Attraction is just a small part of recruitment. When the cost of replacing an entry-level employee is around 40 percent of their salary, it becomes equally important to retain that talent. Here Nicholas Roi, UK Managing Director of SilkRoad, makes some suggestions and explodes some expensive myths.
It's become the 'thing' to attract staff through exciting offices and benefits packages. Just look around at the numerous 'cool companies to work for lists' and you'll see why those companies without such schemes in place might start on the backfoot. But attraction is only part of the process, and while a padded cell meeting room is extremely impressive, being a 'great place to work' involves more than this. HR directors need to think beyond attraction if they want to retain the best incoming talent. As soon as you’ve attracted your talent you must begin the task of retaining them, it would be wrong to assume a ‘job done’ attitude. The chances are you will ask your new employee to complete a probation period, but how often do you think about this time as being your chance to impress new staff? Recruitment is an expensive process, it would be a shame if they quit after just a few months. You can aim to impress new team members with an effective onboarding programme. Used to ease incoming employees into company processes, if managed properly, it helps them reach full productivity quickly. You should be preparing the existing team to welcome new team members, making them feel welcome and having the seemingly small things, like computer identities ready in place. Welcome packs including forms can be sent in the mail to cut down on first day admin while regular checks should take place to ensure that everything is running smoothly and the employee is happy.
If your staff are going to stay long term, they need to feel engaged with the business and believe they are making a valuable contribution. For most, being able to see a clear path of development is extremely important, nobody wants to feel that their career is stagnant. If an employee sees clear opportunities for progression they will naturally work hard to stay motivated, engaged and productive. The simple way to do this is to link learning and development with appraisals. Hold regular appraisals using constructive feedback and then create a training and development plan, in conjunction with the employee, according to appraisal feedback. If appraisals take place annually, don’t wait a year before checking in again. Set a reminder to catch-up with staff at least once a quarter.
Staff should feel at ease raising matters of concern with their HR director or line manager, and the best staff managers will operate open-door policies to facilitate this. Encourage staff to share their ideas and opinions about the company and make them feel that they are afforded the same respect by management. Important messages are best conveyed, and have the biggest impact, if initially communicated in person. If the director wants a message delivered, encourage them to voice direct it rather than handing it down to a lower level manager, although there’s no reason management can’t then repeat the essence of the message in the future. Time should also be set time aside to feedback to staff on the direction and objectives of the business so that everyone feels they are working towards a common goal. Of course culture shouldn’t be discounted as a tool for retention. That padded meeting room and your fantastic incentive scheme played a role in attracting your staff, so they must not be forgotten. If you’ve promised a quarterly staff outing, make sure it is happens, and put a decent budget aside for it. Don’t tell people the helter-skelter can only be used after hours! Remember, incentives can act as a catalyst for innovative and outstanding business ideas.
And of course office design plays a role in framing the mindset of employees. Even if you don’t have giant bean bags on the floor, the work environment should be geared towards happiness and comfort. The aim is to create a space that employees enjoy being in. The practice of staff retention doesn’t end until that person has left the premises for the last time. Once employees are recruited they should be treated in way that makes them feel a key part of the business. Engagement through onboarding, training and development and communication come together to convince staff that the grass isn’t going to be greener anywhere else, even if ‘somewhere else’ has Astroturf carpeting.
