By Claire Jubb, Assistant County Administrator, Charlotte County
We all know recruiting and holding on to a highly motivated and qualified workforce is getting harder. We are no longer simply facing competition from employers around us but with the ever-growing popularity of remote working, location is no longer a constraining factor.
Additionally, the private sector is quickly catching up to, or outpacing government in terms of provision of fantastic benefits packages.
This is impacting local government at all levels of their organization from entry level positions traditionally filled with new high school graduates and college students, to highly skilled professional staff working in many different fields.
In Charlotte County we have lost staff in certain areas because they were able to secure a remote working position, in another state, without a need to relocate and disrupt their family life. They get the best of both worlds, living in the paradise that is Charlotte County, and receiving the salary and benefits that come with employment in larger metropolitan areas.
So how do we mitigate some of the challenges we are facing? How do we attract, recruit and retain high quality, public service orientated people to come join our team?
I think the first thing to do is look at how we are recruiting. Gone are the days where we could simply post a position on our web site and be flooded with applicants. We have to keep up with the private sector and be more creative with our postings. To expand the number of applicants, we have to bring the posting to them. Whether it is via the many social media platforms available to us, specific recruitment companies or professional organizations. The key is expanding our postings outside of our traditional methods and recognizing we need to attract people to our profession – they are no longer seeking us out, so we have to go to them.
Other ways of recruiting talent, especially in our local communities are very basic things such as “We are hiring” decals on our county vehicles with a QR code linking to our open postings, in person and virtual job fairs and attending career days in schools and colleges.
Once they have seen the posting and applied for the position, it’s not all smooth sailing. With so much choice for potential employees, we have to sell ourselves to be the employer they choose to join. We need to demonstrate to the potential employee that we have the compensation and benefits package, the career progression, and the culture that they want to be a part of. That’s difficult to do in an interview setting but remember, you are being interviewed as well as the candidate and they want to know that you demonstrate the qualities that you want them to embody – walk the walk!
Once we have the right candidate selected and about to start in their position, how we welcome them to our organization is very important –we need to create a great first impression. Hopefully, they are trying to do that on their first day, but you and your team should do that as well. Onboarding is not just about filling in forms and finding out where the restrooms are! In our organization, every new employee is welcomed during their new hire orientation someone from administration. This is very important to our leadership team as it our opportunity to inspire the new employee to a career in local government. Between the three of us, we have over 60 years of experience in Charlotte County local government. Now, that isn’t typical, but it does give us the opportunity to share our journey, passion for both our community and our roles.
So, we have found our employee, sold them on the position and us as an employer and hopefully, persuaded them that they have joined a high performing, passionate and committed organization – now how do we keep them?
It’s no secret that the key to retention is identifying what motivates the employee and doing our best to meet their needs. But that’s not always as easy as it sounds – and its getting harder. We have diverse, multi-generational workforces with many different motivational factors. Where benefits may appeal to the older employees, money and a good work-life balance may be more attractive to younger employees. Those with young families may need flexible work arrangements or remote working and for others, career progression and continuing education top their priority list.
Having a comprehensive approach to retention and offering something for everyone will help you keep the talent you are investing so much in.
It is, however, sometimes the little things we do that make the most difference to our team members and we, as administrators and managers can set that tone for the rest of the organization. Simple things such as a congratulatory card to employees reaching work anniversaries or promotions, exceptional service awards to those that get kudos or go above and beyond. Employee appreciation events where the leadership team and Elected Officials hit the grill and cook lunch for everyone or a weekly message from the administrator with heartfelt and personal observations and anecdotes. These are low cost, high impact things that we can easily do that really make a difference.
We often say that our employees are our greatest resource, we need to make sure they really feel that and not just hear the words. That is a process and there are many different examples we all use but hopefully, the techniques shared here will provide some inspiration to you and your team.
