Reduce Employee Turnover, Increase Morale, Attract Talent In Biofuels Industry By Recruiting Expert, Chris Hillman
It’s no secret that the competition for talent in the biofuels industry has become fierce. As an industry leader, how have you positioned your company/department as being a terrific place to work as the employer of choice? How to reduce employee turnover in biofuels industry, increase morale, attract super stars and be the employer of choice in our industry?
I have been asked this very question by hundreds of client companies and thousands of candidates seeking the “best” employer.
In a competitive market, qualified and motivated people move faster and expect the most from their employer. Outlined below are several ideas to help your firm stand out, attract the best and become an employer of choice.
What do you have to offer?
• Management Team
Well run companies are almost always able to claim a progressive and motivated management team. When attracting talent, always emphasize the boss. He/she should be a motivator, empowers their staff, doesn’t micromanage, leads not manages, creates a pleasant culture, sets challenging goals, values opinions, set standards, is knowledgeable, trains and mentors others, is a true role model, has unrivaled ethics, knows when to take a bullet for his/her team, plans for fun, encourages, praises, creates incentives and respects others.
• Unique Benefits
Your company needs to stand out from the pack and step up to the plate on benefits. Start health insurance on day one. Waiting periods cause COBRA issues and can hinder your staffing efforts. In addition to life insurance, short term and long term disability and dental, offer a 401k with a match and short vesting period. Most importantly, your unique benefits offering should include (where appropriate) child care, golf memberships, flexible schedules, dinner once a quarter, holiday parties, company outings to a baseball game, phantom stock, timely bonuses, annual trips, celebrate each employee once a year — not on their birthday, but on the anniversary of their employment — with a party, complete with cake and balloons. Other ideas include group legal plans, employee assistance plans, 45 hours of paid professional training to all full time employees each year; allow 5 days of paid leave each year to volunteer in your community; matches dollar for dollar all charitable donations that employees make.
Here are some ideas from a biofuels recruiting expert.
• The Opportunity
Does each position in your firm make an impact on the company? The answer, of course, is yes. Employers of choice share with potential employees the realistic upward growth potential and impact they will make by joining the company. Include quantifiable results such as dollars earned or dollars saved for the company. Also include intangible items and other opportunity costs savings such as time savings, increase employee morale in the biofuels industry, efficiencies and customer satisfaction. It’s important to convey to the employee that their position is extremely important and affects the company. This is true for broom pushers to CEO.
• The Company
So what is great about your firm? An employer of choice outlines their stability, employee turnover and retention, ROI to investors, vision, sales growth, debt, acquisition plans, unique selling proposition, and reputation among customers, training/education and philanthropy.
Other Points: In addition to having a solid leadership team, unique benefits, a terrific company story. Treat employees like customers, never change commission/bonus to unrealistic goals, never breaking promises, conduct confidential employee satisfaction surveys, offer flexible work hours, share ownership for key employees and create an exit strategy.
Make room for fun – Take the whole company on two 4-day trips every year to develop themselves and plan for the future. Can you afford to close the company for a few days every year? Maybe not. But can you couldn’t afford not to in order to attract talent in the biofuels industry!
For a free talent and salary statistics consultation, please contact:
www.SearchPathofchicago.com
Chris Hillman, Biofuels Search Expert, SearchPath of Chicago
(815) 261-4403 x 100
Talent Acquisition Professionals
chillman@searchpath.com
