Welcome to the latest edition of our monthly Sparks newsletter! We hope you’ve been enjoying the previous editions. We wanted to keep you up to speed with what we are doing, plus cover off a range of things that are going on in the industry, or that we think may be of interest. If there are any hot topics you’d like us to cover in the future please just let us know.
Happy reading!
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Keeping your talent inside your own walls!
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In a review of the hiring landscape for 2017, 63% of EMEA respondents overwhelmingly cited ‘time to hire’ as their top performance indicator. However, almost half of 1,100 talent and HR pros surveyed flagged ‘retention’ as a key area requiring attention. We’re glad this important subject is finally going to get the attention it deserves!
Whatever the reason for candidate shortages, businesses are now ready to invest in clinging on to the talent they have. And this isn’t just about salary reviews and giving more holidays!
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It’s about engaging with your workforce; creating positive experiences and taking things like development and wellbeing seriously, in turn improving performance, enhancing productivity, and ultimately making them proud to work for you. This makes sense, right? So why aren’t all businesses doing it?
Time seems to be one of the main constraints, as well as a lack of investment. There are also pressures from hiring managers to fill vacancies fast, in turn leading to candidates being selected that can do the job today, but might not have the skills for what’s required tomorrow - all increasing employee churn. A lack of talent in key roles can make it hard to sustain a business, not to mention restricting its growth.
As the battle for talent shows no sign of subsiding any time soon, we think it’s more important than ever to lay the foundations for a strong and meaningful retention strategy to keep your best talent from crossing over to your competition!
Fancy a chat about how to get started? Get in touch!
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Refer and you shall receive...
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A poster on the staff room notice board? A note in the payslips? An annual event? However it’s being promoted, an employee referral or ‘refer a friend’ programme should be a fundamental part of your overall recruitment strategy.
We’ve designed these for companies across a range of sectors, and whilst the roll out has been bespoke to each one, the foundations have not. Educating your employees on the kind of people you’re looking to attract is key, and explaining how they’re helping to shape the future of the business will assist with engagement.
Of course, the easier the referral process is the better, and any potential rewards should resonate with your people - e.g. is a donation to a charity of their choice enough? Or will they be looking for cash, vouchers, extra days’ holiday? Most businesses will also have that one role that always seems to need filling, so keeping the scheme front of mind to encourage regular referrals is also a wise move.
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Key measures of any employee referral programme depend on the organisation. Some companies are looking to use an ERP as a cost saving exercise, others are purely looking to get ‘bums on seats’, or are looking to reduce the time and resources needed to get new people in to the business.
Whatever the goal, a quality referral programme should allow you to quickly and cost effectively bring in people who already know a bit about your organisation and culture, in turn speeding up the process versus advertising. Not to mention, referred employees tend to stay a lot longer, so it’s a win win!
At Sparks we really understand the power of referrals, especially as we've grown our team and business through them!
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Hot-footing it to Somerset!
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Stella and Anna had a long but productive day out to catch up with the brilliant team at Clarks in Street.
We covered a whole range of topics, from the newest innovative media platforms on the market to gamifcation and online talent marketplaces, not to mention an interesting new IT brief and Clarks’ new Desert Boot factory.
It also created an excellent opportunity for the pair to stop by at the Clarks Village - a large retail park (for research purposes of course). Both their purses came back rather lighter with a new handbag each in tow (sorry Clarks not one of yours!) so you could say it was another great meeting in the bag!
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