Issues getting quality staff
I am having issues getting quality hands as staff.
I am a school proprietor, struggling to get good quality staff to work with me in the basic education school.
And the annoying thing is that when I decide to manage some of them, the moment they have been trained they look for excuses to go.
What can I do?
Answer
This is exactly the reason that big companies spend a lot of time looking at staff remuneration and benefits. They want to attract and retain the very best staff around and so aim to make their workplace popular with staff so that they attract the very best talent.
It sounds as if you have the exact opposite of that situation going on here. Either your workplace is not attractive enough or you have a competitor who is offering better packages. Or both.
So do you know why are they leaving? Do you ask them? Does the organisation carry out an exit interview? If not, start now. It’s best if you don’t do this yourself, as leavers may not be truthful with you. But someone that you nominate should do this and find out the reason for them leaving, and where are your leavers going to?
Once you know the reason you can begin to address it. The answer is not always money. I have listed here many other benefits you could offer staff
I accept that some of these are not relevant in a school, but there are ideas you can consider there.
There are other policies you can practice that will not directly cost you money, but will attract good staff, such as promoting from within the business, and encouraging people to develop their career.
Ask them what they would like to see, via a suggestion scheme, an open meeting, or asking leavers for suggestions. Anything you can do to keep your workforce happy and productive is worth trying.
As you have discovered, it is expensive and time consuming to keep taking on new staff, and even training them, only to find they leave.
So perhaps you need to attach conditions to training, or even salary increases.
For example, if you invest in significant training, you could reasonably ask that the staff you train remain with you for a fixed period, say to the end of the school year, or for a full year after the training is completed. Get them to sign a contract to that effect. Check with a local solicitor, you may even be able to penalise them financially by withholding a portion of their salary, if they don’t keep to the bargain.
In the same way you could tie remuneration increase to service. This is often known as “golden handcuffs “and involves deferring payments or increases.
So, for example you agree a 10% salary increase, all of which is deferred to the last day of the school year.
Or the increase is partially paid throughout the year, the balance paid at the end.
Or a bonus can be paid at the end of the year, dependent on results or achievement of target.
In summary, try to find out; –
- if there are problems at your organisation for staff
- is there somewhere they prefer to be?
- why?
- attach conditions to training and / or salary increases
- develop a package of benefits that staff will want to receive
I hope this has given you a few ideas