Stay Strategies to Curb Regrettable Loss of New Talents

Regrettable loss of new talents brings headache and heartache. Replacing new talents can cause damage in the realm of up to two times the annual salary. Berntha and Wellins (9 Sept. 2015) in a 2001 study Retaining Talent: A Benchmarking Study reported that the “cost of replacing one employee ranges from 29 to 46 percent of the person’s salary” (page. 20). More so, manpower shortage in an industry thirsting for a constant flow of talents is aggravated by poaching from competitors. Even CareerBuilder Survey (2014) revealed that 45% of college graduates will stay at a job for two years or less, and that “by age 35, a quarter of workers will have held five jobs or more” 

Reasons for new talents to leave your fresh greener pasture are listed in a research by Budhwar, Varma , Malhotra,and Mukherjee (2009) for turnover of frontline staff in call centres. A 25-year-old in his third job within a short few months narrated that he “kept getting better pay” (p.8), which is amongst “good job market, good pay, world class working conditions, knowing someone who already works in the business, and a well-known brand name” (page.10). Onboarding survey by Fica (October 3. 2018) (2018 ) discovered “the top three reasons employees left within the first six months of a new job” were:

• They decided the work was something they didn’t want to do anymore. (28 percent)
• They felt their jobs were different from what they expected in the interview. (26 percent)
• They felt their boss was a jerk. (23 percent)

Regardless of the rationale behind new talents jumping ship early after a rousing on-boarding program ended, you can depend on a combination of several evergreen Stay Strategies grounded in common human development practices.

Strategy 1: Transparent Hiring 

Prevention is better than cure is the same for minimizing premature resignation of new talents. Start promoting a vacancy with an accurate job description to help potential candidates to self-assess suitability before sending application. Attract the right candidates with mentioned of job requirements and performance standards when advertising the position. Serving as pre-screening mechanism during courting a prospective new talent, applicants know about the right expectations at the start of the recruitment process. Sharing of functional goals lets the new talent sign-on with eyes wide open and thus, lessening disappointment syndrome afterwards. Recruiter and interviewers can tell about realities of working and life in the organization to candidates. Candidates appreciate the candor . You also have higher chances of getting rightful new talents to come in.

Strategy 2: Developmental Interviewing

During the interviewing stage, candidate are eager to know about career development and progression in your organization. Let candidate sample the possible career pathways related to the position. Help potential new talents to figure out the way of working in your organization that supports their career pathing as staff members. Data from a study by Rousseau (1990) noted that emphasizing contractual relationship based on investment in employee development and internal promotion brings loyalty and long-term contribution. Known for lesser commitment in the long run after new talents start work, is relying on higher wages and extrinsic rewards to drive effort and performance. Clearly lay out these two roots of personnel practices in recruitment process to explain the employment relationship. Once the most impressive candidates are selected, it is time for your organization to impress the new talent in return by timely follow up of recruitment administration.

Strategy 3: Pre-onboarding Support

Upon selection, act fast to “Strike while the iron is hot” because speed may save you losing the new talent to counter offer by existing employer. No employer can sit still when a significant contributor is hired by a competitor. Your hiring have proven the new talents’ worth in the market. Avoid losing a new talent if he or she experiences lateness in receiving offer letters or being passed around to answer their questions. Far from sideline recruitment activities after concluding selection interview, professionalism in the pre-boarding stage can further etch a favourable impression with timely issuance of offer letters, handling administrative paperwork, and answering lingering concerns about new workplace. Rushing out the pre-employment paperwork and attending to queries immediately from new talents do not mean you are out of the woods yet. As with “Proof is in the pudding”, the employer’s brand promise sold during the interview has to match with new talents' expectations on the first day at work.  Action is louder than words!

Strategy 4: Ramp-up On-boarding

Elevate the pleasant experience for the first day on the job with a structured on-boarding program to ease them into the organization’s ecosystem and processes. Engaging on-boarding experience lowers the risk of losing new talents within the 90 days after commencing work. Consider the findings from Fica (October 3. 2018) on 1000 workers in America; whereby 3 out of 10 new hires are bound to leave a job within the first six month, while up to 6 new hires depart within 3 months. Working within the 3 months threshold of risking new talents leaving, introduce a 90-days’ check in mechanism popularized by Watkins, M.D. (2014) for the first three months upon commencement in your organization. An extra assistance from another experience team member or peer does not dissappoint!

Strategy 5: On-boarding Buddy

Serving as a dependable temporary crutch, on-boarding buddies help new talents to navigate the exciting and stressful time in a new office. On-boarding buddies is a team effort extending essential knowledge gained from an on-boarding briefing coupled with a handbook to the new talents’ actual workplace setting. Well-trained on-boarding buddies support new talents to learn the seen and unseen conventions in dealing with people, tasks, and surroundings. Transition into a new role requires new talents to adopt a fresh working culture and different workplace environment. From learning about basic computer operating system to extensive menu in the cafeteria, buddies brings a sense and sensibility of team belonging to new talents to stay. Go beyond the usual on-boarding agenda about familiarizing with internal business units and related services. Consider findings published in a recent Harvard Business Review article by Klinghoffer, D., Young, C. and Haspason, D. (2019)) about a broader role of on-boarding buddy in supporting new talents to contribute “positive and productive first few months on the job.” If all else fails, the last resort comes in.

Strategy 6: Counter Offer 

Even after a robust on-boarding program rousing the motivation of new talent, new talents are still exposed to accepting competitive offers. Immediate tit-for-tat counter offer is tempting, even when appears like a childhood tussle for a toy (i.e. new talent). Often, you may be forced to employ a counter offer that stops the pipe from leaking more wasteful water (i.e. attrition rate). Let the new talent chew on extra carrot given within the means of amount allowed. Be aware that prescribing a monetary gain antidote is a very short term measure to arrest the new talent to stay. An articles by Tuohy’s (2018) noted through anecdotal observation that talents staying with a counter offer tend to “ leave anyway within six to 24 months!”. So, quickly follow up with medium and longer term retention strategies because large scale surveys indicated that higher pay do address attrition, only for short term. Nearly 6 out of 10 respondents survey participated organized by HRM Guide (June 9, 2010) 584 working Americans admitted to staying in existing position if they felt appreciated while prioritizing compensation and benefit. The study reminds of loyalty cannot be bought because retention of talents seeks alternative solutions based on improved communication and empowering performance. Famoulsy, Spiderman's uncle advises him to manage Power that comes with Great Responsibilities.

Strategy 7: Skills Development

Encourage new talents to brush up relevant skills to enhance on-boarding experience.Offer a blend of training events to add variety with formal classes and a mix of online courses as well as on-the job guidance. Quickly assign an experienced workplace coach to bring new talents up to speed. Developing skills while contributing productively motivates new talents to appreciate their new workplace and job. Organization wins because new talents are producing output during on job training in the real world environment.them. Regardless of a new talent’s prior knowledge and skills level, it is better to err on the side of caution when handling risk of failure because no similar jobs are the same. Do not be surprised that seasoned professionals may undergo a steep learning curve to orientate with organizational culture, routine tasks, existing workflows, and operational processes. Good management practice always recommends on-boarding budget to estimate training cost for specific functional and general skills development that can vary.

Strategy 8: Check-in Collaboration

Extending on-boarding support “throughout an employee’s first year helps employees become more productive, feel comfortable in their work environment, learn where to go when they have questions, adapt to the company culture, and build better employee relationships” wrote Sudakow (2017) because up to 60% new talents give up within 12 months in a new job. Consider the long-term study published by Kammeyer-Mueller, Wanberg, Rubenstein, and Song (2013) that cautioned about the lasting effects of positive and negative interaction on a new talent’s attitude and performance after the 90 days are up. Hence, be prepared even when no storms are expected on the horizon.

In summary of addressing new talents quitting when the market recognizes their talents, stay strategies should start at employer’s branding stage until getting them up to speed in doing tasks at hand. Begin by working with them on personal effectiveness to gain abilities and grow confidence in discharging their duties and responsibilities. Once early work progress is stabilized, new talents are glad to accelerate their personal ambitions and career aspirations. 

References

Berntha, P.R., and Wellins, R. S. (9 Sept. 2015.). Ddiworld.com. Retrieved from https://www.ddiworld.com/ddi/media/trend-research/retainingtalentabenchmarkingstudy_fullreport_ddi.pdf

Careerbuilder (2014). Nearly One-Third of Employers Expect Workers to Job-Hop - CareerBuilder. Careerbuilder.com. Retrieved from https://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?ed=12%2F31%2F2014&id=pr824&sd=5%2F15%2F2014

Fica, T. (October 3. 2018.). What People Really Want from Onboarding [Infographic] - BambooHR. Bamboohr.com. Retrieved from https://www.bamboohr.com/blog/onboarding-infographic/

HRM Guide (June 9, 2010). Loyalty and Employee Retention. Hrmguide.com. Retrieved from https://www.hrmguide.com/commitment/buying_loyalty.htm

Kammeyer-Mueller, J., Wanberg, C., Rubenstein, A., & Song, Z. (2013). Support, undermining, and newcomer socialization: Fitting in during the first 90 days. Academy of Management Journal, 56(4), 1104-1124.

Klinghoffer, D., Young, C. & Haspason, D.(June 6. 2019.). Every New Employee Needs an Onboarding “Buddy”. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2019/06/every-new-employee-needs-an-onboarding-buddy

Mukherjee, A., Malhotra, N., Budhwar, P. S., & Varma, A. (2009). Insights into the Indian call centre industry: can internal marketing help tackle high employee turnover?. Journal of services marketing.

Rousseau, D. M. (1990). New hire perceptions of their own and their employer's obligations: A study of psychological contracts. Journal of organizational behavior, 11(5), 389-400. Page 399

Sudakow. J. (October 18. 2017.). This Is Why Good Employees Resign Within Their First Year (And What You Can Do About. Inc.com. Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/james-sudakow/this-is-real-reason-why-good-employees-resign-within-their-first-year-what-you-can-do-about-it.html

Tuohy’s (2018). Nearly One-Third of Employers Expect Workers to Job-Hop - CareerBuilder. Careerbuilder.com. Retrieved from https://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?ed=12%2F31%2F2014&id=pr824&sd=5%2F15%2F2014

Watkins, M.D. (April 6, 2014.). The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, Updated and Expanded: Michael D. Watkins: 8601200550153: Amazon.com: Books. Amazon.com. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/First-90-Days-Strategies-Expanded/dp/1422188612

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