"The War on Frontline Talent," a new report from Hot Paper Lantern, makes a discovery that may surprise many employers: More than 90 percent of employees were thinking about other opportunities.

That makes monitoring your "employer brand," and keeping employees committed and engaged more important than ever, says Hot Paper Lantern chief people officer Sara Whitman.

In an employee market where "businesses are struggling to find talent and to find the right talent at the right time," Whitman says that they need to "understand the importance of their employer brand and how they can start to articulate that in different ways, demonstrate that in different ways, and really connect with employees."

She tells Simon that best companies put a strong value on both the customer exeperience and the employees. However, "it's only been in the last maybe year, 18 months or so that I've seen companies start to say, let's think about both of them and think of them as two sides of the same coin."

A big part of boosting the employee experience, she says, is making those employees feel "coveted." Whitman says that "if I feel like I'm coveted, I'm not looking at other opportunities. I'm happy where I am."

She also talks about the process of "re-recruiting" current employees. "You can pull money out of talent acquisition and say, OK, this is a point for re-recruitment. How do we interact and engage with the employee in a positive way to help them remember why they chose this organization?"

The discussion also goes into why LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for connecting with employees. "People are going to LinkedIn as a place to get information about their organizations. They're going there to meet and to connect with people within their companies, especially large companies, dispersed companies, lots of locations, and they're going there for recognition."

She also cautions that the current tight market for talent will likely not last forever. "I would like to caution employers to just pay attention to the changes that are going to happen—that have happened. We're not going to return to something that was before. Things have fundamentally changed."

One of those things is the desire for flexibility that hybrid work environments have brought about. Employers need to keep that in mind as they plan the future of employee relations, she tells Simon.

"That's one of the number one things front line workers are looking for. Let's really think in creative ways about how we can prepare ourselves for that future because it's going to happen."

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