Why Do African Professionals Choose an Employer?

70% of African professionals are choosing employers for just four reasons. Does your organisation deliver them?

There are lots of attraction drivers, the reasons people join employers. This year, as part of our Careers in Africa Employer of Choice study into African employer brands, we asked people to first select an employer they want to work for, then pick the one reason above all others why they chose that organisation. The results were eye-opening. Offered the choice of 17 attraction drivers, almost 70% of African professionals put their decision down to one of just four options.

These were:

• The opportunity for challenging work

• The opportunity to learn new skills

• The reputation of the organisation for innovation and forward-thinking

• The opportunity to make an impact on society through the organisation

What Matters Most to African Professionals Choosing Their Employer

This means that a range of key drivers, including everything around reward, ethics and work-life balance were being overlooked.

reward, ethics and work-life balance were being overlooked.

What’s really interesting about this insight is that the key attraction drivers are mirroring the areas which define excellence in most employee experience models. That is, the parts of the employee experience in which the best stand out from the crowd and earn the financial bump which a strong employee experience provides.

Indeed, the only area of employee experience excellence not featured is trust in senior leadership, which most people agree is not a driver of attraction, but rather a key factor in retention.

The message from this data appears clear. Not only are elements like development, future competitiveness and purpose key to a world-class overall employee experience, they are particularly important in the awareness (pre-recruitment) and recruitment phases of the employee lifecycle, and should be at the heart of talent acquisition messages if you want to secure the best African talent.

Which of the attraction drivers do you think is pulling the most talent to your organisation?

The Employer of Choice 2019 survey will be released at the beginning of August. Click here to subscribe for early access to the ranking.