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June 2007 Newsletter

Tips to recruiting and retaining employees: start by making a good first impression
by Rachelle Gagnon

One of the biggest human resources challenges facing most organizations today is recruiting and retaining employees. With low unemployment and baby-boomers starting to head off for retirement, getting qualified employees is a challenge; keeping them is just as difficult.

In business, we know that it is easier and less expensive to keep a client than try to find a new one – the same applies with employees! It is much more cost effective to keep a good employee than to hire and train a new one. The cost of losing an employee can range from 70 % to 200 % of the employee’s salary! What are some of the costs to fill a position?

• Advertising or recruitment agency fees
• Time to interview
• Overtime or extra shifts assigned to other employees while waiting to fill the position
• Time by other employees to train the new employee
• Low productivity while the employee is still learning the position
• Referral bonus or signing bonus, and in some cases
• Low morale and loss of other employees who will follow suit.

Ok, so we now know how important it is to keep them – but how do we do it? Where do we start? It starts at the interview! The interview is the process of meeting potential candidates but more and more employers are reporting that they are also the ones on the ‘hot seat’: potential employees are interviewing them –What does the employer have to offer? How will the job and the working conditions meet their needs?

We know the importance of making a good first impression when going to an interview – this now applies to employers as well. What kind of first impression are you making? Are you being seen as professional, organized, punctual, positive, and knowing what you want? Interestingly enough, these are probably the same qualities you’re looking for in your next employee.

Once you found your ideal candidate and he or she is hired, what can you do to keep them? Here are some tools:

Orientation / On boarding: ensure they are given a solid introduction to the job and the company – this is more than reading policies and manuals. Assign them a contact person or mentor to help integrate in the company.

Satisfaction surveys: employers of smaller companies can meet with employees regularly to ensure they are satisfied with their jobs, salary, benefits, working conditions, training, advancement opportunities, communication and feedback, etc. Larger companies can do the same through focus groups and employee surveys.

Developmental opportunities: one of the major motivators for employees today is knowing there are opportunities for advancement. Since succession planning is critical to ensure continued operation in the event of an employee’s absence, start looking at developing competencies, doing cross-training and special assignments and prepare a succession plan.

HR Metrics: measure, measure and measure some more. Tracking vital information about your workforce will enable you to compare your statistics to benchmarks and help you identify potential problems. Such measures include absenteeism rates, turnover ratio, costs per hire, productivity levels, compensation structures, performance review distributions, etc.

Exit interviewing: if the employee does decide to leave – be sure to find out why. Instead of the supervisor doing it, have a third party conduct the exit interview, such as the HR department or an external source to ensure objectivity and honesty. If you have any turnover – high or low, find out why and make changes to ensure turnover is kept low.

It is vital in business to prepare your organization to meet the needs of today and prepare for the challenges of tomorrow; be sure your organization’s human resources are there and ready to meet those needs.