How to help safeguard your talent investment

This article is a part of our Risk + Reward series. Capital One Business and Inc. partnered to survey 314 business leaders in November of 2024 to explore the factors that affect how they weigh business risks and rewards in navigating modern business landscapes. View our key findings and other articles in this series.

You cannot build a great company without people. It’s no surprise then, that business leaders view talent as a top opportunity area, according to a recent survey by Inc. and Capital One Business. While talent is essential, business leaders also see talent-related challenges as some of the biggest threats to growth, along with financial, operational, and strategic risk factors. Mitigating these risks requires a thoughtful approach to attracting and retaining team members.

Michael Ly, founder of Reconciled, a virtual bookkeeping and accounting company with small business clients across the U.S., believes businesses should do as much “sales and marketing about their company’s work culture” as they do about their goods or services. In other words, be transparent about your company’s vision and culture, and share this information on your website and social media.

Forty-six percent of business leaders say their top risk when it comes to talent is an inability to attract and retain people with the right skills, according to Inc. and Capital One Business’s research. Some common approaches to mitigate risks include working with existing team members to determine the specific skills needed for your business to operate properly and grow. Focusing your recruitment efforts in this area is important, but so is developing talent from within your existing team. Helping your employees develop to take on new roles and responsibilities can help your company grow the talent it needs, while also giving employees incentives to stay with the organization longer.

Just as you work to “wow” new customers, Ly suggests finding ways to “wow” new employees. For example, consider setting up a video call to extend an offer rather than emailing an offer letter. “Have everyone that interviewed the candidate on the call, make the offer, and celebrate the offer. Clap your hands. Say, ‘We are really excited that we’re offering you this, and we would be honored if you joined the company,’” he suggests.

Leaders at Reconciled also pre-record welcome videos to get new hires excited about the role. “I say, ‘Hey, this is Michael. Before you start, I want you to know I’m really excited about your day one. This is what I do here. This is how long I’ve been here. If you need anything, this is how you reach me.’” Touches like these make employees feel like part of a family before they even start. Ly adds that fostering togetherness is particularly important for Reconciled because the company is remote. “Most of the time, when people join us, it’s their first remote job ever. So, we want them to experience an even better 30 days than if they were in an office,” he says.

Hiring a new employee costs more than retaining one. Lisa Larson-Kelley, founder and CEO of Quantious, a business-to-business (B2B) tech marketing firm, is thoughtful about investing in her employees and attributes her company’s rapid growth to her strong, engaged team. Like Ly, Larson-Kelley is running a remote organization. Finding someone who can thrive in this environment can be tricky, so it is imperative to make them feel valued. Quantious does so by offering a yearly stipend for professional development. “They can use it for whatever they want. It could apply directly to their work or not. One of our employees wants to learn French, so she’s taking French lessons,” she explains.

Larson-Kelley is even investing in office space to serve as a homebase for employees, should they wish to come into the office or visit from out of state. Other research has shown ways to improve employee satisfaction include supporting employees and making them feel valued, as well as helping them with career growth and seeing their contributions help employee engagement. Steps like these help high-performing businesses attract and retain their most important asset—employees.