After a second difficult year for employers and their employees you would be forgiven for wondering what you need to do this year to make sure that your company recruitment and retention is stronger than ever.
According to the Office of National Statistics, in August last year the number of open job positions in the UK exceeded 1 million for the first time in the UK’s history.
What has now been named ‘The Great Resignation’ means that it is now harder than ever to find the employees that you need. Working from home for such a long period of time has given people the opportunity to really think about what they want from a job, and this has been reflected in the amount of people leaving jobs and the difficulty for employers looking for quality staff.
From job insecurity to toxic company culture and failure to recognize performance there are many reasons why people are leaving their jobs but what can we do in 2022 to make sure this trend doesn’t continue?
Refine your Onboarding process
Employee retention starts all the way back at the recruitment stage.
Having a streamlined and well planned out onboarding process is one of the first steps to creating a highly motivated and driven team that will ultimately lead to reduced employee turnover and a great company reputation.
The whole point of having an onboarding process is to ensure that your new starter becomes integrated into the company culture as quickly as possible and feels like a valued team member from the very start.
Our New Employee Flowchart is a great tool to help you refine your recruitment and onboarding process. For more information click on the link below.
Strengthen your company culture
If people are leaving because of lack of recognition or because they feel unsupported then word can get around and this can make recruitment extremely difficult.
What we have learnt over the last couple of years is that employee wellbeing and company culture need to be at the top of all decision making as ultimately your people are your biggest asset and sometimes a key point of difference when it comes to standing out and recruiting top talent.
Communication is key and listening to your employees and gathering feedback is the best way to gauge what needs to change when it comes to your company culture. From recognizing and rewarding hard work to leading by example and being as transparent as possible, there are many ways that you can improve upon your company culture straight away.
Creating a strong company culture isn’t easy, but once you have established this you will have something to shout about, advertise and promote throughout all your marketing and therefore making recruitment much easier.
Adopt a flexible working policy
Not only does flexible working retain and attract employees, but it also makes employees more productive by giving them the freedom to work when and how they want.
Allowing your employees to work with autonomy leads to a less stressful working environment which in turn leads to a happier workforce.
Allowing people to work from home within your flexible working policy also means you will have a wider and more diverse pool of people to choose from when it comes to recruitment. No longer being restrained by geographic location is a huge window of opportunity.
Maximize your employee benefits and incentivisation
Having a re-think of your employee benefits could be one of the simplest ways to attract new employees and retain existing members of staff this year.
Of course, salary is a very important factor when it comes to motivation and incentivisation, but we have found that having a good benefits and wellbeing package doesn’t have to be complicated and goes a long way when it comes to standing out from your competitors.
Some of our favourite company benefits include employee duvet days, increasing annual leave once an employee hits a certain length of time within the company, giving everyone their birthday off, having a social committee to plan events outside of work and monthly team lunches provided for by the company.
Provide and promote ongoing training
Providing people with a means of continual progression within your company is a sure way to improve recruitment and retention.
As well as making sure everyone has the skills they need to successfully accomplish their job, training means employees can update and learn new skills.
Training doesn’t just have to be linked to formal career paths and progression, it can also include mental health awareness training to help with employee wellbeing or can be specific to an area that your employee wants to improve in such as improving public speaking skills or training to become a mentor within the company.
We hope you find this information helpful and if you’re looking for any further HR advice and support as your company grows please feel free to get in touch via our contact page.
Alternatively, if you’re a small business ready to expand or have recently grown beyond expectation and need to get HR ready then you can find out more about our brand new product The Newbie Box by clicking the link below.
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