HR professionals facing hiring issues in robust economy

The economic improvement of the past several years has led to a job market in which candidates are hard to come by because lots of businesses are trying to ramp up hiring. This creates a unique challenge for smaller companies in particular, and hiring managers may need to do more to make sure they are able to both attract and retain top candidates in this hyper-competitive, low-unemployment environment.

More than 2 in every 3 HR managers surveyed by Paychex say that their top issue right now is the ability to find and hire high-quality job candidates. In addition, nearly half are also quite concerned about their ability to retain top workers as other companies try to find talent that is already employed, and more than 2 in 5 say it's still difficult to identify candidates who fit in with their existing office cultures.

Being able to attract, retain and manage talent is a must in today's job market.

What are they doing?
In light of these difficulties, a lot more flexibility is being introduced to hiring processes for businesses of all sizes, the report said. For instance, 85% of those polled said they are now willing to hire suboptimal candidates and then provide the training necessary to get them up to speed; nearly as many said they have already been doing this and have found the process to be effective.

Many are also using HR-related technology as a means of improving hiring, with 90% saying these tools help them make better decisions, and about the same number indicating they better understand how to communicate with employees as well, the survey found. As a consequence of such adoption, more than 4 in 5 say they are doing a better job attracting and retaining talent.

Remaining hurdles
However, all these efforts come at the same time as the job market is changing rapidly, and not in a way that necessarily benefits companies, according to a BerniePortal poll of HR pros. Today, 80% of companies say their hiring process takes at least 15 days, despite the fact that top candidates are being snatched off the open market nearly as quickly as they come onto it. The numbers break down thusly: 47% of companies make hiring decisions in 15 to 30 days, 20% between 31 and 45, and 13% in 45-plus.

That gives the 20% of companies with more expedited hiring processes a solid edge in recruiting on an ongoing basis, the report said. Meanwhile, more than half of respondents said they are also trying to prioritize reducing turnover.

Ensuring it goes well
In addition to simply being able to attract and retain talent, another important aspect of a refined hiring process is workers need to be onboarded properly, according to another survey of HR professionals from SilkRoad Technology. Today, 91% of hiring managers think their onboarding plans have positive influences on new employees, but more than two-thirds also said these were single events rather than an ongoing process.

Perhaps because of the existing level of satisfaction, only 35% of respondents said they considered identifying and dealing with issues related to the onboarding process to be a high priority, the poll showed. Furthermore, relatively few companies keep an eye on employee retention (70%) or engagement (66%) to see how effective their onboarding is.

Indeed, the more small-business owners and decision makers can do to look at every aspect of their hiring, onboarding and worker retention efforts, the more likely they are to enjoy ongoing success as an organization in a competitive market.

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