When we recently examined hiring and workforce trends, survey results indicated that turnover is a major employment concern. In fact, 48% of respondents listed turnover as the biggest reason they’re hiring.
Whether it’s due to firing or voluntary quits, turnover can have a massive negative impact on employee morale and your bottom line. Depending on the position, replacing a key employee can average three to seven times the individual’s annual salary.
Not an expense you can afford to incur.
With opportunities becoming more plentiful, employee confidence is on the rise. Individuals who are dissatisfied with their current positions are more likely than ever to “abandon ship” – leaving you for a competitor, or even quitting to search full-time for a better opportunity.
How can you keep your best people happy and working for you?
Today, Wood Personnel is sharing our best advice for turning turnover on its head – even in our improving economy:
Hire for Longevity
- Make job postings accurate. Never “gild the lily.” It may attract more people, but will it attract those who will really stick with the job? Always be honest about your available job, highlighting the positives while being upfront about all aspects of the position. This way, applicants will fully understand what they’re signing on for.
- Pay attention to tenure. Carefully scrutinize each candidate’s work history to weed out serial job hoppers. When interviewing, probe work history (e.g., ask for job change explanations, regrets about leaving former employers) to understand why an applicant switched jobs in the past. While longevity doesn’t guarantee that an employee will stay working for you, it’s generally a reliable indicator of stability.
- Understand the applicant’s career goals. Find out the candidate’s career goals not just for the next 12 months, but for the next 3 to 5 years, too. Look for responses that indicate passion for his field and that match the career track for the available job. If he doesn’t have a clear plan to share, it may mean that he doesn’t plan ahead (which calls his potential for longevity into question).
- Partner with Wood Personnel. With over 25 years of recruiting expertise, we can help you hire the right person – someone whose skills, interests, personality and career goals align with your organization and its culture – the first time, so the individual stays working for you. Contact our Cool Springs staffing firm to learn more about our direct hire services.
Keep the Good People You Have
- Provide opportunities for growth and professional development. Prevent the career stagnation that prompts high performers to leave you for greener pastures. Train them. Promote them. Assign them mentors. Develop their skills. When employees are learning and growing within your organization, they’ll have no cause to look elsewhere for opportunities.
- Offer the benefits employees really want. When it comes to perks, rewards and benefits, what’s most important to your employees? Do you even know? If not, consider conducting a simple benefits survey to find out what means the most to your team. You may uncover opportunities to better align your benefits offerings with employees’ desires.
- Find out who’s looking – before they leave. Do you have employees who are actively interviewing? Who are frustrated or feel stagnant in their jobs? Conduct periodic interviews (or incorporate questions into your performance review process) to find out how content and loyal your employees are and address problems – before it’s too late.
- Prevent burnout and overwork. When things get busy, even the best employees can get burned out – a leading contributor to turnover. Our temporary employees can provide additional support during busy periods, to keep your team content and working at peak performance for you.
