The more you know about why your employees choose to talk to headhunters or look for new jobs, the better off you are when it comes to developing strategies to increase retention. High rates of turnover can cost your business on multiple levels, including lost productivity and the need to constantly train new hires. In fact, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, it can cost up to twice an employee’s salary to identify, attract, hire and train a replacement. And, as anyone knows who has managed a hiring process, it tends to be simple in theory but complicated in practice.
During the peak of the Great Recession, employers had all the leverage in the job market. However, we now find ourselves in a job market where candidates have the power. With the talent pool shrinking and hiring competition growing, you have to do everything you can to make your employees feel valued, otherwise another company will likely come along and offer what your employees perceive to be a more attractive opportunity. When employees feel valued, they’re much less likely to look for another job, or even consider speaking to a recruiter about the possibility of switching jobs. In this blog, we’ll look deeper into the reasons employees talk to recruiters and some of the key ways you can increase retention to keep your best employees around for years to come.
Why Do Employees Choose to Talk to Headhunters?
Source: Mazars
According to a recent employee retention report by TINYpulse, there are a wide variety of reasons why your employees may be interested in pursuing career opportunities outside of your company. While some employees feel they are being micromanaged and desire more freedom to make their own decisions, others feel they simply don’t fit into their workplace culture. Attrition has always been expensive for companies, but the cost of losing good workers is rising due to tight labor markets and the increasingly collaborative nature of jobs, according to Harvard Business Review. The bottom line is that employees want to feel valued, challenged and rewarded in different ways. Without these critical components, it’s likely they’ll pursue other options.
A Lack of Engagement or Challenge Can Drive Employees Away
Employee engagement may sound like a cliché, but it really does matter. For employees to feel rewarded by the work they do, it’s essential that you provide enough challenging work for them. Your employees are far more likely to talk to a recruiter if they don’t feel excited about what they are doing or they believe they are not contributing anything meaningful to your company.
To facilitate employee engagement, it must start with leadership. Creating a culture where goals, success stories and constructive feedback are frequently shared can boost engagement and help employees see the impact they have and why their jobs are critical to the overall success of the company. Let your employees contribute in big ways and ensure they know how they are contributing to the big picture.
Uncomfortable Workplace Culture and Environment Leads to Increased Turnover
Source: ES Consulting
Employees must spend eight or more hours each day in the office, so it’s essential that you provide a healthy environment and supportive workplace culture so they actually want to be at work. Creating a top-notch office environment comes down to more than just aesthetics; even things like temperature and lighting can have an effect on employee happiness.
Perhaps even more important is your workplace culture, which should match your industry, engage employees and motivate them to be productive. Find ways to communicate your vision to your employees, while also creating a personal and authentic culture that allows employees to be themselves and feel at home in the office. If your employees feel like they can’t be genuine at work, either they are working for the wrong company, or you may need to take a look at refining your hiring process.
Employees Want More Than Just a High Salary
For your employees to be passionate about their employer, it comes down to more than just the number on their paycheck. Pay is only one part of your employee compensation equation. An entire compensation package should ideally include a variety of traditional and non-traditional benefits. Outside of traditional benefits such as paid vacation, retirement plans, and health insurance, there is more you can do.
For example, offering flextime or telecommuting opportunities can establish a culture where your employees feel their work-life balance is respected and that they have the freedom to manage their own time. When they feel they have freedom and control, they tend to be happier and more passionate about their work. Another example would be if most of your employees use public transportation to get to work, it would be beneficial to offer commuting passes or some type of transportation stipend to offset the costs. That way, when they get an offer from the company down the street, they won’t take the job simply to save money on transportation.
While it may not be a big cost on the day-to-day, transportation can add up to hundreds, if not thousands of dollars each year. Showing your employees that you understand this and care can go a long way to increase retention.
Your Hiring Process May Be Flawed, Consider A Recruiting Firm
Your company may already have a great culture, offer great benefits, and provide plenty of opportunities for employees to feel both valued and engaged. However, without having the right employees to begin with, it is a much bigger challenge to increase retention.
When you interview employees, it’s critical that you vet them carefully to ensure they have not only the right hard skills and background to do the job, but also the soft skills and personality traits that will allow them to fit in well with company culture, managers and co-workers.
Managing the hiring process effectively takes time, money and most of all, expertise. Working with an exceptional recruiter or recruiting firm is one of the best ways you can ensure that you hire new people who will not only bring value to your company but will also fit in with your company. Arris Partners has a successfully proven recruiting methodology that can help you identify, assess and recruit top professionals and executives anywhere in the United States. Over the past 16 years we have partnered with hundreds of companies in multiple industries throughout the country to recruit and onboard exceptional executives, professionals and functional leaders in a wide range of industries including Life Sciences, Agriculture and Materials Science.
Arris Partners acts as a consultative business partner and our top priority is to understand the nature of your business challenges and strategic goals to ensure we are in position to recruit the optimal executives and professionals with the right competencies and experience to meet your needs, but who will also fit into and enhance your company culture. If you’re interested in learning more about how partnering with Arris Partners can help your business hire exceptional people, please contact us at bmcmerty@arris.partners or call Brian McMerty, our Managing Partner, at 919-424-1592.