At the beginning of the year, the idea of New Year, New You is often at the forefront of everyone’s mind. While most of us think about resolutions being more for the individual, they are also beneficial for business and require a long-term commitment. Much like the personal resolutions that encourage us to get to the gym more often or improve our diet, companies can create similar goals throughout the year designed to provide growth and employee retention.
Changing Dynamics
Now more than ever before, work dynamics are increasingly focused on the role individuals provide to the workplace. If you’re a company focused on growth in 2016, it’s important to know that employee roles, growth opportunities and company culture are critical when it comes to employee retention. The growing influx of Millennials (age 18-34) and their younger counterparts means this is no longer an optional initiative.
Generations X, Y and Z continue to prod companies to take a closer look at work practices previously considered normal and routine. These include a reliance on traditional interviewing and hiring practices, annual performance reviews, and expectations of how long an employee with stay with the company. One commonality uniting each of these elements is the quickly disappearing long-term outlook.
Improving Engagement through Culture
No longer can companies rely on small and measured contributions to workplace culture, particularly if they are looking to impact job engagement and employee retention. Recent research from Deloitte found only 13% of employees consider themselves highly engaged in their jobs. A major element of improving engagement is through employment advancement initiatives. All elements need to be front and center at all times. This encompasses company branding, recruitment and hiring practices, and consistent internal communication.
Finding and Retaining Good Employees
One of the most important foundations of the 2016 workplace is a continuing focus on the human element. More and more, employees are looking for a company that matches their unique needs. As a result, candidates are interviewing employers just as much, if not more, than the employers they are talking to. Finding synergies in this process includes engaging with potential candidates on social media sites. These conversations are a great way to introduce a potential employee to your brand and to engage current employees to encourage friends and family to join the company.
Don’t wait until it’s Too Late
Despite the general speeding up of life, most companies still work on a yearly cycle to create annual plans and provide yearly performance reviews. Ironically, there are few areas in our lives where we have the luxury of a 12-month time frame. From the perspective of an employee, waiting 12 months without a check-in or feedback on performance, opportunities for engagement, or next steps for success could find a company without those employees quicker than they expect. Rather than wait a year for this feedback, companies are encouraged to regularly meet with employees in order to improve employee engagement and increase the opportunity for individual contributions to the business.
As a top Kansas City recruiting firm since 1988, Austin Nichols Technical Search has served clients in the engineering, construction and manufacturing fields. Austin Nichols specializes in direct hire and contract recruiting for manufacturing, construction, engineering, and technical positions.
