Beat Rising Recruitment Costs

Ever rising business rates are putting increasing pressure on Scottish businesses to cut costs to remain competitive. Recruitment costs in Scotland have sky rocketed in 2018 with businesses paying an additional £70m in recruitment fees and £87m for temporary staff. Although it is hard to predict when people are going to leave, how long it will take to find a replacement and how long that replacement will stay for, there are steps organisations can take to recruit and retain staff that keep costs down. 

Making employees feel valued

Attracting and retaining the best talent can be a daunting prospect, especially for smaller organisations who can’t offer the in-house massage schemes, private gym memberships and private healthcare plans of the big corporates.

However one of the top things employees look for in a potential job is ‘having a sense of purpose’. Indeed 50% of millennials would take a pay cut for work that matches their own values. People want to work for an Organisation that does good. Whilst not every organisation can have a noble cause, performing social good by having a company charity or giving employees extra days of paid leave to volunteer in the community goes some steps to achieving this. Yes they do cost but when compared to the cost of agency fees, it’s worth the investment.

On a more personal level flexible working is becoming increasingly important to workers, providing laptops to work from home and flexible hour’s means employees have more flexibility to work the hours that suit them, rather than the static 9-5.

Progression and development opportunities

We admit we’re a little bias, however the figures don’t lie.

Training is becoming increasingly important in UK businesses as a point of differentiation. With 50,000 high street jobs being axed in the first 6 months of the year, organisations that invest heavily in staff training and customer service such as Hotel Chocolat and the seemingly unstoppable Pret A Manger are continuing to buck trends, employing more staff, expanding business operations and to deliver a rise in profits: The chocolate powerhouse has seen a 15% rise to their profits of 2018.

Apprenticeship are a cost effective way of upskilling staff to provide them with the skills they need to succeed. Proven to reduce staff turnover, increased training can also boost productivity. Indeed a single chartered manager delivers £391,443 in added value to an organisation and the National Apprenticeship Service data shows 80% of companies who invest in apprentices have reported a significant increase in employee retention.

Recruit young talent

Recruiting young Apprentices into your business demonstrates to them that you’re investing in their future from the start. They are likely to stay with the employer beyond the length of the programme (12-15 months) and more than half (57%) of employers report a high proportion of their apprentices going on to management positions.  

Inspiring loyalty in these young staff members is key; in the Generation Z society the average person will have 9 careers in their lifetime that’s a new career every 5 years!

It’s also cost effective to recruit an Apprentice. Our Apprenticeship Recruitment Service is FREE to use and the qualification is fully funded if the Apprentice is aged 16-19, with selective funding available for the 24 age bracket.

It doesn’t have to cost the world and money isn’t the be all and end all in retaining your staff. Developing a nurturing culture so that you grow together goes a long way with your employees and can help you attract bright talent and keep your future leaders, keeping your Recruitment costs down.