Does your organization reek of desperation?

High value employees can smell desperation from miles away. They will have plenty of opportunities and will not go somewhere that is desperate. High value employees always know what comes along with the desperation. They want no part of it. Low value candidates will look for desperation. They know they have a greater chance of being hired. Low value will not care about the other factors as it will not affect them.

The symptoms of desperation can be subtle

A few examples:

  1. You are known to have high turnover
  2. Your employer ratings on Indeed and Glassdoor are less than 4 out of 5.
  3. The Careers page has openings at all levels in all departments.
  4. Sign on bonuses
  5. “Immediate” interviews

I have never paid sign on bonuses - never had to. Once we made some changes, I had a shot at just about everyone. The greatest time lag was the labor market responding to the changes we made. Someone asked me recently if I ever required a copy of their W-2 or a pay stub. The only example I could come up with was a situation involving a competitors employees. They came to us. Their skills were directly related to what we did. In most cases, if we hired them we would give them a very modest bump over what they were currently making. They were not coming to work for us for the money. They were coming for everything else.

Desperation is a product of root causes in your organization

The first step in eliminating your desperation is to determine the root causes of your employee turnover. The lower the turnover, the less you have to recruit. Start with the employer ratings as detailed above. Yes, there will be lots of reviews which will be irrelevant and even directly contrary to the truth. I have found there are certain nuggets of truth which are well worth the effort. I have been amazed at the number of times when I have asked managers about a particular statement. They readily admitted it was true and in some cases they knew the employee.

What had they done to solve the problem? Nothing, because no one took responsibility for it. These are the types of items which you are looking for. The quick hits which show you are working on it and will produce discernible results quickly.