Open House Recap: How to Inspire People in the Workplace
June 7th, we held the first ever Groundswell Open House — a conference-style, all-day event featuring talks from HR professionals, sales and marketing mentors and recruiters on topics for startups and job-seekers alike. Didn’t make it? No problem — all of this week, we’ll be sharing our notes on the talks that we went to. Today, we’re talking How to Inspire People in the Workplace, a topic covered by Ryan Modica.
The average cost to hire a new employee is $10,000.00 per person and the average turnover rate for a company is 13% per year. Imagine reducing that cost and utilizing it for further R&D or marketing. If you can minimize the turnover rate, you can save thousands by emphasizing on your initial hire. When you hire someone, you can determine whether the employee will be exceptional and contribute highly or a complete dud who will waste the company’s time and money.
You can use interview questions to better judge a person’s character. For example, asking them about a time they failed and what they learned from it can allow hiring managers to learn how the applicant deals with tough situations that can resemble how they’re going to deal with a situation at work should it ever occur.
Take this case study: Zappos is an overnight shoe shipping company. They do things right and here’s why. When they’re training new hires, they offer them $1,500 to leave. This weeds out the people who aren’t going to stay long term and shows the employees that the commitment is worthwhile. While is seems crazy to pay someone to leave, the $1,500 incentive saves thousands in turnover costs associated with training and replacing uninspired employees.
Everyone wants to hire the most talented candidates but there are a few considerations you should keep in mind. You can develop talent, but you can’t control it. It’s in the company’s best interest to find someone that fits the work culture more so than someone with just raw talent. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t hire someone talented, because it’s a necessity, but make sure they’re a good fit into the environment you’re putting them in to help ensure that they’ll want to stay.
Work culture is a HUGE thing when hiring employees, therefore it’s imperative candidates know the work culture they’re getting into as well as if they fit into that culture. A bad hire can lead to a toxic work environment and bring down their colleagues work ethics with them.
At the end of the day, candidates need to be inspired by what you have. You need to bring your own motivation and dedication to help rally your employees. Be a good leader, and you will have better employees.
