Employees go through a continuous cycle of retiring, changing careers, seeking better offers and generally leaving for varied reasons. In the UK, the cost of hiring an employee is anything from £200- £400, if you use social media and £5,000 if you use a recruitment agency. A further £1000 is spent on induction of new hires. With these costs, it imperative to ensure you hire the best employees for your business. Here is how to go about it.
1. Have a Detailed Job Description
Regardless of whether you will be hiring directly or through a recruitment agency, have a comprehensive list of what you require your ideal candidate to be.
This will get you applicants who are more closely suited for the role and it also helps you to tailor the interviews and assessments much closer to the role’s requirements.
2. Invest in a Business Management Course
A business management course is invaluable to any business owner. Business courses are even more important for small businesses owners, as they often have to wear many hats including being the HR manager.
Business management courses can adequately equip you to better manage your hiring and reward processes as well as teach you best practice for employee-employer relations.
3. Manage Your Reputation
You want to attract the best hires; employees want to work for the best employers. This requires some work on your end, as well as positioning as an ideal employer.
This goes beyond pay. Yes, you have to offer competitive pay structures, but this is not all. Think about opportunities for growth and development in terms of promotions and training as well. Similarly, look into ways to make your work environment supportive and employee friendly.
4. Consider Your Culture and Work-Life Balance
Three-quarters of employees say they would like a separation between work and home lives. Unfortunately, almost a third of UK workers feel they lack a work-life balance.
You can use this to your advantage. Create a workplace where employees can have a home life, flexi hours as well as remote working for the roles that allow for it. This can improve productivity, cut down on absenteeism as well as increase employee longevity.
5. Have a Profit Sharing Program in Place
In essence, a profit-sharing program gives your employees a heightened sense of ownership. This is a powerful incentive for the best brains in the market to come work for you and stay with you.
For a small business, this can take the form of bonuses. Work out the details of the profit-sharing program early on so that it’s included in all print pertaining recruitment. By doing this, you will attract applications from great candidates, giving you a good pool to pick from.
6. Use Unconventional Hiring Methods
Evaluating resumes does not give you the entire picture of who a candidate is. Neither do references. 90% of companies today are taking their hiring to social media.
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can get you a larger pool of applicants to choose from. An added benefit of this is that looking at candidates’ social media pages gives you insights that are not found on a printed CV. This can tell you their values, character and their alignment – or misalignment-to your organisational culture.
7. Employ Pre Employment Assessments
Candidates are likely to give you perfectly choreographed answers during an oral interview. To get the best hires, you have to dig a little deeper. Here is where pre-employment evaluations come into play.
The common ones include aptitude, personality and work style tests. These can be customised to test for particular skills required for your business type. You can use these tests at the start of your recruitment process to weed out ill-suited candidates. Similarly, you can use them at the end of your recruitment process to help you pick the best candidate from a handful of great ones.
Employees are the backbone of any business, big or small and have a huge direct impact on your business’s success. If your business has been struggling to fill its staffing needs, the above tips could give you a head start on how to attract and retain the best employees.