For many years, as I led large international talent acquisition teams, I’d be asked what the best Recruiting Program was. My response was always the same – your best recruiting program is a strong retention program. Retaining your best employees who know your business, your culture, and your customers, makes all the difference in the world. The continuity that occurs both within your business and with your client base is noticeable. How many of us walk into a restaurant, a hair stylist, or a store, and ask for or look for particular team members to work with. I know that I do because they are part of the reason that I continue to go back to that place.
You may be asking yourself; what does a retention program have to do with recruitment? Why is someone in the search business stressing the importance of retaining your employees? The reason is simple, as a Search Partner, partnering with you, it’s my job to ensure that I can talk to why people join and stay with your organization. It’s my job to be able to articulate your values, culture, goals, and objectives to every candidate that I meet while working on a project for you. At Banister International, we spend quality time with our Hiring Managers and Teams to research how the teams work together and what motivates them to succeed.
Retention starts in the recruitment and on-boarding processes. Candidates form a point of view about an organization when they meet with the hiring team and the external partner supporting the search. They will make decisions on whether to join your organization based on those interactions and how they believe they were treated in the process. If they believe they were treated professionally and with respect, they will walk away with a very positive image of your culture. And they will decide to join because they can see themselves as a part of the team they were interviewed by.
It’s also critical in the interview process to think about the retention of internal candidates. Many organizations are not as structured or diligent in the management of the interview process when internal candidates are involved. At Banister, when we are engaged in the process that involves internal candidates, we treat them as if they are external candidates. All candidates are treated and managed to ensure that no matter what the outcome, people walk away feeling good about the organization and themselves. If an employee walks away from a process not feeling as if they were provided with the same consideration as external candidates, there is an increased risk of losing them. Whereas, if you handle them well, they will accept whatever the decision is and remain very motivated to stay with the company.
In an employment market with a 3.6% unemployment rate, retaining employees is critical in maintaining your workforce at the level you need to meet your overall goals. The cost and time to replace employees continues to increase as the market remains competitive for strong talent. Retaining employees is a business imperative for most companies. Hiring is a means to diversify your workforce and your business and is a critical component to staying competitive in ever-changing markets. Companies with strong employment brands, strong retention rates, and strong cultures, are those that are able to both recruit and retain outstanding talent.
Banister International utilizes our strong Search methodology to capture those reasons that attract new talent to join you and that motivate your employees to stay with you. It is through this articulation that we are able to work with many clients and support the transformation of their businesses and employee base. To learn more about our Service Offerings and Methodology, please visit: https://www.banisterinternational.com/services/
Author: Matt Hamlet, Chief of Staff, Banister International