Icon

5 Recruiting and Onboarding Tips To Improve Retention

Table of Contents

    Sick of having a high employee turnover rate? You’ve tried the great salary package, the ongoing support, and the amazing staff benefits. But still – nada! People keep joining and waving your office goodbye before the rest of your team can even get to know their name! Okay, that may be a little bit of an exaggeration but the point is – you’ve done everything you can in terms of employee benefits but still have a high turnover rate. There’s a high chance that this may be because you aren’t getting the right employees to BEGIN with i.e. the way you are recruiting. Here are 5 Recruiting tips to help you hire & onboard the right candidates for optimal employee retention and minimal employee turnover!

     

    1 – HR & The Managers Have to Collaborate Well

    Both HR & the Managers have to collaborate and work well throughout the recruitment and onboarding process.

    Some managers have what it takes to sell the job to candidates as well as closing the deal (i.e. making them accept the offer and sign the contract). But some need help!  They’re awesome at what they do but either don’t have the time, don’t have the personality, skills to do recruitment or a combination of both. So HR needs to be flexible in their approach to what support a particular manager has and so their process and the technology linking the two needs to be flexible too.

     

    2 – Good Buddying Program Is Key To Onboarding

    A good buddying program is a key to a successful but also effective onboarding. Lots of critics argue that it’s too expensive and I appreciate that. However, you’ve got to make it work – you’ve got to make it cost-effective for you. The key thing here is that this type of thing doesn’t happen overnight!  So the earlier you start the better. You’ll make lots of mistakes and therefore adjustments along the way but you’ve got to make it work for you.

     

    3 – Hire With Company’s Culture-Fit In Mind

    Retention starts with recruiting, so it’s important to ask yourself two main questions, to begin with:

    1. What is your current company culture?

    2. What do you want your company culture to be?

    The answer to these questions determines the TYPE of people you need to hire; so think about adding it to your job ad descriptions. We can’t stress enough how an employee’s soft skills and cultural fit determines their success, happiness, and ultimate retention in your firm. So if you are still only looking for Ph.D. degrees and notable past experiences on resumes – Stop! While expected candidate experiences and achievements are extremely notable on the job ads, so are candidate qualities.

    Determining company culture and seeking a fit in candidates is definitely the first step to retaining the best employees in the long run. 2 things you want to understand about your candidates is what type of leadership they work best under and what is their ideal company culture. Try to introduce them to the team they are going to be working at some stage during the interview process, to see if they will be a good match with the company culture.

     

    4 – Be An Employer Brand Of Choice

    Attracting the correct candidates to apply for your job is the second step to ensure you hire the right employees to begin with. Brand your company as an employer brand of choice that sets the tone of your company’s culture and desirable soft skills. To do this, ensure that your career site reflects you as an organisation. Think about it – if you are a modern business seeking millennial talent and have a career site that is not mobile friendly and doesn’t let millennials apply from their phones – you are going to lose them as potential candidates and left with the smaller pool of misfit candidates!

     

    5 – Revisit Your Onboarding Process

    First Impressions count! And that’s why onboarding is a crucial stage in the candidate journey that can affect how long they stay in the company. Did you know that approximately 69% of employees are more likely to stay in the company for a minimum of 3 years if they have had a great onboarding experience? If you’re still not convinced, research shows that companies who adopted a standard onboarding process experienced a 50% higher retention rate in new hires. So, re-visit your onboarding process – Is it easy, efficient and fast for both the candidate and you?

    Make sure your recruitment software can auto-generate contracts, has a digital signing, and induction capabilities to make your onboarding process completely paperless and hassle-free. After completing the onboarding and initial induction process, continue to invest time into the training and development of new hires. If new employees aren’t given this proper development throughout the initial stages of their employment; chances are they will most likely leave and move to a company that does.

     

    We hope this article has helped you in some way in regards to your employee turnover and fingers crossed your next employee stays with you for the next 5, 10 or even 20 years! Good luck everyone!