Employee turnover is expensive, but it’s hard to quantify. It depends on whom you lose and the circumstances surrounding it, such as how long it takes to fill the vacant position; lost productivity before the employee leaves and how much others must step in; and productivity lost from orientation and training a new employee.
Regardless of the actual cost, it’s better to retain the employees you have by recruiting the right people from the start and keeping those employees engaged long term.
“You put a lot of time and money into making sure you find that right fit. You want to make sure that you are maximizing the ROI in terms of your results,” says Melissa White, PHR, manager of Outsourced Recruiting Services at BDO USA LLP. “Recruitment and retention are two human resources functions that require a lot of strategic thought and planning.”
Smart Business spoke with White about developing a strategy to set your company apart by providing what employees want.
Why is it so critical to recruit right?
The job market is widening as the labor force shrinks. Not only do you want to make sure new employees fit with you, you also want to ensure you’re the best fit for them.
Your organization puts time, and part of people’s salaries, into courting job candidates during recruitment and on-boarding. The entire process needs to be strategically planned to make it efficient and effective, in order to maximize your investment.
What do candidates and employees want?
There needs to be mutual respect and understanding between employees and employers. This leads to engagement — employees fully absorbed and enthusiastic about their work. Some trends are:
- Career pathing. People want to be challenged and know what it’s going to take to get to that next step. You need to map out these steps, so your employees can see how they can achieve them.
- Incentive compensation or pay for performance. Organizations need to communicate objectives directly and design a plan to align the interests of employees with company needs. And then if employees exceed those expectations, they want to be rewarded.
- Engagement. Set up a two-way relationship; ask for employee opinions and take action with that information. A lot of firms do exit interviews. Try implementing ‘stay interviews.’ ‘What’s it going to take to make you stay? What makes you happy?’ Be sure to coach managers to take an active role in employee performance and development.
Why didn’t you mention work/life balance?
Just like with paid time off plans, work/life balance has become standard, almost like it’s expected.
The Society of Human Resource Management asked employees: Why would you look elsewhere for work? More than 50 percent said they were looking for better compensation and benefits, but 35 percent admitted they were dissatisfied with their current career path and another 32 percent wanted new experiences and challenges.
How can employers use these desires to gain a competitive advantage?
Employees want to make a difference and serve a higher purpose. They want autonomy, recognition, attention and the freedom to innovate and be creative. You can build these into your strategic plan for recruiting new candidates — and retaining current employees.
With recruitment, it starts with the job posting, which is partly a marketing campaign to express your company’s culture, expectations, etc. Not only does it need to be placed in front of the right people, it has to catch their attention.
You also want the right players to meet and court job candidates. If the interviewer is more introverted, have someone else available to get the message across of what your firm is really like.
It’s all about communication. Surprises don’t do any good for the candidate or the employer. It needs to be their decision as well as yours, so you’re not just filling the slot with a warm body.
And then once you have the right people in place, you have to keep them engaged by training management to take an active role in building goals and plans with the employees.
Insights Accounting & Consulting is brought to you by BDO USA LLP
