Anxiety. Bursts of anger. Headaches. What do they all have in common?
Each of these is a common effect of stress. Stress costs employers an average of $300 billion a year in stress-related health care and missed work.
An employee benefits study, done by MetLife, found that 40 percent of employees believe that increased recruitment by their organization would decrease their workplace stress.
Employers might be recruiting as much as they are able, but if they are recruiting the wrong way it does not matter. Here are seven ways that businesses can recruit better to reduce employees’ workplace stress.
1. Utilize Social Media
Last year, 38 percent of organizations planned on spending more than 20 percent of their total advertising budgets on social media, a 25 percent increase from 2014.
Your company is likely already spending time and money creating a social media presence, why not use it to help fill open positions?
Individuals who follow your brand on social media have already identified themselves as fans. Use this information to your benefit. Social media allows your fans to either apply themselves or spread the word about the position, for you.
Fans that aren’t a good fit themselves can share the information with people they know who may be a better fit. Social media allows you to turn your fans into recruiters.
A 2014 Jobvite study found that 21 percent of job seekers discovered their favorite or best job through their online social networks. As millennials continue to enter the workforce, this number will likely only rise.
Make sure your company is not only posting job openings on its social media platforms but also maintaining a strong online presence in general. A strong social media presence allows you to engage potential candidates and generate more interest in open positions.
2. Simplify your application process
No candidate, particularly the best, wants to go through a painful application process that forces them to surrender page after page of information before they even submit a resume or cover letter.
Your application process needs to give the best candidates a seamless avenue to apply for an open position. The application process should facilitate conversations between applicants and recruiters/your company, not provide a barrier to them.
3. Always follow up
Each person that applies for a job with your company is, at the very least, a potential customer. Make sure that no matter the outcome, you are following up with every applicant.
Following up with candidates keeps your business in the goodwill of that individual. As previously mentioned, an applicant could be a potential customer or even someone you may want to hire later.
Maintaining goodwill helps to avoid that candidate from developing negative personal feelings about your company. This goodwill, in turn, can prevent a situation where they spread negative feelings to their friends and family, thus turning more people against your business.
Treat job seekers with the same amount of respect that you would show to your customers, and always follow up with them.
4. Maintain relationships
Your business needs to have a system that allows it to maintain relationships with major prospects if they are not hired in the position for which they first applied.
There will be many candidates that do not fit the job opening they applied for but would be a great prospect in the future. Companies need to keep in touch with these individuals to ensure they continue looking at your firm in the future.
Send these key prospects company announcements and new job openings. Keep these candidates involved and interested in opportunities at your firm.
5. Create exact job listings
Review all job postings to confirm that you are describing each opening accurately and honestly. Listings need to explain what responsibilities the position holds and what type of person would be successful in that position.
Exact job postings ensure that the right candidates are applying for the position. It allows prospects to take themselves out of consideration if they can understand the position would not be a good fit.
6. Establish a worthwhile mission statement
Employees who have meaning in their work experience higher levels of engagement. This engagement increases productivity, customer satisfaction, and the overall bottom line.
Employees and job seekers look to find meaning in their work. When creating a job listing, or advertisement for the job listing, clearly state your firm’s mission statement. Candidates, especially millennials, are likely to choose an employer based on their personal beliefs and the company’s values.
Showing prospects what your business believes in, lets them decide for themselves whether they would be a good fit or not, and is another method for getting job seekers to rule themselves out of a position.
7. Sell the job
The top candidates need to be sold on your business and the position. Highlight your company’s benefits and perks, career development, advancement opportunities, and culture.
Ultimately, your recruiting efforts need to sell the best prospects on the opportunities that your company can offer them.
The Wrap
One option to quickly improve your recruitment and help ease your employees’ workplace stress is to use a staffing agency. If your business lacks the resources or desire to partner with a staffing firm, use the tips above to better your recruiting practices.
Employees feel the stress of being understaffed whether you know it or not. Apply these seven recruiting strategies to address employees’ workplace stress, relieve headaches, and ease anxiety.