How companies can move beyond traditional compensation strategies

To attract and retain employees in today’s new talent landscape, employers must go beyond salary increases, said Gartner, who recommended four compensation strategies in a new report titled, 4 Bold Strategies to Disrupt Compensation Competition in the New Talent Landscape.

While increasing compensation and benefits remain an obvious option, organisations must be open to alternatives, such as variable pay tactics. HR leaders, Gartner elaborated, can provide substantial signing bonuses, offer lucrative benefits such as tuition reimbursement or retention bonuses, and decouple pay and location as they adopt hybrid and remote work.

Organisations can also differentiate themselves by providing employees with work schedules that offer greater work-life balance. One approach, Gartner said, is to guarantee a maximum workload of hours for a task or role, or offer “radical flexibility”, where employees are given control over where, when, and how much they work.

Investment in internal mobility is also critical, as Tony Guadagni, senior principal in the Gartner HR practice, explained, “HR leaders must accelerate internal promotions and backfill lower-level vacancies from the external labour market. Adopting an organisational preference for internal mobility supports retention of key talent and reduces the time to fill for critical roles – lowering stressors for the rest of the organisation.”

To help fill critical positions, Gartner advised HR leaders to consider candidates from unconventional backgrounds who are seeking new career paths. Organisations should reevaluate talent and predictors of long-term success, including skills adjacencies, and reducing or eliminating education requirements or location requirements, Gartner concluded.