Just as the housing market is sometimes described as a buyer’s or a seller’s market, there seems to be a long-standing belief that when it comes to the job market, that employers have the upper hand. It is easy to think this when you hear that certain entry level positions are receiving hundreds of applications. There are lots of other metrics by which you can judge the relative health of the job market though. For instance, Gallup’s data on real unemployment in the US shows that since its peak at 17.1% in 2010, it has fallen to 8.9%. The lower the unemployment rate, the less leverage that employers have. Besides, retaining employees is something that every business should dedicate themselves too. It is estimated that it costs about £30614 (or $38745) to hire someone, at least according to Oxford Economics. It is this expensive for several reasons. First, you have to place an ad and depending on the vacancy and the sort of person you’re looking for, you may want to advertise in select publications or use a recruitment service. Secondly, you have to spend money on interviewing prospective workers and then organizing their contract with HR takes time and money too. Thirdly, you lose money in lost productivity as you train your new employee to the level of the person whom they are replacing. While it may seem good to be in a position where you can choose who works for you out of hundreds of candidates, keeping them is another matter.
There are lots of ways of encouraging people to stay at your company. Offering them opportunities for advancement is good, as is having a clear company culture. Paying your employees more always seems to work, but another effective way to keep them is by offering them benefits. That might sound expensive, but when you consider that British businesses spent around £4 billion a year, they start to seem actually quite cheap. Here are a few ideas of things you can offer your employees so that you can keep them:
If you want to attract young people (which is a good idea since they have the greatest potential to become highly skilled over time) then you should think about paying for their university tuition. It would not be unreasonable under those circumstances to offer them a contract that stipulates if they leave within a certain number of years, that they will bear the costs of their education themselves. Besides, it does not need to be as expensive as you might think, especially if they study remotely a few days a week. Lots of schools offer this opportunity now, such as Maryville University. It works too, as research has shown that Millennials who feel that they’re at a great workplace are twenty-five times more likely to stay.
Health insurance is a great incentive for a lot of people and it is not just good for your employees. It can help you with public relations too. Starbucks, for instance, pays for its employees to go to university as well as for their health care. In return, they got free publicity all over the world, which is not a bad deal especially since helping people educate themselves is a virtuous thing to do.
