HR Minute Brought to You By: Aimee Salyer, HR Business Partner
“Where have all the employees gone?” This is a common question we hear from our members struggling with recruitment. Many times employers are so focused on getting that new person in the door, they neglect the talent already available within their organization. Building loyalty with your current staff so that they fall in love with their existing job and choose to stay day after day is a vital part of every business (whether you think so or not). Take a deeper look at some of your company’s retention strategies, and you might be surprised to find your next member of the Leadership team.
- First Impressions: It all starts here. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, so be sure it’s a good one! This goes past the interview stage. Onboarding, orientation, and training are all included in that first impression window so be mindful of this when working with your new hires and set them up for success within your company.
- Compensation: Some employees are not only worried about their base pay, but benefits such as paid health insurance, retirement plan matching, and additional personalized perks may stand out as a reason to stay. Compensation isn’t only focused on base pay. Having a regular salary analysis conducted can keep you competitive within the market. Have you also thought about implementing a bonus structure or some kind of retention bonus?
- Training & Development: What interests do your employees have within the company and how can you support that? Training & development opportunities such as mentorships are a more personalized approach to retention and can help you as the employer gain the employee’s trust and respect.
- Work/Life Balance: A work/life balance “scale” can look different depending on your organization. Ideas for work/life balance can include a compressed workweek, telecommuting options, and so much more. Being an employee for your company is just one of the many hats that your staff is wearing. So being flexible with the work/life balance is something that may just set you apart from your competitors.
- Continuous Feedback: Employee opinion surveys and stay interviews provide beneficial insight to the employee’s view on the company. Employees are given the opportunity to voice their opinions and hopefully you as the employer take that feedback to heart and work on any action that’s necessary. Worried that your employees won’t be honest with this approach? Consider having a 3rd party, such as AE conduct the employee opinion survey or stay interview for you. Employees are more likely to be open and honest if there is a middleman.
- Teamwork and Acknowledgements: Celebrate your employee’s accomplishments big or little. Humans are creatures of positive reinforcement, so a little acknowledgement will go a long way. Recognize your people and their efforts every day.
It’s important that management know the goals and aspirations of everyone on your team. Different employees are searching for different things. If you can build trust and help get your people where they would like to grow, you may just find yourself with a solid tenure staff.
If you need assistance with recruiting, training or retention, give us a call.
