If hiring and retaining employees is one of your biggest headaches, you’re not alone. Instead of thinking the problem is in the pool of available workers, the real problem might lie in your processes and your way of thinking.
Consider the practices of the world’s best teams, NFL, NBA, MLB, Navy SEALS and so on. They don’t just “hire” everyone that applies, they recruit. They actively search out the best team member candidates available. Most of the best candidates are already playing elsewhere and so they select, who they want on their teams. It’s a proven way of doing things that you just have to figure out how to scale for your company or industry.
When you hire someone at $15 per hour, make sure you calculate the HR cost of your hiring processes. And professional training. Then add lost revenue and profits from mistakes in the field. Then the embarrassment of those mistakes. Add the cost of people laying out sick regularly. And they’re coming in to work late every Monday’s because of “car trouble”. Add the potential risks from them not following your safety plans. And the infecting of your existing staff by toxic wrong hires. Then add the value of the stress it puts on you when have to turn around and do it all over again next week.
By taking a recruiting mindset, you could potentially offer $20-$25 per hour for the right person. You’d open yourself to a wider range of available candidates who are looking for a team and career, not just a “job”. I bet it would cost you less and yield a happier, more stable work environment for your other team members and more profit in your pocket in the long run.
Carefully consider these calculations, and in the end, by changing your mindset, you can build a professional team too.