I hear many times that a business owner says that they need more staff or they cannot find the right person, so here are my 10 tips for recruiting and retaining staff.
They also say that there are plenty of people out there looking for work. But how to find the best person to save your valuable time and money.
The recruiting and retaining process can be time-consuming and fraught with frustration.
Don’t think that these 10 steps are only for the larger organisations. They should be simplified for your size of operation. You may not have a dedicated person who works with human resources and you may not be able to afford outsourcing, but you have to seriously decide on cost vs value.
My 10 key framework for strategic HR is listed for you to think about where your business is, within the cycle.
Recruiting and Retaining Staff takes a good business system
Recruitment
Review your staff turnover and develop strategies to employ the best person for the role. Review all aspects of your current Policies and Procedures such as advertising; selection and culling of candidates; interview techniques.
As a starting point – Do you even have up-to-date job descriptions?
Do you really need to recruit as you may find your employees are not engaged fully?
Induction
How successful is the induction process not only to your organisation but also into the department and/or job role for the new employee. A planned approach that is structured over a set time period.
Inductions can take a great deal of time as you have to work through the myriad of legal obligations to your industry and then your workplace. Never mind the actual job role!
Probation
Realistic timeframes to allow the employee time to adjust and be at the level you require at this time. Documentation that is compiled over the probation time and the supervision and feedback given. Do you ‘throw the person’ into the job role and let them sink or swim? This is where people get lost and undoubtedly make mistakes or have to keep interrupting others to find out what to do. They feel inadequate and lose interest.
Performance Management
Performance reviews are a critical aspect with the development of performance improvement plans. Review the effectiveness of your current plans and the conduct of your reviews to confirm best practice. This can be as simple as asking and listening to how the new recruit is really feeling
Remuneration, Rewards and Recognition
Financial reward is not the only measure of an employee’s satisfaction to maintain their loyalty and hard work. Review your current policy and those of your competitors in relation to the salary/wage; additional aspects of their employment eg access to technology; promotions; awards. With the changes to how and where people work, now is the time to review your policies.
10 Tips for Recruiting and Retaining Staff Continued
Career and Talent Management
Review of an individual’s skills, knowledge, motivation, and other behavioral factors that link to the future growth potential or new job roles. Are you giving your employees opportunities to use their skills and knowledge?
Training and Development
HR is heavily related to the development of staff. To this end, you may need to examine processes for identifying learning gaps, development program effectiveness, and case studies of personnel who have been through development. Don’t just ask employees to tick a box when they have completed an online learning situation. Know what and why they are doing a program.
Workforce Planning
The systematic process of identifying the workforce competencies, location of employees, and when they will be required. A simple matrix may be all you need at this first step but you should know what level of expertise your staff has even with the general tasks required.
Work Environment
This includes the working environment such as ergonomics, sustainability, and the environment plus industrial relations and legislation issues such as WHS and RTW schemes. I’m a big advocate for conducive working environments and how it affects the individual.
Succession planning
How you review current staff and their aspirations and goals. Develop procedures to capture this information and effectively contribute to the growth of the person and the organisation. Don’t assume an employee will be with you forever. How do you capture this knowledge and information is all part of this journey.
All of these areas are interlinked and can reflect your strategic plan or business plan. Human Resources is usually in the top 3 biggest risks for any business.
We can certainly help you with ideas and examples of how a variety of businesses have implemented these tips for recruiting and retaining staff.
If you require any assistance then we are the experts for you. Contact us via email or phone us to arrange a chat
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