Recruiter Tip: Take Notice, Before They Give Notice

If you’re surprised your A-Player is leaving, that’s your fault!

Employers miss the strongest weapon in their arsenal against employee turnover… Communication! Quality communication goes beyond annual reviews and occasional check-ins. Big box retailers, large tech companies, and government agencies are keeping their fingers on the pulse of their team’s individual goals, as well as the changing marketplace. Here are the tips our exec search team recommends.

SCHEDULE REGULAR CAREER CONVERSATIONS

The war for talent is raging and employers must be willing to adapt their strategies to keep their employees from going AWOL. Scheduling regular career conversations give you the opportunity to check-in and assess how they are feeling about their job, discuss career aspirations and how you can support them, and inquire if there are other ways they’d like to engage with the organization outside the scope of their current role.

ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR FUTURE PLANS FOR GROWTH

The old saying is true, “People don’t leave jobs, they leave managers.” Our exec search team has seen this over and over in their 80 combined years in practice. What is it that makes a manager the catalyst for a job change? A lack of investment and interest in their employees’ professional future. While their career may have been following a specific trajectory when an employee joined the organization, it is likely that trajectory or the end result has changed. Communicating regularly with your employees to determine their career aspirations and providing avenues and opportunities for them to reach those goals, will go a long way toward retaining the employees you worked hard to hire and train.

MAP OUT A SPECIFIC TIMELINE FOR UPWARD GROWTH

Now that you’ve learned where your employee is heading, it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty. Succession is sometimes a game of Tetris – one piece has to move before there’s space for another to slide in. When you have a broad view of your employees’ mobility plans, you can create a timeline and pathway for them to move. This is why it is key to have career conversations with all employees, not just those at the top. Employees don’t want promises of growth. They want to see a timeline and action plan of when and how it’s going to happen.

PROVIDE TRAINING AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT

You will have employees who do not aspire to move up the chain but have a desire to grow and expand within their current department and role. Give them the autonomy to search out training and education to support that desire. Budgeting funds, approving out-of-office time, and providing mentoring opportunities send a strong message to your team: I support your desire for growth.

REVISIT COMPENSATION TO ENSURE MARKET VALUE

This one can be tougher for employers to swallow, as it will cost the organization more than just time and a few resources. But in a hiring market, like we’re experiencing today, employees have options and many of them are talking to exec search recruiters. While compensation isn’t the driving force behind a job change, a 25-50% increase in pay will definitely sway an employee considering making the switch. (Yes, that’s what many companies are offering!) Prioritizing compensation research to ensure you’re staying competitive is imperative. It’s easy to get stuck in a compensation rut and miss out on attracting new talent, as well, as lose the talent you already have.?Check out?“Exec Search Tips for a Tight Labor Market” for ideas.?

CONSIDER NEW IDEAS AND BE FLEXIBLE

The word for the day (or last few years) is: Pivot! Organizations were forced to change things up in more ways than one. Scheduling and office time saw the most change and employees are not willing to return to the old status quo. Consider new ideas for scheduling and in-office requirements. Our exec search team will tell you that flexible scheduling and the opportunity for remote work is what sent many employees packing and drew them to their new jobs. Be willing to compromise and get creative with work-from-home options including specified weekly meeting days, rotating in-office time, limiting travel expectations, and?other hybrid options.

The best advice we can give you as exec search experts is: Take Notice before they give notice!