There's been some changes with the Talent Scout Podcast. From now on, we will be releasing a new episode every 2 weeks. We also have a new host, Hilary Kelleher.

That's not all that's changed... we also have a new format! As well as the usual tips around each episode's recruitment challenge, we will chatting about our statistic of the episode, as well as a round-up of the fortnight's recruitment news.

If your recruitment or HR team need help with their talent acquisition, or are looking for recruitment software, check out scouttalent.ca.

Intro w/ music:

Welcome to The Talent Scout Podcast, I’m your host, Hilary Kelleher and I work with a company called Scout Talent. Yes, you heard that correctly, it is the reverse of our podcast name. Scout Talent provide affordable, professional recruitment services and software to in-house HR and recruitment teams.

As well as our usual handy recruitment tips and information, the podcast is now packed with even more information that our audience of recruiters are going to love. Firstly, we have our interesting statistic, where I’ll share the most interesting statistic of the fortnight.

Then, I’ll dive a little deeper into a recruitment challenge that we all face, and hopefully offer some solutions. Finally, we have our Recruitment news round up, where I’ll discuss some of the most interesting recruitment news of the fortnight. If you like the new format, let us know!

Let’s dive deeper into the topic of employee turnover as we move into the main discussion for this episode. Recruitment professionals know that some level of employee turnover is expected, in fact up to 20% employee turnover annually is considered normal. However, when the number of employees handing in their resignation starts to climb, that’s when you need to analyze why your employees are leaving, and how you can reduce the employee turnover.

How long an employee works with your company will also affect their likelihood of leaving their job. In fact, someone who’s been working for you for a year or less are over 5 times more likely to hand in their resignation than someone who’s been working with your organization for three years or more.

According to Emplify, 73% of employees say they’re open to new opportunities, while a whopping one-third of employees surveyed were actively looking for a new job!

Employee age is also a factor in terms of employee turnover. Younger workers such as Gen z and Millenials, are 20% more likely to search for a new job as a result of burnout than Baby Boomers. Does this signify that the younger generation of employees are less likely to stick it out at a job they’re not satisfied with? It seems so!

Now, don’t let these statistics scare you, there’s plenty that you can do to reduce employee turnover, and in turn save your organization money.

Let’s look at why people quit their jobs. According to a study by the Achievers Workforce Institute done this year, the two main reasons that employees quit are: to get better compensation and benefits and to have a better work-life balance. The third most common reason was because employees felt that their employer didn’t care about them.

This information is key when making an action plan. Let’s consider compensation and benefits. It’s important for employers to be knowledgeable in terms of what’s considered fair compensation for each role. Make sure you’re keeping track of industry averages in terms of wages. If your employees are being paid less than their counterparts in other organizations, they WILL know about it. Salary information is easy to find online, and it wont take much digging for your employees to find out if they’re being underpaid. Bearing this in mind, HR professionals need to stay on top of what’s considered a fair and competitive wage. I urge you to also consider the fact that over time, a fair wage needs to align with the cost-of-living, and so a system to give incremental pay rises over time will be welcomed by employees.

Next let’s consider work-life balance. Perhaps surprisingly, the number of employees feeling burnt out since the pandemic has increased significantly. Employees are finding it hard to switch off at the end of the day when working from home and people are finding it increasingly difficult to separate their work and personal lives. This is a difficult challenge for employers, as it’s difficult to influence what employees do in their own homes. However, there are steps that can be taken to avoid burnout. Firstly, consider allowing employees time during their work week to do activities outside of work, such as go to the gym or take a bike ride. Allowing time for personal pursuits during work hours will show employees you care more about their well-being than their output. Secondly, managers should be keep an eye on whether employees are working after hours. Consider monitoring who’s sending emails outside of work hours and noticing if its a trend. If it is, reach out to this employee and see if there’s anything you can take off of their plate. Managing employee workloads will go a long way in reducing the pressure felt by employees to work long hours.

Finally, show your employees that you care. This doesn’t have to be in the form of fancy gifts or parties, but simply acknowledging team members for a job well done. Ensuring employees feel appreciated for their efforts will go a long way. Making sure that your employees are given a fair workload, fair pay and the support they need is the bare minimum in terms of employee satisfaction and so is a great place to start.

Now, it’s time for our news round-up, where I’ll share the must-know HR news from around the world.

Employees at Google will have to wait a little longer to return to the office. Initially, employees were hoping to return to the office this September, but Google have recently announced that they have pushed the return date to october. The reason for this change is due to the increase in cases of the Delta variant of Covid-19. Google employees will be returning to the office in a hybrid model, with just 20% working from home full-time. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has also stated that in order to return to the office, employees will have to be fully vaccinated.

Similarly, Apple has also pushed out their return to the office date to October, also because of the increase in cases of the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus. In fact, Apple have also reverted to requiring their employees to wear masks in store.

Finally, to finish off the podcast I want to say thank you to our listeners around the world. A special hello to our listeners in India, Canada, the US, Australia, Germany, Iceland, Israel and Pakistan. Please get in touch with your questions, comments or even just to say hello and get a shoutout on the next episode of the podcast. You can get in touch by emailing hello@scouttalent.ca. Of course, if you’re interested in recruitment software or services, you have to check out our website at scouttalent.ca or scouttalent.io for our US listeners.