If you had trouble finding and retaining talent this year, you’re not alone. As early as April, researchers predicted that U.S. employee turnover would jump 20% in 2022, and the October jobs report shows that quits remain stubbornly high.
No matter your industry, attracting and retaining top talent is vital to your business. While some turnover is normal, hiring costs increase in a tight labor market, and losing employees can result in all kinds of downstream problems—increased stress for your team members, loss of institutional knowledge, and impacted client service to name just a few.
Keep reading to learn more about the real costs and causes of employee turnover, and strategies you can use to attract and retain top talent in the new year.
Why is it so hard to find good help right now?
There are several reasons why it’s difficult to hire and keep employees in the current economic environment. Of course, we’re still experiencing the aftereffects of a global pandemic, and many workers’ preferences around work-life balance, working from home, and appropriate salaries and benefits have shifted in the wake of COVID-19. But misaligned expectations between workers and employers aren’t the only thing keeping the job market hot.
According to Forbes, retiring workers aren’t being fully replaced by younger entrants into the labor force, and not just in the United States—the E.U., Canada, and Japan are seeing working populations decline as well.
What’s more, technology is evolving at breakneck speeds, and universities are struggling to keep up with the skills required to work in industries like artificial intelligence, robotics, and computer chip manufacturing. The resulting skills gap only increases the costs of replacing an employee, which can add up to twice their salary.
How to Attract and Retain Top Talent
In a job market like this, it’s more important than ever to find the best fits for your openings, and keep them once you find them. Here are some tips to help you with both.
Tip #1: Optimize Your Onboarding
Of course, there are many factors that affect a worker’s decision to stay in their current role. But according to Entrepreneur magazine, “the key component is to establish a belief in each new employee that they can and will be successful and happy in their new role.” To accomplish this, pay special attention to the first impressions of the hiring and training processes.
While urgent openings sometimes require a worker to learn by doing, taking the time to give adequate training—and scheduling regular one-on-one meetings to discuss progress—can go a long way in helping new employees feel that they’re set up for success. As Entrepreneur’s Christopher Allen puts it, “The higher the degree of individualized support in authentic contexts, the greater the connection to role expectations new hires will have once they finish onboarding.”
Tip #2: Boost Your Benefits
Workers have more leverage in the job market right now, which means they’re more free to shop around for robust benefits packages. If you’re a small business owner, you already know how much time and money it takes to offer and administer benefits like insurance, retirement plans, and professional development opportunities. It can be hard to keep up with the bigger players out there.
Luckily, by partnering with a professional employment organization (PEO), you can strengthen your benefits offerings at scale and improve your employee experience. The pros at INVO PEO can even help you administer benefits packages so your team has more time to get things done.
We Can Help
If you feel like you’re always playing catchup in the hiring process, don’t just wait around for things to get better. Start the new year off right by strengthening your benefits package and streamlining your HR workflows so your team has more time to give new hires the support they need. Our dedicated agents are eager to help you accomplish your business goals in 2023. Reach out today to learn more and get started.
