How to Recruit and Retain Quality Employees
Hiring and keeping good employees can be challenging for any business, but it’s especially true for service professions. We know that many of our property and facility managers struggle with this.
One of the biggest reasons for this is the small pool of qualified applicants within the commercial real estate industry. In fact, some reports are showing serious talent shortages in facility management positions. This makes hiring good people especially difficult.
Organizations like BOMA and IFMA are working to educate college students about the opportunities in property and facility management. In time, we hope efforts like this will help more people choose careers in our industry.
But, in the meantime, how do you find and recruit good people?
We don’t have all the answers and we’re certainly not perfect, but DPM Care has a long history of finding and keeping great employees.
That’s why we want to share what has worked for us… it might give you ideas for your own efforts. And if nothing else, it will give you confidence in the people we hire.
How we find and keep quality employees
Here are a few employee recruitment tools that work well for us:
1. Employee referral system.
The most effective way for us to recruit excellent people is to use our current employees.
They know the expectations and demands of the job and can think about people who would thrive here. As an incentive, we offer $100 to any employee who refers a candidate we choose to hire.
The 2020 Edelman Intelligence survey found that 54% of people trust a regular employee to give very or extremely credible information about a company.
If we want to hire quality employees who plan to stay, they need to believe we are exactly the type of company we claim we are. Giving our current employees incentive to recruit like-minded people gives us an edge.
And there’s data to back up this approach. Research shows that employee referrals are most likely to stick around with 46% retention after one year. The reason this works so well is that employees understand our culture better than anyone and they know who will thrive here.
2. Constant recruitment focus.
We are always looking for good people – even if we don’t have an open position.
Maintaining a mental or physical list of great people you know gives you an immediate edge when you do have an open position. Even if the person you have in mind for the job can’t do it, she or he may have a suggestion for who we should look at in their place.
The ongoing focus on recruitment not only gives us options when we do need someone – it also keeps us on our toes.
If we’re always looking for ‘the best,’ we’re able to constantly update what ‘the best’ means to our company. That lets us consistently evaluate ourselves to make sure we’re at the top of our game.
3. Hire for fit.
We have an established set of core values and we hire (and fire) based on how employees fit within those. Every new employee has a 90-day trial period and it shows up pretty quickly if someone isn’t a fit for our culture.
Our core values include:
- Relationships first.
- Innovate always.
- Integrity matters.
- Excellence in all we do.
- Extreme ownership.
- Foster growth.
4. Focus on culture.
Many members of our team have been with us for years. CJ Williams is a great example of this. He started with us as a cleaning technician 10 years ago and now is director of operations.
We’ve managed to keep great people like CJ because we’ve placed an emphasis on having a strong, team-focused culture.
One thing that helps with this is the fact that every member of Nashville’s management team started at DPM Care as a tech. This firsthand knowledge of the job allows them to treat every employee with respect, which helps foster a positive work environment.
We also take care to celebrate and recognize our employees for their hard work. For example, our team loves our monthly employee appreciation. We bring in food and give our team the chance to slow down and connect with one another. This gives our employees tangible reminders that we value their work and dedication.
What employee recruitment tools work for you?
Using an employee referral system, having a constant recruitment focus, hiring for fit, and focusing on culture gives DPM Care an edge in hiring and retaining quality employees.
Have any of these worked for your company? Do you see other ways companies hire and keep good people? Drop us a note in the comments!