Attrition can eat your company alive. Every employer knows the tangible and hidden costs of turnover – they drain hundreds of billions of dollars from companies annually. The high costs of turnover are compounded when the pool of highly qualified replacement candidates is severely limited. Therefore, your ability to retain top talent fundamentally affects your firm’s ability to grow and thrive.
OK Is Not Good Enough
You might be tempted to research average turnover rates within your industry and tell yourself you’re doing “as well as can be expected” as long as your numbers are in the ballpark. However, at Power-4 we know that complacency is self-defeating.
Losing key personnel can delay expected productivity and put future plans on hold, creating friction with customers and other stakeholders and causing loss of momentum and competitive position. Those are serious issues. Losing key personnel in roles that are especially difficult to fill simply exacerbates these problems.
We see this first-hand because our sourcing team focuses on tough-to-fill positions in industries that suffer from a notorious shortage of highly qualified talent, mainly life sciences and technology in financial services and other sectors.
The only way to keep top talent is to create and implement a proactive retention strategy. Here are three proven approaches we recommend to our clients.
1. Treat Them Well
Candidates come to your company to take advantage of some perceived or promised career growth opportunity. It might be:
- A more senior position with greater responsibility
- A chance to broaden their professional skills, or exploit their strengths more fully
- A “better” title
- Increased compensation
- A more flexible or culturally appealing environment
Whatever their reasons for joining your team, it’s up to you to make them feel comfortable and valued. When top talent leaves, it’s often due to unsupportive management that doesn’t take individual needs and desires into consideration.
Everyone wants to feel like a contributor and be acknowledged for their contributions. It’s the “how” that differs individually. Monetary rewards are always appreciated, but for many employees, especially top-tier talent, other forms of recognition have greater appeal. The more you know about employees as individual people, the easier it is to recognize and reward them in ways that resonate with them.
Treating employees well also includes offering meaningful, desirable benefits rather than a long list of “perks” no one really cares about.
2. Encourage Professional Development
Great people are always looking to improve. Unfortunately, along with poor management, lack of professional growth opportunities is a common reason top people take their talents elsewhere. So ensure people can take paid time to attend continuing education and networking opportunities. Underwrite or reimburse the cost of workshops, conferences, professional association memberships, etc.
Yes, there is always the chance that one of your best people will gain new skills or make a new contact that causes them to leave. However, the reality is that employees who know they can grow within your company are less tempted to leave. And if they do leave, it will be with a positive impression of your firm. Who knows? They could refer your next “big catch.”
One thing employers often overlook is manager development. For example, you may find that your #1 candidate is exceptionally well-qualified as a clinician or technical expert, but if they are now moving into a more senior position they may lack supervisory and managerial experience. You can help them succeed by working with them to identify these gaps and then providing appropriate education and training.
3. Communicate
Good communication starts with the first contact if you hope to impress top candidates with your company’s personalized attention to detail. Communication should move seamlessly into the onboarding process, so your new hire feels welcome, immediately included and – most importantly – has all the information and resources they need to get right to work confidently.
Ongoing communication that emphasizes listening and follow-up as well as informing boosts retention because it continues to demonstrate that your company cares about employees -- as a group and individually. It also allows you to identify potential problems or niggling issues that are causing turnover, so you can address them to boost future retention.
Hire the Right Person in the First Place
People leave because something about the fit isn’t right, whereas happy people stick around and contribute more. The easiest way to improve retention is for both company and candidate to make the best choice up front.
Power-4 has the sourcing insight and resources to identify, engage and build deeper relationships with top talent in “difficult” industries and roles. We know what they can do for you and also what they’re looking for in their next position, so we make good match that fit. In fact, 75% of the candidates we refer get hired.
Despite your best efforts, though, sometimes great people leave, for whatever reason. This is why you need to keep your contact list and prospective candidate pool up to date. That’s no easy task, one more reason it’s so important to work with a sourcing partner that has your back. Here at Power-4, our clients retain all sourced candidates we refer, to help keep your internal pipeline filled with great people.