Are doughnuts the answer to your staffing issues?

Recruiting and retaining staff is an absolute nightmare right now. It’s always been hard, and it’s only going to be harder in the future. Could something as simple as doughnuts be the key to making it easier?

New Zealand’s always had a small talent pool – and with the border closed, we have no option but to recruit from who’s left.

But recruitment is just one side of the story

The other side – staff retention, is just as vital. The last thing you need right now are for your best people to pack up their tools and move to your competitors.

There’s some good news here. Kind of. And that is, most kiwi businesses are pretty terrible when it comes to looking after staff. Very rarely is there an incentive to stay on. For you, that means you just need to do a few extra things to outshine your competitors. And most of these actions cost very little.

The biggest challenge you will have is consistency

To get good at retaining staff, you need to consider recruitment as an on-going process, rather than as a one-off event. That’s harder to maintain in the medium and long-term – but entirely achievable if you’re committed to it.

How to get started with staff retention

1. Define and communicate your company’s vision, purpose, and values. This is so important. Why do you do what you do? 2. Set personal and professional goals for everyone in your team. So everyone knows what’s expected of them, and gives them something to strive for. 3. Train, develop, and coach your team. Provide a career path. Sure, not everyone wants a promotion but recruiting internally and promoting top performers is good business sense. 4. Reward good performance. While this might cost you some money, it can also save money if you’re able to retain your best employees rather than losing them and having to recruit for that role.

5. Celebrate new starters. Ever had a morning tea shout or sausage sizzle for someone who’s leaving? But why celebrate people who are leaving? It makes more sense to celebrate new employees on their first day. Imagine the positive work stories and word of mouth when it gets around that you shouted everyone doughnuts on their first day, and sent them home with a movie ticket and dinner voucher. A first day in a new job goes from being OK, to being something memorable that motivates them at a whole new level.

6. Have a clear onboarding process. Celebrating new starters is just one part of the onboarding. Also make sure that everything’s set up for them; work phone, email address, business cards, laptop, and so on. This not only makes your company look professional and organised, but also makes the employee feel valued. Also clearly communicate what you expect from the employee in terms of their role and responsibilities in their first week, first month, second month, and so on.

Summary

Look after your team. Building up to this doesn’t happen overnight, but you can at least start the journey – whether it’s with doughnuts, or something else.

Need help? Contact us at https://excc.co.nz/bookings/ for a free consultation to see how we can help with your recruitment and other internal processes.

Jason Dinan, Executive Coaching & Consulting. With 27 years of leadership experience working in 23 countries, Jason specialises in growing organisations through developing high-performance sales leaders, sales teams and sales strategy. He was the project head for a leading homebuilder in New Zealand, Australia and North America, helping grow annual sales from 47% to 311%.