The cost of empty desks - revisited.

As we approach the end of 2021, we’d like to revisit the cost of empty desks.

Before you read any further, let’s do some quick maths:

How much does each fee-earning role in your business earn you per hour / per day / per week / per month?

How many days has your business had at least one empty position this year?

As an example, if each position in your firm is expected to earn revenues of just £2,000 per week a desk that sat empty for just five weeks will have cost your business £10,000.

Now multiply that by the real value your people generate and occasions where multiple desks have set empty, and commit not to leave this amount of money on the table next year.

Now back to the article,

Business leaders in our network frequency tell us that attracting and retaining the best talent is one of the toughest challenges they face and, in many cases, is constraining business growth.

Each person has clear views on who they’d like to hire, if only the could find them, convince them to join and have confidence that once on board they’d stay with the company for more than a year or so.

What’s for sure is that in many cases the perfect candidate simply doesn’t exist – and certainly not at the preferred blend of cost, location, experience levels.

So where next?

Melius finds the following activities in combination provide the most effective approach to securing and retaining the best new talent.

1.             Understand your Employer Brand

What messages is your company sending to potential applicants?

2.             Hire on Culture & Values

Your business needs people who will fit and thrive. Getting under the hood of how your organisation works and understanding the type of people most likely to be successful in your organisation is just as important as technical skills and capabilities.

3.             Expand Your Search Horizons

Reaching out to candidates that aren’t actively considering moving to your company and raising profile with a more diverse candidate pool than your usual recruitment channels can yield a massive increase in high-quality applications.

4.             Put science into your selection process

Combining Personality Profiling, Intelligence Tests and a Structured Interview can be twice as effective as interviewing alone. Choosing the right tools enhances the probability of success further.

5.             Onboard new hires carefully

Taking the time to orient and embed new staff into your organisation significantly reduces the time taken for them to become productive. Having a comprehensive plan involving immediate co-workers, business leaders and key contacts work wonders for getting this important new relationship off to the best start.

6.             Invest in professional development

Modern professionals seek continuous learning and development opportunities, so it makes sense to support your new hire to develop their skill set and stretch their horizons. A structured approach to performance development stimulates productivity, motivates staff and increases job retention.

If this sounds like the kind of approach that could enable your business to fill empty desks and unlock business growth, but you don’t have the resource or capacity within your existing team, Melius is ready to help.