How to Engage Staff at Each Stage of the Employee Lifecycle – Una Lawlor is Content Marketing Manager at Advance Systems
Everyone with HR experience knows that it’s less expensive to retain good employees than it is to hire and train new ones. However, a dynamic workforce is, by definition, one that is constantly changing so it is not allowed to become stagnant or close-minded. The key to a successful workforce, therefore, is to have a plan in place to engage your staff throughout their employee lifecycle, consistently bringing in new talent while supporting those who are already valuable members of team.
Attracting New Employees
If you allow your team to age without ever bringing in fresh new talent, it’s likely that their productivity will begin to suffer. Every organization needs the occasional refresh that comes with bringing on new team members. If your business is growing, you may be bringing them on at a rapid pace. Even if your goal is to maintain current growth, you’ll still need a hiring plan to account for the resignation or retirement of staff or internal shifts. How do you attract the best and brightest? Here are a few ideas.
Offer Mobile Workforce Technology
With more and more millennials entering the workforce every year, a company that does not offer enterprise mobility will lose out on these valuable assets.
Millennials thrive on flexible schedules, and they want to use their personal smart devices for work purposes. If you still require all of your employees to come into the home office every morning and afternoon to clock in and out or attend tedious boardroom meetings, you might find it’s difficult to entice this generation to join your team.
Encourage Work-from-Home and Remote Work Opportunities
When advertising for and interviewing new employees, make sure you have a system in place that allows them to work remotely. Many of those who are actively looking to switch jobs or enter the workforce for the first time after graduation want to know they will have the opportunity to develop a schedule that works for them. More people are interested in working from home to facilitate their family schedules or want to be free to travel to remote offices or client locations while still being connected to the home office.
Keep Valuable Talent Engaged throughout the Employee Lifecycle
Constantly hiring new employees to replace those who have left is a never-ending headache that is not only time-intensive, but also costly. The key to a well-rounded and successful workforce is to have tools in place to keep valuable employees happy and productive, while still attracting new talent and weeding out those who are not performing. Here are a few ideas to keep your best employees happy in their positions.
Emphasize Company Culture
Company culture is extremely important to your organization. It will provide an enticement to new employees looking to join your team as well as ensure that current team members feel valued and motivated. Having an enterprise mobility system that allows for instant workplace communication, even if employees aren’t in the same office, is a key factor.
A culture is determined by how your team members interact and support one another, as well as how leadership provides encouragement and feedback. The correct tools allow for easy interaction and can allow even the most remote employees to feel like they are an integral part of the team.
Provide Training and Development Opportunities
Your current team members need to know that you are committed to enhancing their success through training and development opportunities. However, it can be difficult to facilitate these programs for staff members who are not available to come in for training or who cannot attend off-site seminars or conferences. With the right technology, you can provide these opportunities through video conferencing, allowing them to be part of the development training without it impacting their flexible schedules.
Give Senior Leadership a Chance to Shine
Senior leadership can easily start to feel left behind when they aren’t brought into the new mobile workforce environment you are creating. It’s important to keep them in the loop and give them plenty of opportunities to lead the new generation. Here’s how:
Provide Easy Workplace Communication Tools
You can’t expect those who are used to clocking in at 8 am and out at 5 to suddenly embrace a fully mobile experience based on smart devices and the cloud. To make sure they don’t feel frustrated, you need to provide easy tools they can master quickly. More than likely, even your senior leadership team already uses personal smartphones or tablets, so allowing them to utilize these for work tasks can help them make a smooth transition.
Never Disregard Their Experience
No matter how much you may value your new employees who can schedule a four-way Skype conference in a matter of seconds, you must never disregard the value your senior team members bring to your organization. Use of technology pales in comparison to authentic experience in the workforce, and you must not only appreciate it but communicate that inherent value to your next generation of employees. Let them head up meetings, train new team members on their specialties, and give them ample opportunity to communicate their expertise.
A successful work environment includes a productive and engaged team that is poised to embrace new talent but always working to value its existing workforce. Having a strategy in place to account for the entire employee lifecycle is key to your company success.
Additional Information
Una Lawlor is Content Marketing Manager at Advance Systems
For additional information on Advance Systems visit their Website
