The second is that everyone in the industry is dealing with the COVID mandates from the federal government.

I’d say the security clearance process is something we’ve been focused on for the last few years. And for the last six months, making sure that we bring our workforce toward getting fully vaccinated is what we’ve been focused on.

I wouldn’t say these items have created a greater challenge in recruiting, but they’re additive areas we’ve focused on in order to get people in. So that means our recruiting effort has to be more focused and attuned to who we can find and how we can attract that talent.

Beyond that, the workforce has learned to be mobile, learned to be remote, and all of us have been able to adapt to that in a fairly flexible way. That can be good in that it provides people with mobility, but at some point, we might lose the human touch, so we’re trying to make sure it all works together.

Are there some opportunities at ManTech that can’t be done remotely?

I think everyone, not only the employees, but also the decision-makers, learned they can do their jobs at home — maybe not in total, but in part. That changes a lot. So for some of our support staff and customers, I think that will become more of a norm. There will be a hybrid system that’s permanent for a lot of the workforce.

That said, for some of our customers, they can’t work remotely, because they have to be in a secure facility to work. So it very much depends on the type of work and whether you can do it at home or not because of the type and classification of work.

Can you talk a little more about your vaccine challenges?

We’ve been very focused on educating people, providing them with a view on why vaccines are important, and recognizing that some people have deep emotional reasons why they wouldn’t want to be vaccinated, and a lot of those are religious or health-related.

We have a concierge service that provides the closest areas for employees to get a shot. We track it fairly rapidly, because we want our customers to understand as well as our employees what risks might exist if a subset of employees passionately feel it’s not appropriate for whatever reason.

If you look across our industry, the percentage of the workforce to date that have been vaccinated ranges anywhere from 75% to the low 90%. And all of us are trying to work toward this goal of 100% because that’s the mandate. But there will be a percentage of the workforce that may have to decide whether they want to work in another industry that doesn’t require it.

 What kind of challenges or opportunities do you see when it comes to the evolving workforce, especially finding people with the right skills?

The areas we’re focused on from an investment standpoint are to retool, educate and improve our workforce around cyber analytics and AI, digital engineering or systems engineering in a digital world; enterprise and mission IT systems, and what we call “tactical edge computing.” I think that’s fairly unique to defense contracts.

We’re also focused on how we help the military operate in the technology-driven environment of the future, whether that’s 5G, whether that’s remote computing or other things. How do they aggregate into a format and a communications forum that they have to operate in the future?

Those are the areas we invest in because we think they’re important to the customers and their future requirements.

You mentioned a partnership with Purdue University. Do you rely on partnerships like that, or have you taken a lot of your upskilling in-house?

It’s both. We have Skillsoft that we use to help provide career journeys within our workforce. We have a CTO that develops R & D that people can apply to support. We have an annual tech share event that shows what we’ve been doing to invest in and where we’re headed, and our own ManTech University is award-winning.

We just recently announced a Master of Data Science degree through Purdue University, exclusively for ManTech employees. Many of these higher education folks are able to work with us to create a tailored degree program that meets the customer’s specific needs.

We’ll get a group in the class that are committed to this type of degree. We’ll bring them in and educate them on the cohort, and when they come out, they don’t have to be retrained against the customers’ needs because we’ve already gotten approval and certification and accreditation that the degree program meets our customer’s needs. We focus on that with a number of universities, but Purdue was an early partner, and we’re very proud to have worked with them.

To learn more about veteran recruitment best practices, read Monster’s Veteran Hiring Guide, and see the complete list of 2021 Best Employers for Veterans.