Are we in the midst of a loyalty crisis? Once upon a time, employees would often stay with companies for their entire working careers. Now, employers are lucky to keep workers longer than a presidential election cycle.
In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average employee tenure is now about 4.4 years. For millennials, this stay is even shorter at only about 2.3 years. So it should come as no shock 91% of Millennials expect to stay in a job for less than three years.
The tide has turned and the age of the “company man” has passed. It’s impossible to put the genie back in the bottle and find employees willing to commit a lifetime to your company. However, there are still ways to find loyal potential employees in the job market and convince them to stick around.
Here are four ways you can hire workers who won’t immediately begin dreaming of greener pastures:
Offer flexibility
The most sought-after employee perk is a more flexible work environment. A recent study reported that one-third of American workers cited flexibility as the most important factor influencing their job search. A further 39% considered leaving (or had already left a job) because it just wasn’t flexible enough.
Offering flexibility is a great way to entice workers into your organization; it shows you care about the needs of your employees. Since work-life balance is always a consideration, flexible work schedules help employees balance company obligations and personal time.
With all the new technology available today, from cloud computing to internal social networks, most employees can still contribute while on the go — and offering a flexible work environment is a great way to attract and retain top talent.
Prize cultural fit over qualifications
Skill and qualifications are important when hiring someone for a role at your company. But after you’ve weeded out the candidates all wrong for the job, perhaps cultural fit should trump fancy credentials. A study showed 46% of small-business new hires failed within 18 months, and shockingly, 89% of this failure was attributed to poor company culture fit.
When hiring, it’s important to focus on whether a candidate will fit into the company culture instead of only considering if they can perform necessary job functions. Getting personal sooner in the interview process is a smart and cost-effective way to evaluate cultural fit.
Connect with job-seekers on social media or throw out the inefficient phone screen and connect using a video interview. A candidate who fits into the company culture will be more motivated, more engaged and less likely to leave.
Nurture diversity
It’s a bit of a no-brainer that diversity helps organizations grow and thrive. Bringing in different viewpoints, skills, and lived experiences means a more well-rounded company with a wider vision. Workplace diversity continues to grow; in 2012 alone, 36% of the workforce was made up by people of color.
Adopting hiring practices to encourage diversity is a great way to bring more talented people into your organization and make those people feel welcome. Plus, diversity can help your organization better serve a wider range of customers and consumers.
Diversity initiatives can also make the workplace a more welcome place, which means your employees are less likely to pack their bags.
Make the career ladder scalable
What employees are really looking for is the ability to move up the career ladder. Unfortunately, not every organization makes this ladder easy to climb. Often the climb to the top can be treacherous; sometimes, it can even feel like the company is trying to push employees down a few rungs.
To entice talented candidates to join your company and stick around, offer professional development. Allow employees to gain additional skills, training, and education. By allowing employees to hone and grow their skills, you’re giving workers the tools to climb the corporate ladder.
Best of all, by investing in your people the company also grows talent internally. This is a huge selling point, making your company culture more attractive and drawing the best talent to your open positions.
The era of the “company man” might be over, but this doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find loyal employees who will stick around to add value. To hire passionate and engaged workers, you need to get personal faster and offer perks the best people won’t want to turn down.
What do you think? What are some ways you hire loyal employees? Share in the comments.
Josh Tolan is the CEO of Spark Hire, a video-powered hiring network that connects job seekers and employers through video resumes and online interviews. Connect with him and Spark Hire on Facebook and Twitter.