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I have been faced with the difficult task over the years of hiring hundreds of temporary staff months in advance of the project actually starting. I have of course faced tremendous turnover. I typically begin hiring in December for a project that stats in March and goes through June. However with increased needs this year, I may have to start in November. Has anyone experienced anything like this and implimented some retention strategies. I have some ideas about a type of retainer but I was hoping to see if anyone else has some different ideas or even some incentives that have been proven to work. Thank you.
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Doug,
Thanks for sharing this challenge with the community. In my opinion, the value of HR is upon the impact it makes in improving workforce strategies.
(There's no need to answer, I am just thinking out loud here)....
I'm curious to know if you've studied your exit interviews to determine why some people leave.
Of those that you retain, why do they stay? What does their profile look like? What are the benefits of staying?
Also do you think that part of the problem in the past has been the on boarding process?
Given that this is a yearly project would targeting professionals for example, that have retired be a good fit?
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Thanks everyone. Heidi, I appreciate your suggestions. I have gone through the planning phases and prepared my strategy already. The final component for me is retention. I am hiring for our anual HEDIS project that starts from March through June. My first hires are definitely going to be our existing and recently working nurses. I like the money component that bill suggested and I am going to work that in along with some orientations and informational meetings to serve as retention tools. The key with this, I believe, is the information that I provide. Thank you all for your suggestions.
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Doug,
1500 is a lot of people to hire. The company I worked for was 350,000 strong and overall they hired tens of thousands of temporary workers. Our particular Division was employed 700 people with multiple operations and sites within Nevada and Arizona. However, we were a part of a bigger District that ecompassed multiple states in the SouthWest. Within our division we hired a couple of hundred people and we had to plan ahead. Good Luck!
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Doug,
This is a big task. In my experience with hiring temporary staff for a peak season there were several factors that helped determine our success. They included:
- Planning Phase
- Target Selection Strategy
- Communication Strategy
- Sourcing Strategy
Planning Phase
The planning phase was perhaps the most critical component in developing the hiring strategy for temporary staff because it forced us to define who, what, when, where and how. Typically in conjunction with key stake holders (management and staff) we did our planning several months in advance. We reviewed results from the previous year which included our strengths and weaknesses. Below are some of the items we planned out:
- Number of temporary staff needed
- Rehires
- Job requirements/Expectations
- Training plan
- Start and end date of job
- Interview dates, location and time
- Work location
- Hours
- Scheduling
- Uniforms or equipment needed
- Operation flow, set up and break down
- Managing customer flow or concerns
- Tours
- Recruitment Sources
- Referral Strategy
- On Boarding
- Retention Bonus for some positions after the assignment was completed
Target Selection Strategy
The Target Selection strategy impacted our retention and turnover results. We found that the Target Selection strategy was typically a pain point if we did not clearly define our target candidate criteria. We did not have an exhausted list of "must haves" which would have potentially knocked out the right people rather, we define our expectations and the minimum requirements to perform the job. We provided an open opportunity for the job seeker to prove they met the requirements. Our selection criteria were the results of the following:
Selection= Fit{Sum of the Motivational Fit: teamwork+ work pace+ initiative+ pt vs ft+ integrity+goals+ other required skills and exp}/Company{Sum of: Corporate Culture+ HM+ team+ work itself}.
Communication Strategy
Once we determined who we were searching for we developed a compelling communication strategy to draw in the right people. The communication strategy was the sales component. It consisted of the following:
- Company brand {Vision, mission}
- Role
- Future Career Opportunities
- Compensation and Benefits of employees
- Great way to get foot in the door
- Setting clear expectation of the process for positive candidate experience
Sourcing Strategy
Our Sourcing strategy consisted of a mix of resources. We used members of our internal and external community to help us staff the operations.
- Community Sources...
- Face2Face interviews at local sources
- Referrals
- Technology
- Previous Temp hires
In my experience turnover boiled down to selection. We dramatically dropped our turnover numbers by selecting people who fit within our culture and who quickly became acclimated to the role. Basically, we found that defining a clear profile was the biggest factor that helped us find and retain the right people.
Obviously, without knowing the specifics of your position its difficult to develop a strategy or make recommendations that speak specifically to your needs. Some questions I would ask are:
- Are these positions in one location or across the US?
- Are they highly skilled or entry level
- Part Time, Full time or Flexible schedule
- Are there any special state requirements
- Will you hire in phases or will most of the people start on the same day?
- Will you consider rehires after the peak season is over?
- Other than pay, why would someone want to work for your company temporarily?
- What's your budget for advertising, bonuses...?
Kind regards,
Heidi
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Try a completion bonus in their pay structure. If possible, work it out so that if they stay the entire time, their actual hourly rate is higher than expected. For example - let's say they want $11 p/h, offer them $10 with a $2 p/h comp bonus paid at the end. If they leave early, they get nothing.
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It's a shame that there aren't more people replying to this question Doug. That is a tough position to be in. One idea is to give everyone 'conditional offer letters' with a sign-on bonus upon their start. This could be given out for those that have had to wait more than 1 month.
One question: How many people are we talking about here? If its truly ALOT of candidates, I don't think starting earlier would help, but perhaps, starting later, but also having additional help. Have mass meetings where multitudes of people are sold on the opportunity. Have them come in once every 2 weeks ago for a breakfast or resume tips sheet or something similar. Hope this helps... but like I said, it would be great if a few others would respond as well.
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Thank you Scott! I was begining to wonder about the community here at ERE. I have been planning on attending some of the events but I was dissapointed at the lack of feedback that I have gotten in regards to my posts. Anyway, I need to have close to 1500 people ready to go by Mid-March. I would prefer to wait and staff this but it is too great of a risk to not be staffed so I have to choose my battle. I like you ideas and I was thinking about the sign on bonus but I did not think about the conditional offer letters. Thank you very much for responding!
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No problem Doug. This community should be here for the real recruitment issues like the one you are facing... so it kinda bothered me that a legitimate question wasn't being addressed. There should be plenty of people that have 'mass hiring' expertise to help. It seems that Heidi makes some good points.
My firm has hired plenty of people months out from an actual opening, but not in mass quantities and we've always had a conditional offer letter and weekly phone call approach. However, that can't be done with 1,000 + candidates.
You may want to reach out to people who do recruitment for organizations like Disney when they open a new park. I interviewed a recruiter awhile back who told me all about their strategies and it was very interesting... just a thought. Best of luck.
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