From Recruitment to Retention: Four Ways Employers Are Retaining Employees

A Tight Labor Market May Require Extreme Measures.

In West Texas, truck drivers are earning six figures and 20-something-year-old newcomers are doubling their earnings in the oilfields after just two weeks at a junior college.

In Red Deer, Alberta, an increasing number of companies are covering the costs of post-secondary tuition or skills upgrading of their employees.

Many companies are expanding parental benefits to include egg freezing.

A sandwich shop in greater Indianapolis is offering part-time workers college tuition reimbursement.

In Windsor, Ontario, companies are offering more flexibility than ever before, including the ability to work from home.

A business owner in Redwing, Minnesota, rented homes to the company’s seasonal workers to alleviate housing issues.

Anecdotes like these sound extreme, but they are increasingly common-and for good reason. Pressure is building on companies to do whatever it takes to retain workers. In the spring of 2018, the number of job openings in America exceeded the number of unemployed persons for the first time since December 2000, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began reporting total non-farm job openings. Earlier this month, Statistics Canada reported that job vacancies are up 20 percent in the first quarter of 2018 compared the same period last year.

In such a tight labor market, businesses must spend significantly more energy on retention to show employees they are appreciated and valued, because recruiting new employees is more difficult than ever.

Express Employment Professionals franchise owners report a range of new initiatives, which fall into four main categories:

  • Wages and bonuses
  • Family benefits
  • Education and training
  • Workplace culture

Wages and Bonuses
Terri Greeno, an Express franchise owner in Crystal Lake, Illinois, finds that overtime workers are the first to see significant raises.

“Some clients have started to offer double time for overtime hours worked,” she said.

Luke Sodergren, a franchise owner in Minnesota and Wisconsin, has seen starting wages increase as much as 33 percent from 2016 to 2018.

Colleen Gaudette, an Express franchise owner in Windsor, Ontario, sees the same trend of increased wages. She also reports that companies are using sign-on and completion bonuses for both recruitment and retention.

Family Benefits
Large corporations are enhancing their paid family leave policies, offering expanded leave and new benefits to more workers, including elder care-and even pet care.

As Sodergren observes, at smaller companies, this may not take the form of formal benefits, but rather “flexibility” and patience as workers grapple with day care, elder care, and transportation issues. Sodergren’s office also worked with the client who opened up rental homes to seasonal workers.

Education and Training
Businesses have long invested in education and training to help their employees earn credentials and skills that will empower them to do their jobs better. Now, companies are increasingly offering workers education benefits that will help them secure different jobs in the future hoping that it will help them retain these workers at least for the short- and medium-term.

“We work with a client that has expanded their benefits to include college reimbursement for earning a bachelor’s degree,” Greeno said. “They had previously offered it only to employees working toward an associate degree.”

Wenninger added, “A local sandwich franchise is offering tuition reimbursement for part-time associates to lure college students to work for them.”

Workplace Culture
As valuable as raises bonuses, benefits, and education can be, the most important step a business can take to retain employees is to improve the workplace culture. Saying “thank you” is both the simplest and most powerful action an employer can take.

“Personal recognition has the most dramatic impact,” Wenninger said. “We have a client who does not have the best working conditions and who has a good pay rate but not top of the scale; however, we rarely have associates leave, because the entire leadership team makes a point of getting to know everyone and letting them know how much they are appreciated.”

Gaudette notes that a company with a positive workplace culture will respond to employees’ preferences, rather than assuming certain benefits will be appealing.

“We are seeing a positive trend in companies asking their employees what matters most to them.  Getting creative with ways to engage your employees pays dividends.  Even a small effort pays off in terms of increased performance,” she said.

“My favorite thing I’ve seen done is by a client in our Red Wing, Minnesota, office,” Sodergren said. “The company created a program for new hires that looked like this: When someone new started, they are assigned a ‘quick connect buddy.’ This buddy is their one-on-one partner for the next six months. They immediately have a friend in the business, a knowledgeable ally who they can ask questions and learn from, and it gives them a wonderful experience from their first day.”

A focus on workplace culture has spurred an increase in employee appreciation days, family outings and events, special meals and other initiatives to build relationships among coworkers. It also has led supervisors to show a greater tolerance for employees’ shortcomings-tardiness, for example.

“Treat your people like gold,” Sodergren said. “Everyone is hiring, and it’s easy to walk down the street and find 10 other companies that will take a chance on you. Companies need to invest in better orientations, better leadership training and take the approach that our most important asset is our people.”

A culture of inclusion and honesty helps an employee feel more connected and therefore less likely to leave. And Sodergren and his team again emphasize that most important step: actually saying thank you.

“It’s a job seeker’s economy, and it doesn’t look likely to change anytime soon,” said Bill Stoller, CEO of Express. “Any business that isn’t taking stock of the way it shows appreciation to its employees is behind the curve. As long as the labor market remains tight, we should expect to see even more eye-popping headline news about large raises and generous benefits. But even the extreme cases shouldn’t obscure the fact that, above all, employers must take the time to personally thank employees.”

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One Response to From Recruitment to Retention: Four Ways Employers Are Retaining Employees

  1. Chelsea Lewis July 26, 2018 at 4:27 am #

    Awesome post. One of the best ways to retain their employees is by optimizing their office culture. You should also encourage your employees to express themselves and develop a more relaxed environment.

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