Employee recruitment and retention strategies

You've got a great product, your market is primed and ready, and your business plan is innovative. Unfortunately, your workforce is understaffed and your employees are apathetic and disengaged. Even the best products and plans can’t overcome a weak workforce. That’s why building the right team and retaining your top talent is critical for success today, and it's why employee retention is essential for long-term growth. How can you do both? By following these tips.

Recruitment necessities: Making the right hires

Whether you're launching a new business or trying to grow an existing one, the best way to improve every facet of your business's performance is by tailoring your hiring process to attract top talent.

Agree on a candidate profile first.

Before you launch a search, gather your stakeholders and make sure you're all on the same page. Having a shared vision for the hiring profile will ensure that you're looking for the right talent and can present an accurate picture of the role during the interview process. 

Talk to your existing team.

Employee feedback and referrals should be an integral part of your recruitment strategy. By discussing your needs with your current staff, you may gain valuable insights into the role and the type of candidate you need. Employee referrals are one of the most effective and fastest ways to attract top talent. According to recent research, here are some key benefits of employee referral programs:

• 46% of referred candidates stay at their company for 3+ years
• Referred candidates can cut your hiring time by around 26 days
• You’re more likely to get better quality hires from referrals
• Employee referrals can be up to 90% cheaper than other hiring methods

Train your interviewers.

If your interviewers ask questions like "What's your greatest weakness?" or "What kind of animal would you be?" they might benefit from some additional training. It’s important to ask behavioral-based questions that reveal whether or not the candidate can do the job.

Don't think you can change your hires.

"He's a great outfielder, but we don't need an outfielder. Maybe he'd be a good catcher with some training." Sounds silly, right? It's equally nonsensical to approach the hiring process by thinking that a candidate who's great in one area can be trained to suit your needs. He or she might be a perfect cultural fit for your company, but if they don't have the right skills coming in, the time and money you spend training and getting them up to speed will outweigh what you spend in a slightly longer search that yields the right hire.

Keep them: Retain your top performers

Recruitment is just the first step in building a successful team. The costs of hiring, training, and managing employees can add up quickly, but they become even greater when turnover is high. The cost of replacing an employee is roughly 6 to 9 months of their annual salary. That means an employee earning $60,000 a year will cost you up to $45,000 to replace. 

This data doesn’t even consider the widespread impact that employee retention has on morale, motivation, engagement, and your employer brand. If you’re unsure how to calculate how employee turnover could affect your company, use the Adecco cost of turnover calculator.

According to recent reports on employee engagement:

• 13% of employees are actively disengaged. They feel very unhappy at work and spread negative attitudes throughout their organization.
• 51% are disengaged. They make little effort at work and don’t feel compelled to produce high-quality for their company.
• 38% of remote employees feel exhausted after a week of online meetings.

So how do you keep your workforce engaged and committed to the job at hand?

Never stop training.

Continuous learning and development of employees are crucial for the success of any business. The World Economic Forum highlights the importance of reskilling and upskilling in the face of rapidly changing technology and job market trends. Its research shows that over 1 billion jobs could be impacted in the next decade, leading to potential disruption among organizations that don’t address the inevitable skills mismatch driven by new technologies. By investing in the training and development of your employees, you are not only addressing current skills gaps but also preparing your workforce for the future.

Moreover, providing opportunities for growth and development can help to increase employee engagement, motivation, and retention. A study by the Adecco Group found that 44% of employees who want to stay with their current employer would like to upskill for a new position, while 31% say the main reason to quit is due to a lack of training and career progression.

Train your managers, too.

The quality of management is one of the primary drivers of employee turnover. Poor communication, a lack of clear expectations, and other managerial missteps can cause your talent to head for the exits. Provide regular check-ins with your managers, and consider holding "skip-level" meetings where staff can communicate with their manager's supervisor. The insights you gain here may be eye-opening.

Consider also implementing coaching and mentorship programs. These can benefit both managers and staff massively, and may even help you preserve institutional knowledge in a time where phenomena like the great resignation have rattled entire organizations. 

Ask for feedback.

Your staff-level employees are directly engaged with your product or service, as well as your customers. They see problems occurring before management ever will. Often, they have innovative solutions for these issues. If you solicit feedback and suggestions from your team, they're more likely to feel empowered and engaged.

Focusing on diversity and inclusion in the workplace can also skyrocket engagement. By creating a dialogue with minority workers through feedback options and training initiatives, you could even improve your bottom line over time!

Offer small perks to improve employee retention.

Bagels on Friday, a quarterly team trip, or even a simple T-shirt can show employees that they're valued by the organization without putting a dent in the bottom line. Better yet, ask them what they'd like most.

For a business seeking to become or remain competitive, the importance of quality hiring and active retention can't be overstated. Without both, your business will miss out on great employees and opportunities for growth.

Unlock the full potential of your company by attracting and retaining the best workers on the market. Don't settle for average - contact us now to discover how we can help you build a dream team of highly-impactful employees while holding on to valuable talent.