Recruitment & Selection – What’s trending in 2023
Looking back over the last few years we have come up against a global pandemic, a shift to remote work and what some industry experts have called “the great resignation”. What can we expect next?
Economic uncertainty, inflation and potentially a recession are top of mind as we begin to dig into 2023. How should these be considered in your recruitment strategy?
We have started to see the pandemic take a backseat and businesses are facing higher than expected turnover and recruitment challenges. When you factor in the rising cost of living, it makes sense that there will be a corresponding demand for higher wages and more meaningful benefits.
What to expect in 2023? Recruitment will require businesses to become proactive instead of reactive. As a business, there will be a call to create and execute some key strategies to locate talent before you have a demand to fill a position. It will create an advantage for you to look at recruitment in much the same way as you look at attracting customers/clients to your business.
Some key ways to achieve this:
- Competitive compensation and benefits
- Utilizing the power of Social Media
- Increasing Employee Retention efforts
- Employing Hybrid work models
- Creating a great Candidate Experience when recruiting
- Consider using “Contingent Workers” to supplement your workforce
- Adapting to the “generational shift” in the workforce
The future means change! Make sure that you have what it takes to rise to the challenges that will come in 2023. The key is to strategically come up with a plan for your business – it is no longer reasonable to wait until you have vacancies to start looking for candidates. Candidates are continually “shopping” for their next employer – if you are not advertising – you are viewed as “unknown” and won’t be attractive to candidates the next time you post a vacancy!
Does this seem insurmountable for you as a small business? This is where HR support for your business and your management team can help. Engaging with an Independent HR Consultant can alleviate the stress of the unknown. We work with many companies that are in the same boat as you – we use our knowledge and experience to help you define and elevate your Human Resources strategies and goals.
Hiring Independent Consultants is an advantage for small businesses when full time/on staff support is not required. Reach out and chat with us and see how we can support your business in creating and executing a Recruitment and Retention strategy for 2023.
Impacting Engagement using Employee Surveys
“When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” – Simon Sinek
Employees want to feel like their contributions count and that their opinions and voices are heard. When employees don’t feel like their contributions count, they’ll seek out an environment where they do. Turnover is expensive so how can you make sure that your people feel like their voice is heard and concerns are addressed? Research shows most employees appreciate a commitment to frequent communication. Collecting feedback from your team shows them that you’re listening. When done correctly – Employee Engagement Surveys are one of the best opportunities for employees to share their honest feedback and opinions.
Many businesses conduct customer surveys as a way to improve their business – the same should be applied to your employees. Business success and employee satisfaction are directly related. Engaged employees are more motivated and productive – they take pride in what they are doing.
Employee Surveys can have a positive impact on:
- Improving your business
- Increasing Employee Engagement
- Boosting Employee Retention
- Promoting a positive work environment
Whether conducting Annual Employee Surveys or regular Employee Pulse surveys it is important to show your employees that the effort that they put into answering the surveys is appreciated and that the information gathered through the surveys is looked at and acted upon. Just sending out one survey is not going to give you valuable results. It’s about creating a “Survey” process so your employees can easily see that you are interested in creating a feedback culture that uses surveys as one of the tools and that you act upon the feedback to motivate employees and create a more positive work environment. By surveying employees and acting on the feedback given – you can specifically address areas of dissatisfaction for your employees. Benchmarking this data will allow you to track your progress in these areas that require improvement.
Transparency plays a huge role in this process. Sharing the survey results is extremely important – the good and the bad along with your action plan/timeline for acting on the results. Don’t just talk about the survey at “Survey Time” – talk about it periodically and discuss the action plan and what your business/management team has been doing to move the plan forward.
Engagement surveys have the ability to provide the context your business needs to identify concerns, create an action plan and drive meaningful change within your business. Collecting and tracking survey results will allow you to benchmark your data over time and identify opportunities for improvement and measure the impact of any of your actions taken.
Employee Onboarding
You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.
-Will Rogers-
Onboarding…Orientation >> potato…potatoh right? WRONG!
Onboarding and Orientation are often confused as the same process. Orientation is an important part of the Onboarding process for the completion of paperwork, introducing the new hire to other employees, office facilities, policies ect – but – Onboarding is the overarching comprehensive process involving management and other employees and can last anywhere from 1 month – 12 months.
Employee Onboarding is the process of welcoming new hires, familiarizing them with your company culture, and helping them acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and behaviours to succeed in your company and their new role. Attracting and retaining the right people starts with a well planned and executed Onboarding process.
Onboarding is not one-size-fits-all, although there are common steps to follow:
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- Pre-Boarding – Onboarding starts before your employees do. This stage includes tasks that should be completed prior to new hire start date, such as Welcome Package, HR & IT set ups, office space setup ect
- Orientation – primarily the HR paperwork part of onboarding. Going through the Employee Handbook and policies, Company values and mission statement. I would suggest breaking this phase into several smaller tasks. Going through everything HR in one sitting is too daunting and basically isn’t usually retained well
- Formal mentor/buddy system – set up a formal mentoring situation for the new employee. Ensure that the mentor understands their role.
- Follow up – specific times set up for follow up & assessments. A general guide for follow up is at the end of the 1st day, end of the 1st week and then 30/60/90 days. Ensure follow up is documented and completed on time.
Onboarding contributes directly to:
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- Employee Socialization
- Job Satisfaction
- Commitment to the company
- Employee Engagement
- Employee Retention
“Remember Onboarding is not a “one day; HR only” event.”