Top 5 tips for Reducing Staff Turnover
- Ensure the employee is proud of where they work and feel they are
part of something meaningful. Organisations can do this through ethical
practises, well developed branding strategies and open communication
with employees regarding profit and plans for the future.
- Manage employee job satisfaction with adequate direction, the right
skills and training opportunities, open praise for good work and a
variety of tasks that ensure employees are always engaged.
- Ensure there are good interpersonal relationships between the employee
and their manager and that the manager can offer opportunities, mentorship
and a clear career path for advancement within the organisation.
- Ensure work life balance by exploring areas for greater flexibility
of working hours, special leave arrangements, possibilities of working
from home or time out for community based or voluntary work.
- Ensure the organisation competes adequately against the external
labour market in Culture – making the work place a friendly,
happy and when appropriate, a fun place to be. Environment – with
safe, clean and green workplaces. Salary Packaging with items such
as health cover, above average employer contribution to superannuation,
or staff discount or loyalty programs being on surveyed lists of employee
wants.
Human Capital Centre – newsletter.
Below was published on shortlist.com.au
on June 23.
Employers still
reluctant to embrace remote working
There is increasing demand from candidates for remote work options, according
to new research, but leading recruitment executives say many Australian
employers are still reluctant to offer home-based work as an attraction strategy.
In a survey of 375 professionals by Konica Minolta, as part of its Innovation:
Mind the Gap seminar series, 41% of respondents said they were "far
more productive" when they worked from home.
Some 85% of professionals wanted more flexible working arrangements, but only
65% of employers were giving staff this option.
Sarah Wise, research manager of the University of Sydney Workplace Research Centre,
said the findings showed staff wanted "less conversation and more action" from
employers on remote work and flexible hours.
"More and more candidates are prioritising work/life balance in their
decisions about where they work.
"Employers who embrace this reality reap the benefits of a more loyal,
productive and satisfied workforce," Wise said.
Stop writing average job ads!
The bulk of recruitments ads are just "average", according to trainer
and coach Ross Clennett.
In a recent two-part series in his newsletter, Clennett tells
how he spent a plane trip assessing 99 job ads appearing in a Friday edition
of the Australian Financial Review (AFR), noting that he "would
have got more inspiration reading the in-flight safety procedures".
One third of the ads he considered "poor to awful" - the bulk (56)
were "average to good" while only 13 were "very good" and
none was considered "outstanding".
Clennett points
out that ads in the AFR are aimed at top talent, and these people need
to be enticed to respond to job ads.
He says ads should highlight as many of the five major employment factors known
to attract top talent as the job offers:
 engaging work;
an opportunity to improve their skills;
fresh challenges;
a positive work environment; and
flexibility and autonomy.
Clennett's tips for
writing ads to attract top talent are:
Use a title that will attract the attention of the right
candidate.
This doesn't have to be the title of the job
- "Calling all frustrated accountants" is an ad title that
has often been used to attract potential recruitment consultants
into accounting recruitment.
Use the funnel principle of information.
Start with
the bigger picture information first (i.e. about the company and what
it is committed to) and then as the ad proceeds down the page provide
more job specific information.
Lead with as much quality, specific information
about the employer as you can find.
For example: "ICPS is
a newly formed independent company that
established in March 2007 following a Mirvac funded buyout of the Walker
Corporation's industrial property business unit. The ICPS team has delivered
over 50 projects in excess of $600 million in little over six years." (Judd
Farris Recruitment for ICPS, Victorian Business Development Manager - AFR
2 November 2007, page 73).
Create context for the opportunity and challenge.
For
example: "We are seeking a CFO for an exciting business being launched
in Australia that promises to shake up its relevant market with an innovative,
value-for-money offer. Partnering with the MD, the immediate challenge will
be to set up the financial, administration & IT infrastructure and build
a strong, dynamic team." (Derwent Executive for Virgin Management, Chief
Financial Officer - AFR 2 November 2007, page 13).
WIIFM
Remember the "what's
in it for me?" (WIIFM)
principle. As recruiters we are sales and marketing professionals, not HR
professionals. "We should always be speaking the language of benefits (what
the candidate is buying), not the language of features (what
the client is selling)," Clennett says. Coke didn't become the first
truly global brand by creating ads that spoke about black, carbonated water
with 12 teaspoons of sugar - its ads are all about the (lifestyle) benefits
of being a Coke consumer.
It's more than just words.
We primarily buy products and
services to satisfy emotional needs and jobs are no different, Clennett says. "Although
the words you use are very important it is also critical to remember the
impact that the effective use of colour, shading, font, italics, bolding,
bullet points, logos, graphics, images, quotes and awards can have in generating
positive emotions and capturing reader interest."
Clennett says job ad writing isn't a particularly difficult task, yet many
thousands of column centimetres, both in print and on-line, are wasted each
year through boring and ineffective ads.
"Give yourself the time, headspace and creative energy to write better
ads and I promise you will reap the rewards," he says.
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