ALC - CareerArc blog

Last updated on April 3, 2020. 

Is it possible to take aggressive steps to fight the coronavirus pandemic—while also ensuring business continuity? According to Leslie Michelson, executive chairman of Private Health Management, the answer is yes. 

Uncertainty is often a major source of stress, and during times of change, employees look to HR leaders for guidance and clarity on their role in the organization. So, as an HR professional, it’s essential to prepare for the unexpected. During our recent CareerArc #TalkHR webinar—“How to Retain Talent in Times of Change: Keeping Employees Engaged While Your Organization Evolves”—Jenn Stalians, vice president of people operations at Full Beauty Brands, and Caroline Vernon, regional director of sales at CareerArc, shared their experiences and strategies for successfully managing changes in organizations. 

Employee turnover costs a company time and money. In fact, a recent Gallup report estimated that millennial turnover, alone, costs the US economy about $30.5 billion a year. Not only can high employee exit rates end up hurting a business’ bottom line, but it can also wreak havoc on a tactical level. Increased turnover can negatively impact workload and production schedules. Plus, team morale can take a hit. 

Sourcing quality candidates is a huge piece of the employee staffing puzzle. So it’s fitting that there are many ways to go about finding the right person for open roles. Social recruiting, job board outreach, reviewing applications, and networking events are just some of the ways to go about finding external candidates. But looking inward is another way to bulk up your hiring efforts. Now we’re not just talking about internal promotions, but also about leveraging your existing talent in another way. Your employees’ personal connections can make for a great resource.

The competitiveness of today’s candidate-driven hiring market is not looking like it will let up in 2020. HR professionals’ recruiting efforts have become an increasingly influential component when it comes to properly staffing a business, especially in niche fields that require specific expertise and credentials. A simple job post on a career page or LinkedIn listing is not going to cut it. 

Recruiting employees is only half the battle for HR professionals and recruiters in today’s hiring landscape. Retaining employees has become an increasingly difficult challenge in recent years. According to CareerArc’s EMBARC Pulse Survey, 43% of HR professionals report more difficulty retaining talent than in years past. And employee retention is sure to continue being a challenge that businesses will face in the year ahead.

Talent is Evolving, Are You? Time for a Staff Retention Mindset

Technology and culture changes all the time, and you need to be on top of new techniques and tactics in order to stay relevant in the human resources industry. But how often do you look at your approach to different issues including staff retention?

Millennials, a generation that the Pew Research Center defines as those born between 1981 and 1996, have been characterized both negatively and positively in the press. Regardless of what you might think of them, millennials are here to stay and quickly shaping the future of work . The time is now to start thinking about how to properly attract, recruit, and retain this powerful demographic.

There is a misconception that HR and recruiting professionals’ jobs are done when new hires accept an offer. Today, it’s not simply enough to attract and hire potential candidates—you must also make that employee feel welcome long past day one by building their morale over time and retaining them as top talent. While the new employee’s team and manager will show them the ways of their direct responsibilities, there are other components to onboarding that fall outside of day-to-day duties. Overlooking opportunities for team building within an employee’s first few weeks could result in an early exit. And outside of not wanting to lose a new hire before they can reach their full potential, hiring new talent is more costly—in time and money—than retaining existing employees.