Navigating the Current Landscape: Admin and Office Support Recruitment in Today’s Climate
27th November 2023
Many companies are so used to high staff turnover that it has just become the norm – and to some degree, that will always be the case. Too many industries will just never learn to appreciate and properly value their employees, no matter how many benefits they learn about.
But the fact remains that employee turnover negatively impacts the majority of businesses, especially if that turnover is frequent.
Here are a few reasons why keeping those staff happily in your business is so important.
Firstly, every time a member of your team leaves, you lose a lot. You lose not only the person who knows your business inside and out, who you can rely upon to do their job correctly, with little-to-no-need to monitor their performance, and who can probably fill in for any number of other team members during periods of absence, but you are also losing the time you invested in them, the training they went through, and the costs that went into all of that.
Secondly, losing team members also tends to encourage others to jump ship, too. After all, if Sandra finds that the grass is greener on the other side, why won’t Mike? Mike may very well be tempted to at least find out if it’s true for him, too.
Thirdly, and similarly, when employees leave, others often lose a friend in the workplace which can be really disheartening. Hopefully your team members enjoy their job on its own merit, but many people simply get by in a much better mood at work due to getting on with the other workers there. When a popular team member leaves, that can leave a dent in morale.
Finally, on a less likely but still important note, outsiders will notice if they are always dealing with someone different at your company, and they will make conclusions based on that fact. Businesses that can’t keep anyone longer than six months don’t look good, not only in terms of how they must treat their employees, but there could easily be an inference that there may be poor quality everything behind the scenes. This may lead to a drop in business.
There could be many reasons for high turnover in a workplace but essentially, these reasons can typically be boiled down to:
Occasionally you may get someone who has decided on a complete career change, or wants to move to Australia, or maybe will be going on maternity leave and as yet has no plans to return – and these types of reasons for leaving are out of your control.
The best thing you can do is look at the reasons that are in your control and try to mitigate them where possible to help retain the other team members, whose reasons for leaving could be negotiated against.
Can you pay more? Can you cut back hours? Can you move schedules around? Can you address poor behaviour coming from one employee to another?
Finally, if you’d like to increase your changes of retaining those new staff members who are to replace the ones who have left:
Hire strategically – ask interview candidates about their dream job, work out the career trajectory they’re on, try and guess if they are the type of person who will voice frustrations before handing in their notice. If you know what type of team member you’re hiring upfront, you’ll be able to communicate with them far more easily about any challenges they may be having in your business.
Incorporate feedback – when team members complain, do listen. If one of your team is struggling with fatigue lately, take note and ask them if they’re okay – they may be dealing with illness or have something else going on that is impacting their ability to rest and recharge. If an employee tells you that they are being harassed, record the report and treat it seriously. If a worker tells you that your communication style is off-putting and intimidating, take the honesty in your stride and see if you can make changes.
Use exit interviews to your advantage – employees bare their soul in exit interviews. They let out all the problems they’ve faced, all the resentments they’ve built up, and all the little things that you ignored because they were little (but they weren’t so little to your team member who is now leaving!). Listen to everything they have to say. This will help you to see patterns in the business that can easily be changed, and perhaps save another future team member from leaving too soon.
It’s always hard to lose a team member, and even harder to replace them. Fortunately, that’s where we come in. For help and advice on recruiting the best candidates, and keeping them, drop us a line today. We’ll be glad to help!
27th November 2023
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