ATTRACTING AND RETAINING TALENT IN A COMPETITIVE MARKET by Jo Kangurs , KeystoneHR
In past years , financial rewards have been a key-determining factor when it comes to attracting and retaining employees but today it takes more than a bonus or a pay rise to keep the best people . With this in mind , let ’ s take a look at some of the factors which convince people to either join or stay with your business .
Employer Brand Your ‘ employer ’ brand is as important as your business brand . It tells prospective and current employees what it is like to work for you ; what your culture is like ; what your values are ; how you reward and recognise contribution ; how you train and develop people and ; importantly what makes you a better employer than your competitor down the road . Talented employees are much more likely to work for a business with a good reputation than accept a couple of extra grand from a business with a poor reputation . Take time to identify what makes your business a great place to work and make sure you communicate this through social media , the careers page on your website and via your existing employees and customers . |
Focus on Recognition A valued employee is a happy employee and when it comes to employee engagement , recognition is one of the highest motivational factors . If your employees do not feel valued in your business , they are unlikely to fulfil their potential or worse case , stick around .
Taking the time to acknowledge success and say thank you for a job well done – it goes such a long way to making people feel valued and motivated at work . Create a culture when it is safe to recognise and reward employees , ensuring any formal recognition initiatives are fairly applied and managed .
Flexibility is Key With more and more employees prioritising
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a better work life balance over monetary rewards , employers must embrace flexibility in order to retain their biggest talent . An increasing number of employers are using flexible working as a technique to attract and retain employees . Employers who do no embrace this increasing trend risk losing out on highly skilled and experienced individuals .
Getting the right people is crucial to business success . Not only is losing an employee very costly due to recruitment fees and the inevitable drop in productivity while a new employee gets up to speed , it is the loss of knowledge , customers and potentially reputation that can cause the most damage . By taking some time to consider the three suggestions in this article , hopefully you can attract and retain
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the talent needed for you to achieve your business ’ objectives .
If you would like further advice on how to attract and retain employees in your business please get in touch for an initial , free no obligation chat .
For more info : www . keystonehr . co . uk
@ keystone _ hr
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Nicola McHale is Vistage chair for the South West , a private advisory group for business leaders . Nicola gives her thoughts on building a personal brand .
HOW DO YOU MOTIVATE YOUR WORKFORCE ?
Working across whole different sectors from construction to banking I have been privy to some great ways of doing things and some not so good ways . Here are some ideas of how to motivate and inspire ;
Know your own vision – keep it simple and make it visual . Words are not the only inspiration . People need to see it in your behaviour and feel it from you in the way you act .
Create a shared vision – Your teams ’ need to know what part they must play in achieving the vision . What is their role ? Why are they important ? Tell them and get them involved in creating the vision . Everyone from the cleaner to the CEO needs to be involved .
Share your values – What motivates you ? Tell them what is important to you and why ? Ask them about them . Create a common set of values and that is how you must operate , whether it is on site or in the boardroom . Talk about what honesty means for you and for them . Make all values visual .
Commitments – Tell them what you are committed to and get them to commit too . Get agreements of their commitments in terms of behaviour – what they will do and what they will not do . Make all commitments visual . Every staff member is as important as the CEO , so include them in what you are doing and why .
121s – Ensure each person has a 121 with their line manager . Tell them what they are great at , tell them their strengths and then add one area for them to develop and work on improving .
Have open and honest conversations with them as soon as performance changes – in my experience conversations do not happen early enough or in enough detail .
As a leader you need to ensure you have the right people on the ‘ bus ’, they need to be going in the same direction and if not they need to get off the bus . If someone is not performing , find out why , give them the support they need to improve . Sometimes it is best for everyone if they leave the business BUT always in a respectful way .
There are no poor performing teams , it is always the leader ’ s responsibility . It is up to you .
In my South West Vistage Peer Advisory Group , we challenge you the leader to hold yourself and your teams accountable for the success of the business . Your assumptions , your decisions and your ideas will be challenged and you will be supported through the journey . You are not alone when you have a Vistage Group as your Non Exec Board . Call me if you are interested in hearing more .
Nicola McHale Vistage Chair and
VI International Master Coach
nicola . mchale @ vistagechair . co . uk Mobile - 07887 616606 UK . linkedin . com / nicolamchale
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