if you run your own business, you know how expensive employee turnover can be. At least 57% of American businesses say that employee turnover is a problem for them. Hiring the wrong people is also very costly. It hs been estimated that the cost of making one bad hiring decision will equal at least 30% of that person’s first year earnings according to the United States Department of Labor. There are things you can do to attract and keep the best workers for your business. Experts in talent acquisition management services recommend the following tips.
- Promote your business as a great place to work. Companies like Amazon and Walmart have reputations for being bad places to work. Companies like Google have reputations for being great places to work. You want your brand to be associated with happy employees. This is good for business, consumers are often turned off by businesses that treat their people badly, and is good when you are looking to hire new people. General Electric (GE) is undergoing a rebranding process to more closely link their brand with software development. They have an ad campaign that is based on the idea that developers all want to work for GE. Having a great reputation for being good to your staff should be a part of your branding strategy.
- Encourage your employees to make referrals. People who work in talent acquisition management say that getting referrals from the current workforce is a great way to find amazing employees. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) recently released a survey on employee referrals for hiring. They found that when you talk to companies who boast a workforce that is above 10,000 people, 96% of the hiring managers say the best way to find prospects for new hires is to get referrals from current staff members. For companies that are smaller than that, 80% list this as the best way to find new people. Provide incentives for your people to refer their friends and people they think would be good for your company.
- Be careful when putting together job applications. Do you use a system where people can apply online? It is always good to get all of the information you need from applicants but if it takes 30 minutes to fill out a form when you have spent a long time putting together an impactful resume, it can feel like a big waste of time. Moreover, when people go to sites and have problems with online applications, they may go to other sites and give you a bad review. You can lose good people to these systems that are overly complicated. Simplify your application process, say experts from human resources executive search firms, and you may find you get a better group of people applying to work for your company.
- Consider hiring more remote workers. Many people say that the ability to work from home or remotely is a big benefit to them. They are able to take care of their children or manage their other obligations. These workers still need to be managed but you may find the pool of people you have to choose from is larger if you can offer this as an option. There are some jobs that have to be done on site but if your workers can do what you need them to do from another location, you should look into offering that, according to talent acquisition management experts.
- Offer a competitive salary. Believe or not, this is not the only thing that prospective employees loot at when they evaluate their options for taking one job or another but you should at least pay as much as your competitors. Talent acquisition management say this is very important. Everyone wants to save money on their company’s expenses but if you hope to attract and retain the best and the brightest in your industry, you have to offer competitive salaries. When people see that employees at your competition pay more, they may be tempted to work against you rather than for you.
Finding and keeping the best employees is a big challenge for most businesses but if you put in some work you can find quality workers.