Employee turnover is one of the greatest challenges faced by organisations today, with the global talent shortage raising an alarming call and dearth of skilled manpower at the other end. According to research, average employee turnover rates are predicted to rise from 20.6 percent in 2012 to 23.4 percent by 2018, thus showcasing about 192 millions intend to quit their jobs in the next few years.
Job hopping is also predicted to increase in the years to come. By 2020, millennials will reign 40% of the workforce. These younger workforces need to feel empowered and change seems to be the “new normal” with the current job searcher and jobseeker application trends. They would typically change jobs more frequently than their predecessors.
HR Professionals hence are required to be more sure that employee’s leaves issues are real and in unavoidable circumstances. As the company has employees spanning across different generations and those who have been associated with the company workings for a longer tenure, the approaches taken by a HR should not seem ignoring the older workforces.
See also: Why Job Hoppers Can be Valuable for Your Company
Generally employees choose to quit not only because of their senior managers but also owing to several other reasons such as personal health issues, family concerns, better work-life balance and more lucrative job offers. These could allure employees to leave the current job and look beyond for greener pastures elsewhere.
Even though former employees have walked out of the door, HR Managers can still gain many benefits by staying in touch with them on several occasions. While there is a trend of boomerang employees, soon picking up by organisations globally – there is a way to go considering the issue of distrust that already creeped into the minds of the top management and senior boards.
Keeping in touch with former employees could create more opportunities for companies who are on an active lookout for the best talent in the industry to fill the vacant positions.
Staying connected with them through social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook allows HR managers to share information regarding the current job vacancies available in the company.
Since the former employees are already aware of the workplace culture and job demands, they could take up the role of recruiting agents to help connect companies with the best unemployed talent out there. Research conducted by Glassdoor shows referrals are more likely to receive offers, boosting the chances of a match up to 6.6%.
A professional procedure followed during resignation of an employee is highly crucial, as this affects the company brand image and reputation, especially when these talent are already out from the organization.
Great parting process with clear procedures, policies and no conflicts would leave a great impression and positive perception about the employer brand on the talent that quit.
They would in turn be great ambassadors to attract more potential talent to join the workforce, while helping build a great employer brand and maintain company reputation even post their exit.
A great, consistent relationship with former employees could be returned in the form of valuable advice and reviews. Based on their skills expertise and richer experience gained during the tenure of their workings with an employer brand, makes them become great resources to seek for advice on management issues and understand the loopholes in the system. For example, specific cases could include increasing employee morale and camaraderie at work, how to handle critical projects, recommended vendors and updated technology tools to use to boost performance efficiencies, streamline business matters and the list could go on endlessly.
Former employees choose to respond only when they see efforts made by an employer to maintain consistent relationships with them. They could also be great resources to speak positive reviews about the company brand, its products and services on reputed websites. This would help company to build a great brand image to attract suitable best talent to the company.
According to a 2015 survey, approximately 76% of HR professionals said they would be more accepting of hiring former employees than in the past, and 40% employees said they would consider going back to a company they once worked for.
Accepting back the employees who have departed earlier for reasons, is still quite a debatable issue among employers. However, HR managers can play a great role towards ensuring that the senior management and employers understand that former employees could turn out to be great brand advocates, showcasing inherent strength of the company’s workplace culture which makes former employees decide on joining back.
Since they have more experience and industry sought skills, former employees could readily mingle with the workplace culture right from day one, provide new insights and ideas for company’s advancement. Second chance would drive them to perform and take the opportunity seriously, while returning the gratitude shown in terms of higher engagement and productivity.
Both newly joined and former employees are great assets of the company. Thus, employers should always provide the most-effective working environment that enables everybody to thrive and feel satisfied in their job roles. The act of resigning earlier by an employee can be viewed by HR managers in a positive light, as remarking a new beginning of elevating employee relationships to level next.
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