The Never-Ending Story

By Candace Fisher, SPHR, Director, Organizational Development/Certified Coach
Published January 16, 2024

Need to recruit and hire better quality employees? Having difficulty bringing new employees up to speed quickly? Is it challenging to engage and retain employees you already have? So many concerns ... where should we focus? You might not like my answer, but it’s on all of them. HR has a lot of responsibilities, and recruiting, hiring, onboarding, engaging, and retaining employees are never-ending challenges.

Hiring quality employees requires an array of sources to recruit diverse candidates. Our processes need to be structured and refined, and our managers need to be trained to vet the candidates thoroughly without getting us in legal trouble. We need to present our organization in the best light possible to encourage candidates to want to work for us.

Onboarding new employees isn’t a one time, one day job. It requires pre-boarding to help keep candidates interested in the job (and to help prevent “ghosting”); orientation to the organization, the department, and the job; introductory and ongoing training; and a regular check-in and meeting process for anywhere from three months to the first year.

Engaging and retaining employees can’t be covered in a paragraph, but I’ve summarized a few highlights. Regular, ongoing two-way communication is essential. Organizations need to establish, maintain, and encourage a culture that proves to employees that we care about them, their contributions, and their professional development and personal growth. We need to “walk the walk” and not just “talk the talk.” Managers need to spend time with and show the same concern for their employees’ contributions, development, and work-life balance. Of course, we need to communicate how each person’s job makes meaningful contributions to the organization and provide a variety of enrichment opportunities to our employees.

Stay interviews, where we find out what employees like about the organization and their job, and where we solicit – and listen to – their suggestions can help to engage employees. Of course, it’s imperative then that we communicate with employees about changes and enhancements that are made based on their feedback.

Attracting and retaining an engaged workforce aren’t easy tasks. In fact, they’re not tasks at all – they’re ongoing responsibilities that need to be developed, nurtured, reviewed, and refined on an ongoing basis. They truly are a never-ending part of our HR story. 

For ideas on enhancing your talent processes, check out our upcoming sessions on Recruiting and Onboarding.