Did you know the majority of your employees would take a new job if it was offered to them? In fact, in a recent survey 83% of employees said they planned to search for a new job this year.
While we know that employees are our most valuable resource, these statistics prove that few business leaders have a true handle on what makes their employees tick. Not only is letting employees slip through the cracks a poor approach to talent management, but it's simply bad for business.
According to Bersin by Deloitte, companies spend $3,300 per hire, that doesn’t include onboarding, training costs and compensation. That’s why companies should focus on protecting the seats that are already filled; and why I want to expand on my original post about what truly motivates employees.
Recruitment doesn’t start and finish when an employee signs their contract and accepts a job with your company. Recruiting the talent you already have needs to be an ongoing and core piece of a company’s activities, and here are four ways to do it:
1. Use data to understand your employees
Insights gleaned from data are the only way for executives to truly know where to invest their time and money in order to engage and retain employees. It’s no wonder that the appetite for real-time results is growing among organizations everywhere.
When it comes to being a talent-magnet, leadership needs to understand which levers to pull to foster a desirable culture. Employee engagement and employee net promoter scores are the types of metrics that provide an unfiltered perspective of how things are going in the organization, and identifies the groups that are doing well and which need improvement.
2. Create a channel for dialogue
Exit interviews are a standard process at many companies, but by the time an employee is walking out the door it's too late to be starting that dialogue. It’s more important that your leadership team has programs and tools in place to capture real-time information and feedback about why employees choose to stay and what motivates them.
Providing vehicles for gathering ongoing employee feedback has a powerful effect because that information is useful for the leadership team to create an attractive work environment. At the same time, soliciting feedback and integrating it into how the company is run demonstrates to employees that their input is important and their loyalty is valued.
3. Recognize your employees
Recognizing employees for their efforts has profound affects on how employees feel about their role within the organization, and in turn their propensity to stay. Karey Stanley-Boyd, senior manager of global recognition programmes at TD Bank says, “Our president and CEO Tim Hockey was concerned that while the heroic stories were important, what’s really important is the little things that people do every day that enable them to connect emotionally with customers. And those are the things we wanted to share with each other.”
Recognition, when done right, can drive productivity and strengthen the connection between employees. People don’t want to be a cog in a giant machine; they want to be a vital player in an organization where they can see their value.
4. Foster employee ambassadors
Giving people a role in the projects and initiatives that contribute to the organization’s identity gives them a deep sense of connection with the organization. RBC’s Blue Water Project is a prime example of a company that involved its employees beyond their daily duties.
The Blue Water Project began with a small but significant social business component. Employees could gather online inside the company’s intranet to discuss the importance of preserving freshwater resources. But educating and informing wasn’t enough -- employees wanted to play an active role in water conservation. The Blue Water Project evolved into an annual event where employees can roll up their sleeves and work on a water-related project in their neighborhood and share their stories and project pictures. This year, more than 24,000 employees participated by adopting one of the RBC funded projects.
Everyone knows that we shouldn't take people for granted. That's what our parents taught us. This principle is not only wise and kind, but profitable, too. Even in the workplace.
