One of the most prominent problems startups face is recruiting and retaining talented employees. The average time an employee stays with an employer is four years. With the tight labor market, companies feel the pinch as their tenured employees get lured away by better opportunities. (Image Credit: CUsai/Pixabay)
This calls for an attentive and robust human resource department to implement effective hiring and retaining strategies. Whether your startup has an HR department of one or a team, here are some proven techniques that will make you get the most out of your HR department.
1. Review Compensation and Benefits
Ensuring you have better perks and salaries than your competitors will ensure that your company attracts recruits and keep the existing ones happy. If your company used to give a small raise every year, you should reconsider that offer. Benefits packages are a significant influence on an employee’s decision to take the job. Competitive retirement packages and proper health insurance for employees is an excellent place to start. Platinum level packages are not possible for startups and small businesses running on tight budgets. Despite the limited funds, small businesses can still offer employee benefits. You need to be creative or get some help from experts about how to implement employee benefits at a low cost.
2. Foster a Strong Culture
You do not have to offer the highest pay to attain employee loyalty. According to experts, productive employees care more about the business culture and the working environment than the details on the job offer. When recruiting, it is essential to communicate the experiences, behaviors, beliefs, and values that define your company. Most importantly, those characteristics should be authentically lived by every employee. It’s one thing to communicate about your company’s culture and implement it.
HR is responsible for instilling a family atmosphere and a sense of purpose in employees. Empower your employees in all ways possible by creating a work/life balance and introducing a strong alumni program. You won’t have an engaging culture overnight, but it needs to happen if you want to maintain a dedicated and robust workforce.
3. Develop Skills from Within
Companies struggle to find talent from outside, overlooking potential within their walls. Developing talent and expertise from within can help increase employee retention and fill awkward positions in the organization. Mentor employees who have leadership potential and guide them on how they can contribute to the organization and boost their career goals.
Provide career coaches, mentors, and training opportunities for target employees to learn new skills. Subsidize relevant certifications and classes to help your team develop skills. Offering networking opportunities and soft skills training will help your staff create social interactions and build their professional networks. As someone heading the HR department, look for ways you and your team and hone their skills and talent.
4. Roll Out Wellness Initiatives
Promoting wellness among your staff is suitable for their health and plays a critical role in your company’s overall health. As healthcare costs continue to skyrocket, implementing holistic wellness initiatives is a strategic approach to avoiding escalating premiums. Communicating your wellness initiatives to recruits shows that you care about their well-being and not just their professional performance. It can be a deciding factor when they are weighing options between your company and another employee.
5. Ensure Compliance
Compliance with employers’ regulations is a full-time job, especially when one person mans the HR. Reporting to OSHA, updating changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), knowing the state’s rules for compensation, and more compliance issues can be overwhelming, even for seasoned HR professionals.
While compliance seems like a management function, it plays a crucial role in recruiting and retaining workers. When recruits see a commitment to respect, they are confident, knowing they will be treated fairly and issues will be taken more seriously. People need to know that harassment claims will be handled correctly and that their records will be secured. For more tips on recruiting and retaining employees, check out the CareerArc social recruitment solution.
6. Embrace Technology
Most HR departments have implemented a payroll system, but most of them cannot manage tax forms, OSHA logs, employee records, and other information. You should invest in a robust HR system that integrates with payroll and automates other functions. Have a secure portal where the employees can view their personal information and manage time-off requests.
The primary duty of the HR department is to mahintain a satisfied and healthy workforce. For you to grow your business, you need to retain talented employees. This can be overwhelming for a startup. On the better side, you don’t have to do all this at once. Start with good company culture, and work your way up to irresistible compensation and employee benefits packages.