Employee Retention and New Hire Complications – How to Avoid Negative Downfalls

 

Have you ever worked in an environment that had a noticeably high turnover rate? When I was younger and working in retail, I noticed the store I was working for had an excessive amount of turnover activity. I would regularly meet new hires and help train them, get to know them, and eventually look forward to interacting with them at work every day. Unfortunately, the time would always come where I was told they gave their two-week notice, and like that, the store had to look for yet another new associate. I remember feeling so disappointed because I no longer had that bond to share with them while at work. Strangely enough, this affected my level of motivation and productivity as I am sure it does for many. When the pandemic hit, it forced many companies to have to address necessary but unpleasant layoffs.

Fast forward to the present and businesses are slowly working towards getting back to normal. With the increased activity comes the need for new talent. In many cases, companies are realizing that their staffing needs prior to layoffs have shifted. In order to remain competitive and relevant, they must adapt to how the world economy is shifting. With recruitment becoming more and more challenging, many companies are reaching out to previous employees but do they have the new skills necessary? They are also faced with the realization that people are now used to being at home with unemployment benefits providing better appeal than going back to work. People aren’t necessarily jumping at the opportunity to return to the workforce after having enjoyed the flexibility they’ve had with their kids and families. This has become the new reality employers are having to address and overcome. The workforce landscape is changing and people don’t want to give up their flexible schedules just to be tied to a desk again.

ALSO READ: Maintaining a Healthy and Hybrid Work Environment

In order to retain staff, companies need to consider accommodating employees due to the leverage employees now hold. Offering a flexible work schedule and/or a remote work setting is a great way to incentivize potential employees, existing employees, and previous employees. By implementing a hybrid work environment for employees and flexible schedules, it will help people maintain their desired work-life balance while achieving the objectives of employers.

Visit our blog about the importance of implementing a hybrid work environment and how Brandit can help you. As employers navigate through these new challenges, it’s important to consider implementing new and creative ways of retaining existing employees. If done properly, it will save companies resources and help with the bottom line. Let’s take a look at the kind of costs and complications that high turnover rates can cause…

Recruiting Costs: Advertising costs and time spent interviewing, screening, and hiring. Onboarding Costs: Onboarding new personnel requires training and a great deal of time management.

Lost Productivity: In most cases, it takes one to two years for new employees to reach the productivity level of an existing employee.

Lost Engagement: Existing employees see high turnover and lose a sense of productivity.

Customer Service and Errors: New employees need more time to complete tasks and lack the troubleshooting and problem-solving skills needed to be effective.

Retaining Happy and Loyal Customers: Unhappy customers can result in lost customers. Much like new employees, it is harder to find new customers than it is to keep existing ones.

Training Costs: Every time a business replaces a salaried employee, it costs 6 to 9 months of salary on average.

Cultural Impact: When an employee leaves, others in the workplace are curious why and that can disrupt a positive work environment.

There are other ways to retain employees in addition to offering a hybrid work-life balanced environment. You need to listen to them, understand their challenges, and address their well-being. Always focus on developing your staff and their knowledge so that they feel important. Happy employees result in happy customers. Try a phased approach to implementing a hybrid work environment. To build a foundation of loyalty with employees, you may want to consider offering them better benefits as an incentive. Offering benefits that are unique to an individual employee is an offer a lot of people will have a hard time refusing. Not everyone has the same needs and recognizing this will show your employees how much you truly care and value them. These are just a few ways employers can help themselves avoid turnover costs and staffing downfalls. Another important and often neglected or overlooked perspective is to provide a healthy and inspiring workspace. Have you ever had a job where your desk was just a mess and you had a hard time determining what to work on next but shortly after you got organized you were in a completely different headspace? The same applies to employee environments.

Visit our Environmental Branding page on our website to read more about how you can take full advantage of these opportunities. Brandit has all the tools and expertise to help you implement the best practices so that together we help you avoid negative downfalls in your recruiting process and possible high turnover rates! Please call us today so we can learn more about your company and show you how we can help! We look forward to working with you.