Are you at risk of losing your new employee?

With the job market the way it has been for the last few years we have all heard over and over again how hard it has been, and still is in the majority of sectors, to find great talent. Although the market has slowed slightly with the downturn in the economy, finding great talent still isn’t easy and great talent is still in high demand. If you’ve recently been recruiting this means you could be at risk of losing your new hire!

You’ve run your recruitment campaign, you’ve been timely with the process, you have provided a positive candidate experience, have made an offer of employment and exchanged contracts. A great outcome you are thinking as you now wait out the new hire’s notice period. However now is not the time to rest on your laurels. I’m hearing quite a bit from employers that they have made offers of employment and think they have their vacancy filled only to lose their new hire during the notice period, or even early in the first few weeks of the new hire starting.

We know it’s a candidate short market and chances are the candidate you have just made a job offer to is in high demand. They will have likely applied for multiple positions when they were applying for your role and whilst you might have moved through your recruitment campaign swiftly, it’s highly likely that your new hire is getting calls from other employers who are hiring, either because they applied for a role with that business or they are being headhunted. Hence, whilst the recruiting part might be done, it’s time to stick close to your new hire and make them feel like a part of your business and a part of the team before they even commence. It’s common for your new hire to have a notice period, which might be around the 4 week mark, then if they want a break in between it’s easy for that notice period to stretch out to 5 to 6 weeks, and we know a lot can happen in that time. People can be enticed by other opportunities, even counter offers from their current employer, if you’ve made the job offer and then there has been radio silence, you are much more at risk of losing your new hire.

Throughout the recruitment campaign your new hire might have been in communication with you every couple of days as you booked the interview, conducted the interview, provided feedback, set up a second interview, met with them again, liaised with them regarding referee details etc. There are lots of touch points. Often once we make the offer of employment and then have a signed contract we simply wait out the notice period and forget that this period is critical for engaging our new hire.

While you might think that if someone has signed a contract and accepted your job offer that morally and ethically they should not be exploring other opportunities – the reality is that other employers are doing everything in their power to woo your new hire. Your new hire might end up feeling torn between opportunities but at the end of the day they need to do what is right for them. The more you can build the relationship and onboard them in to your business during that notice period the better.

Here’s some ideas for how you can stick close to your new hire during their notice period and help integrate them to feel part of your business:

• If you are the hiring manager or the recruiter and have been doing the majority of the liaising, have the new hire’s direct manager, or the GM or CEO or someone from the leadership team, reach out to your new hire via telephone and welcome them to the team. Make sure the person calling knows a little about the new hire’s background or a hobby or interest to show genuine interest and be able to make conversation. This will help your new hire feel excited about starting with the business, leave them feeling valued and welcomed.
• Send them out some of your new hire paperwork. They don’t necessarily have to complete the paper work or read the info prior, of course they can if they choose to however this is a reason for another touch point. It might be forms for the bank account details, superannuation fund, tax declaration etc. Or maybe you have an employee handbook or some policies or company info or video that might help them learn more about the business and the role.
• Have a coffee catch up during the notice period, take them through your first 30 and/or 90 day plan for their role, share some more insights in to the role and the team, simply build the relationship and get to know your new hire. You can get their input and again leave them feeling excited, positive and valued.
• If you have a buddy program, have the buddy reach out and introduce themselves. They could have a coffee catch up or simply a phone conversation.
• If you are announcing the appointment of the new hire to their team and/or the whole business via email, copy in the new hire on their personal email address (blind cc them in as you don’t want to share their personal email address), this lets them see what you have shared about them and should have a positive spin. You can have had a conversation with the new hire about what to include in this email.
• Reach out to confirm details for log ins and the set up of accounts, for example maybe they shorten their name or go by a different name so what would they like their email address to be? Alternatively, you can have IT reach out which gives them another touchpoint from someone else in the business.
• Contact your new hire a couple of days or the day before their first day. It’s likely they are a little nervous and will have some questions which seem simple however it’s the little things that make the big difference; who should they ask for when they arrive, where should they park, what should they wear, what kitchen facilities do you have if they want to bring their lunch or do you have plans for their first lunch, maybe you are taking them out for lunch!

Doing all these suggestions will depend on how long the notice period is. It’s a fine line between annoying your new hire every day as they still have their old job to do while they are working out their notice period versus not having communication with them at all. Anything you can do to keep them excited and engaged, feeling welcomed and valued within your business and that they have made the right decision choosing your business will help you keep your new hire when other employers come knocking during this period.