How to Attract, Hire & Retain Hourly Employees

There’s a labour shortage happening across our trusty neighbour, the USA. In fact, various countries around the world are experiencing the same thing. As businesses begin ramping back up post-Covid, there are spots to fill – and, seemingly, no bodies to fill them.

It puts one talent marketplace in a particularly strong position: hourly employees.

It’s never been more important to figure out how to attract, hire and retain hourly employees. This contingent accounts for some of the most business-critical positions in the manufacturing world, where we specialize. They’re a labour force to be reckoned with.

Here are our top tips for how to attract, hire and retain hourly employees.

FLEXIBILITY

Much like the traditional 9-5 has been disrupted in the corporate world, hourly labourers are more often than not looking for that same level of flexibility in 2021 and beyond. Work-life balance is important for all.

Consider adding various levels of flexibility to their work. This could look like new shift patterns with more variations to suit different lifestyles; it might also look like more autonomy in the job itself and how the work gets done. It could be that you offer longer shifts but fewer working days per week.

However you look at it, flexibility in the role is going to attract the attention of this demographic, and fast.

DEVELOPMENT

Hourly employees may not want to be so forever. And if they do, that’s fine – but there should be some scope for development. As we mentioned earlier, these candidates fill some pretty critical roles. Incentivize your people by showing them that there’s further to go, more to learn, paths to travel, in terms of their development within your business.

RECOGNITION

Need we say it again? Hourly employees (particularly in a manufacturing environment) can make or break a solid operation. So, give them the recognition they deserve.

We talk a lot about employee engagement and how positively it can be affected by recognition, but many assume this only pertains to permanent full-time employees. That’s simply not the case. Show recognition and appreciation for the work being carried out by your hourly employees, and watch as they become even stronger team players, with your mutual company objectives at the forefront.

INCLUSION

To that point, these people are also a huge part of your workforce, meaning they contribute to the company culture too. Be sure to include your hourly employees in all aspects of building company culture. Get them involved in team building activities, social events and important meetings. Ensure they feel that they’re part of the team, not just a subset of talent to be called upon when needed.

By building an environment which is completely inclusive of employees of all statuses, you’ll keep hold of them for longer. An inclusive culture is a more positive, high-performing one.

FEEDBACK

Our final tip on how to attract, hire and retain hourly employees is a simple one. Find out what you’re doing well; what people love about working for you; what you could be doing better. Ask your employees for feedback at all angles. Consider the following questions:

• How was the recruitment process? What could be improved?
• How was your onboarding experience?
• How do you/did you feel working for our business on an hourly basis?
• How included did you feel as a part of our team?
• What would you say we could do better as an employer?

Conducting entrance and exit interviews is a whole article for another day. But, when it comes to hourly employees, where turnover is often (and inevitably) fairly high, there’s a lot of information for you to pull from. Asking for feedback each step of the way is going to help you hire better, more efficiently, and make your proposition as an employer a competitive one all-round.

Do you have hourly roles you need filled? It’s just one facet of our staffing expertise, and we’d love to tell you more about recruiting with NLG. Get in touch with the team today.