Employee retention: 5 ways to hire people who stay
When managers are asked to define the most challenging part of their job, the answer, regardless of the industry, is often, “Finding and keeping good people.”
Recruit well and both the company and your team will reap rewards; but get it wrong and there are costs for all involved, be that time, money or morale.
For those of us in the recruiting business, it’s often easy to see where well-meaning employers go wrong.
Often, the problems begin far earlier than you’d expect. When employees quit before they’ve even had time
to hit their stride, the problem is often one of unclear expectations from the outset.
Hudson research found that the number one reason people leave a job within three months is because the role was not what they expected.
| Why did you leave your job within the first three months? |
| 1. |
The role was not what I expected |
57% |
| 2. |
My manager was not what I had hoped |
32% |
| 3. |
Received another job offer |
27% |
| 4. |
Poor culture fit |
27% |
| 5. |
I didn’t agree with the organisation’s values |
22% |
| 6. |
Poor/lack of onboarding program |
19% |
| 7. |
Lack of work life balance |
13% |
| Source: The Hiring Report Australia 2015. |
Here are five ways to hire people who stay
- Be clear about what you want. Be clear from the very start about what kind of person you are looking for, and what career opportunities are on offer for that person. Ensure this information is clear in both the advertising and interviewing process.
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Be honest about the good and the bad. Is there more administration involved than the candidate might expect? Less travel than they’d like? Don’t be tempted to sugar-coat the reality just to draw someone in: far better to be upfront so you get the right person with realistic expectations.
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Understand what drives them. Next, it pays to know the motivations of a potential candidate. Not everyone is motivated by money or promotional opportunities; some prefer work life balance over a higher salary. Find out a candidate’s personal drivers so you can determine what would work best to motivate and keep them.
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Support your new hires. Many employers think once someone is on board, their job is done. Wrong. It’s vital to support new staff members through the first few months on the job. Do this well and they will integrate into the team efficiently and move toward peak productivity earlier. Leave people to their own devices and you may find they feel neglected and regret joining your team.
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If in doubt, ‘stop and prop’. If you are losing staff early in the onboarding process, or more often than you’d like, do what’s sometimes referred to as a ‘stop and prop’. Take some time to step back from the immediate problem – the role that needs filling again and consider what the broader issue could be. Could your onboarding processes be better? Are you ‘talking up’ roles that are less strategic than the candidate expected? Or have you thrown someone in the deep end and they’re having trouble staying afloat?
By honestly assessing what’s going wrong, you may be able to make simple changes to stop the flow of good people out the revolving door, and give your team a better chance of longevity and stability.
