We change jobs more often than ever before, and that means increased costs for the employer, when it needs to spend time and money on recruiting new employees. We will therefore list seven steps that demonstrate how you can find the right candidates as well as retain new employees.
As far back as in 1999, the acknowledged American sociologist Richard Sennett stated in his book "The Corrosion of Character", that an American college-educated person could expect to change jobs eleven times, and that that person would be retrained three times in the course of their working life.
Frequent job changes are therefore not new. In the UK, as well as in other countries in Europe, the number of people who consider changing jobs is growing bigger. In the UK, we change jobs like never before. An article from March 2022 published on Totaljobs’ website states that more than 1/3 of workers consider changing jobs due to rising living costs.
A different article from January 2022 states that the number of UK workers who consider making a career change makes up almost a third. The two articles have a different focus, but they agree that about one in three of all UK workers contemplate changing jobs.
Recruiting new employees is costly for the employer. For this reason, it is now even more important to make an effort to retain new employees. If this is not done, there is a risk that new employees leave the company to go and work for someone else. In the following, you can read about the seven steps you can take to avoid employees leaving your company.
1. Prioritise employer branding
The first step is about your company. It is your employer brand, and it attracts potential new employees. Your employer brand needs to be very clear in everything from your products and communication to your personnel policy, online presence, and job postings.
A clear and strong employer brand does not only reflect values and visions but also makes it easy for the receivers to identify themselves with the company. And if your candidates can identify themselves with your brand in a positive way, it is much more likely that they will want to stay at your company, if they are employed.
2. Target your job postings
Putting together a job posting in the right way is an art in and of itself. The more specific you can be, the better. Use specific search words and key terms and make your message very clear. Make good use of industry-specific job boards and forums. Target your job posting so it will be seen by the right candidates. This way, you filter out candidates who do not have the desired qualifications, but it also helps to make the candidates more tuned into what the job encompasses.
3. Test and match
Not everyone has an extensive resume and 20 years of experience within your line of business. Furthermore, it is also rare that a recruiter has the time to review such a resume. As the employer you can therefore find it necessary to hire new employees based on who has the biggest potential. You can also adjust your recruitment process in accordance with this by utilising impartial tools and tests that screen the candidates’ personalities and qualifications.
4. Be thorough when checking references
Checking up on references from previous employers is a useful tool in regards to assessing whether a candidate is a right fit for the employing company. Unfortunately, the recruiter rarely has the time to be thorough when checking references. But questions like “how is their workflow?”, “what is their motivation?” and “what can they contribute with to a place of work?” are important to dig into in order to ensure the best match.
If, during the recruitment process, you would like to get a sense of who the person behind the application is, but you lack the time, a solution could be to make the process more digital by utilising video applications and online job interviews. Using videos during the recruitment process is something that happens more and more often.
5. Make room for honest communication
When you have found the right candidate, it is important to reconciliate expectations. All employees are different, and they have varying needs and ambitions, just like you expect things of your employees. Get a dialogue going where goals, ambitions, and potential concerns can be discussed – and you are more than welcome to be specific. Which specific goals do you expect your employees to live up to? How do your KPIs look? Under which circumstances do your employees perform the best? And where do they see themselves in 5-10 years? In this way, you establish set expectations for your new employees, and you will also get a feel for how you can manage them and help them reach their goals, so they will want to stay in your company.
6. Strengthen the relations prior to the first day of work
The time from signing the employment contract and to the new employee’s first day of work is a superb opportunity to build up loyalty between employee and company and thereby establish a sense of belonging at the new place of work – i.e. your company.
New employees who have gone through a well-planned preboarding process will, in most cases, feel a lot better prepared. They will therefore also be more capable of absorbing new information and the many new impressions that await them on their first day.
During the preboarding period you have e.g. seen to it that the more tedious and heavy tasks (such as signing documents, filling out forms, gathering important data etc.) have already been performed. When doing it this way, the new employee’s first day of work becomes a good and manageable experience with focus on culture and relations.
7. Onboarding is key
As soon as your new employee’s first day of work rolls around, good onboarding is key in terms of increasing retention. It is proven that onboarding has increased the retention rate for new employees with up to 82 per cent.
Good onboarding of new employees entails sharing knowledge, communicating values, building up relations, and managing compliance when turning new employees into confident and independent team members and ambassadors.
Are you ready to target your recruitment process towards improving your retention of new employees? If so, then Talentech can help you!
