Companies face challenges with hiring new employees and retaining those they have. Sometimes, how an employee is brought on board can make all the difference.
Employers from Child Enrichment and PC Techware were among attendees who appreciated the lessons shared by TeKay Brown-Taylor, President and CEO of Brownstone Mediation Services.
It was presented by the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce at its Third Thursday event on October 16.
Her topic was “Beyond the Job Posting: How to Keep Employees Engaged and Loyal.”
Brown-Taylor said there are important steps that need to happen before the first potential job candidate walks in for an interview. First, job descriptions should be determined prior to a job being posted.
“So, the part that we put the cart before the horse is that we start with the job posting and then move to the job description when it should be the other way around,” she advised. “We should already be starting with, what is this person going to be responsible for? What do I expect of this person once they enter my door on day one? And that’s how we should be building job postings.”
The second critical need is to develop a clear onboarding process. It can benefit even an experienced incoming employee.
“It doesn’t matter how much experience you have, because there may be something that you don’t know. Set realistic expectations when people walk in your door,” she said. “Because just imagine if you come in and this is my first day. The easiest, quickest way to demoralize, to impact the lack of motivation, is to be on a struggle bus with what you’re expected to do.”
Kari Viola-Brooke, Executive Director of the Child Enrichment organization, said they have adopted a process with the new team member filling out a survey.
“So, when she does her onboarding, before she starts, she fills out that survey, puts a photo, and then she got like an email you have to report to this building. You ask for this person, and it lets you put checklists in,” she said. She added that current employees then receive an email introducing the incoming staff member along with some personal details.
Jennifer Pendley, the Customer Success Manager at PC Techware, said they recently learned about the importance of onboarding after hiring a new group of technicians.
“We didn’t have the greatest plan for what needs to come first, the chicken or the egg,” she said. “But we have learned from that, and we have built some things now for the next hire. I think it will go a lot better, because luckily, we are a family company, and we are an open book, open door policy to talk about things that are frustrating, and we deal with that internally really well.”
Brown-Taylor said onboarding must extend beyond a new employee’s first days.
“Set expectations, 30, 60, 90-day onboarding. We have to get a process to get people in the door so that we can capture them from the onset. I’m talking about drivers of engagement, drivers of loyalty, which impact retention, which impact people wanting to stay with you and stay with your business,” she said.
Brown-Taylor cautioned that there will always be a small percentage of employees that will leave their jobs. The goal, she said, is to have a “retention mindset.”
“And a retention mindset is going to include these things: how do we keep people focused on things that they value and what’s important to them. And for a huge portion of those that are coming into our workspaces, growth and development are at the top of the list. It has switched with pay. It doesn’t have to be. I have to make them the VP. It doesn’t have to be title-oriented. It can be as simple and small things as creating learning moments,” she outlined.
Learn more about Brownstone Mediation services at: https://brownstonemediationhr.com/
