Laura Sutherland
Above & Beyond Group | 3D Recruit
Has your Organisation got the WOW FACTOR?
Friday 14 October 2022
12:00pm – 12:30pm
Speaker Bio
Laura Sutherland is a Workforce Specialist, Leadership and Career Coach. Her core professional purpose is supporting individuals to fulfil their career potential, and employers to develop the potential for their staff.
Trained in Psychology with a BA (Hons), Laura started her career in Mental Health and Aged Care. She moved into Recruitment in 2005, specialising in these sectors.
After working for large recruitment companies, Laura identified the need for a bespoke service to meet the unique demands of Aged Care & Community Services, and started 3D Recruit in 2012. Six years later she evolved the business, offering end-to-end workforce solutions ‘Above & Beyond’ recruitment to engage, retain and develop your best talent.
Considered the go-to trusted advisor on workforce challenges in our industry, Laura is committed to developing an organisation’s most valuable asset – their people, so that our whole industry can flourish into the future.
Abstract
In the current climate, it is crucial employers in aged care stand out as desirable places to work. Recruitment is now even more challenging because of burn out, job-hopping and severe skills shortages.
So, how do you become an Employer of Choice to attract and retain top quality talent? Where do you start?
It’s about being an Employer with the WOW FACTOR – a framework developed by Laura Sutherland to help you become a standout employer.
In this presentation Laura will delve into each element with practical examples, bringing specialist knowledge and experience from Recruitment, HR, and Psychology, with specific relevance for our Aged Care & Community Services sectors.
You will leave with tangible ideas and strategies for how to improve staff attraction and retention outcomes for your organisation.
The WOW FACTOR Framework:
WHY–Get clear and communicate your organisation’s “Why”. This helps staff understand how what they do contributes to the organisation’s bigger picture. Connecting to purpose brings deeper motivation.
OPPORTUNITIES–Explore progressive options for the workforce beyond the traditional, hierarchical career ladder. Think ‘career lattice’ – incremental advancements, professional development, stretch projects and succession planning are some alternatives.
WHO–The embodiment of your Culture & Values is driven by “Who” makes up your organisation. How your staff operate says everything about your culture. Define your values and articulate the demonstrated behaviours so everyone is clear. People feel connected and engaged when they belong.
FLEXIBILITY–Offer staff greater flexibility around how they fulfil their roles and responsibilities. Also encourage your workforce to be more flexible to think outside the square as they learn to become more agile to navigate the continual changes around them.
A-CLASS LEADERS–Cultivating and developing effective leaders is critical to employee engagement, and to the future of our industry. Leaders who demonstrate a growth mindset drive the entire organisation towards a culture of continuous improvement.
COLLABORATION–Between individuals, teams, organisations, and the whole sector…it is crucial to advancing standards in Aged Care. By moving away from silos and working more cohesively, we can leverage different strengths and address weaknesses. Together we stand a greater chance of achieving common goals.
TRUST–Fundamental to successful relationships and staff loyalty, it’s crucial to build a trusting foundation in your organisation. Openness and reliability encourages psychological safety, breeds creativity, commitment and boosts employee engagement.
ONGOING FEEDBACK–Essential to create clear expectations from the outset, cultivating a responsive workforce with a growth mindset who are willing to improve. Establishing an environment where regular feedback is expected, welcomed and acted upon is key.
REWARD–Salary alone is not the driver for the majority of the workforce in Aged Care. There are other creative and not costly reward factors to motivate, inspire and retain top talent.
The WOW FACTOR framework showcases practical and actionable steps you can take as an employer who’d like to standout in the job market and keep your top performers.
Don’t leave things to chance. Don’t assume you have a fantastic reputation. When you cultivate an enviable culture among staff and improve retention, word gets out.
In the current climate, how do you become an Employer of Choice, to attract and retain top quality talent? As an Employer, you need to have the WOW FACTOR.
