New Year, New Search & Retention Insights

With the Jewish New Year upon us, we thought it was high time we shared some of our insights for what we feel will take the business world to the next level, in the coming months. No, we’re not talking about digitization - this year, future-forward organizations must learn to leverage their most valuable assets: their human capital.?

While we may be hearing all about talent shortages, quiet quitting, and all sorts of reasons to believe that today’s workforce isn’t motivated to perform, the opposite is actually true. After two years of social distancing, employees and executives are looking to connect and partner with people on collaborative work activities. They want seamless, communication-rich work experiences, and they want to feel that they’re making significant contributions to the tasks at hand.?

How can organizations overcome company and cultural barriers, past perceptions, and persistent yet outdated habits to grow - personally and professionally - in the New Year?

It’s simple (if you know how ;).?

Start off by streamlining your search strategy & process

Ask any company across all industries what their greatest fear is. Chances are, they’ll tell you it’s hiring the wrong people; employees or executives whose goals aren’t aligned with those of the organization; those whose CVs don’t accurately reflect their ability to lead and grow the business; those who cost the company in signing bonuses and training periods, as well as in time spent searching for their replacements, when it becomes clear that they aren’t the ideal match.

Traditional search processes were designed to prevent just that: bad hires and turnover. That said, over time, they’ve become overly complicated, are rife with red tape, and create an ominous atmosphere. Moreover, in the current era, where organizations’ operations are as dynamic as the teams that run them, these practices simply don’t help companies achieve their hiring goals, calling into question just how effective they are, at preventing bad hires that lead to high turnover rates (from resignations and dismissals alike), at all.?

It’s time to turn the traditional search paradigm on its head, and encourage the implementation of a simpler, more streamlined, and effective search process that leads to “good hires” and prevents potentially exceptional candidates from slipping through the cracks. This can be done by pairing down the number of interviewers potential hires must meet, and having each interviewer evaluate the candidates based on the same, objective criteria. Implementing a search process game plan and training team members to ensure it’s well-learned, is key. Additionally, it’s important to reward good hiring practices, so as to encourage more of the same, growth-oriented behavior.?

Invest in employee and executive development to encourage retention

In the world of digitization, centralization - bringing all operations together under a single umbrella or platform - is a major advantage. However, when it comes to manpower, decentralization - delegating fields and/or tasks into distinct areas of responsibility to be covered by specific professionals -? is extremely important in helping develop cohesive, collaborative, and invested teams, without any one person shouldering too much of the load. Having different leaders take responsibility for different aspects of your organization’s daily operations, and then delegating them to the right employees who can get the job done right, is key. But it doesn’t stop there.

Retaining the employees and executives you worked so hard to hire involves more than just keeping them productive, yet not overloaded. Organizations’ leaders crave advancement, on personal and professional levels. As such, investing in development and mentorship programs that can help them remain aligned with the organization as it evolves, acquire new skills to meet pressing goals, and add value to their “professional worth” over time, is a major way to keep them happy and on-target, in the New Year. These programs should be impact-oriented and maximally transparent so that each decentralized role can balance paying attention to their task’s details, while enabling continuous alignment with the company’s common language.?

Break barriers to build relationships

This year, make heading back to the office about more than filling cubicles with living, breathing employees. Make it about coming together as a unified, yet decentralized organization of people, and leverage the digital advances made popular during the past few years to increase communication and collaboration - between teams, departments, and even in customer-facing interactions. Lead by example and always remain accountable, so your leaders, across seniority levels, learn to do the same. In doing so, your team members will learn to view each other as assets, turn to one another for consultations and growth opportunities, and continue to develop along with the organization - exactly what you need to succeed.

Need help streamlining your search and development processes in the New Year? The Hunter team is happy to help. Reach out for a consultation >> [email protected]