With today’s workforce shortages companies are faced with the challenge of hiring and retaining employees. It is one thing to find a professional that fits your company but also you must retain the talent you already have. In this article, we provide a roadmap to overcome the challenges and set your company up for success.
Who To Hire – Your Staffing Plan
To meet the challenges of today’s business environment it is critical to have a plan that will help to monitor and control the cost of engaging human capital. Before beginning this process, it is important to really understand your business.
- What is your organization’s vision for the next one to five years?
- What are your current organizational goals and objectives?
- What is your corporate culture and how do you want it to evolve in the future?
- What areas of your business will grow? Reduce?
When you have answered these questions you can begin to analyze current positions/ functions and determine the staffing levels required to perform current and projected work.
- What is the proper mix of regular fulltime, part-time and temporary staff?
- When do we need to hire?
- Can you manage staffing in-house or do you need to outsource?
- Do you have the key leadership in place to succeed in your hiring plan?
There are many considerations in developing a successful staffing plan. If you do not have the internal resources to tackle this, there are advantages in using outside expertise to assist with this process.
How To Attract And Hire The Best Performers
Once you have a good understanding of what you need, it is time to think about how you will attract and hire the best employees for your organization. The cost of hiring the wrong people is far more than the cost of time spent ensuring you are doing everything possible to hire the “right fit” for your company. Consider the following:
- Corporate culture – what kind of company do you want to build and what are the characteristics of the type of employee that will be successful in this culture? What is your employment brand?
- Understand your compensation philosophy. What is your external and internal market? What is your ability to pay?
- Develop good job descriptions. Really understand the key competencies of all positions so you can measure against these as you evaluate candidates.
- Define a strong interview and evaluation process. Remember that the interview process is the first impression you make on a candidate. Ensure all interviewers are trained and understand their role in the process. Create a process for evaluating candidates that is timely and consistent.
Top Tools for Attracting and Hiring
Leverage social media for recruiting purposes:
- Youtube
Flush out your company’s online presence:
- Making sure your website had compelling content
- Engage current employees with an employee referral program
- Reinforce your website with strong SEO content
How To Retain Your Top Talent
Now that you have them – how do you keep them? Employee satisfaction surveys continue to show that the top three employee motivators are pay, career development and new opportunities. Many organizations make the mistake of believing that paying people well is the key to retaining employees. While pay is important, it is not the most important motivator for most employees. Today’s generation of employees wants it all – good pay, advancement and most of all the opportunity to do new and exciting work and have fun doing it.
Develop a Total Rewards Strategy – your organization’s strategy to attract, motivate and retain employees.
Elements of a total rewards strategy
- Compensation
- Benefits
- Work-Life
- Performance and Recognition
- Development and Career Opportunities
By creating a work environment that provides opportunities for employees to gain experience and new skills, coupled with feedback and recognition, your company will be on the right track to retaining top talent.
In summary, a thorough planning process, strong HR hiring practices and a strategy for creating a culture that values the whole employee are the keys to preparing your organization to for growth in an improving economy. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about hiring and retaining employees.
