Attraction Vs Retention – What’s The Real Root of The Problem?

It’s a competitive market out there – which is great for those looking for a job and not so great for those looking to fill a job. Currently the unemployment is at the lowest it has been in almost 20 years1, and there are significantly more jobs available than people looking for jobs.

For the manufacturing industry, this issue is more prevalent and it’s predicted to only get worse in the upcoming years due to the lack of new candidates entering the workforce for the industry.

Both of these issues require companies to rethink their hiring and staffing strategies. This will help them to remain efficient and maintain a competitive edge in their industry.

And sometimes people do things that don’t serve them in the long run. This kind of competitive market compels companies to pour money into quick fix solutions and results in wasted time and resources – which not only looses money and time but also can make your employees upset.

Companies who are already busy and staffed in a lean manner cannot afford to invest the time and resources into ineffective strategies that only put a band-aid on the problem and stress your current staff more than they need to.

The key is to identify the true problem in your current situation so that you’re not spinning your wheels or left in the dust.

Is your problem with staffing in attraction or retention?

Good people will leave great jobs – and sometimes you can’t do anything about it.

Other times good employees leave great jobs and their employers could have done something about it. 

And it really stems from two different root problems: attraction and retention.

Are you attracting the wrong candidates in the first place, or is the problem with keeping your employees motivated and invested?

Attraction and retention are two totally separate yet related topics for business owners and sometimes business owners think they go hand in hand. But they don’t.

Attraction is what kind of talent you are finding and interviewing before they secure a job with you. Retention is how you are creating structure, processes, and procedures that keep your employees engaged and working. So while both topics are very important and rely on the other, they are also very different.

Attraction means getting qualified and skilled potential employees to view your organization as a positive place to work where retention is maintaining a working environment which supports current staff and addresses various needs of employees to enhance their job satisfaction.

How do you work on finding the right talent in the first place (or how do you work on attraction?)

First, look at your entire job profile for your current open positions. Are they complete? Do they take into account the hard and soft skills your ideal candidate should have? Does it also consider what previous positions would be the most beneficial for your ideal candidate to have? All of these questions are part of a comprehensive position profile.

A comprehensive position profile makes it easier for you to find qualified talent that fits in with your current and future business plans. It also saves you time in the end; taking time up front to create a robust profile allows you to know the kind of people (and the backgrounds) you need to spend more time on the candidates you actually need and less time on people who aren’t the right fit.

It’s also a good idea to focus on creating comprehensive and in-depth on-boarding and career development programs because employees that feel supported on the first day are happier and more motivated. Ignoring on-boarding and continued training can make your employees unhappy and worse yet – make them quit.

If you have a great company culture, use that in your recruiting and hiring too! Having a great company culture and showcasing that can supercharge your efforts. 

People will see that you treat your employees well and you want them to be successful – inspiring top talent to look to apply to your open positions.

How do you work on retaining that top talent (or how do you keep employees motivated, inspired, and engaged)?

There are a lot of ways you can work on retaining your talent, and it’s going to be specific to your business, you particular industry, and your business goals. But overall, we have a few tips to offer you when considering an employee retention plan and procedures. 

First, employee retention aims to maintain a working environment that supports your staff in an overall effort to make your employees more invested, feel valued, and ultimately be happier at work.

And why do happier employees make a difference to you?

Happier employees are more productive. Studies show that happy employees are 20% more productive than unhappy employees. Productive employees get their tasks done each day, work to help others when their workloads become too much, and happier, more motivated employees seek out more work to help the organization overall.

Happier employees are also able to drive more sales to the business – studies show that happy employees can increase sales by 37%.

Successful retention efforts require you to think about things from your team’s point of view and should start on a new hire’s first day on the job. Retention strategies need to be aimed at improving all aspects of the employee experience.

So what can you do to work on employee retention?

First, understand why people stay. Ask your current staff what keeps them working here. Then take that feedback and beef up the areas that are the most impactful to your employees.

Second, schedule touch bases at the initial 30/60/90 day periods as well as a more consistent basis moving forward. Scheduling and committing to these kinds of meetings shows support for staff and makes them feel valued, validated, and heard.

Foster a healthy work-life balance and really mean it. If you want your employees to be happy, understand that life happens and there is more to them than their time at your facility. Empathy goes a long way!

Listen to them and keep communication channels open. Everyone should know how and where to express their concerns and the executive team should work diligently on ways to identify and reduce work flow pain points. It’s also a best practice to celebrate anyone on your staff that takes the time to figure out ways to do a job better, safer, or more efficiently.

There are more ways you can work on employee retention, and these are just a few suggestions. But creating an employee retention program that you work on each and every day will help keep that top talent engaged and motivated (and working for you and not someone else!)

Partner with people who know the industry.

GTR has been working alongside businesses for the past 17 years – so we know the market. We have been able to be so successful for all these years.

Our comprehensive approach to establishing the right strategic recruiting plan gives our clients a competitive advantage for talent and gives our contract associates access to reputable companies and quality positions to build their lives and careers.

Don’t wait – contact us today and let us help you get your open position filled with the right candidate. Don’t waste more of your time and resources on recruiting and hiring… let us help you Build A Workforce That Works.