Why investing in staff will aid retention tenfold
23 January 2015
It’s no secret that there is a skills shortage in many industries. High-quality candidates are hard to find, and competition is fierce. It’s no longer about who offers the biggest salary; candidates want more benefits from employers. They want career progression, opportunities and development.
Mon, 26 Jan 2015 | Rob Mallaband
It’s no secret that there is a skills shortage in many industries. High-quality candidates are hard to find, and competition is fierce. It’s no longer about who offers the biggest salary; candidates want more benefits from employers. They want career progression, opportunities and development.
So, with new candidates hard to find, how do you hold on to the star talent you already have and ensure they aren’t snapped up by the competition?
In my early career, I had a few jobs with limited opportunity to progress, so I moved on. I wanted a career, a chance to develop my skills and earn rewards. I found that with Crimson: they were willing to take a chance on me, and I made sure I paid them back tenfold.
I am a firm believer that if you look hard enough at your staff, you will see something in them that they themselves may not see; and, if you give them the right tools to progress, they will usually surprise you. And then they will pay you back tenfold.
It’s all too easy to start recruiting when you need to fill a role in your company, but no business will ever have the funds for the amount of people they need in their business. That’s why it’s important to grow your team, give them tools and opportunities to progress, and let them surprise you.
Crimson is 13 years old as a business, and today we have four members of staff who have been with us for 10 years. That’s because we have given them the opportunities and tools to develop.
In the early days of the company, we had to work to attract people to the business. I had to persuade them to take a risk with us, show them our long-term ambitions. To have four people still with us 10 years later is a great achievement.
Take the latest member of our 10-year club, my assistant Emma. She joined us at the age of 19, saw a job as a job, went on maternity leave for a while and then returned, unsure what she wanted to do.
We sat down with her, asked her what she wanted to achieve and what she needed from us in order to develop. I had been told I needed someone to manage me so I could focus on making Crimson more entrepreneurial and it needed to be someone who knew me. Emma had grown up in the business and knew me well; she was the perfect fit for the role. Today she challenges me, knows everything that happens in the business and adds huge value to my role and the wider team.
Now we need to consider how we can grow her role further and build a succession plan.
Next year, we welcome two more people into our 10-year club, and we’ll build a succession plan to help them grow their roles, too. As a start-up, Crimson couldn’t have grown without great people with well-defined roles; and to grow further, the same is required.
So, when quality candidates are sparse, ask yourself how people in your company can step into a new role and repay you tenfold. If you give them the opportunity, you will change them and your business for life.
It’s no secret that there is a skills shortage in many industries. High-quality candidates are hard to find, and competition is fierce. It’s no longer about who offers the biggest salary; candidates want more benefits from employers. They want career progression, opportunities and development.
So, with new candidates hard to find, how do you hold on to the star talent you already have and ensure they aren’t snapped up by the competition?
In my early career, I had a few jobs with limited opportunity to progress, so I moved on. I wanted a career, a chance to develop my skills and earn rewards. I found that with Crimson: they were willing to take a chance on me, and I made sure I paid them back tenfold.
I am a firm believer that if you look hard enough at your staff, you will see something in them that they themselves may not see; and, if you give them the right tools to progress, they will usually surprise you. And then they will pay you back tenfold.
It’s all too easy to start recruiting when you need to fill a role in your company, but no business will ever have the funds for the amount of people they need in their business. That’s why it’s important to grow your team, give them tools and opportunities to progress, and let them surprise you.
Crimson is 13 years old as a business, and today we have four members of staff who have been with us for 10 years. That’s because we have given them the opportunities and tools to develop.
In the early days of the company, we had to work to attract people to the business. I had to persuade them to take a risk with us, show them our long-term ambitions. To have four people still with us 10 years later is a great achievement.
Take the latest member of our 10-year club, my assistant Emma. She joined us at the age of 19, saw a job as a job, went on maternity leave for a while and then returned, unsure what she wanted to do.
We sat down with her, asked her what she wanted to achieve and what she needed from us in order to develop. I had been told I needed someone to manage me so I could focus on making Crimson more entrepreneurial and it needed to be someone who knew me. Emma had grown up in the business and knew me well; she was the perfect fit for the role. Today she challenges me, knows everything that happens in the business and adds huge value to my role and the wider team.
Now we need to consider how we can grow her role further and build a succession plan.
Next year, we welcome two more people into our 10-year club, and we’ll build a succession plan to help them grow their roles, too. As a start-up, Crimson couldn’t have grown without great people with well-defined roles; and to grow further, the same is required.
So, when quality candidates are sparse, ask yourself how people in your company can step into a new role and repay you tenfold. If you give them the opportunity, you will change them and your business for life.
