But if an organisation’s onboarding experience has gaps, a candidate can be left scratching their head. You don’t want them wondering if they made the right choice signing the contract in the first place. 

By thinking critically about your onboarding experience and its gaps, you’ll be able to smooth over small bumps that often make new hires question their place in an organisation, and ensure that your future talent feel fully equipped to perform well from their very first day.

A streamlined first day

It’s the little things that set the tone for what’s to come for a candidate. Have you ever entered a workplace on day one, and their team wasn’t ready for your arrival? It signals that the work and culture to come will be more reactive than proactive. 

Small administrative tasks -like ensuring all IT and login information is correctly set up and allocated, or providing a starter kit with uniforms, payroll details, and access passes- can take the guesswork out of tasks that many existing employees take for granted. 

Furthermore, when introducing your new hire to the team, try to strike a balance between giving them time to get to know their new colleagues and overwhelming them with too many new faces on day one. Consider integrating a simple “team culture” video into your onboarding experience. Current staff members can film themselves giving video confessionals about the perks of the company that they enjoy.

Or, if time and budget allows, enlist a videographer to shoot an introduction to your organisation, its perks, the team culture, and how you recognise and reward your staff (check out this employer branding video that Scout Talent, a SaaS company, uses on all of their job ads). This is great collateral for your employer brand and future job ads. You’ll also be able to use it to streamline the first day of all future hires. 

Let them catch their breath

The transition from one job to another can be overwhelming, even for the best employee. Expecting excellence from day one can lead to burnout. Leaders should shoulder the bulk of the responsibility when easing their new hires into their roles. 

A long lunch in their first days with your organisation is a great way for new employees to slowly acclimatise to the work ahead. It also has the added bonus of letting them find their tribe within your team dynamic in a non-office environment.

Also, slowly increasing their hours over the course of the first week will help them adjust to your organisation’s pace. Try starting with a half day on day one, followed by incremental increases throughout the rest of the week. This will help them learn their roles and responsibilities, while still giving them time to decompress.

Prioritise feedback

No one likes to underperformance, especially when stepping into a new role or a new organisation. Take the time to provide feedback and show support to all new hires. It will show that communication is important to the smooth running of your business, and that they can be forthcoming with any issues or hurdles they are experiencing. 

Formalising this process in the form of regular 1-to-1 meetings gives structure to a review framework. Coming prepared to these meetings with feedback, whether good or bad, gives both you and your new hire the opportunity to discuss roadblocks, opportunities, and what the road ahead will look like. 

Like the idea of feedback, but not the idea of defined structure? Schedule time for your new hire to air their concerns or roadblocks over a weekly coffee. If they have no roadblocks, it can be great for your organisational culture to celebrate their early wins! Positive feedback when things are going well is just as important as constructive feedback when things are going poorly. 

Look out for passion projects

Our last point helps you identify growth areas for your new hire. Empowering staff to grow in areas that they are passionate about helps develop these potential growth areas into actionable goals. 

If you’ve got a great learning and development program, make this clear from the beginning. Your organisation invests in its staff and wants to help them grow their knowledge base. If you don’t yet have a dedicated internal L&D resource, start the conversation with new staff to find out what skills they can bring to the role, and how these can add value to your organisation. People work harder when they care about the work they’re doing. If you don’t ask your staff what they care about, how can you know where they’re wanting to grow?

Whether your onboarding experience needs a slight tweak or a complete overhaul, there are always steps you can take to make the first days and weeks with your new hires seamless.

As RMM’s assistant editor and frequent contributor, Fraser has an impeccable eye for newsworthy content and emerging trends. After starting his career writing for national sporting organisations, he made the move to the talent acquisition space, where he explores recruitment marketing, employer branding, DE&I, and more.

The post Does your onboarding experience need a makeover? appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

I just purchased emergency travel insurance from a particular company for one simple reason. They answered their phone on the first ring.

They didn’t make me listen to a recording saying a few throwaway lines like, “Your call is important to us. Due to a rise in the volume of calls, our wait times have increased.”

(Let’s not kid ourselves…your employee turnover is high, and you can’t find people who are willing to work for you, which is why your wait times have increased.) But I digress.

I didn’t even bother to shop around for a better rate. Here’s why.

If I have an emergency, and I need to use this service, I’m confident a real person will quickly answer the phone and assist me.

Can you offer the same assurance to your customers?

How much business is your company losing due to high employee turnover and poor service? My guess is a ton.

The True Cost of Employee Turnover

Companies know replacing an employee costs considerable time, energy, and lost productivity, but few can put a dollar figure on the actual cost.

Lack of hard data means investments in retention and recruitment programs are placed on the back burner.

Cost of turnover estimates for a single position range from 30 percent of the yearly salary for hourly employees (Cornell University) to 150 percent, as estimated by the Saratoga Institute.

The McQuaig Institute puts this into terms that most of us can relate to. A fast-food restaurant must sell 7,613 children’s combo meals at $2.50 each to recoup the cost of losing just one crew member. To recoup the cost of losing just one salesclerk, a clothing store must sell almost 3,000 pairs of khakis at $35.

How many of your products or services must you sell to make up for one employee?

These examples represent the cost of turnover, which encompasses replacement costs, training costs, separation costs, and lost productivity.

You may be thinking that positions in your company are considerably more sophisticated than those found in fast food restaurants or retail organisations and that it’s impossible to come up with a number.

But even an approximate number is better than no number at all.

Calculating your cost of turnover

Calculating your cost of turnover is simpler than you think. Begin here:

Make a list of everyone who has left your organisation this year and using the information below, calculate how much the loss of each employee has cost your organisation.

If you want to capture a full year’s worth of information, consider capturing the data for those who left the company the previous year as well.

The business costs and impact of employee turnover can be grouped into four major categories:

1. Costs due to a person leaving;
2. Hiring costs;
3. Training costs, and;
4. Lost productivity costs.

Costs due to a person leaving

Once an employee has announced their resignation, they have begun to transition out of the company. While working out their notice period, their full attention is no longer on your business. Others in the organisation are picking up their slack, which prohibits them from giving full attention to their own jobs. In addition, consider the following costs:

• Employees who fill in for the person who leaves before a replacement is found;
• Adding temporary help using consultants to fill in while the you recruit for the position;
• A manager/executive conducting an exit interview to determine what work remains, how to do the work, why they are leaving, etc.;
• The training the company has invested in this departing employee; the cost of lost knowledge, skills and contacts of the departing employee, and;
• Lost customers the departing employee is taking with them (or that leave because service is negatively impacted).

Hiring Costs

You might be lucky and find a candidate on a free website, but most likely you will need to advertise elsewhere. Consider the following hiring costs:

• The cost of advertising, internet posting, employment agencies, search firms, employee referral awards;
• Increase in starting pay as salaries have risen since you last hired, bringing everyone else in the department up to market rates;
• Time spent screening resumes, arranging interviews, conducting interviews (by both HR and upper management), checking references and notifying candidates who were not awarded the job;
• The use of assessment testing, background checks, drug screening (usually done on more than one candidate), and time spent interpreting and discussing results, and;
• Time spent assembling and processing all the new hire paperwork, explaining your employee benefit programs, and entering the necessary data to ensure the employee receives a pay check.

Training costs

It would be nice if employees could integrate into their organisations without any training, but usually this is not the case. Things are done differently in every organisation, so factor in the following costs:

• New employee orientation or onboarding;
• Specific training for the person to do their job, such as computer training, product knowledge, company systems, and;
• Time spent by others to train this person and money spent on outside training to ensure they can do their jobs.

Loss of productivity costs

Because new employees do not enter the organisation completely trained, it will take time before they are fully productive. Factor in the following productivity costs:

• During this time, the person’s manager is also spending more time directing, reviewing work, and possibly fixing mistakes. (Errors will be made that are not caught right away and will cost money to correct down the line. A customer who receives an incorrect price or an incorrect shipment due to the new employee’s lack of experience, etc);
• Add loss of goodwill as you scramble to preserve your relationship with your valued customer or client, and;
• Employee morale plummeting as overworked employees assume responsibility while the new hire is being trained.

Now that you’ve closely examined the costs associated with each person leaving, you can then plug this information into a spreadsheet to determine the real cost of employee turnover in your organisation.

Your Assignment

List the people in your organisation who’ve recently left. Next, jot down how much you think this loss will cost your organisation. Calculate the actual cost of this employee leaving, based on the guidelines I’ve provided above.

How’d you do? Were you close or very far off in terms of your guess? Are you in better shape than you thought? Or is it time for an intervention? Need some help? Let’s schedule a call.

Given the high costs involved and the impact on productivity and customer retention, a well thought-out retention program can easily pay for itself over and over again and is certainly worth further consideration.

© 2021, Matuson Consulting. All Rights Reserved.

Roberta Matuson, The Talent Maximizer® and President of Matuson Consulting, helps organisations achieve dramatic growth and market leadership through the maximisation of talent. She’s the author of six books including Evergreen Talent: A Guide to Hiring and Cultivating a Sustainable Workforce, and the newly released, Can We Talk? Seven Principles for Managing Difficult Conversations at Work  Sign up to her free newsletter, The Talent Maximizer®. Follow her on Twitter.

The post The True Cost of Employee Turnover: It’s Way More Than You Think appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

Employer branding is for everyone. “But my company is too small,” I hear you say. How can my small-to-medium-sized business possibly make an impact in competition with big companies that have big-brand power?

As the proverb goes, “if you think you’re too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito.”

Even small actions can make a huge difference to your ability to attract great talent, and how well you’re able to retain them once you have them.

It’s true, big companies have big budgets and resources to promote themselves. They have systems, platforms and processes to automate and activate at scale. But big companies also have inertia. They often have people with a “this is the way it’s always been done” attitude and many stakeholders to address before they can get anything off the ground.

Small businesses, on the other hand, have the ability to be nimble and flexible. They’re often more likely to have features and benefits that make them unique. Don’t underestimate this power.

Here are six nimble and flexible techniques to help your unique small business attract and retain great talent.

1. Prioritise

You’re not going to be able to do it all – at least not at first – so you’re going to need to prioritise. That’s why being nimble is an asset, because you can try things and move on quickly if they’re not working.

Start with an audit of your current situation. This will highlight your biggest challenges and help you determine what action to take first.

For example, who is your target talent demographic? Which social media channel makes the most sense to reach them? What roles do you struggle to hire for? Is retention an issue? Understanding what’s happening will give you a roadmap for your employer brand strategy.

2. Be consistent

It doesn’t matter what size your business is. Promoting a consistent message is the key to a strong employer brand. Even if you don’t have an Employee Value Proposition (EVP), a consistent message helps candidates understand what makes your business unique. Saying one thing on your website, then another in your job ad, then something different again in the interview creates confusion for candidates. It makes it difficult to understand what you’re looking for, and that means that, ultimately, the people applying for your jobs may not be the right fit for your business and, therefore, be more likely to leave.

3. Be personal

Personalisation is a major trend in employer branding, and for a good reason. People respond to people. Big brands tend to automate their processes to manage high volumes. This can lead to extremely impersonal experiences for candidates.

Add human touchpoints to your candidate journey, whether it’s the tone of voice in your job ad, your individual approach to onboarding or the way you demonstrate your culture. This can make all the difference in helping you stand out among larger corporations.

4. Highlight your culture

Your culture is one of your most powerful assets as a small business. Highlighting what makes yours unique not only sets you apart, but also shows candidates the reality of working for you.

Show it, don’t tell it – use pictures and videos to provide them with an insider’s view. Social media is a great tool to promote your message, and small businesses often have more flexibility to try new things. But remember, social media is the “chef” of your employer branding playbook – everyone thinks they can do it because they do it for themselves!

A good social strategy can be difficult to execute, so don’t assign your Instagram page to the intern without first thinking through what you want to achieve and how best to achieve it.

5. Don’t skimp on your onboarding

You’ve finally got your talent through the door – they’ve chosen you above all others. But employer branding doesn’t stop once someone has signed their contract. Onboarding is how you set your employees up for success.

Enboarder reports that 20% of people will leave a company within the first 45 days.

Make onboarding a dedicated part of your employer branding strategy and map out what you want new employees to know from day one, week one and in their first six months. This is where you can also be more unique than bigger companies.

Can you spare a few days for new-starters to do some immersive training? What about a visit to your warehouse, or getting your new developer to spend a day in sales or vice versa so you encourage a deeper understanding between customer and product?

6. Be efficient

Hiring is expensive, so being efficient with your budget and your time is key. You can’t be efficient if you don’t measure. Understanding what’s working and what’s not means you can prioritise your activities and focus on the ones that are giving you a good return. This is particularly important if you have a small team. You’re not going to be able to do everything, so understanding the activities that have the highest return will help you to make a bigger impact with less time and money spent.

No matter what size your business is, finding the talent that is the best fit for your business is challenging. Employer branding is ultimately about helping someone understand why they should choose you, and why they should keep choosing you. Being able to be flexible, nimble and unique are powerful assets that will help you to attract and retain great employees.

Meagan is a book worm, house-plant killer and Employer Brand Leader at Bupa A&NZ. She has worked agency-side and in-house in employer branding and marketing for some of the world’s biggest brands. From the experience she gained living and working in Australia, Sweden, and the UK, Meagan is a passionate believer in the power of words and knows a thing or two about strategy and creative problem-solving.

The post You’re never too small for employer branding appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

The success of your organisation rests on your ability to attract, identify, and onboard top talent. Is your hiring and onboarding process running as smoothly as it could be?

Dean Kaplan reporting for TLNT states, “You don’t want to waste time with long, drawn-out negotiations when you needed someone to start yesterday.” He provides the following tips to convert “maybes” to “yes!”.

Be prepared
When engaging with candidates, it’s important to be prepared, and this means doing your research. Don’t lose great talent by offering salaries that are too low!

“While some candidates may propose a counter-offer, others will simply walk away. Worse yet, some may walk away and tell others about how low the offer was, making it hard for you to continue recruiting.”

Research the remuneration and offering for similar positions in your area.

“This is especially important if this is a new position in your company, or you are replacing a long-time employee. Many employees consider perks such as flexible hours or professional development to be part of their offer package. Make sure to research perks and benefits as well as salaries.”

Have a strong employer brand

Candidates use on average up to 18 sources to research a potential organisation before making the decision to join. What does your employer brand look like in the market?

“By the time you make an offer, the candidate should already know the company’s story. Not just your history, but the story that makes the candidate want to work for you. Let’s say you describe your company as a place that manufactures parts for cars. That’s a description, but your company’s story is that you make essential components of the safest automobiles on the market today. You provide a safe work environment dedicated to the well-being and professional growth of your employees.”

A strong employer brand involves storytelling, which helps candidates understand why they want to work for you.

Think win/win

You should not only assess what your candidate can bring to your organisation, but what you can offer them. Every point of engagement, including negotiations, are part of your ongoing relationship and employer brand.

“This makes it important that you think of your negotiations not as a situation where one of you will win and one will lose, but as a situation where both people get what they need to start a productive relationship.”

Listen actively

Demonstrate to your candidates that you genuinely care about them through active listening. Understand any concerns they might have and address them with positive, mutually beneficial solutions.

“For example, if your candidate tells you that he or she needs more money to offset the travel costs of taking a position farther from his or her house you could respond with, “I understand our location is a concern for you. Would working a different schedule so you can avoid rush hour, or having one day a week to work at home help with those concerns?” By listening to what the candidate is actually concerned about, you may be able to find a solution that doesn’t involve more money.”

Know exactly what you can offer

Don’t delay onboarding a great new hire by wasting time needed sign-off and approval for salary and benefits.

“Before making an offer to a promising candidate make sure to have any necessary internal discussions about how high the salary can go or other benefits such as working remotely, additional vacation days, or flexible hours. There may be some requests or situations that the hiring manager does not feel comfortable agreeing to without more discussion, but try to keep the back and forth to a minimum. You want to avoid any situation where the candidate feels the hiring manager is at odds with someone else in the company.”

While there may be some situations you won’t be able to overcome, such as differing timelines, these strategies to keep your hiring process efficient and help you win candidates over when they have competing offers.   

Source

Here’s How to Get to Yes Faster When You Make an Offer
By Dean Kaplan

TLNT

The post Converting candidates to hires: how to get to “yes” faster! appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.