Are Companies Missing the Boat?
As a recruiter, I talk to a lot of employers. Not just to get job orders and discuss candidates, I want to hear about the challenges they have with retaining employees in the long term and how they address those challenges. Because I look at both sides of the employer–employee match, I’ve have dubbed the e-harmony® of the Truss Industry. It is just as important for me to make the candidate happy as the employer, because an unhappy candidate means short retention. Nobody wins if the candidate doesn’t stay. The employer has a lot of cost to absorb, lost production, and potential reduction of capacity. The candidate can pick up the unwelcome label of job hopper while also facing lost wages and greater uncertainity. and (please change this to not be judgmental. I think there will be ill feelings from candidates who have more jobs than they feel is acceptable.
COVID has been a reason retention has been down, as has the “Great Resignation,” a better name for which is the “Great Revolving Door.” Like in the mid-2000s, hiring pressure has increased compensation levels at a crazy pace, causing people to change jobs more frequently. Resigning from one, moving to another has become commonplace. With many jobs now remote, it is an easy decision if your only goal is compensation. Just unplug from one job today, start another tomorrow.
Recent discussions with employers about retention made me want to revisit an article from back in 2012 and it took forever to find it. Finding anything pre-Anna is a real challenge. Because it had been a while, I felt it was best to dust it off, share it as written, then include some great client input. Here is what I originally wrote.
If you played team sports in High School or College, you know that pride was a tool the coach used to build team cohesion and school spirit. Pride in what you do, who you do it for, and for people in the same organization builds respect, strengthens teamwork, and creates loyalty. Pride gives us a tangible benefit that is hard to give up. Having said that, I see more and more candidates who are not disgruntled by low pay, lack of benefits, or limited advancement opportunities, but that they feel unimportant to their company as an individual. They do not see management or fellow employees as part of their success. That there is no recognition or pride when it comes to their job is pushing them to leave and makes their departure easier.
Sure, times are tight and money is limited [in 2012], but that is my point. Instilling pride starts with management setting goals, values, and expectations. Igniting pride takes recognition from management when goals are met. Keeping pride in your organization has to be a part of daily culture. When employees have pride, they work harder, stay longer, and produce more. They are less likely to leave for a small increase in pay or watch the clock and beat the buzzer out the door. Does your organization instill pride, or does it just try to use money as the primary tool to motivate? Did pride go out the window with the economy? What works and doesn’t work?
That’s what I wrote back in 2012 and I remain a firm believer in pride as a catalyst for retention. Talking to employers over the years, more so recently, they tell me that retention is critical to a stable operation. One employer hit on the same key points I made almost 10 years ago. I asked him about retention and how he managed to keep people for years. His response is what made me think of my past article.
He told me that they have constant recruiting pressure, people being hounded weekly by phone, online, email, and in social media. It became apparent that, for them to move past the revolving door, they needed to give folks a reason to stay and not just more money. Sure, their compensation and benefits are among the best in the industry, but what they found made people leave the most wasn’t always money. He said that when they do their job and get positive feedback, people are happy and don’t answer the recruiter’s call. It’s when they get unhappy at work, they respond to the recruiter and money enters the equation as a reason they leave. And that may be the most important fact: money is NOT why they start looking, but it will be a reason why they decide to leave.
Fortunately for this employer, he said it was surprisingly easy to reinforce good company culture. First, it starts with a positive work environment without criticizing people, especially in front of others. Sometimes it is a pat on the back or mentioning them in the company newsletter that shows you appreciate their efforts. It’s not expensive to have a departmental or company-wide gathering, lunch, or picnic, or even a company-sponsored team sport, if the end result is a happy team. Happy teams are teams that last.
I couldn’t agree more with his thoughts. If you look at posts on LinkedIN, you may see companies posting about team members, recognizing their value. As important, look at the many comments congratulating them on their recognition and you can see that pride is still a motivator. Being recognized for being the best you can be is contagious, building a culture of pride and teamwork. I knew that, but based on what I hear from candidates, it isn’t a universal concept.
What say you?