Retention Strategies for Seasoned Workers It makes good business sense to recruit, hire and (do your best to) retain workers as a part of your company’s culture. Over time, the experience one gets from extended training results in an extremely knowledgeable, highly skilled, seasoned employee that could be one of your most essential resources.
You may never be able to calculate the vast amount of knowledge one seasoned professional holds, or replace it with just one employee if that person leaves your organization.
Hiring is Expensive
Let’s consider the costs of hiring/training new employees.
There’s HR time investment, the time to interview and hire someone, on-boarding and orientation and the average person’s learning curve to take into consideration.
What will be the initial return on your investment when hiring a new employee? Though it is important to hire new talent it is equally important to retain exceptional and dependable already existing talent. A good solid base of experienced workers might be just the ticket in striking a positive balance between the indispensable knowledge of older workers and newer innovative skills of younger talent!
Many older workers have an incomparable work ethic. This loyal group that was born to keep their eyes securely planted on the prize by remaining fiercely unstoppable, undeniably skilled and tenacious to a fault!
Seasoned workers tend to adjust to any situation without missing a beat or compromising any work. They have learned much about the art of survival.
This “sandwich generation” is often responsible for raising their own children and caring for aging parents, which can sometimes lead to conflicts with a full-time work schedule. If you have an older worker on your team that can no longer work full time, think about alternative schedules.
Popular alternatives include part-time work, job sharing and temporary schedules, which allow for a win/win situation! Additional retention strategies include seasonal and snow bird programs. All alternatives are technically a versatile and fresh take on flex-time; offering positive outcomes to both employer and employee.
Hopefully you have a plan in place to retain the seasoned workers on your team. If not, consider these suggestions. Much can be learned from having such talent firmly planted in your company environment!
Frieda Carmouche is a member of the Regional Navigator team specializing in training, educating and assisting employers, and career center staff throughout the Gulf Coast with community resources, outreach events and technical support in assisting job seekers with disabilities. A native Houstonian with a love of training and development, Frieda has been employed by Workforce Solutions for over 16 years.
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