Hire And Retain – Eliminate The Pain

By Gregg Goodmanson

What’s the cost of a bad hire? Each company I work with quantifies that differently. I would encourage you to calculate this for your company. Some studies suggest the certain positions cost anywhere from 1 – 1.5 times the annual salary. That’s painful.

Having a good hiring and onboarding/retention process won’t eliminate every bad hire. But without it, you are more likely to fail. As we work with companies to maximize their return on human capital, there are 5 vital pieces elements for success.

Pre-Hire

1.    Clearly Defined Role. Without clarity, you will not be able to identify if your candidates fit the ideal. Define the following to build your Ideal New Hire Profile:

  • Purpose of the role – In a paragraph, define the role in objective terms.
  • Key results – For someone to be successful in that role what 4-6 results do you need them to achieve?
  • Job Values – Define what someone would need to value to fill that role. Fast paced and complex or something more linear; be clear.
  • Skills and Abilities – What skills have they demonstrated in past positions? Do they align with your needs?
  • Culture – What are we looking for culturally and do they meet cultural expectations?

2.    Hire From Want, Not Need – Don’t scramble in an emergency. This can lead to desperation and bad decisions.

Build an Ongoing Pipeline – The best organizations treat hiring like a sales pipeline. They are always looking. Having a bullpen of prospective employees always a good thing.

3.    Clear and Consistent Process – Organizations that struggle with hiring top talent lack a consistent interview process. What should consistency look like?

  • Same Interview Process – interviewing differently makes it very difficult to compare and contrast candidates. Develop a clear process and make it consistent.

Retaining After the Hire

4.    Formalized Onboarding Process – Gallup’s research shows that the average employee becomes disengaged after 60 days. Here is what should be included in the on-boarding process:

  • Organizational values – Knowing the values of the organization will equip the new hire to make better decisions
  • Beliefs and behaviors of the organization – Knowing this will allow for alignment of beliefs and behaviors to improve culture
  • Resources available to the new hire – The right resources make all the difference is employee success.  
  • Formalize mentorship – One of the things we hear the most is, I’m not sure who to go to for help.

5.    Ongoing Engagement Strategy – Don’t lose the employees you have.

  • Create Clear performance objectives with key metrics for success
  • Ongoing training and development to help the individual
  • Regular feedback

In the work that I do with organizations, we help them maximize their return on human capital in numerous ways. If you like to understand this more fully, contact me at 239-281-6358.

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