Recruitment, retention and results
Justina Williams from e-volve consulting writes about how businesses can benefit from The Three R’s.
Looking at most financial services businesses we can identify one main asset, an asset which adds more value than any other – Human Capital. Our people are the main asset, because our business is primarily about communication. Effective communication relies on intuitive interaction between at least two people, a skill which can’t be carried out by any machine.
Even in the current difficult climate people are a scarce resource. Like any business which makes use of scarce resources, the process of locating, extracting, protecting and utilising the resource is key to business success.
How can planning and advice businesses make the most of their scarce resource – People?
I am sure there are academics who could write a book on this subject, but I am not an academic! As a recruitment consultant and business manager I would rather be a little more practical, drawing some answers and some questions from my experiences. These include discussions with hundreds of people about their careers, their aspirations, their reasons for leaving and joining.
This experience has helped me to see a new rule – The Three R’s.
The First R - Recruitment
If people are, as I suggest the most valuable asset, it makes sense that success in attracting the best people will be a substantial contributor to overall business success. Sounds easy, but of course it’s not!
I don’t have a blueprint for success, but I do have some common sense ideas from the real world to consider.
To attract the best people, businesses need to communicate their proposition to potential team members effectively. Whether you choose to advertise, engage a recruitment consultant or hire via word of mouth there are some basic rules to adhere to.
1. Businesses should describe the role to be filled - the aims, the tasks involved and the results required. This should be documented in writing in a comprehensive job specification. The job-spec should be circulated to any professional advisers engaged in your recruitment process and should be available to potential recruits.
2. There must also be a clear, concise person specification which should be closely linked to the role the individual will be required to fill. This might sound obvious, but I am regularly surprised by the number of businesses which do not fulfil this basic requirement. I would also suggest that this specification should be documented in writing, as we all have a habit of forgetting them.
3. Make sure that all communication is honest and the use of ‘spin’ is minimalised. I will explain why in the section relating to Retention.
4. Deliver your message positively with enthusiasm, energy and vigour.
5. Develop a brand. You don’t need to be a big business to have a brand; you just need to consistently reinforce who you are and what you stand for. Your brand should be internal and external and communicated via all media used. Your people need to believe in your brand as much as your customers. Brand is about depth of message and a strong brand will help convince people to join your team if they believe in your brand too. New team members will be attracted by a brand which communicates the things they want from a new employer. Things like, honesty, team work, empowerment, progression, development and success. Give the candidate the opportunity to test your business and whether you can deliver on the things the candidate needs.
6. Develop a selection process which tests the candidate’s skills, knowledge and fit. The process could include interviews, tests, role play and informal meetings with the team. It is imperative that you check the fit of the individual during this process. As a people business, we rely on relationships and successful relationships rely on all individuals walking along parallel paths. When interviewing a number of candidates the process must be consistent, with clear measures of success and the results must be recorded in writing.
7. Concentrate on success. An individual, who has demonstrated success in the past, is far more likely to demonstrate success in the future.
8. Communicate and evidence an attractive rewards package. Just as you are looking for the candidate to demonstrate their ability to be successful and deliver their side of the agreement, they are looking for evidence of delivery from their prospective employer. Promises are far more plausible when they have been delivered before.
9. Keep communicating regularly during the interview process, offer period and after acceptance, thus demonstrating your commitment to openness. This will also reduce the time you waste when candidates accept counter offers from existing employers or competitors.
10. Never make promises you can’t keep.
The Second R - Retention
How much does it cost to recruit a successful person to your team? There are the recruitment fees, advertising costs, salary whilst they get their feet under the table, time during recruitment and time during training.
How much does it cost when you lose someone? Lost productivity, salary whilst on notice, increased risk of client dissatisfaction, HR time, replacement recruitment costs and brand devaluation.
How much time does your business spend considering how best to retain your team compared to recruiting them?
If your recruitment process is honest, your retention methods will be second nature, as they are directly linked to the way you select your team members and how they select your business.
1. To retain your team the first step is to understand what they want from their lives and in particular their career. This should have been done during the selection process and you should have managed expectations at this stage. You must ensure that you, your business and your new team member are walking parallel paths at the outset and continue to do so over time.
2. Regularly communicate what is required from the role and the individual, agreeing changes where appropriate.
3. Regularly appraise performance; this does not need to be via a formal process although there may be advantages to a formal approach. Ensure appraisals are at least 2 way and ideally 360 degree. 360 degree appraisals involve all relationships in the business, suppliers, team members, managers and other departments. Ensure appraisals are entirely objective and performance is measured against agreed benchmarks. The performance measures must be closely related to the job specification. Do not underestimate the value of an effective appraisal process.
4. Support personal development enthusiastically where linked to achievement of business goals. Take time to understand personal development requests that are not linked to business goals.
5. Empower individuals to make their own decisions. Stretching goals can be agreed together, but allow individuals to work towards goals in their own way wherever possible. This will foster innovation and self fulfilment. Many people leave their current roles because they have insufficient control of how to achieve results.
6. Ensure reward and recognition programmes are fair but more importantly transparent. Bonus structures should be directly linked to performance. Discretionary bonuses not linked to performance, can at best be short term motivation boost and at worst be the reason why a team member leaves. Performance related bonuses put the individual in control of their remuneration and offer a much longer term means of motivation. They are less likely to become expected or treated as part of salary. Keep communicating how bonuses are decided.
7. Ensure promotion/salary increase is based exclusively on competence and performance.
8. Involve the team in key decisions, if not all decisions and delegate key decisions, wherever possible. Rarely if ever overturn a decision made by someone in your team.
9. Celebrate individual and team success at every opportunity.
10. Never make promises you can’t keep. If you are successful in recruiting the best team and retaining them over the longer term you and your business will undoubtedly be rewarded with better results. These results will be delivered from lower costs, higher productivity and a stronger brand image. It is more likely that your clients will be retained, your business will be worth more and more management time can be devoted to improving your service to clients. This is the Third R – Results.