Scott Cook from RELOcruitment looks at staff retention in the moving and relocation industry and offers a few tips to keep those key employees loyal.

No firm’s staff will ever remain entirely static and unchanging. Employees come and go over time, no matter the size, niche or success of a business and this is no different within the removals and storage business. Managing that turnover of staff and achieving good employee retention can be a tricky balancing act.

The ideal situation is to have moderate staff turnover. New blood coming into the business will introduce fresh approaches and fresh ideas. That helps companies to retain a cutting-edge and to get a leg up on the competition. What no firm wants is to lose their high-performing staff. It can be especially damaging if they lose them to their rivals.

High staff turnover has other negative impacts. Hiring and training new staff to replace those lost is often an expensive and time-consuming exercise. Seeing employees routinely leave will also have a detrimental effect on internal morale.  Then there’s the damage to a firm’s external reputation. If people see that an organisation regularly loses its staff, they might conclude that the firm doesn’t treat employees well.

Here are a few tips to help you keep your best people close.

There are many reasons why people leave a job.  It could be owing to poor salary or benefits, maybe there are few job opportunities, perhaps there is poor management, they don’t like their colleagues, the journey to work is too arduous or the work/life balance isn’t right.  To try to find out companies often conduct confidential attitude surveys, send questionnaires to employees after they leave, or conduct exit interviews.  Although these may be helpful, because of the need to obtain a decent reference, people often tone down or completely fabricate their reasons for leaving.

So, what can companies do to improve their retention levels? By adopting a mix of the following methods, you should see an improved staff retention rate.

•        Ensure those being recruited have a realistic idea of what the job entails;

•        Improved career development opportunities;

•        Effective appraisals;

•        Strong diversity policies;

•        A practicable means of dealing with bullying;

•        A good work/life balance;

•        A mechanism for staff to register dissatisfaction, whether it be appraisals, grievance proceeding and so on;

•        Leadership training for managers.

Make your employees feel valued and proud of the work that they do, this will not only do wonders for your employer branding strategy but will immediately improve your turnover rate. Develop a work culture that encourages diversity and creativity and put in place effective anti-discrimination policies that promote flexible working, where possible.

RELOcruitment: a new name in recruitment for movers

Scott Cook has been involved in the recruitment industry for the removals and relocation sector for many years.  In March this year he started his own business, RELOcruitment Ltd to give, what he calls, a fresh approach to recruitment.  Ryan-Adam Butcher, who also has direct industry experience, recently joined Scott as a senior consultant.

Asked about this ‘fresh approach’ Scott said that he thought the recruitment industry had become very technology focussed in recent years and it was his aim to bring back a greater level of personal contact and relationship with his candidates and clients alike.

Photo: Scott Cook