5 Tips to Win the Battle for Staff Retention in the Post-Covid World

Tip#1: Realise that 100% staff retention is unrealistic

Firstly, let’s deal with a harsh reality - 100% talent retention isn’t realistic, and there will always be some staff turnover in every company. People leave businesses for many reasons, so it’s important that you don’t take talent loss personally.

Instead, it’s more helpful to realise that talent turnover is normal and instead focus on retaining your top performers in the long term. 

Tip#2: Carry out a Retention Risk Assessment

You know that some of your people are more critical to your long-term success than others and, while that may sound a little mercenary, it’s a fact. Within your ranks, you will have key individuals with specific skill sets vital to implementing your plans. 

The question is, what would happen if they left? How much work would need to be redone? How easily could their role be filled by someone else? Carrying out a retention risk assessment will help you answer these questions. 

Ultimately, you’re aiming to establish which people are mission-critical, the risk of them leaving, and how easily you could recruit a replacement should they leave your company.

Tip#3: Create specific retention strategies

You will have a good idea about the people who are mission-critical to your organisation. The next step is to go the extra mile in creating specific retention strategies for them, and these should be tailored to their unique needs.

However, it’s important that you don’t neglect other staff members either. Everyone in your workforce can benefit from a talent retention strategy, but the critical people need more attention. 

Some common retention strategies that can be used for all employees include: 

• Robust and detailed onboarding
• Offering training and development opportunities
• Encouraging a good work/life balance with flexible working options
• Rewarding good performance 
• Providing clear career paths
• Communicating clearly with all levels of your business

But then you could offer tailored retention strategies for your key talent to make sure that they know how important they are to the company. Possibilities include: 

• Special projects or assignments
• Sponsoring further education courses
• Offering equity in your business

Tip #4: Consider remote talent retention strategies

With the world becoming increasingly more connected, it’s now possible for employees to work remotely in many cases. As such, the reality is that some people will always want or need the flexibility of working from home - not just because they have families to look after, it may also suit their style of working. 

The talent retention benefits of offering this flexibility are well known, but it’s worth considering how to use remote talent retention strategies in your company. 

Some people may still want to work at the office and simply prefer working remotely on occasion - you should find out if that’s important to them, or they could feel like their talent is being wasted if they’re not working in the office.

If you have a geographically diverse workforce, make sure that remote talent retention strategies are available for all employees - don’t exclude key talent because of where they live. 

Intrigued? Let’s talk

To find out how our tried, tested and trusted insight and innovation can deliver you the brightest sales and marketingtalent call
01905 381320 or email info@martinveasey.com.

Tip#5: Create Multiple Talent Pipelines

As part of talent retention strategies, it’s important that you also consider creating multiple talent pipelines to ensure that your organisation is recruiting for key talent all the time - not just when people leave. That will help you create a deeper talent pool and give yourself more options for replacing staff members should they choose to go elsewhere.

How to Create a Talent Pipeline

So, an essential strategic activity is building and maintaining a talent pool that has the right number of people in it at all times.

But how do you go about creating talent pipelines? Here are some tips for doing just that: 

Step 1: Understand What You Need

If you’ve carried out the talent, risk-assessment we talked about earlier, you will have a good idea of the type of person and skills you’re looking to recruit in the future.

Step 2: Attract the Right Talent (Passive and Active)

Remember that a significant portion of your talent pipeline today will be made up of passive candidates. These are the people who are interested in hearing about new opportunities but may not be actively seeking a new position.

Interacting with active and passive candidates, as well as referrals and recommendations from your existing employees, will give you a more diverse talent pipeline to work with.

Many companies will benefit from interacting with graduates and up-and-coming employees who have not fully developed their skills. In many industries, these people can be the business leaders of tomorrow. When looking for the right talent, search through:

• Networking events: Use these as interactive opportunities to engage with potential candidates and even ask them questions about the kind of employee they might be.
• Social media: Channels like LinkedIn offer professional groups and networks where you can ideally find people who match your company’s values and needs.
• Specialist recruitment campaigns: Working with a specialist recruitment team, such as Martin Veasey Talent Solutions, will help you to find some of the most valuable potential employees on the market. A recruitment company will ensure that every person in your talent pipeline is ideally suited to your needs.
• Existing contacts: Ask your employees and co-workers to refer people to your talent pipeline who might be ideal for a future role.
• Graduate campaigns and apprenticeships: Don’t be afraid to explore the talent of tomorrow with academics taking their first step into the field.

Step 3: Make Life Easy for Applicants

When you’ve built a list of potential people who could join your team and an employer brand that convinces them they want to connect with you, make the recruitment process as streamlined as possible.

Communicating clearly and promptly with the candidates in your pipeline is one of the best (and easiest) ways to keep them engaged with your business. If your recruitment process has multiple stages with slow feedback, candidates will form a poor opinion of your company and look elsewhere.

Summary

Creating a talent retention strategy is vital to every company’s long-term success. While there is high demand in the recruitment marketplace for skilled staff, they will only stay with your business if you value them highly.

About Martin Veasey Talent Solutions 

The Secret to your Success is Hiring Exceptional Talent.  Our talent is helping you find it. 

• A 35-year track record of successfully recruiting for blue-chip and SME businesses both in the UK and Internationally. 
• Essentially, we match exceptional talent with excellent jobs.  In addition, we have a reputation for proactively finding and placing hard to reach talent into our clients’ businesses.  
• Martin Veasey Talent Solutions has unique expertise in hiring managerial, professional, technical, functional specialists and senior executive roles, including complete teams in the UK and internationally. 
• We place a strong emphasis on developing partnerships that enable us to get to know your business objectives, challenges, and specific requirements.   
• We create a tailored campaign that delivers the best talent to add value and become an integral part of your business growth and success. 
• We have invested in State of Art recruitment technology to ensure that we can always source the best talent, both passive and active, for our clients’ key roles.   
• Our Recruitment Solutions division is complemented by our Talent Management Solutions division, which offers talent strategy planning, psychometric testing and executive coaching. 

Business Sectors: Board & Senior, Supply Chain & Logistics, Purchasing, Manufacturing & Engineering, FMCG & Retail, Pharma & Life Sciences, Sales & Marketing, Human Resources, Construction & Civils, Interim Executives

So, if you are looking to work with a highly accomplished recruiting partner, please call us on 00 44 (0)1905 381320 or get in contact today