The power of businesses that can both attract and retain top talent
Regardless of the industry that your company operates in when new employees start their career with you the feelings that they experience will typically be the same across the board: excitement, brand advocacy, belief in the brand and what it stands for, pleasant anticipation for the challenges ahead, and so on.
These feelings exist because this is new and new is exciting. All of these traits in an employee or team member are desirable, all of the time. Those people that truly care about your company will go above and beyond for you and they will always give their best. The truth is, though, that these feelings fade... and they fade fast. Eventually, in most cases, these feelings of novelty and new-found love dissipate and employees will start to feel stuck, bored, and discontented.
As a leader, the problem with accepting this as the norm is that they must’ve been invested in you and your brand, at least initially, otherwise they would’ve taken a different job. Something about you, and the way you operate caught their eye.
When not taken seriously, the culture of your company and the way your employees feel about the work they do will discourage them from wanting to be a part of your team.
What happens when employees aren’t properly looked after?
When development opportunities aren’t there, when they aren’t cared for, listened to, or properly praised and awarded for their work and commitment, they look for new jobs elsewhere. This statement has never held more truth than it does today. No longer are employees pressured out of fear into staying with the same company for life, and certainly not the exceptional employees. The people with the best talent, who do the most for your business and brand, want to feel valued the most. The reason they give their all to your company is because they believe in it, so you better believe in them too.
Real problems that arise when employees aren’t #1 priority:
Bad public image. There are examples of this happening all over the world, every day. Employees come out to the public through news outlets and social media daily. The fear of backlash is becoming less and less prominent as time goes on - people care more about their well-being than the company they work for, today. The voice of a business’s employees stands louder than most realise as these are the real people that live and breathe the culture and environment.
Poor job satisfaction. As self-explanatory as this might be, there are further implications and problems that come from poor job satisfaction. For example, your employees may not choose to leave or even voice their dissatisfaction for their job, it could be worse than that. When a workforce collectively feels unheard, mistreated, or undervalued they may lose total interest in the work that they love to do. This can and will lead to poor customer service, delayed product launches, bad client experiences, and eventually loss of customers and credibility.
Bad reputation. If your reputation to the outside world is bad enough, clients may not want to work with you, and new employees certainly won't want to work with you. You will only hinder your progress and overall success as a business by not looking after the employees you already have.
High staff turnover & bad employee retention. The biggest issue with this is how you can look to attract and employ new talent to your business, whilst building your customer base when your current team no longer wants to work for you. It’ll be a very hard sell to prospective employees if the current average time at your company is 3 months.
People joined because they love what you do and what you stand for, this will not be enough to keep them there. There are enough visionary companies out there striving for excellence, you must do the same.
How the power of leadership can benefit both employee retention and talent acquisition:
The focus should be on keeping each and every employee in your organisation happy, first. As a leader, it is your responsibility to listen to the wants and needs of your people and adhere to them. The reason that you have employees in the first place is that they have bought into your brand, your values, and your vision, and believe in the product or service that you provide.
There is serious power in both looking after the staff you currently have and hiring the top talent in the world when the opportunities present themselves. If you think about what employee retention means and why it’s beneficial and ask yourself the question: ‘how can I attract the best candidates to my business?’ you’ll soon realise that they come hand in hand. Creating and building a long-lasting, strong company culture that looks after the members of your team is the key essence to attracting new people. There must be more consideration into how we look after our people and how this encourages new people to come work for and with us. The best businesses in the world do it, and it’s what sets them apart. It’s why their current staff love working there and it’s why every specialist in every field that does the same thing all want to work in the same places.
If you treat your employees exceptionally, they will treat you and their work exceptionally. There is more power in keeping staff than businesses realise.