How stable is your organization’s workforce? In the big picture, it depends on the industry you’re in, but down on the ground, it really depends on how you as the leader choose to run your business. Are you an employer that has the people practices or workplace culture in place that fosters the retention of your best and brightest employees? In this work environment, there’s less turnover, improved productivity, improved customer service, and improved bottom-line results.
According to the Workforce Stability Institute, a not-for-profit organization, the ability to maintain a consistent workforce gives an organization a competitive advantage in today’s turbulent employment environment. Building a stable workforce takes considerably more effort than just throwing money at people or giving them use of a fancy car. There’s more involved than aggressive recruiting or attention to retention. To achieve workforce stability, employers must invest energy in resources through a series of strategies such as:
• Understanding the context of the employment environment in your industry, economic trends, corporate structure evolution, the labor force of the present and future, and workplace design issues.
• Planning for future staffing needs by forecasting what the labor needs will be—not only in terms of the size of the workforce, but also the skills and abilities needed to serve the needs of the business in the future.
• Using your company brand as a recruiting tool. Marketing techniques that have been successful to attract customers have been shown to be effective in attracting prospective employees.
• Making good hiring decisions by using proven techniques that work such as conducting behavioral interviews. These types of interviews assist the interviewer in gaining a deeper understanding of the applicant’s skills, abilities, and how they respond or behave when given a scenario-based question about their past experiences. Using various kinds of assessments, applicants are scientifically evaluated to determine their competency, capacity, and potential for success in entry-level positions, as well as roles the new employee might play during long-term employment with the company.
• Having strong orientation and training programs targeted to professional growth. Research shows a significant correlation between the amount of time spent in focused employee orientation and the length of the employee’s tenure. As for training, even on the first day on the job, the new employee is measuring opportunities for growth. Employees need a sense of what their growth opportunities really are.
• Building ownership. When employees describe the company using possessive adjectives, workforce stability will be much stronger. To build the “our company” environment and attitude, employers must get their people engaged in the organization’s mission, goals, work, and results.
There are many more strategies that can and should be incorporated into the goal of achieving a stabilized workforce. By being an employer who retains the best and brightest, you’ll be better insulated from the impending workforce shortage that will certainly take its toll on the employer community. IBI