- Small businesses can have a hard time hiring and retaining qualified professionals.
- Using HR best practices can level the game for small businesses.
- Attracting and retaining talent can boost performance for companies, especially smaller ones.
- Leverage the power of surveys to gather intelligence and lay out plans to improve your HR strategies, even with a smaller team.
According to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, there are 1.22 million companies in Canada, of which 1.21 million are small or medium-sized businesses (SMEs)— and many of these SMEs are worried about recruitment and retention. A recent report from Equifax shows that 53% of Canadian SME owners are concerned about staffing issues, including attracting and retaining qualified workers.
With the rising cost of living and a lack of good workers on hand, time and resources are scarce for small businesses across the country. The good news? There are simple and cost-effective ways to improve hiring and retention efforts. If you’re struggling to attract good people and keep them on board, using a talent management approach can show you why and what to do about it.
Talent management involves how an organization attracts, hires, and onboards applicants, how it motivates employees, and how it develops staff to grow with the company. This approach can improve business outcomes by enhancing employee performance, boosting engagement, and optimizing retention. Larger organizations may have an entire department dedicated to talent management—but small business owners can also use talent management techniques to make a huge impact on their people. Let’s look at five practical and affordable talent management strategies you can implement in your small business.
Hook job candidates by making a better impression
Talent management starts with hiring the right talent. To do so, you must create the best candidate experience possible. Find out how job applicants experience your company’s recruitment process and where you’re going wrong by creating surveys for applicants after they complete the recruitment process.
This is particularly important if candidates are turning down your job offers. When you receive their responses, you’ll learn how you can improve your hiring approach to make a better impression. This could include improving your response times, the length of the recruitment process, how your benefits and compensation compare to the market average, and more.
Widen your candidate pool by offering an employee referral program
If your small business is struggling to hire and retain talent, look to the employees you already have to provide referrals. If you offer an incentive through an employee referral policy, your employees will be more likely to take part in the program.
Incentives could include cash rewards, but you don’t have to limit them to that. Added discounts on the products or services you provide, gift cards, or even time off are possible incentives, just to name a few. It’s a best practice to define what the incentives are and how they can be achieved so that everyone knows how to provide referrals and how they can benefit from them.
To streamline the recruitment process with these referrals and save you time, our specialists recommend a phone screening interview to see whether they’d be a good fit. You will still need to interview referred candidates as you would anyone else, but the groundwork is already done for you, saving precious time and money.
Start new hires off on the right foot with an onboarding program
The quality of your onboarding program contributes to retention and an employee’s success in their role. To facilitate a positive onboarding experience, keep yourself organized and on track with an onboarding checklist.
This checklist should detail what to do before an employee’s first day, on their first day, and during their first week, month, and three months on the job. Being prepared for your new hires to start, supporting them as they acclimate, and setting performance expectations sets the tone for the entire employment relationship. This can create an excellent experience for new hires, directly improving your image in the market for potential new employees.
Reward and recognize employees in meaningful but cost-effective ways
You may not have the budget to show your appreciation with large raises, but there are other ways to recognize employee efforts. Our specialists suggest:
- Fostering peer-to-peer recognition;
- Holding friendly games or competitions; and
- Providing exposure and development opportunities through stretch assignments and special projects.
Make sure the recognition you provide is timely, and ensure you’re being inclusive so that you build rapport and trust with your team.
When staff leave, find out why so you can improve your employee experience
You may not have an HR person or the time to administer exit interviews, but it’s still important to gather feedback when an employee informs you of their resignation. Save time by providing an exit survey to departing employees. The survey should give you visibility of how employees feel about their compensation, the training they received, management, their working conditions, workload, and company culture. When you receive survey responses, you’ll start to get an idea of why people are leaving your organization. You can then use that information to plan improvements that address employee concerns and brainstorm solutions to increase retention.
Trust the HR Specialists for Small Businesses
Effectively managing your people doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. By using forms and surveys and putting in place best practices, you can get feedback about where you need to improve. With that intelligence on your side, you can develop a plan to increase retention and hire smarter—and reap the benefits for your business.
Not sure how to start? Let us help! With specialists in HR management and a long track record of helping companies of all sizes across the country, Citation Canada can help your small business hire and retain talent with solutions that fit your needs and payment options you can afford. Get in touch today and let us show you how we can take your business to the next level.