5 Quick Tips To Attract and Retain People in 2022, from Wendy Sellers,  The HR Lady® 

1. Understand That Hiring Done Right Starts With Being Prepared

• Allocate lots of time for the hiring process. Rushed interviews often lead to bad hiring decisions which affect everyone - the new hire, the team, the manager, HR, legal, etc. Make sure the manager has time allocated for the entire process. Also, make sure you have completed a job description update and a proper compensation analysis for the job market.
• Have more than one person in the selection process. You can avoid unintentional (or intentional) bias.
• Ask the right (and same) questions to all candidates. Why? To be consistent and avoid discrimination while also asking questions related to the job description and expected behaviors (company values).

2. Train Employees For Today, Develop Them For Tomorrow

• Remember that for many jobs you can train for both skill and professionalism. Of course, it would be better to hire for both yet that is just not always possible.
• Budget accordingly - training is not free. It takes time which costs money.
• Get creative and use technology. Grab a smartphone, record yourself or a long-term employee doing the job or task; save on your intranet, dropbox, google drive, tablet, etc., use for training, especially if the action only occurs occasionally.
• Have employees practice these tasks and then coach them.
• Also, consider that you may not be the best trainer and if that is the case then get someone else to do the training.
• Go a step further and get management training today , even if it is just a refresher.

3. Listen and Provide Ongoing Feedback

• First, be sure to counsel and discipline in private. Why? This builds trust & respect.
• Then, listen to your employees and to those leaving too (in exit interviews). Two-way feedback is not optional. You will learn valuable information while earning respect from others.
• How to LISTEN? Look interested (get rid of distractions or reschedule). Inquire with questions (not yes/ no questions). Stay on target/ on topic. Test for understanding (yours and theirs). Evaluate the message (is this complaint, proposed solution, etc). Neutralize your feelings (see #4).
• Consider DISC personality assessments to help improve management communication and build effective relationships in order to get stuff done.

4. Sprinkle In Emotional Intelligence and Empathy 

• Do not confuse sympathy with empathy. Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone. Empathy is putting yourself in their shoes/ situation for a moment and trying on how that feels (even if you would never be caught dead in their shoes/ situation).
• On a similar note, Emotional Intelligence is not the same as IQ. It is a set of learned skills. So teach it! One attribute of EI is empathy. The others are Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, Self-Motivation, and Social Skills. Consider that not everyone was taught these skills at home, in school, in another job.
• Scientifically speaking, we have an emotional reaction to events before our rational mind is able to engage. You must train your brain and form habits - ie: remain calm and listen then act accordingly.  

5. Get Rid Of Managers Who Are Jerks

• Consider that poor performance and/or turnover is often a reflection of management.
• Get employee feedback by #1 Listening to individuals and #2 Conducting a companywide survey (but only if you plan on acting on the results).
• With that said, poor performance and/or turnover could be compensation, benefits, company culture, workload, lack of advancement opportunities, etc. So do not go blaming everything on managers!

I can help with all of these as a consultant or speaker. Email, call or text today at wendy@thehrlady.com or 407.493.1582. Affordable, straight forward & transparent https://thehrlady.com/rates .