How to Recruit Long-Term Employees
According to data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, employees stay on average 4.6 years at one place of employment. This relatively short stay can pose a problem for many employers, especially small businesses.
For a number of reasons, small businesses have difficulty keeping an employee, especially the good ones, as long as the average (larger business) employer. These reasons can include the inability to offer equivalent benefits or as much growth in salary and positions as larger companies.
Despite these facts, small businesses like yours still need employees who are going to be around for the long-term
With this in mind, we’ve put together these three tips to help your business recruit employees who have the potential to stay around and help your business succeed well into the future.
1: Recruit Employees In Close Proximity
Long commutes can cause a lot of stress for employees. When people are short of free time in their personal lives, they are less likely to enjoy everything that goes along with their job. Furthermore, long commutes can become expensive, a factor that does not bode well when there are also other frustrations at work.
If an employer focuses on recruiting employees who live within a close proximity to their offices, the employees are more likely to have a longer than average stay.
Additionally, for small businesses who may not be able to pay as much or offer as many benefits as larger corporations, a short commute could be viewed as an extra perk of the job and play a role in helping a talented employee stay longer.
2: Recruit Employees who are in the late years of their career
Employees who are fresh out of college or university are often likely to stay at a job for a shorter than average period of time because they are looking to move up the ranks as quickly as possible.
Although young employees often have a lot of marketable skills that are attractive to small businesses, hiring them over and over again can be an expense that small businesses cannot necessarily afford.
Talented professionals who have been in the field for a long period of time or are towards the end of the career still offer many of the same benefits of younger employees, but are looking for different things professionally.
Professionals who are parents or are towards the end of their career may be looking for a job that is more stable, less stressful, or that offers more flexibility. When employers hire these people they are more likely to see them stick around long-term.
3: Offer Benefits and Bonuses for Staying Long-term
If there are two things that really keep people around for the long-term, they are money and nice benefits. Although there are many other things that employers can offer, these are often the most effective.
Employees want to know that their hard work will be rewarded and recognized if they stay around, and they need an incentive to not move somewhere else where they will be able to make more money.
At the end of the day, everyone has to pay their bills and take care of their family and monetary benefits help them to do that. Some employers offer bonuses for every year that an employee is with a company and others offer benefits such as plentiful vacation days and flexible work days.
There are also small businesses who offer both, and these businesses do experience the most benefit.
Conclusion
Employees who are around for the long-term help your business to experience success, because they fully understand your business model, are invested in the business's success and want to also reap the rewards that success brings.
Following these three tips will help you to find the long-term employees that you and your business need.
