Are You Investing in Your Employees?

I was talking with a CFO recently, and he shared with me how hard it is for his company to hire and keep qualified employees. He asked me how HORNE has managed to establish and grow a loyal, talented workforce, and I told him about some of our initiatives to develop our team members and help them to grow personally and professionally. His comments raised an important question. Are you finding it harder to recruit and retain qualified, talented employees?

If you are, you’re not alone. Attracting and retaining high-value employees is one of the primary issues facing companies today. As the unemployment rate has dropped, the labor pool has decreased and finding the right person for the job has become more difficult across the board. Once employees have proven their worth, they are fair game for other companies, and you may have to work harder to retain them.

Are there strategies to make recruiting and retaining employees easier? Fortunately, yes.

What Do Employees Want?

Your team probably includes people from three generations, maybe four, and combining the talents and preferences of those groups requires planning. Experience may tell you that your salary structure is the most important recruiting tool you have, and although it’s important, it isn’t the only factor at work here. New research shows that other benefits have a greater influence on both initial employment decisions and decisions to stay. Flexible schedules, meaningful work and challenging projects also have a role in recruiting and retaining the best.

A workplace survey by Finn Partners, a PR firm, shows that among the six workplace initiatives they tested, fully one third (33%) of respondents rank “investing in employees” as the most important initiative, and more than half (55%) rank it in the top two. As members of the Baby Boom generation retire and younger workers assume their roles, those younger workers want and need both personal and professional development.

How You Can Respond?

You may already know you need to develop your team members, but have questions about delivery and content. While off-site training has enormous appeal, it may not always be appropriate. Classroom training within the company, web-based training or one-on-one training may be more cost effective solutions.

As for content, your younger employees may need a combination of training specific to their job and training designed to help them grow as team members and managers. The retiring leaders in your company did not pick up their skills overnight and were often involved in structured training in their early career. They applied their new skills to their day-to-day projects and were judged by the results of those projects. Your younger staff members need similar instruction and challenges. Investing in their growth benefits both your employees and your company.

One development initiative I have been involved with at HORNE has taught our team, among a number of other skills, to give and receive feedback well. We like to refer to it as the “Feedback Movement.” When we started, I thought I knew the subject matter pretty well, but I’ve been excited to learn more about the nature of my communication skills, my blind spots (perceptions others have that I can’t identify alone), and my strengths. I am now better equipped to work within my team and to manage both projects and people. I can identify feedback in traditional settings, like a performance reviews, but I also can find “feedback nuggets” throughout my personal and work interactions. I now know how to find feedback in non-traditional places, and it’s helping me to grow faster.

Like so many parts of our world, the relationship between employee and employer is changing rapidly, and effective companies are meeting the challenges of a diverse workforce with thoughtful initiatives. Helping your employees grow is only one benefit that will help you recruit and retain the most talented team members in your industry, but it is one of the most important.

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