A significant portion of your company’s success and growth depends on the capabilities and the performance of your employees. No matter how good an idea you have and how hard you work, your employees are the backbone of your company. Most small business owners are aware of this and will seek out the best high performers to hire.
But even when you’ve hired a talented person, there’s the likelihood that they might be snatched away with the temptation of a better deal. This is especially true for high performers you hire straight out of college. Here are some ways to prevent that.
Keep the Shift of Trend in Mind
Even after your potential employee has signed the dotted line, they’ll be on the look-out for new opportunities. That’s because they want to get the best deal possible for their employment. Moreover, the headhunting has become much more aggressive across the board with people. In fact, recently, the tech-giant Apple was sued by a battery company for the practice. You first need to realize that you can’t be complacent in this and ignore the problem. You’ll never get a good hire or be able to keep them if you’re complacent.
Keep the Hires Engaged
College recruiting happens well in advance. Any sort of poaching requires employees to wait for the notice period to pass before they can move from one company to other. You can use this period to engage them, to keep them interested and show them just how they would be disadvantaged if they leave your company.
If you’ve recruited a college student waiting to graduate, it’s vital to make them feel like you’re anticipating them working with you. You can send a personalized welcome so that they feel appreciated. For your normal employees that are being poached, use the notice period to show them how much they’ll be missed. It’s vital to communicate well and regularly here.
Have a Dedicated Person Communicating with the Employee
When you’re hiring a new employee right from college, it’s important to establish personal bonds. You can do this by assigning an employee to communicate with your new hire on a regular basis. By regular, we don’t mean daily as your future employees will only get irritated. Just once a month or a couple of months would do. This would remind your hire of your presence and help them connect with an employee.
This would also considerably ease the transition they’ll have to make from college to workspace. They’ll already have a mentor of sorts in the employee you assigned to them. This is true for normal hires as well.
Help Them Become Comfortable With Your Company
One of the most important things you need to do is to establish a solid connection between your company and the future employee. Communication is one way to do it, but making them comfortable in their work environment is another. Offering guided tours of the office, inviting them to special seminars, and helping them settle into the company, would go a long way to stop poaching.
