How To Get Top Social Housing Professionals

Any social housing employer needs to engage candidates with the right skills and experience level. This is the top priority for social housing employers according to our newest Hays UK Salary and Recruiting Trends Report in 2019. Social housing demand is only increasing. Newer legislation including the Homelessness Reduction Act and Housing and Planning Act ended up increasing the pressure on the various services. This meant that being able to source sufficient talent was more important than ever before.

As many as 3/4 of the employers of social housing anticipate having difficulties finding the best candidates when they are looking for them over the next year or so. As many as 1/3 of them have already experienced a shortage of projects and management skills. As many as 1/2 of them are having difficulties finding candidates with the right management and leadership skills for social housing jobs.

This increased recruitment pressure for the entire sector is only going to make it more important than ever before for employers to do a better job of attracting the right candidates to the positions. They need to do this to ensure they are meeting the demands for filling them. How can an organization ensure they are attracting the right candidates for the positions and ensure they are giving them a reason to stay?

1. Be Fully Transparent

One of the most important things they must do is be fully transparent about the pay they are going to get. According to our salary survey, the salaries in the sector have increased by 1.9% over the past year. This is up from 0.6% the year prior. However, despite this fact, almost half of the employees continue to be unsatisfied with their pay. Over half of them plan on leaving their jobs within the next year. As many as 36% of them claim the reason for them wanting to leave has to do with being unhappy with their salary and benefits package.

Thus, offering more of a financial incentive is key. This is not only for getting more of the right candidates to apply but also for retaining them. As many as 85% of these professionals say it’s very important that the organization they join be transparent about their compensation and the potential for raises. Only as many as 41% of them feel their organization does this properly.

You can find detailed data on the current market rate in the latest Hays Salary and Recruiting Trends 2019. Any employer can leverage this data and the insights included to figure out what would be a good compensation package to recruit and retain the best talent in the sector.

2. Be More Flexible

There aren’t enough professionals in the social housing sector who rate the work and life balance as being fair. Only 62% of them rate it to be positive. When they were asked what they would change to effectively improve it, 29% of them stated they would want fewer working hours and more flexible working arrangements. As this type of structural reform continues to impact the sector, a lot of employers may need to start giving more flexibility in working practices to gain the kind of employees with the right skills they need.

It is a good idea to make it clear and transparent from the start of the recruiting process. Let them know those flexible working arrangements are available. This will showcase as an employer that you are concerned for your employees and that you want them to have an optimal work and life balance.

3. Upskill The Employees

A lot of employers have stated that they have had a lot of trouble recruiting not only individual contributors but also middle management roles. By making promises to candidates that you will give them upskilling opportunities during the recruitment stage and delivering on them, you can better retain the talent you do get. It can also help to get rid of skill gaps and keep your service delivery on track as expected.

There is constant pressure on this sector with the changes in legislation over the past years. It requires businesses to have more skilled and experienced employees on staff to handle them. You need to do your part in engaging the right candidates and offering them plenty of incentives to not only jump on board but also to retain them to maintain a steady course.