How is staffing a company like filling a bathtub? — Part 1
When I teach Staffing Power! in seminars or in one-to-one work with clients, I share that it’s all about a never-ending approach to the following five things:
1. Always be recruiting
2. Always be hiring
3. Always be orienting
4. Always be training
5. Always be retaining
This is all about the last one….Always be retaining.
So, how is staffing your company like filling a bathtub? The answer is if you aren’t focused on retaining the right staff it’s like trying to fill a bathtub with the drain wide open. It’s going to be a lot harder to do and a big waste of time and resources.
Retaining the right way actually gets jump started with the first four steps of Staffing Power!. I say that because if you’re recruiting the right way you’re running ads that feature, “We provide careers not just a job.” That gets the attention of the right type of person you’ll want to respond.
It’s all about attracting the candidate who wants to build a career. This is what ensures you’re being able to be “The Employer of Choice.” It makes you stand out from your competitors who are also running ads looking to attract the right job candidates.
During the hiring phase, you must reinforce your promise of a career and not just a job. To do that you need resources to share with the candidate. The powerful resources are:
1. An Organizational Chart.This will show the candidate where they are starting at your company today. Who they will be reporting to and who they can go to for help. It also is the perfect time to show them the boxes on the Org. Chart that they can ascend to with proper training that you’ll provide as they demonstrate their worthiness through objective measurements.
2. A Salary Level template.This will show the candidate what level of salary they’ll start at and when they’re next merited salary boost comes. Again, tied to objective demonstrated ability to train for the next level up, the Org. Chart and the Salary Level [a.k.a Salary Ladder]. The Employer of Choice knows that it’s no fun for an employee to have to come hat in hand to ask for a raise. It’s also no fun for them to not know when and how they can get themselves a raise. No one wants to work somewhere they feel like they have to go to their “parents” to ask for an increase in their allowance.
The Orientation Process
Once they are hired, you need a documented Orientation Process. This is a scripted layout of what their first five to 10 days with the company will encompass so they get acclimated as quickly and as effectively as possible. No one wants to fail at anything. And new hires are constantly being setup for failure by not having been oriented the right way.
You also need to remember what it was like when you jumped from being the big fish in junior high to being the little fish in high school. It’s scary. Well, it’s the same when someone new joins your company. Getting them a mentor and friend to show them around and make them feel comfortable from a competency level and a social level is invaluable in their long-term success with your company. This transitions to what they do with your company for their first 60 to 90 days and what they’ll be judged on both during the Orientation Process and after it ends.
In my next blog installment of “60-second Contractor Solution”, I’ll talk about Ongoing Training Programs.
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