Finding great talent today is more challenging than ever for a variety of reasons, including the fact that just about every industry is now experiencing this dilemma. If you’re looking for great talent—or if you’re looking for the very best place to work—watch or listen to this discussion with:
- Bill English, president and CEO, Accurate Home Care, Otsego, Minn.;
- David Magy, principal and co-founder, Abeln, Magy, Underberg & Associates, Wayzata, Minn.; and
- Rick Trontvet, SVP of Human Resources, Marvin, Warroad, Minn., (and previously, Digi-Key, Thief River Falls, Minn.)
You can watch it on YouTube, either in its entirety or by clicking on time stamps next to each of the questions asked of panelists (provided below as well).
You can listen to this discussion online or download it from these postings on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
A few takeaways:
- “To get someone who is gainfully and likely happily employed to move to a new position when we approach them is taking a 10 to 15 percent increase in compensation.”
- “You need to wake up every day owning your talent and figuring out each day what it is that is going to keep my best people there and get them to be advocates for bringing in greater people as well.”
- “Too often it’s been thought of as an H.R hiring issue; it’s everyone’s issue when it comes to retaining people. You need to own it as a company and as a senior leadership team.”
- “Leaders need to love their people in a very appropriate way. We need to show we care about them as people and not just the job they’re doing. There are not a lot of places where people go now days where they are thanked, shown appreciation and feel valued.”
Questions asked of panelists (click on the time to play the answers):
- 02:50 About the panelists—who they are and why they’re subject matter experts.
- 03:37 One practice or approach used by each panelist that works well today in attracting and/or retaining great talent.
- 08:29 Using the employee experience for recruiting and referrals, and, how to make the referral process fun for employees.
- 10:18 How to blend the different things that attract and retain both younger generation and older generation talent.
- 13:55 How the use of a recently introduced $3,000 referral bonus has been working at Accurate Home Care.
- 15:47 How to address the potential hire’s question: ‘Why do I want to work for your organization versus all the others that want to hire me right now?’
- 22:03 Why it’s so important to re-recruit your employees, and examples on how to do it every day.
- 23:40 As we look at a future where we may never go back to where everyone needs to be in the office five days a week, here’s how to continue showing your employees how valued they are.
- 25:42 How the workplace is changing, including the example: Employees at Accurate Home Care headquarters will be required to work the same days to days of the week; department managers can then decide if they want their employees in the office any more than that.
- 27:18 How the concept of working remotely works in a manufacturing setting such as Marvin’s factories, compared with its offices.
- 29:23 Best ways to quantify and measure the quality of a company’s culture to benchmark and use it when improving your hiring and retention.
- 36:28 Are employee surveys still the primary way to do this, and what are alternatives?
- 39:16 How much do these panelists emphasize the ability for one to grow within their organizations when talking with them as potential talent, how do they deliver on that, and are they willing to help employees so much they may quit and go somewhere else?
- 45:50 Question from the audience #1: “How do you work your referral network and yet also do better at diversity recruiting?”
- 49:39 Question from the audience #2: “I run a company where we need installers who go up in a bucket truck; there’s no formal training program or college I can go to recruit them. What experience have you had recruiting for roles that there are no formal training programs for, where you almost have to train them on site?”
- 54:00 How much do you plan to increase wages and salaries this year compared with last, and what is the trend in recruiting?
- 58:00 Power-round: 30-seconds or less on what should have been discussed that wasn’t today.
This unrehearsed and unscripted live discussion was moderated by Dale Kurschner on May 4, 2021, and presented by Platinum Group, Minnesota's most trusted business advisory helping business owners buy, sell or fix mid-sized, Midwest companies.