In times of skills shortages and high staff turnover, it is becoming increasingly clear that the constant recruitment of talent alone is not enough to make an organisation successful in the long term. The cost of repeated familiarisation and the loss of productivity require a rethink. Specialist articles and blogs on "Why Retention Is The New Recruitment" illustrate this paradigm shift and show that the focus is shifting to existing employees. Companies are realising that nurturing existing talent is just as important as attracting new talent.
The employee journey: how you can exert influence as HR
But how do companies manage to create an environment in which employees feel valued, engaged and motivated? The simplistic answer is: ask them! However, obstacles such as shift work, different locations and remote working make it difficult to objectively record employees' experiences and expectations. Survey tools can help here. Targeted and company-specific surveys allow HR to derive measures that are individually tailored to the company. As these are based on feedback from your own employees, they have a greater effect on achieving demonstrably stronger commitment and engagement.
A positive connection can be established from the very first point of contact during recruitment. Short waiting times and efficient communication are particularly important in this phase. Few and concise questions can give HR feedback on how applicants feel about the recruitment phase. External incentives are usually necessary to increase the response rate of candidates for whom a negative decision was made. These do not necessarily have to be monetary, but can also be intrinsic, such as planting a tree per response (example of a Customer).
Onboarding aims to welcome new employees, provide them with all the necessary resources and information and integrate them into the company community. It is advisable to conduct a survey towards the end of the induction period with specific questions about the recruitment process and well-being to identify gaps and areas for improvement.
A key challenge for HR is to retain employees in the long term beyond the induction phase. After successful onboarding, the rut of everyday working life gradually creeps in and companies find it difficult to maintain a continuous close dialogue with employees. It is therefore important to conduct a general employee survey at regular intervals during the "development" and "promotion" phases, compare the results and derive measures for action - and then implement these transparently. The latter is of central importance in order to make employees feel that their opinion carries weight.
Short pulse surveys are also recommended, which are carried out selectively after events such as training courses or management changes. When employees leave the company, valuable knowledge is often lost. Exit surveys can help to understand the reasons and identify potential for improvement in order to avoid future resignations.
The key to employee commitment
In HR, we are constantly on the lookout for innovative approaches. However, it is not always necessary to reinvent the wheel in order to achieve the goal - in this case, increased employee commitment. The paradigm shift from Recruitment of new talent to Commitment of existing talent requires continuous efforts to drive engagement and satisfaction. The key to this is the people at the heart of the organisation. By listening to what matters to employees and responding accordingly, organisations create a positive working environment that they will not want to leave.
Listen, understand, act
Qualtrics is a modern, cloud-based software that enables automated surveys along the entire employee journey. It offers access to ready-made surveys, national and international Industry benchmarks and the ability to create customised surveys. Role-based dashboards and reports ensure that everyone involved is always informed.
Sources
- O'Connell, M., & Kung, M.C. (2007). The cost of employee turnover. Industrial Management, 49 (1).
- Walker-Schmidt, W., Kaul, C., & Papadakis, L. C. (2022).Onboarding Effects on Engagement and Retention in the IT Sector. Impacting Education: Journal of Transforming Professional Practice, 7 (4), 8-15.
- Sinir, Aysenur. (03.03.2023): Why Retention is the newRecruitment, LinkedIn. Link: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-retention-new-recruitment-aysenur-sinir/
- Bharadwaj, S., Khan, N. A., & Yameen, M. (2022). Unbundling employer branding, job satisfaction, organisational identificationand employee retention: a sequential mediation analysis. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, 14 (3), 309-334.
Author
Clara-Sophie Körner
HR Strategies
Clara-Sophie Körner focusses on people. With her background in psychology, the well-being of employees is particularly important to her. As an HR Strategies Consultant, she designs employee surveys methodically and efficiently to make their voices heard and measurable. The results are then used as a basis for decision-making to improve the Employee Experience. True to the HR Campus motto "Happy Employee, Happy Company".