Employees leave their jobs for a number of reasons, including bad bosses, toxic cultures, lack of appreciation, and limited growth opportunities. They also leave due to low or stagnant wages. In fact, research is showing that for many people, job hopping is the best way to get an increase in salary.

But surely your employees aren’t looking for work… or are they?

A few quick facts from Jobvite:

  • 45% of workers will jump ship for a new job— even if they are happy in their current position
  • Money is still the number one factor in the decision to leave or accept a position
  • Many employed job seekers admitted to searching for new positions during their commute (38%), on the job (30%) and even in the bathroom (18%)

In this environment, employers have to work harder than ever to find, hire, and hang on to good people. In other words, it’s time to get serious about effective employee recruitment, engagement, and retention.

Here are a few things you can do to get started.

1.) Try your own hiring process

It’s time to put on your job seeker hat and get rid of any painful, outdated, and inefficient hiring practices. According to Career Builder, only 31% of employers have applied to one of their company’s open positions to see what the process is like.

Are you dragging an admin candidate through 4 interviews? Taking way too long to move people through the process? Sitting around waiting for that handwritten thank you note before you make an offer?

Of course, you need to evaluate your applicants for certain qualities, but guess what? They’re evaluating you, too. If your hiring process doesn’t add up, they’ll scratch you off their lists.

2.) Create compelling job descriptions and postings

Very few outstanding candidates will get excited about an extensive laundry list of tasks and a bunch of corporate jargon.

If you want someone to be enthusiastic about your position, write the description that targets the kind of person you want to hire, then create an exciting job posting to go with it.

Looking for an editor? Ask interested applicants to re-write the actual posting. Looking for a salesperson? Ask them to sell you on why they should get a call back.

3.) Raise the compensation bar

We’ve already established that money is still a primary motivator for job seekers. In fact, 74% of Career Builder survey respondents said they expect to see salary information in a job posting, and 61% expect to see information on total benefits.

The days of being able to secure great talent under market value are over and playing cat and mouse games around salary won’t make you the desired employer option. If you don’t want to get cut from your candidate’s list of top picks, you need to do your research on compensation, offer attractive packages, and talk salary from the get-go.

4.) Build an employee-friendly culture

Yes, money matters. But great employee benefit plans, flexible work schedules, and generous paid time off programs can also be difference makers.

Today’s job seekers care about company values and culture. Employees want to work for an organization that values them as people and not just units of production.

Approximately one-third of today’s applicants want to see something about work-at-home options and the company’s approach to work/life balance in the actual job listing. That’s huge. And, with 50% of employed job seekers viewing their current positions as temporary, it’s safe to assume that they also care about career advancement and development.

Build these things into your culture and talk about them as early as possible. If your future employees see exciting career options from the start, they’re more likely to look to you rather than someone else for that next big move.

Think big picture

Want to position yourself to be an employer of choice? Pay close attention to your organization’s values, processes, and culture. Some questions to ask include:

  • Do your leaders demonstrate core company values and vision?
  • Is your company attracting a talented and diverse candidate pool?
  • Are your current employees engaged and excited about working for you?
  • Do you offer career mentoring and professional development opportunities?
  • Are you empowering your team and giving them the tools they need to succeed?
  • Do you pay your staff what they’re worth and recognize them when they do great things?
  • Are you remembering to have some fun on a regular basis?

These are the kinds of things today’s employees are looking for. If you’re not there yet, it’s time to get started.

Lead by example and build an organization that attracts talent rather than sends it running. Hire for substance and cultural fit and promote from within whenever possible. Your employees will benefit and so will you.

Really Great Employee Benefits is your source for HR trends, information and compliance. We can assist you with job recruitment, job descriptions, and compensation studies. Please contact Brent Yarkin, a SHRM Certified Professional and RGEB’s HR Services Team Lead, with questions on how to improve your business’s people operations processes at 818-444-7722 or brent@rgeb4u.com.

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