As summer draws to a close many industries are feeling the effects of economic recovery. Employers are dusting off their mass recruiting strategies and are beginning to gear up for what may well become a fierce battle for talent acquisition and retention.
Whilst attrition has rarely run over 20% during the recession it is entirely likely that this figure could double or even triple over the next year as employees not only realise that there are more jobs available than there have been before, but also start to consider that they may be well positioned to take advantage of this upturn in demand, looking out for their interests and selling their skills to the highest bidder.
According to an article on peoplemanagement.co.uk over 25% of British adults want to change jobs more than anything else and a staggering 55% would choose to pursue a completely different career if given the opportunity to do so.
What we can infer from this is that British workers are not only keen to move jobs; they will have the best chance to do so in the next 12 months than they have had in the last several years. It’s times like this that you must be examining your recruitment strategy, are you positioned to cope with the loss of up to half your workforce within the next year?
It’s times like this that employers need to remember how much of what they use for recruitment can act as a double edged sword for both attraction and retention of talent. Social media strategies like Facebook, Twitter and company blogs can act as excellent brand ambassadors and ways of connecting with potential employees but they can also be used to strengthen bonds with existing staff. Allowing staff to interact with company news and discussions in a non formal environment as well as reinforcing the companies business successes and strengths as an employer can help to ensure existing employees view your company in a positive light. Of course this can backfire if a strongly disgruntled employee were to use such forums to smear a company, but then that is what moderation is for!
It’s also worth connecting with employees on sites such as LinkedIn and seeing who they’re connected with, many people have friends and contacts working in similar roles in other companies and whilst they may not be proactive enough to try recruiting them on your companies behalf there’s nothing to stop you identifying talent to pursue yourself.
Lastly I would point out the fact that even with the best practices in the world staff are still going to leave and you will still be left with holes in your business, it’s important to make sure you have a process in place to ensure that business critical gaps are plugged as soon as possible, even if it means taking on a contract worker in the interim until a permenant replacement can be found.
