Selecting and retaining great staff is key for business success. Talented people who continue to develop skills and increase their value to your organization and to your customers are your most important resource. Here's how to select and retain these people and create an environment in which they continue to thrive.
The primary elements of any plan to improve the quality of the staff you employ include improving the quality of new hires, identifying and retaining superior employees, and developing employees (especially those with high potential for growth). A performance development approach to providing job expectations and feedback will assist with this process.
At the same time, you need to take a look at underperforming staff. Ask whether each individual is in the wrong job. Determine whether you have provided specific and clear requirements so the individual knows what you expect from him. Make sure you have provided feedback against goals and objectives so the person knows he is not meeting expectations.
Decide if a performance improvement plan will help the individual contribute within your organization. If you have done your part to create an environment in which an individual can succeed - and the person is not succeeding - let the person go. Your organization will be better off for his absence and the individual will have the opportunity to locate a job in which he can perform. Tom O'Leary offers more good ideas.
From Tom O' Leary*: How would you like to increase your pool of candidates for selection, add value to your interview process, heighten employee loyalty, build supportive peer relationships, and improve retention rates simultaneously? By implementing a team recruitment strategy, you will achieve all this and more. There are four steps in the team recruitment process:
- defining manpower needs,
- finding and enticing quality candidates to respond to those needs,
- interviewing and selecting the best applicants, and
- orienting newly selected employees into the business.
The most effective team-recruitment approach will include employees at all four stages of the process.
Involve Current Employees in Recruiting Employees
While there are myriad methods of involving employees in the recruiting process, this article highlights the three most common strategies: employee as agent, employee as contributing evaluator, and employee as sponsor or peer mentor.
Employee as Agent in Recruiting Employees
Establishing a modest recruitment incentive program will encourage positive public relations and improve employees' perceptions of their relationship with the company. An existing employee adds value to an employee recruiting campaign for several reasons.- Because employees have an operational understanding of the various roles and responsibilities of the business, they will be more likely to introduce candidates who match position requirements.
- Increasing candidate selection will reduce reliance on external agency services and save time and money.
- Employees will feel valued when a personally recommended candidate is considered.
- Positive public relations will manifest naturally when employees know that they can benefit from attracting others to the business.
- Participation will foster a spirit of contribution to the big picture.
Employee as Contributing Evaluator in Recruiting Employees
Inviting employees to participate in the interview process as contributing evaluators augments employee perceptions of value and offers front line insights regarding candidate suitability and fit within an existing team structure. While employees may or may not participate actively during the interview session, their post-interview comments to managers can be very helpful in evaluating first round interviewees. This method of inclusion has a wide range of benefits.
There is a third role for team members in recruiting employees.
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*Tom O'Leary is a Staff Development Consultant in Ireland with over 15 years of business and staff development experience. His philosophy is simple: "Be efficient with things, effective with people."
