Re-recruiting & Employee Recognition

It seems to me that after a company recruits, wows, and hires an individual, the recruiting and candidate courting process stops. These hard working employees are working for your organization.  They are trained.  They understand the ropes, and they do the job.  Yet we forget to re-recruit our own employees, our internal candidates when we should be re-recruiting them at every opportunity we have. We should be giving our employees recognition for all of their hard work.

In my mind the re-recruiting process is simple.  It’s all about employee appreciation. You appreciate your employees.  You show them respect and you mean it.  You tell them thank you and occasionally you buy them pizza or ice cream to celebrate in the break room.  It sounds simple but for many organizations it’s long forgotten.  Their people just aren’t worth the time, effort, and money to re-recruit.

Why Aren’t We Showing Employee Appreciation?

Maybe that’s not really the case.  I know HR folks, executive leaders, and front line managers are busy.  But who isn’t busy these days?  Our team’s been downsized, rightsized, and re-sized.  Still our employees stuck with us through the hard times. They put in the extra hours, effort, and time because they loved the organization or the people, or maybe because they had no other option.

Bottom line is that it really doesn’t matter.  They’re here.  They stuck with it, and they have chosen to work for your organization.  They deserve recognition. It’s an employee/employer relationship, and for most employees the relationship is all about give, give, give while their partner (the company) takes, takes, takes.

Talentism & the New Economy

These employees are tired of the one way relationship and some are considering cutting the cord.  A June 2011 Manpower study says that 60% of employees are considering leaving their organization and 25% of employees surveyed would consider relocation for at a new company anywhere in their current country.  The idea of “talentism” is at the center of the debate, and the new economic conditions are forcing employees to re-evaluate their own priorities and relationships.  The old school company man or woman isn’t the same.  It’s all for one and one for me.

Talentism is at the center of a new economy and re-recruiting must be part of the equation.  In an economy based on talentism, it is more about talent and less about capital to grow, succeed, and win in the new economic landscape.  Employee payroll, working man hours is an organization’s biggest expense and yet we often spend the least amount of time fostering, facilitating, and strengthening those relationships with re-recruiting efforts.  But it can’t be just a memo from the President or a bullet on your annual corporate retreat’s PowerPoint, employees are a skeptical bunch.  Like any relationship you have to work to win them over and re-recruit.

It’s time to re-recruit and help your employees fall in love with you all over again.