ways2work - Employers
Attracting and retaining employees
'People are now at least talking about what could be done to make their work life better before they start to look for another job. Before, people would have just left because they wouldn’t have believed that anything would be changed.'
(Steve McMenamin, Wight’s Hyundai)
Word gets around. So, if you’re introducing innovative strategies to help your employees balance their work and family lives, you’re on the way to becoming an employer of choice.
Attracting parents and carers
If you want to attract parents and carers, think about alternatives to the major newspapers and recruitment websites. Have you considered:
- suburban newspapers
- notice boards in child care centres, local schools, or neighbourhood house
- websites that support parent and carer groups
You will widen the pool of applicants if you let people know you are a flexible employer. There are many ways to promote this:
- state in the job advertisement that you have a family friendly workplace
- include your work family balance provisions and other employee assistance programs in information that you send to prospective employees and on your website
- ask existing employees for their consent to include case studies and quotes about their experiences of work family balance at your workplace – this will demonstrate that your policies are put into practice
Family friendly information in job descriptions
Spell out whether there are any opportunities for flexible and family friendly working arrangements in the job advertisement and position description. You will find advice and templates for writing job descriptions at Business Victoria’s Designing a Position.
Parents and carer skills in resumes
When you receive a resume from a parent or carer in response to a job advertisement, be open to the skills and experiences they may have developed while supporting their dependents. More information about these skills can be found in Your transferable skills in Parents and carers.
More information
You’ll find more useful information on effective family friendly work practices in Ideas that work.
Business Victoria’s My Business My People initiative provides a range of services for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to help them overcome skills shortages and attract and retain skilled employees through better workforce planning and improved access to training.
Business Victoria’s Choosing Staff suggests other ways of encouraging parents, carers and older workers to apply for a job.
Tell Us Your Story.
We'd like to hear from you about your experiences of balancing work and family.