Talent acquisition and retention are among the most important priorities for any business, especially for a startup or SME. Finding the right person for a role can give the organisation a major boost, but the opposite is true if you hire the wrong person.
It takes time and resources to rectify a bad hire, and for SMEs and enterprises alike, it can be very costly both financially and culturally. We are in a period when the demand for talent remains high, and the global economy is as uncertain and volatile as it has ever been. This makes it all the more important for businesses to be excellent, efficient and effective in their hiring and retention processes – so they hire and retain the right people whilst reducing spend.
Here are the three most effective ways to save money when hiring talent.
1. Establish smart hiring processes
There are never guarantees with recruitment, but businesses can make it easier by looking for the right people in the right places and establishing proper processes. When hiring, it is crucial to bring on people with relevant experience and expertise, ideally with other generalist business skills, but also with cultural values that align with those of the business.
Any employer wants people they trust with the right mindset and behaviours for that company. These include being industrious and productive, balancing autonomous working with the ability to collaborate and work in a team, making good decisions and being humble.
Each employee will contribute to either enhancing a culture or weakening it, so having the right cultural fit is imperative. It is, therefore, critical to be clear on what you are looking for and establish a process which both correctly assesses against those qualities and also reflects the culture of the company to ensure the right candidates are employed. Ultimately, a smart process will help identify the right candidates with a strong cultural fit in the first instance and will reduce time in the long run.
2. Be flexible in your approach to recruitment
In current times, with all the uncertainty and instability in the world, there will be times when an obvious and pressing need for more capacity or a specific skill set arises. This is when flexibility must come to the fore. There are modern and effective ways to address a skills gap, especially a temporary one, that will achieve the desired results, not affect the company culture and will be highly cost-effective.
Specifically, there are new models for resourcing talent from a vast ecosystem of vetted and certified teams. Such models – talent marketplaces – provide access to talent as and when an organisation requires it but also offer more flexibility and greater affordability.
3. When you’ve found the person, make sure you keep them
Successful employee retention is one of the most effective ways of making savings. When you have spent money hiring, training and developing talent, the last thing you want is for them to leave and let another company reap the benefit of your efforts.
Retention is about creating the right culture and working environment and investing in people. Part of this involves hybrid working. Most people no longer wish to commute to the office every single day, and it’s a question of balancing that requirement with the benefits that arise from people spending time with each other in person.
But it also involves a whole range of other elements. These include competitive compensation, benefits, clear progression potential, parental leave and shared leave. Even more important are a company’s culture and values – and living those values, not just talking about them.
For Deazy, they underpin everything we do. Our values – seeking audacious adventure, empowering collective genius, following your wisdom and being radically candid – and how hard we work to embed them in everything we do, are key to supporting high employee retention and reduced recruitment costs.
Businesses are facing enormous financial pressure as we move ever closer to 2023. But talent acquisition and retention do not have to be part of that pressure, provided the approach is clearly defined and geared towards getting it right first time.
Andy Peddar is CEO at Deazy, the developer marketplace platform which connects enterprises, scale-ups and agencies with high-quality development teams.
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Justine is a full-time writer with lots of expertise and a wealth of experience in the financial world. In particular, she specializes in household income and consumer finance across the United States. Follow her articles for useful advice and top tips, guides on how to save money and lots more.