Introduction.
Recruitment and training are two functions in the human resources department, which require strategic planning and thought. Recruitment involves searching and obtaining qualified personnel or applicants when filling job openings in an organization. It stops short of deciding the individuals who qualify and should be hired from a pool of job applicants. Retention, on the other hand, refers to all activities that an employer undertakes in encouraging employees to work productively in an organization. The objective behind retention is to minimize all possibilities of unwanted or voluntary turnovers. This implies keeping the number of employees that an organization can serve or has the capability to keep as its workforce (Jackson, Schuler and Werner, 2012).
Effective recruitment and retention policies attract qualified personnel and expertise in an organization, and increase the chances of retaining the best workforce in market. It guarantees meeting the objectives of an organization, and organizational growth. Recruitment and retention strategies are considered as the most valuable assets in an organization (Myers and Dreachslin, 2007). This is derived from the conception that it is only with qualified set of workforce that an organization can improve its value of assets, as well as being cost conscious.
Recruiting qualified applicants.
Employment specialists keen in recruiting the best in the job market devise creative procedures to increase their visibility (Sims, 2012). These includes holding seminars, job fairs, community events, and working with professional consulting associations. They come up with plans that demonstrate to the community that they are the employers of their choice. Employers also use other incentivizes ways like using sign-on bonuses, while searching for talent. This involves committing the workers to stay in an organization for some time, for example as interns or under contractual terms. On the other hand, qualified applicants conduct research about these organizations in ensuring that they spend their time wisely while working in these organizations.
The process of recruitment starts from the point that a position is declared vacant. Hiring the right person for a job requires critical attention to ensure effective training (Jackson, Schuler and Werner, 2012). The following are some considerations that an employer should have in mind for a successful recruitment process. An employer should acknowledge that hiring the best applicant needs proper investment in time and energy. This is where most of the employers get it all wrong in that they recruit with a ‘get it done’ spirit. This leads to weak personnel being hired in significant posts in an organization, and this weakens the operations of the organization.
Secondly, employees should have consistent protocols, which all managers involved in the process are conversant, and at a consensus. Job descriptions should be revisited before recruitment so that all individuals involved in the process get familiar to the requirements, knowledge, skills, and experience needed. This also ensures that the interview questions are consistent to the talent being searched for, and minimize confusion or sending of different messages during the interviews.
Thirdly, employers should enhance their candidature pool. This means in-house candidature recruitment, and consideration of skills that may be derived from new recruits. Existing workers guarantee minimal time and resources required in the process since they are already acquitted to the cultures and norms of an organization (Sims, 2012). However, new recruits are recommended for some jobs, which demand ideas and skills that may not be in existence or where there is the need to boost existing talent.
The interview process should have the right questions for the job. This ensures that the interviewers assess the knowledge and skills that the applicants possess, and determine their strengths. It is also crucial to verify that a panel identifies the best fit candidate for the job by checking background information such as experiences, references, etc. most candidates do not provide referential details that say unfavorable things about their character. To solve such issues employers should ask for direct reports or contacts of previous employers or supervisors. Lastly, it is also crucial to close the loops with the candidates who do not make it since they also invested their time and energy in the organization (Myers and Dreachslin, 2007).
Retaining qualified talent.
In most instances, the recruitment process seems as the pivotal point in determining growth in an organization. However, maintenance of qualified employees is even more challenging than the recruitment process. It is crucial to note that other competing organizations are usually on the lookout, and the possibilities of workforce poaching are significantly high.
As employees settle in an organization, retention strategies take different forms and shapes. The process involves putting the right talents into optimal use, at the right place, and while doing the right things (NRC, 2003). Most employers do not give new recruits time to assimilate the culture of an organization. This leads to the formation of weak work team bonds, which affect performance and productivity. An employer should give an employee ample time for orientation to mingle and connect with the existing employees. This supports them in getting the expectations from the employer, and in getting the details of the job. In addition, this allows them to familiarize with the policies and procedures, get acquitted to their machines of operation, and review their fiscal terms.
Retaining a qualified work force involves the implementation of a formal process to attract and retain productive workers. It also includes preparation plans for the challenges that lie ahead by planning on how to find new staff, train, and keep the existing work force for the future labor market (Jackson, Schuler and Werner, 2012). An effective retaining strategy includes the following five elements:
Initially, an employer should ensure that competitive wages and benefits are provided to the workforce. The first step is to find out what the competitors offer so that they do not offer extremely high or low bids. Tools that may be considered crucial are government resources such as bureau of labor and statistic to determine minimum and maximum wage levels. This ensures that the employer’s offers fit in the labor market, and are also competitive (Sims, 2012).
Secondly, an employer should provide and guarantee job security to the workforce. Personal staffing plans are crucial in relation to job security so that effective and creative accounts for seasonal slums are accounted. Layoffs and rehiring should be minimal if an employer is to guarantee job security. Multi-skilling is the best strategy in ensuring job security; this includes using skills from different workers in a single project. The idea behind this is to maximize on the available skills, and ensure that every worker participates in a given project.
In addition, an employer should provide a healthy and safe work environment to the workers (Myers and Dreachslin, 2007). This may include safety working kits, environmental friendly offices, and reduced risks. Before embarking into a project, workers should undergo a training process that should include task planning, safety orientation and training, safety incentive plans, and incident investigation and protection. Most workers become productive once they are sure about their safety in terms of health. Providing a safe working environment is, therefore, crucial for worker retention.
Workers should also be treated fairly and with a substantial amount of respect (Sims, 2012). This should be in respect to their culture, religion, values, and expectations. People attend to search for work places that hold different values and diverse expectations of their work lives. Most employees labor owners search for environments which support their values as well as support what they expect.
The management of an organization should work together with the workers so that the workers can express their views and opinions (Jackson, Schuler and Werner, 2012). This way, every decision made in an organization complements the needs, values and expectations of the workers. The workers in return feel needed in the organization, and work productively. Lastly, employees should work to motivate the workers. This can be done through recognitions, promotions, awards, treats, and bonuses. Rewards and bonuses act as motivational elements for workers to be productive. This guarantees profit optimization and organizational growth (NRC, 2003).
Future of recruiting and retaining qualified employee.
Currently, the concerns about retention and recruitment of talented and able workforce remain a challenge to many employees. With the high turnovers of qualified graduates from both private and public higher learning institutions, the job market has been faced with a stiff competition of qualified individuals. The challenge remains in the selection process in determining the talents that these qualified individuals possess. In some instances, organizations have been faced with difficulties in distinguishing between knowledge, skills and talents of job applicants (Jackson, Schuler and Werner, 2012). This has led to many employees resulting into retrenchments, demotions, and in some extreme cases sacking some employees. This creates an undesirable image of the companies to both the applicants as well as the public.
Even as employees struggle to achieve the best and formulate competitive strategies to retain their employees, finding the talent that they need remains a concern. The combination of constricted labor market conditions and strong competitive pressure from the market imply planned procedures, which guarantee the success of recruitment and retention process. The key issues of concern are that employees have to find a way to control costs, and at the same time ensure that organizations have the workforce needed to grow locally, expand internationally, diversify into new ventures, and be effective. The goals of recruitment and retention process, therefore, should revolve around three concepts; reducing the vacancy rates, shortening the recruitment time, and improve on the standards of applicants who secure places within the organization (NRC, 2003).
In a few years to come, fully integrated and strategically aligned HR system will shift to that which recognizes and appreciates how it influences operations in other systems of an organization. Experienced managers in the HR department will need to recognize the importance of effective recruitment and retaining policies. They will recognize the importance of speed in the recruitment process in relation to the quality of the workforce that an organization requires. Such systems are founded on three objectives i.e. improving productivity, reducing labor costs and staying competitive in the labor market.
The strategy that a HR department absorbs will focus on the needs of departments, and requirements for specific positions. Planning for such positions will involve reducing time, cost, and resource management to avoid underutilization or overstaffing. The following issues will be discussed before declaring a position vacant: The number of employees needed to cater for the current need, and for future need. There will be the need to define the need of a company in terms of permanent or temporary workforce. The compensation package also needs to be considered so that companies hires and retain people who are attracted to the company despite the fiscal conditions.
The HR’s task will be to determine if it requires new skills or talents that are different from what is in existence. There will be the need to determine if the new workforce is intended to maintain the status quo or bring in new perspectives to the business. Finally, the HR should determine the competencies they require from employees, and how rapidly they intend to change these competencies (NRC, 2003). This will allow the interviewers in assessing the competencies of applicants, their flexibility to learn new competencies, and in determining if their long-term goals are compatible.
Conclusion.
The success of an organization is defined by the pillars on the quality of workforce acquired. The level of integrity and skills in strategic planning for the hiring and retention programs, determine the quality of workforce that an organization acquires. The HR department is a key element in determining the level of growth in a company. This is determined by the level of skill and expertise hired by the department. The strategies implemented in the recruitment and maintenance of employees is crucial, and determines if a company has the ability to meet its objectives or not. In addition, the strategy determines the competitive power that a company has in the labor market.
Reference.
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Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., & Werner, S. (2012). Managing human resources. Mason, Ohio: South Western cengage learning.
Myers, V. L. & Dreachslin, D. (2007). Recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Healthcare Management, Vol. 88(4).
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National Research Council (États-Unis)., & Committee on Future Surface Transportation Agency Human Resource Needs. (2003). The workforce challenge: Recruiting, training, and retaining qualified workers for transportation and transit agencies. Washington, D.C: Transportation Research Board.
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Sims, R. R. (2012). Organizational success through effective human resources management. Westport, Ct: Quorum Books.
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