5 Ways You're Losing as an Employer

There’s a phenomenon that many HR nerds refer to as the employee lifecycle, and if it’s something you’re not managing, you may be losing out as an employer.

The employee lifecycle refers to the various stages of relationship that an employee has with their employer. Human resources plays a key role in every aspect of the employee lifecycle. Here’s what I mean.

Recruiting

Recruiting efforts can have a lasting impact on the entire company, which also affects the company’s future performance. Consider a prospective employee with incredible talent who doesn’t get the right impression of your business from day one. Without a second thought, they may easily turn to other prospective job options. How do you combat this?

• Show that you’re up-to-date with technology by offering an applicant tracking system, allowing employees to apply online for vacant positions and maintaining communication through all stages of the application process.
• Provide interviewer training for your managers to maintain consistency and reduce risks.
• Be competitive with overall compensation packages. 

Onboarding

Did you know that 20% of employees depart in the first 45 days of employment? Studies have shown that proper onboarding can reduce turnover. Here’s where to start:

• Provide digital paperwork so that new employees can complete all new hire paperwork before ever coming to work, allowing their first day on the job to be productive.
• Ensure your employee handbook is up-to-date so that policies are never a question.
• Make all employer information and benefit details easily accessible.
• Train managers on proper onboarding techniques to ensure consistency and reduce risks.
• Have all the necessary tools ready for the new employee on day one, such as email, computer and phone.
• Follow these other onboarding tips.

Career development and training

Employee retention is closely tied to an employee’s satisfaction with the workplace and their individual role. Now settled in, employees are looking to take on more responsibilities to help the business succeed. Here are some tips to make this become reality:

• Communicate your expectations and how employees are doing with regular one-on-one meetings, performance reviews, goal setting, and so on.
• Develop employees with trainings and opportunities to position them for future growth.
• Ensure all staff members are aware of internal job opportunities to encourage growth from within.
• Maintain employee information in a cloud-based system for management to quickly review details needed for advancement decisions.
• Offer international assignments for professional development and ensure a stress-free move by partnering with moving consultants.

Employee engagement, employee recognition and employee relations

Even if you’ve trained and taught your employees everything they need to know to be successful, they also need to feel valued. Now you need to keep motivation high and cultivate a workplace where respect is paramount, information is easy to obtain, and employees understand how essential they are to the success of the business. How do you do this?

• Create team building opportunities to help employees engage with each other.
• Implement employee recognition programs to sustain momentum.
• Determine how the workplace is doing through employee surveys.
• Conduct stay interviews.
• Investigate and document workplace violations and conflicts to ensure resolutions conform with policy.

Termination

There’s an inherent risk associated with employment termination, whether it’s employee- or employer-initiated. The best way to protect yourself and the employee is to maintain positive relationships whenever possible and have policies in place before a split occurs. Emotions, regardless of a positive or less-than-desirable split, naturally run high for everyone involved. Mitigating risks to the employer is the number one goal during this stage. Here’s how:

• Provide answers regarding benefits, final paycheck, retirement policies and more in a respectful and courteous manner. It’s not uncommon for a former employee to return to a workplace, even years later.
• Develop termination policies and procedures to help reduce risks.
• Disseminate and complete paperwork pertaining to departure.
• Provide timely final pay and other due compensation.
• Conduct exit interviews.

Not all small businesses are capable of taking on each stage of the employee lifecycle, which is just one of the reasons it’s a good idea to work with a full-service HR outsourcing firm or PEO like Stratus.hr. You’ll access employee management technology, essential human resource services, affordable and competitive benefits plans, risk management assistance, digital HR tools, and more. Request a free demo today for more information.

Whether you have an in-house HR team or you outsource your HR, you should be turning to these professionals to ensure you’re optimizing each stage of the employee lifecycle to help you win each phase of employment.