Is Your Company Utilzing The Skills and Expertise of Recruiters To Support Retention Within Your Workforce?

[Mike Temkin]

At almost every HR chapter meeting I attend and at many client meetings, the primary concern as the economy begins to stabilize is "retention".

I believe companies are not utilizing a prime asset for retaining a functional workforce. That asset being "recruiters".

I suggest companies consider utilizing the expertise, enthusiasm and loyalty of their recruiters to support not only external recruitment but also internal retention. You want to manage the message to the troops. And some of your best messengers will be your recruiters.

No one can sell like a recruiter. It's the hardest sales job you'll ever find. It's a lot easier selling a new appliance, or an insurance policy or even a new home than convincing a person to change the direction of their career, as well as their own professional aspirations and personal security by changing their job and employer.

The Conference Board recently reported job satisfaction has fallen to a record low of 45 percent, the lowest level ever recorded in 22 years of surveys. One of the main reasons so many employees are unhappy is that they believe they are not being appreciated or recognized for the work and loyalty they are currently bringing each and every workday to their jobs.

How many of your currently employed workers are possibly ripe for the picking? What would happen if they were contacted by a recruiter from another company who takes the opportunity to start a relationship, possibly not making an immediate job offer, but starting a relationship, a rapport of some sort? Maybe the contact would be by telephone, email, social media, virtual online event, or even an exploratory in-person meeting; possibly meeting casually at a trade show, job fair or some sort of networking event. And then when the economy turns around, after possibly their recruiter has been paying more attention to your employee than you have, they hire the employee away from you when you can least afford the loss of talent and productivity.

According to a recent calculation by Staffing.org, poor retention can cost a company $2,000 to $3,000 per non-exempt employee and $12,000 to $15,000 per exempt employee. And that's just calculating the cost per hire; not the cost of onboarding, orientation, training, lost productivity during the transition, and lost expertise which possibly can never be replicated.

Retaining employees who have either board-based competencies, or specific specialized skills, or proprietary expertise unique to a company can be crucial, especially for companies who have cut their resources almost to the bone, cutting valuable muscle from their workforce.

If you look at your company right now and are concerned that you might not be able to take advantage of an economic turnaround, then you can’t afford to let your employees feel unrecognized and under appreciated, especially those employees who may very well feel over-worked handling more responsibilities possibly for less compensation and who are possibly your high performers and the consistent loyalists who have made and still can make important contributions to your company’s success.

Therefore, the answer is not to wait until the economy stabilizes and a valuable employee is approached by another company or just takes their own initiative to look for a new job, but to act now to make sure your company morale in general and that of each important employee is not deteriorating due to lack of recognition as well as unfounded rumors and assumptions.

For some companies who have taken drastic, maybe even impulsive measures, it might not even be retention, it might be doubling back and re-recruiting the commitment and trust of your employees. This is a job for the people who can best articulate a company’s promise, engage and compel the employee, and re-sell the employee.

I nominate company recruiters to go out with a solid, concise, consistent message, recognizing where the company is right now and clearly documenting the goals and aspirations of where the company wants to be in the future, and most important how that will impact the employee.

This should be a planned and orchestrated line of communication. Not messages that the grapevine turns into a rainbow of speculation, gossip and possibly demoralizing complaints. But the message of your Employer Brand in a manner that is well-documented and well-articulated.

I highly recommend you seek the advice of my Shaker colleague Mary Stanton on how to insure your Employment Brand and Retention Value Proposition are being properly communicated in all forms of printed, audio, video and in-person presentations.

Now is the time to identify your current corporate structure and culture, determine if that is the structure and culture you choose to maintain in the future or if your company either aspires for change or has no choice and is required to either change or not survive. And then you need to determine how your company and your employees need to evolve.

HR and their best communicators, their recruiters, must help contribute to not only retention, but also support retraining when applicable, facilitate the redeployment of talent and refresh the initiative and mission of their companies.

So my suggestion is for companies that are currently concerned about retaining valuable talent to be more than just concerned, but to take action. Put your best sales people to work. Enlist your recruiters to help you maintain the current value and future potential of your company.