The challenge
According to the Government's Labour Force Survey, the UK employment rate stands at 75.3%, the highest since comparable records began in 1971. However, as employment figures are rising staff turnover is increasing. Companies are recruiting staff but retention is low.
XpertHR Labour Turnover rates survey 2017
The solution
C&K Careers don’t have this problem. They have been providing information, advice and guidance to people aged 13 to over 60 in Calderdale and Kirklees for more than 20 years. To be able to ensure that their service is of the best standard C&KC put a lot of time and effort into the development of their employees.
C&K Careers have adapted and implemented an induction process to new employees which at first seems quite intense but is very beneficial to new staff to be able to understand the company’s values and objectives and understand how they fit into the organisation.
Employing over 150 members of staff and with very low turnover rates the induction process supports the retention of staff over the first 6 months and beyond.
What’s the process?
1. Every new starter is presented with a new starter’s handbook which has everything they need to know about the company, the values, staff expectations, and essential health and safety policies and corporate policies for people to follow and be aware of.
2. Meet the managers – All new starters in their first 2 weeks have one to one sessions with all the senior management team, to get to know them and understand their roles and how they fit within the organisation.
It’s a good time to ask questions and ensures that people feel comfortable approaching people at executive levels in the future.
Over the next few months they meet all managers across the company, so they get an overview of everything that C&KC does.
3. New employees go through mandatory training such as data protection and safeguarding for example. Making sure they have the essential knowledge to be able to fulfil their role.
4. All corporate documents are available for new starters to access to understand the strategies and procedures that the organisation is working towards.
All new starters have a 6-month probation, by the third month, they have a review, where they see how the employee finding the role talking about their successes so far and there is any room for improvement/development.
The company is open to development and training for staff and often considers succession planning has really helped with retention by supporting internal staff into higher roles.
Katren North, Business Development Manager C&K Careers commented;
‘’Many members of the team are surprised with how accessible the senior management team are and how supportive other teams are. This really helps with ensuring people are happy within the workplace and ensure there’s a cohesive environment between teams.
Our employee retention rate is very high we are lucky because most staff that join us tend to want to build their career with us and stay long term. ‘’
C&KC also offer a traineeship programme to develop new staff over an initial 12 month period where trainees spend a month working in different departments across the company and also complete a Level 4 or 6 professional qualification. Trainees gain a full understanding of the organisation and see how each role contributes towards success.
The programme has proven to be successful; giving staff experience, allowing them to integrate well with teams across the organisation and understand where their strengths and areas for development are. This also enables both the individual and managers to realise which area of work best suits the individual trainee.
Trainees are recruited as permanent members of staff so at the end of the 12 months, they are deployed to departments where they will be most effective.
Some thoughts on staff retention
To improve staff retention companies need to be more open and communicative with staff to ensure they understand company values and their roles within the organisation which can work to create a positive working environment supporting productivity.
Being open to create development opportunities and looking into succession planning can be effective to ensure staff retention within a company providing opportunities and capacity for new recruits to develop and progress.
Further support for staff retention -
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1887
https://www.xperthr.co.uk/good-practice-manual/retaining-staff/115941/
If you would like to know more about succession planning and creating a strong induction then please contact us