If the holy grail for you, as an employer, is to draw the very best people to your SME, what is the holy grail for them? Simple: they want a great job and a great place to work, something that represents so much more than the coldness of a pay packet.

Logic suggests that those firms that want to achieve success would be well-advised to take lessons from those that have already achieved it.

Sure enough, if we look at the companies that appear most often on annual ‘best places to work’ lists, certain things are consistently apparent.

1. Training and development opportunities

The best people don’t consider their jobs worthwhile if they get a decent wage and nothing else – they want to grow as individuals. There’s nothing like both formal and informal training and development opportunities for giving them that sense of growth and progression.

This, in turn, increases their productivity for and commitment to you.

2. Clear career path

Are there obvious openings in your SME to keep your staff motivated and interested? Do you talk to your employees about the positions that they could be holding for your firm in the future? What about mentorship or job rotation opportunities?

Your employees will be more effective if they know what is expected of them now, and what they can do in the future to win promotions.

3. Obvious mission and vision

What does your company exist for? What does it believe in? What does it not believe in? Where is it now, and where does it want to be in the years to come?

By being absolutely clear about all of these things, you also give your applicants and current personnel something clear to buy into and be motivated by.

4. Adaptation to change

In a world that is changing all of the time, where technological and demographic evolutions mean that customer expectations never stay the same for long, it’s good for your SME to be suitably agile.

When you are constantly aware of what your customers need, what the latest market trends are and also what your competitors are doing, you are best-placed to adjust quickly so that your workers always have the tools that they need to succeed.

5. Decent holiday time

We all need a bit of time off from time to time – your workers would certainly appreciate it. The ‘best places to work’ tend to give their employees more than two weeks’ paid holiday, some even going as far as offering unlimited holiday time.

Obviously, that particular approach may not necessarily suit your own company, but helping your staff to strike the right work-life balance is nonetheless key.

These, of course, aren’t the only things that would make your SME a great place to work – but having all five would certainly make a big difference to your staff recruitment in Dublin.