Employee retention starts with pre employment procedures

Although finding, attracting and onboarding the right talent for your organization can be challenging, employee retention can be even more difficult sometimes. But in order for your company to maximize the potential of all your employees, it’s a good idea to make sure they stick around. Here are a few tips to improve employee retention and maintain a high-performing workforce:

Start with pre-employment testing
One of the most important tasks for hiring managers and Human Resource professionals is to make sure that candidates possess the skills and pre-hire experience for the job they are applying for. If you have hired people in the past that don’t stay for long, it could be because they don’t have the right skills for the role. By administering pre-employment tests, your organization can better assess who is qualified and who is not, increasing your chances of selecting employees who will thrive and contribute to employee retention.

A pre-employment test is a helpful first step in assessing a candidate.

Go beyond tests and screenings
While pre-hire experience, pre-employment testing and screenings are helpful, they should not be the only ones you use to make hiring decisions. In addition to the knowledge and skill set required to complete any job, it’s a good idea to assess whether or not an individual will fit in with your company culture. If you hire someone who you don’t think will mesh well with existing employees, it will probably lead to a quick turnover rate. Staff retention is not just about skills but about cultural fit, which is why assessing personality traits is crucial.

Look for qualities you won’t find on a resume
You won’t meet too many HR professionals who deny that education and professional experience are important aspects to consider when hiring people, but that doesn’t mean you need to completely forget about other factors. Depending on the role you are trying to fill, a candidate’s “people skills” may be essential to success. If you are uncomfortable having a conversation during the interview process, odds are that individual won’t be a good fit down the line. Also, do your best to look into the work ethics of candidates you’re seriously considering. It’s not a bad idea to ask for references from previous employers. That way, you’ll have a point of contact when searching for more information on how individuals perform in various work scenarios.

Ask the right types of questions
All of the data you collect from recruitment software and pre-employment tests is important, but it will only give you limited insight into a candidate’s emotional intelligence. To get a better-rounded picture of potential employees, consider turning to personality assessments. While behavioral traits shouldn’t be the only factors you take into account, they are certainly important when it comes to a new employee sticking with your company in the long run. During the interview process, you have a great opportunity to ask potential new hires about both the experience they have listed on their resumes and their long-term goals. Even by asking questions about where candidates see themselves in five or ten years can give you an indication on whether or not it will be at your organization.

Hiring the right employees is important for any company, but retaining them is perhaps even more crucial because of the costs associated with a high turnover rate. In fact, research conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management found that replacing a departed employee can cost companies as much as 50-60 percent of an employee’s annual salary!

That said, implementing effective employee retention strategies is important for your company’s long-term success. By focusing on the right employee retention practices, such as pre-employment testing and cultural alignment, your organization can significantly reduce turnover and ensure staff retention for the long haul.