Number one: know who you want to keep
Just because you want to retain talent, doesn’t mean you have to hold onto everyone. Some people are meant to leave your business. Some people just aren’t right for your company. Before you even start implementing process and shiny toys to get them to stay, take a look at what you’re about as an agency. What’s important to you, what values do you live by and what do you look for in people? Once you have those answers, you’ll have identified who your people are, and then you start working hard to retain them.
Number two: just ask
While you might be filled with incredible ideas for what your people want, remember that you’re not the audience. Take a few minutes to sit down and ask them what they want from their recruitment agency and what would make their world a better place. Because fruit bowls and beanbags might sound great to you, but if no one else cares, it’s just another dead employee perk as opposed to a retention strategy.
Number three: progression always wins
According to a LinkedIn survey, the number one reason people leave jobs is a lack of advancement. Bear in mind that it comes in even before salary. People care more about where they’re going, than what they’re earning now. And regardless of industry or job, that rarely ever changes. Discuss career opportunities with your recruiters. Find out what they want to be doing in future, what gets them out of bed in the morning and what really gets them excited (apart from placements of course). Once you have those conversations, create career plans that are bespoke and give your talent the advancement they’re looking for. This isn’t about generic career paths that everyone follows, it’s about listening to your staff and helping them grow.
Number four: don’t stop interviewing
It seems a little obvious to say this to a bunch of recruiters, but what we mean is don’t stop interviewing your recruiters. Hold retention interviews and create spaces for feedback. We tend to hire recruiters, get them in the door and then forget about them, and that’s when feelings simmer and hostilities build. Regular retention interviews give your talent the opportunity to talk to you, feedback their concerns or goals, and also tells them that you’re engaged in their welfare. It sends the message that you care what they think, and you want to keep them happy. That message in itself is employee retention right there.
Number five: give them all-star treatment
If your recruiters are your billers, they’re the people that bring money into your organisation, therefore they’re pretty important. Treat them as such. Give praise and recognition when great things happen (no matter how small), reward high performance and give them the LeBron treatment. Perks such as flextime and working from home could rise and fall with your consultant’s performance, but let them know that when they perform, they will be rewarded. Perks also include the best technology you can offer that makes their lives easier. For example, Access Recruitment CRM offers offline portals, mobile logins and everything your consultants need to work on the go. Not tying them to the office every time they need to log into your database makes their lives a lot easier.
No one likes to slug away for nothing, no matter how much they love the business.
Number six: promote wisely
One of the biggest mistakes we make in recruitment is promoting consultants because of their billing capabilities. A big biller doesn’t make a great manager, and a bad manager has a detrimental effect on an entire team. That’s a lot of negative seeds to sow. Make sure your consultants know why you promote and your ethos around it, and be completely transparent about the process.
Number seven: make a round of tea (this might be the most important one)
Everyone loves a cuppa, and for some reason, everyone loves it even more when a senior manager makes it. Don’t ask why, it just releases some serious satisfaction vibes. Often people assume the most junior person in the office makes the tea and therefore managers never get landed with the tea round. Make your team some tea because tea makes everyone happy, and that’s an actual fact.
The Growth Playbook Part 1 is available now, packed full of advice for recruitment agencies. Discover how to grow your workforce, brand and tech.