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Is this concept a mirage or reality? The idea of work-life balance has generated much controversy and discussion among today’s employees and business owners, exposing different points of view and reality on the matter. Our goal is to help dispel common myths and misconceptions about work-life balance and to help people grasp the idea more clearly. It’s a known fact that every job, career, or business endeavour comes with its own demands and challenges. The digital era and rapid technological advancement, individual lifestyles, and desires for convenience or more, necessitated by an individual’s ambition and possibly the rising prices of basic and essential necessities of life, have put so much pressure on individuals, families, and businesses to gain financial advantage. Making people lose track of time and struggle to balance their work life with other personal priorities such as health, self-development, religion, family time and relationships, and so on. The biggest obstacle to achieving work-life balance is the constraint of time, individual choices, and lifestyle, so it is vital to understand the fundamental issue underlying the many viewpoints or perspectives on the matter. Individuals, organizations, or company owners must be purposeful in their decisions and priorities about how they use their time to enjoy and achieve work-life balance. Knowing this will help us focus on other things that are important to us besides work and money, guiding some of our actions and decisions in life. Here are some tips to achieving a healthy work and personal life: Below are some suggestions to assist us to achieve work-life balance that we should think about: Know Your Personal Priorities in Life The things that are most important to us should be listed in order of importance, with clear goals and approaches to accomplishing them among the many distractions that life will present. This may need us to stand back and rethink our aims and values of life. Carefully Choose Your Choice of Career and Employer When choosing a career, employment, or business venture after carefully considering your priorities in life and what is most important to you, you may need to take into consideration the requirements of the job or the nature of the business against your priorities to determine what you are up for before you commit to it. Make Weekly Plans of Things To Do Planning out our weekly tasks in the important areas of our lives will greatly prevent procrastination and distraction from reaching our professional and personal goals. Maximize The Use of Pocket Time and Non-Working Hours For those of us who frequently have free time in between working hours, we could make use of this uninterrupted window of opportunity to unwind and take care of personal priorities. Use this time to relax, have a healthy meal, or check in on loved ones. Consider Proximity to Your Work Place It is crucial to think about moving into an apartment closer to your place of employment in order to manage the stress of travelling to and from work and to reduce the amount of time spent in traffic. For some people, this may be a pricey choice or decision to make, but in the long run, the benefits will outweigh the cons because the time and energy saved may be put to better use by increasing your productivity, which could lead to a pay raise or promotion. Set Boundaries for Work and Personal Activities Setting boundaries for what you can accept or take outside of your schedule is vital. You’ll be able to stay focused, achieve your goals, and improve your efficiency and effectiveness. Consider Your Environment to Minimize Stress Pay close attention to the area, the people, and the accommodations you choose because, if not carefully thought out, this choice could put some pressure or strain on your mental health. Your wellbeing and personal life will benefit from living in a safe, welcoming, and peaceful environment. Learn to Differentiate Between Your Needs and Wants The pressure to work longer hours or earn more money may prevent us from setting aside quality time for other personal life goals. It is likely that some financial burdens are caused by our wants, which, if unchecked, will cause us to lose sight of other important aspects of our lives. One may make the case that, despite the fact that money can fix every issue, the desire of money is the root of all evil, contrary to what some people believe. Being content may be something we need to focus on in order to determine our most important financial needs. Know The Stage You are in Life Finally, it is crucial to understand what stage of life you are in because, in comparison to superiors or colleagues who have some leverage over you, beginners may need to put in more and longer hours to build their abilities, knowledge, and capacity in their field. Understanding where you are in terms of your work, income, and goals will help you manage expectations, keep a positive attitude on life, and maintain general wellness. You may lead a balanced and satisfying personal and professional life by taking into consideration these recommendations since you will have more control over your life and your time.

Owing to the dynamic environment, among leading and competitive organizations, acquisition and retention of the best and qualified employees has become crucial for the survival of the organization and for gaining a competitive advantage over other competitive organizations. It is evident from observations that human resources are the crown resource of the organization. Within a growingly saturated labour market employment and retention of premium human resources has become the core objective of businesses and employers. This has started a talent acquisition war among organizations. It is very important that firms take steps to ensure talent acquisition and its retention to become competitive. Enterprises are focused on integrating the branding principles with strategic human resource management strategies and practices. Branding is a concept derived from marketing, and employer branding is defined as the process of applying branding principles to Strategic HRM, which is used to distinguish firms from competing firms by inviting, inspiring and engaging both potentials, as well as existing employees. Employer branding is focused on a firm’s individuality and uniqueness. A number of studies have concluded the organization as a brand only relates to organizational characteristics that may include quality and innovativeness, etc. based on organizational values, culture, programs, and most importantly, its people. In current times, employer branding is being used as a new tactic to attract new, talented and qualified employees along with ensuring the loyalty of the existing ones. So, it is not only an employee seeking strategy but also a strategy to ensure a trustworthy and appealing reputation of the organization. Today’s enterprises are investing a generous amount of resources and efforts to achieve the ‘Best Employer’ status due to the increased competition for recruiting and selecting new talented employees alongside competing for new customers and a higher market share. The only reason for this change in business trend is to be able to differentiate and gain a competitive advantage over rivals. Employer branding directs the firm’s operational practices by building a strong corporate image of the firm in the market and transforming it into an attractive workplace. Today’s organizations value their intellectual assets more than their hard assets and physical resources. Increasing levels of importance for the recognition of the workforce, employee skills, employee knowledge and employee experiences are the sources of value for the firm and its stakeholders. This is why recruitment and retention of employees have become a major concern for organizations. Due to the shift in recruitment trends of the businesses, it is crucial to study individuality, uniqueness and attractiveness in conjunction. As the organizations characteristically prefer to entice talent by developing an eye-catching employer image. Also, at the same time, guaranteeing that their built image is unswerving with employee’s opinions of the identity of the organization.  Employer Branding and Employee Retention Employer branding helps in improving the recruitment of an organization, which helps to reduce recruitment costs. It also plays a vital role in improving a company’s employee retention which results in reduced levels of employee turnover. It is essential that while developing a positive employer brand in organizations, managers should understand the importance of certain factors which play an important role in attracting possible employees to the firm. Employer branding is a contemporary approach that is continuously expanding and it can keep up the firms’ reputation in attracting and retaining employees. Organizations are concerned with what their employees think about them as an employer. Employer branding not only results in employee loyalty and retention but also enhances the urge in people to work for that organization, therefore employees’ word of mouth matters, whether it is negative or positive. Employer branding is an employer retention method because it is highly influential for the whole employment experience as it also encourages a good work environment while reducing voluntary turnover. An organization makes use of its employer branding strategy to attract employees in their business that can stay with the company and influence the choice of employees to stay or leave the organization. Employee loyalty and retention depends on the image of the organization that the employer has developed in the employee’s mind, which is also important for attracting a new workforce. Organizations with a strong brand image can acquire employees at comparatively low cost, improve employee relations, increase employee retention and offer lower pay scales as compared to its rivals. Employer branding consists of three crucial benefits for the organization associated with recruiting, retaining and performance. The recruitment process is generally very expensive due to advertising, which only reaches a specific number of people. For a company with a strong employer brand, the recruitment process will generate a pool of talented employees without advertising costs. It is due to the strong positive reputation of the company as an employer that the majority of the capable and talented workers would look for job openings in that specific firm, which would lead to reduced cost of the recruitment process. A strong employer brand will make the organization a desirable place for a talented workforce and will attract potential employees. A strong employer brand will help in employee retention because the organization would be a desirable place to work and none of the employees would want to leave because every other organization will become less appealing to them. Also, if the organization is a desirable place to work, employees will enjoy working there which will increase their work performance.

2020 happens to be extra unique as the COVID-19 pandemic had governments enforce strict community quarantine guidelines. These lockdowns had many businesses temporarily halt operations or adopt modern techniques to remain functional. In more ways than one, the global health crisis has been affecting the HR and recruiting industry. Aside from this pressing issue, there are also those other inevitable predictions that resulted from last year’s hiring trends. Modern hiring tech is also expected to affect the industry. In this post, we’ll take a look at the top recruiting trends for 2020-2021. Recruitment has undoubtedly undergone significant changes and improvements over the last decade. For one, experts have wholly embraced the gift of technology, which expanded their candidate and hire sources. As recruitment slowly veers away from traditional talent acquisition methods–think phone screenings and paper resumes–modern methods have taken the spotlight. Recruiters have started to explore social recruiting, in addition to sourcing candidates through online job boards. Below are the top recruiting trends that we will likely see more of in 2021. 1. More Remote Work As 2020 welcomed us with a pandemic that’s yet to be contained, remote work became the “new normal” for many organizations and teams. Employers are taking measures to ensure the safety of their people. Even major Nigerian companies in the Oil and gas, Banking, and Telecoms sectors have asked their employees to work remotely. As for recruiters, they will have to adjust to this new normal. And as more organizations and employees will now have a taste of how it’s like to go remote, most are likely to retain the setup or continue to offer work flexibility. As a result, recruiters who are working for organizations that will adopt the remote work setup need to apply recruitment strategies specifically geared toward telecommuting. 2. Increased Use of Online Communication Tools Meanwhile, for companies that choose to continue hiring, online communication tools will prove most vital. Companies can halt in-person interviews and instead take them online through video conferencing apps as a precaution against the pandemic. Facebook and Amazon are just some of the huge companies that are known to start conducting most of their upcoming interviews through video conferencing. With this in mind, both recruiters and job seekers should prepare for the new measures by learning more about online communication tools and proper video conferencing etiquette. These preparations will also come handy should companies continue to adopt remote work where online communication is of prime importance. 3. A Shift from Traditional Requirements From this year onward more companies are bound to withdraw from rigid hiring requirements. We are more will likely see more organizations overlook college degrees and embrace skills. This way, they will have a bigger candidate pool and reduce biases caused by degrees, honors, and university names. As many of today’s tech professionals don’t have a formal degree, with over 65% of developers claiming to be self-taught, recruiters can open up their candidate funnel if they are not restrained by traditional educational attainment-related requirements. 4. Increased Focus on Specialization Recruiting is slowly but surely moving toward the direction of becoming an exact science. Recruiters are now expected to perform the technical role of facilitating the entire hiring funnel. More prominent companies with multiple departments and moving parts are now taking this direction, allowing them to find and hire the perfect candidate for specific technical positions. Some companies, particularly smaller ones, still have centralized recruitment operations. However, this generalized approach often results in poor outcomes in various areas, from sourcing to hiring. 5. AI and Predictive Analysis Over 80% of companies in advance societies today already use artificial intelligence (AI) in HR in one form or another. This year and for the rest of the 2020s, more companies are expected to leverage AI in various HR processes. With the help of AI, the traditional hiring process will get upgraded through the application of smart recruiting practices. Companies and job listings will become more discoverable to potential candidates. Meanwhile, on the recruiter’s end, the recruiting process will be more efficient as tasks such as applicant tracking and email communication can already be automated using applicant tracking systems. AI-powered chatbots will also become commonplace as companies begin to use them for the first phases of applicant screening before scheduling candidates for person-to-person interviews.  6. Company Culture Takes the Spotlight With various challenges facing recruitment today, recruiters need to look beyond the usual factors that attract candidates. According to a survey of 1,000 employees and more than 5,500 senior managers conducted by Robert Half International, 35% of workers would refuse a job offer if the company culture does not meet their expectations even if the role is a perfect match. More than 90% of the managers surveyed also believe that a candidate’s fit with their company culture is as important as skills and experience. With this in mind, recruiters are challenged to strike the perfect balance to ensure that company culture will fit the Baby Boomers, GenXers, Millennials, and GenZers alike. 7. Mobile and Social Media Continue to Play a Vital Role With mobile beating desktop in terms of market share by about 10%, it’s not difficult to see that most of today’s top candidates will come from mobile traffic. One might hastily assume that the majority of these mobile job seekers will come from the Millennial and Gen Z demographic. But, what’s surprising is that according to a Glassdoor research, 55% of jobs searched through mobile devices came from GenXers. This goes without saying that it’s not just entry-level jobs that are being searched through mobile. This trend also dictates that recruiters need to adjust the way they create job listings and ads to ensure that they are mobile-friendly. Furthermore, the interest in social recruiting grows by the day, and recruiters can maximize its potential by building a presence and becoming accessible on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. 8. Focus on Retention Turnover is costly. When an employee resigns, the employer needs to pay exit