During the last few years of the tough economic climate most moving companies were more concerned with cutting their workforce than keeping it. However, now it’s time to start looking at how you can hold on to the people that make your business thrive, attract new staff and inspire people to work for you.

 

Sometimes it is hard to measure at what point employee turnover begins to have a negative impact on a business. Recently some companies have been grateful for staff moving on, giving the business the opportunity to hold off on filling vacancies until things looked up. Some clients made very few redundancies and only had natural reductions.

 

However this left companies with key members of staff whose leaving would make a bigger impact on the business. Now we have the busy period and there are fewer experienced removal people in the industry as many have left and the big companies have cut training programmes. This leaves a shortage of talented, experienced people in the younger age range within the industry. It’s therefore even more important to retain good staff and to have a strategy to attract them.

 

There are many things that can be done to keep staff motivated and happy. One of the main reasons for a member of staff looking to leave is the working environment. This may be because of a change of management - you can flush this out by communicating well and having an open door policy; or that people are not being listened to and feel that their ideas are being ignored. A reward scheme for employees that have good ideas might help.

 

If money is tight, why not try some of the following:

 

• Start a company ‘Wall of Fame’ and add them to it.
• The front parking spot
• A handwritten thank you note that goes on their personal file
• A public thank you
• Give them a new, improved job title
• Provide them with some one-on-one mentoring
• Celebrate the anniversary of their joining the company
• Allow them to dress casually on Fridays

 

This helps them feel as though they are appreciated as an integral part of the team. Making employees part of the decision-making process also keeps employees happy and motivated.

 

At Red Recruit, like all companies, we have many staff that have been here for a number of years and some who have left. Amie Cutts who joined Red in 2003 said:

“At Red we are part of the decision process and I like that. There is an open door policy and people are always thanked in private and publically.” Danni Joyce, who joined Red 10 years ago and has re-joined after doing a degree added that what she liked was the continued career development. “When I joined I was 17 and I came into Red under the work experience scheme, I didn’t know anything about office work or recruitment. I was mentored and did my NVQ up to level 4 and I am now a manager at Red.”

Attracting staff to join your company is also key. At Red we tell potential candidates all about your company and why it’s a good place to work. Consider putting a PowerPoint together for potential new employees. Outlining why the company was started, what your mission statement is, and your vision for the future. Your current staff will also benefit from this. Consider other benefits: a day off for birthdays, or staff events that you do together.

 

For more ideas on these and many other ideas and tips email caroline.seear@redrecruit.com

Photo: Caroline Seear