Employee retention – SMEs need to do their homework

If you ask companies in the building materials and minerals industries what the most pressing problem of the future is, you will get only one answer: How do I find suitable employees and how do I retain them? Almost everyone has identified this issue, but many companies have no answer to this urgent question, unfortunately. The current situation is extremely difficult, with many problems occurring simultaneously, including the gradual retirement of the baby boomers, the demands and views of the famous Generation Z, and the shift from an employer’s market to an employee’s market. Companies cannot control all of these factors, but some of them – yet they must be prepared to do so. And they have to know where to start. This includes an honest appraisal of the company’s situation, an accurate analysis of the existing pool of candidates as well as of the competition on the employer side, and a strategy for merging the old with the new. This will also require the willingness to get off the beaten path, which is tedious, but worth it. We need to see employee recruiting and retention for what it really is: an investment in the future of the business. We can’t do without employees, after all.