Matthew Hanley, MD of MTWO Search asks: How many times do you see companies enticing in new customers with unreal offers - but to ‘new customers only’ - and it feels like a right kick in the teeth to loyal, time-served customers? Attracting and retaining talent is a little like this.
If you're promising stuff to new people coming in, make sure you're not dropping the ball with those that have served you well and helped get you in a position of growth.
People do move, It's just business but the truth is, people leaving your business for a new opportunity is a costly process for you to go through. Costly in time, resources and money. 3 things that you never really want to have difficulties with.
So, with 10 years of recruitment experience, mainly across the Print, Packaging and Signage sector, there are a few things that I think I can share to hopefully, reduce the likelihood of losing talent from your business and hopefully increase retention and growth!
There are 4 major reasons why people leave a business... In no particular order;
1 - Location
2 - Opportunity to develop
3 - Money / Earning potential
4 - Enticement of a new role
Candidates moving organisations boils down to risk vs reward. What's greater, the reward of staying or the risk of leaving for the reward of joining. People will do what's right FOR THEM, not you, not the recruiter, not the new place. Them.
Now each company is different and obviously, it's circumstantial why people leave but if you do the below, your retention rate should be in a good spot...
Recognition - in the spotlight or for a quick chat over a coffee, let your team know you appreciate them. Thank them for the work they do, the effort they put in, and the lengths they go to. It costs nothing but goes a long, long way.
Transparency - There's nothing worse than people not knowing what's what. People going through the motions kills emotion. Refresh the message, keep the momentum, the vision, and the leadership communicate all the time.
Flexibility - like it or not, covid changed the way people view work. It slammed the anchors on most professionals and many took a breather. We've all had time to appreciate life outside of work. Don't be scared in offering a degree of that flexibility (where you can) in a post covid world.
Rewards - Go out to the market, find out what the market rates are for the salaries, rewards, and benefits for your staff. Don't wait (or not take action) until it's too late. I can tell you from experience it'll be a much greater cost to the business if you're replacing people rather than rewarding in the first place.
If you do lose people though and need to replace them (I feel there's a whole different blog for this) have a plan, a strategy and you won't be surprised to hear me say, use an industry recruiter. A good one, a vetted one, one that'll be an extension to your business.