What’s Causing Your Employees to Quit?

It’s a moment you dread. Your top employee has walked into your office and sheepishly informed you that they plan to leave for another opportunity elsewhere. They’re respectful and professional in the process, but you’re left to wonder: what’s the real reason they’ve chosen to quit?

Retention should be a key part of your recruitment strategy. Replacing employees can get shockingly expensive. Cost projections on recruiting vary by industry and by the specific situation. However, even low-end estimates point to an extremely costly situation.

One projection suggests that mid-range positions cost about 20% of the employee’s annual salary to replace. Lower-level positions cost less, around 16% of the annual salary. Still, even on this low end, replacing a team member earning $25,000 would cost $4,000 (going by the 16% estimate). That’s still a sizable figure, especially if you have to make these hires often.

Clearly, taking steps to keep your employees happy will pay dividends in the long run. That’s why it’s important to take a real look at the reasons people leave you for other opportunities. If you’ve faced a string of resignations lately, it’s time for some soul-searching. You need to discover why they quit.

Here are a few common possibilities.

Low Pay

Compensation should be the first place you look if you have trouble keeping good employees. Many factors go into employee satisfaction, of course. But you can’t ignore a basic fact about the relationship between you and your workers. This connection rests on a single, simple concept: they work, you pay.

Know the market value for each position in your firm. In addition, understand when it’s in your interest to exceed this benchmark. Identify top talent and take steps to pay them according to the value they offer the company.

Negative Culture

Once you assure yourself that you are paying at least the market rate for your employees, you can look to other factors to keep your employees longer. Culture is another obvious culprit when an employee resigns.

Make sure the workplace remains a welcoming and safe environment. Keep interactions, constructive, and professional. As long as your employees enjoy coming to the office, you have a good chance to hold onto them over the long haul.

Lack of Organization

People like to feel safe and supported. An improvised structure and a freewheeling culture might work for some workers. But others might find this frustrating and seek out more structure somewhere else.

The key is to find some middle ground. You want to provide an adequate level of organization without stifling your best talent.

No Advancement Opportunities

Your best employees will be ambitious, constantly seeking to advance their careers. Encourage this behavior. It serves as the engine for their best performance.

However, you have to give them ways to express this ambition. If they start to feel stuck (if that engine isn’t getting out of neutral), they will look for other opportunities.

Don’t let this happen. Make sure you offer adequate chances to advance within your organization. This way, your best employees can drive their careers forward under your watch.

Poor Company Prospects

Your employees succeed when you do. When the company is growing and has adequate resources, your workers will feel their positions are safe. However, if you hit tough times, your top talent might start looking for a more secure situation.

Your best bet in these situations: identify your best workers and focus resources on them. Assure them that the company’s long-term prospects remain strong and take steps to keep them in the fold. You might not be able to keep everyone, but you can hold onto your go-to team members.

Had a key employee quit? It can be a difficult problem to overcome. However, it gets easier when you have a strong recruiting partner, like PrideStaff. They can quickly find the perfect candidate to replace your departing employee.

Contact PrideStaff today to find out how they can deliver the ideal recruits for your open positions

Benefits of Maintaining Strong Communication With Your Candidates Through A Crisis

Maneuvering Your Job Search Through COVID-19

Right now times are very uncertain, very stressful and even a bit frightening. The COVID-19 outbreak has not only caused a health crisis but an economic crisis, as well. In a matter of days, millions of people found themselves suddenly out of work. Millions more are weeks or even days away from losing their jobs, and millions more still are left uncertain about whether their companies will last through this crisis.

While the numbers are bleak and you are probably anxious, there is good news. Companies all across the country are hiring right now and many companies still have long-term plans to hire throughout the year. That means that the best thing for you to do right now is to continue your job search, despite your anxiety. Follow these tips to keep your job search on track through COVID-19.

Remember, This is Temporary

While no one can say for sure how long all of this will last, the one thing they can say for certain is that this is all temporary. It will end one day and the economy will open back up. It will be the people who kept their nose to the grindstone and kept looking throughout the downtimes who will rise up the fastest and go the farthest when things get back to something resembling normalcy.

Search Every Day

If you have already lost your job or you are in danger of losing your job, make sure you are doing search-related activities for a few hours every single day. You don’t have to do them for eight hours a day which can be daunting, but you should do a few hours, at least. Then, spend time decompressing with your family, taking a walk outside and looking for silver linings where you can find them.

Be Smart, Be Safe

Many employers are making use of video chats for interviews, but some are still holding in-person interviews. If you do go to an employer, make sure to stay 3-6 feet away from other people, do not shake hands, try to avoid touching metal or glass surfaces, wash your hands and use hand sanitizer.

Be Reachable

Now is not the time to screen calls. If an employer can’t reach you, they will move on to someone else. Make sure to check your email multiple times a day and respond to any potential employer’s outreach in less than 24 hours. Keep your phone on you at all times and answer any calls from unknown numbers.

Be Reliable

Even being a few seconds late to a phone or video interview can cost you a job right now. Make sure that you have the date and time correct and test links to video chats at least an hour before the meeting so you can notify the employer if there is a problem. Finally, just as you would arrive early to an interview, sign in or dial in at least 10 minutes early – unless you are instructed otherwise.

Insist on Quiet

If you have a family sharing one space, it can be difficult to find quiet for an interview. Luckily, everyone is in the same boat and employers will certainly understand if a baby cries or a child comes bursting in the room during an interview, but try to find a quiet place to hold the interview so that you can concentrate and put your best foot forward. Send your family on a walk or bike ride, or if you can’t find quiet, sit in your car.

Use Your Downtime Wisely

If you have lost your job, it’s important to keep busy. Being in isolation in addition to being unemployed can be a recipe for depression. Just as you block off time every day to search for jobs, block off time to learn a new skill or hone an existing one. There are myriad free resources online and many formerly-paid programs are being offered for free to help people struggling with the economic impact of COVID-19. Learning something new will not only pass the time in a constructive way, but it will also help you enhance your resume.

Be Visible On Social Media

Social distancing is a great excuse to forego in-person networking for social networking. So get visible on LinkedIn by participating in groups and getting in touch with contacts you haven’t spoken with in a while. This is also a great time to make professional Facebook and Twitter profiles to share industry-related posts and information.

Work With A Staffing Firm

A job search can be incredibly overwhelming at any time, let alone in these uncertain and stressful times. Working with a staffing firm can help ease your stress while also increasing the chances of finding a good job. If you are looking for a job, please browse PrideStaff Las Vegas’ open jobs and apply online today or contact our team to learn more about the ways we can help you get working.

Earn the Right to Succeed in Your Career

It’s easy to look at successful people and wish you were in their shoes. What you might not realize, is you can achieve anything you want, if you’re willing to work for it. Success doesn’t just happen, it’s a byproduct of the manner in which you live your life. 

If you’re tired of watching other people enjoy the success you want, it’s time to make some meaningful changes. Here’s some advice to help you: 

• Earn the right to ask for an increase 
• Earn the right to ask for the job 
• Earn the right to ask for a promotion 
• Earn the right to ask for time off 

Three Ways to Earn the Right to Succeed 

Never Stop Learning and Growing 

Knowledge is power. Always seeking new opportunities to learn and grow will keep your skills sharp. This can be anything as small as attending lunch and learns with your team to enroll in a continuing education course. The world is constantly evolving, so if you don’t keep up, you’ll be left behind. 

Constantly Update Your Resume 

You never know when an incredible job opportunity will come knocking. Therefore, it’s important to update your resume every time you learn a new skill or realize a major professional accomplishment. The most successful people always have one eye open, searching for the next big thing, so be like them and have your resume ready at all times. 

Make Networking a Priority 

Who you know can make all the difference in your career. Hiring decisions have a huge impact on a company, so managers prefer candidates recommended by someone they know and trust.  

Keep your network strong by always searching for ways to build new relationships — i.e., joining a professional association, attending networking events regularly, volunteering — and staying in touch with current contacts. The more people you know, the better your chances of having an “in” when your dream job comes along. 

Climb to the Top 

Finding a job that checks all your boxes isn’t always easy, but you don’t have to do it on your own. PrideStaff Las Vegas enjoys connecting talented, hardworking professionals like you with outstanding local employers. Contact us today to learn more! 

Do You Have an Employee Who’s Struggling? Here’s How to Help

Every employee struggles at some point. As a manager, it’s up to you to recognize these situations and acknowledge them at the earliest possible stage. It may be tempting to simply let them run their course, but chances are, that won’t just happen on its own. It’s like most any challenge in life: sticking your head in the sand at best accomplishes nothing, and can often make things worse.

It all comes down to communication.

Getting a struggling employee back on track depends on open, two-way communication throughout the process. The more listening and support you offer, the more likely you are to accurately identify the problem and work collaboratively to resolve it.

• Get to the root cause. Your first step is to talk to the employee. Perhaps they don’t even realize a problem exists. Sometimes, issues are glaringly obvious from a management perspective, but subtle or even nonexistent in the mind of a team member. If your employee has the same concerns you do, you’ve already made good headway towards resolution. If not, then you need to raise their self-awareness and possibly project clearer expectations to them.
• Be an active listener. Don’t be too quick to judge, begin to craft a resolution, or even respond immediately. At first, just listen to your employees and empathize with their situation.
• Is the problem internal or external? This is a key factor in dictating how you can best support your employees. Issues related to a person’s job, coworkers, or department may not be easy, but they’re within your professional realm to address. If a problem is external, your job is to let your team members know you’ll support them, and then provide whatever resources you can. For instance, it may be some extra time off work, a more flexible schedule, or a referral to your employee assistance program. Reassure them that they’re not dealing with their stress in a vacuum.

Steps to a Solution

As you conclude your conversation, review all the key points one last time to assure that you and your employee agree on what the problem is. Now, you can take steps to resolve it.

• Highlight your employee’s strengths. Leverage their best traits and greatest abilities when problem solving. Use these, along with your own performance data, to put those qualities to good use.
• Share the big picture. Be sure your team member has a clear understanding of how their work impacts the company overall. Give them this key insight. One approach is to encourage them to ask questions regarding anything they may be unsure of. Help them have a vested interest in a job well done by seeing how what they do empowers themselves and others.
• Recognize results. When an employee shows notable improvement, find an appropriate way to acknowledge them. Recognition should match the scale of their achievement.

Helping struggling employees isn’t always easy, but the end results lead to higher job satisfaction, morale, and productivity, and strengthen your relationships. As you build your industry-leading workforce in areas including administration, warehousing, manufacturing, skilled labor, and finance and accounting, consider partnering with PrideStaff Modesto. Central Valley owned and operated for more than 30 years, we’ll custom tailor strategies that fit your company, culture, and vision. Contact us today to learn more.

Maneuvering Your Job Search Through COVID-19

Right now times are very uncertain, very stressful and even a bit frightening. The COVID-19 outbreak has not only caused a health crisis but an economic crisis, as well. In a matter of days, millions of people found themselves suddenly out of work. Millions more are weeks or even days away from losing their jobs, and millions more still are left uncertain about whether their companies will last through this crisis.

While the numbers are bleak and you are probably anxious, there is good news. Companies all across the country are hiring right now and many companies still have long-term plans to hire throughout the year. That means that the best thing for you to do right now is to continue your job search, despite your anxiety. Follow these tips to keep your job search on track through COVID-19.

Remember, This is Temporary

While no one can say for sure how long all of this will last, the one thing they can say for certain is that this is all temporary. It will end one day and the economy will open back up. It will be the people who kept their nose to the grindstone and kept looking throughout the downtimes who will rise up the fastest and go the farthest when things get back to something resembling normalcy.

Search Every Day

If you have already lost your job or you are in danger of losing your job, make sure you are doing search-related activities for a few hours every single day. You don’t have to do them for eight hours a day which can be daunting, but you should do a few hours, at least. Then, spend time decompressing with your family, taking a walk outside and looking for silver linings where you can find them.

Be Smart, Be Safe

Many employers are making use of video chats for interviews, but some are still holding in-person interviews. If you do go to an employer, make sure to stay 3-6 feet away from other people, do not shake hands, try to avoid touching metal or glass surfaces, wash your hands and use hand sanitizer.

Be Reachable

Now is not the time to screen calls. If an employer can’t reach you, they will move on to someone else. Make sure to check your email multiple times a day and respond to any potential employer’s outreach in less than 24 hours. Keep your phone on you at all times and answer any calls from unknown numbers.

Be Reliable

Even being a few seconds late to a phone or video interview can cost you a job right now. Make sure that you have the date and time correct and test links to video chats at least an hour before the meeting so you can notify the employer if there is a problem. Finally, just as you would arrive early to an interview, sign in or dial in at least 10 minutes early – unless you are instructed otherwise.

Insist on Quiet

If you have a family sharing one space, it can be difficult to find quiet for an interview. Luckily, everyone is in the same boat and employers will certainly understand if a baby cries or a child comes bursting in the room during an interview, but try to find a quiet place to hold the interview so that you can concentrate and put your best foot forward. Send your family on a walk or bike ride, or if you can’t find quiet, sit in your car.

Use Your Downtime Wisely

If you have lost your job, it’s important to keep busy. Being in isolation in addition to being unemployed can be a recipe for depression. Just as you block off time every day to search for jobs, block off time to learn a new skill or hone an existing one. There are myriad free resources online and many formerly-paid programs are being offered for free to help people struggling with the economic impact of COVID-19. Learning something new will not only pass the time in a constructive way, but it will also help you enhance your resume.

Be Visible On Social Media

Social distancing is a great excuse to forego in-person networking for social networking. So get visible on LinkedIn by participating in groups and getting in touch with contacts you haven’t spoken with in a while. This is also a great time to make professional Facebook and Twitter profiles to share industry-related posts and information.

Work With A Staffing Firm

A job search can be incredibly overwhelming at any time, let alone in these uncertain and stressful times. Working with a staffing firm can help ease your stress while also increasing the chances of finding a good job. If you are looking for a job, please browse PrideStaff’s open jobs and apply online today or contact our team to learn more about the ways we can help you get working.

7 Time Management Tips for Busy Managers 

As a manager, you’re likely too familiar with being absolutely swamped all day with urgent matters that pop up and need immediate attention…but still ending the day realizing you didn’t work on anything of significant value. The key to productivity and getting results for all your effort is taking firm control of your time – check out these time management tips for busy managers: 

Delegate to Your Team 

Rather than figuring out how to get more done, try to have less to do. Reflect on your workload and delegate more to your team. Communicate your expectations clearly and allow yourself to trust your employees to get the necessary results, while you focus on higher-level work. 

Proactively Plan Your Day

Review your To-Do list before you begin working (or ideally at the end of the previous day) and determine your most important tasks. Then, prioritize your effort on making progress toward those tasks only – even if you don’t get the immediate satisfaction of checking them off the list as done, you’ll have more results to show for it than getting distracted by easily doable, but ultimately inconsequential busy work.  

Embrace Your Calendar

If you want to get your top priority tasks done, treat them like any other meeting or standing appointment and get them on your schedule. Decide when you want to work on specific items, and then give them a time slot on your calendar. Otherwise, those “I’ll get to it later” tasks end up at risk of getting put off indefinitely. 

Focus Strategically  

Multitasking is so tempting because it really feels like you’re being productive; however, it tends to leave you with a bunch of unfinished tasks that aren’t of the quality you’d like. Instead, focus strategically – devote your entire attention to one important task at a time and give it your all to get more accomplished in less time.  

Perform Tasks in Blocks 

Different tasks require different areas of your brain, so grouping like tasks together allows you to be more efficient because avoiding constant switching back-and-forth can preserve your mental capacity. So instead of answering an email, then going back to a report, and then answering another email, try to perform similar tasks in blocks – i.e., a block of email time, then a time for analytical tasks, and then a block for creative thinking. 

Work Around Your Natural Tendencies 

Consider the periods of the day when you typically feel your most alert and when you start to struggle to stay motivated. Work around your natural tendencies as you schedule your workload. For example, if you are a morning person, do the tasks that require the most concentration early on, and then save the more tedious but less challenging tasks for when you lose energy. 

Take Intentional Breaks 

Working more hours can backfire and make you less productive – as you try to push through mental fatigue, you’re more likely to make mistakes. Throughout the day, take intentional breaks to get away from your desk, get your blood flowing, and recharge mentally. You’ll return more energized and able to focus on your work. 

Contact Us Today!

Attract top talent to join your team by working with experienced staffing firm PrideStaff Akron. Our team of recruiting experts is dedicated to learning what candidates you’re in need of and providing you with qualified prospects that are the best match for your company. Contact us to learn more about how we can help with your employment needs. 

7 Habits of Highly Successful Sales Managers

Every sales manager has one goal: getting the most out of their team. You can’t achieve that objective with the occasional large gesture. You have to develop a successful culture that operates on a day-to-day basis. This happens by developing strong habits and winning routines.

After all, a manager fills a lot of roles. You’re the boss, the coach, the confidante. Your policies and personality ripples out through your team, impacting every decision they make. The habits you form, get picked up by your team. By instilling the right procedures at the top, you ensure that your team has the best operational program.

With that in mind, here are seven habits of highly successful managers, setting the stage for ongoing prosperity.

Stay Positive

Your team will have to overcome tough times. Getting past failure and maintaining the right attitude in the face of challenging circumstances are key attributes for achieving sustainable success. This starts with you. Your team will take their cues from your response, meaning that it’s critical for you to keep a positive attitude, even during stressful or frustrating situations.

Develop a Repeatable Sales Process

Your sales team shouldn’t improvise every sale. This wastes time and leads to unnecessary confusion. Instead, create a clear procedure that each salesperson can follow for every lead. You might approve a deviation from the program in specific instances, but, for the most part, a clearly-defined process will lead to improved efficiency.

Set Measurable Goals

Create short-term and long-term sales targets. Ideally, these should be quantifiable and objective. Apply them fairly to each member of your team. Moreover, make sure the goals are aggressive but achievable. You want to challenge your team, but not create a situation where you’ve set them up for failure.

Encourage Accountability

Once you’ve set sales targets, you need to make sure your employees achieve them. Keep in contact with each member of your team. Know who might need extra support, and provide coaching for those who have fallen behind. Meanwhile, don’t let yourself off the hook. You can’t expect your team members to remain accountable if you don’t set an example.

Keep Communication Lines Open

Check-in frequently with your team. You should make brief daily contact with each salesperson, and schedule longer sessions on a regular basis (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, depending on your specific situation). This routine contact allows you to make micro-adjustments and lets you track market changes in real-time.

Look for Small Improvements

Big, elaborate overhauls are time-consuming, confusing, and expensive. They halt momentum and risk alienating your team. Luckily, there’s another way to react to changes in the market. Use the frequent talks you’re having with your team to make small, incremental improvements. You’ll upgrade your performance slowly, without having to launch clumsy, disruptive programs.

Integrate New Technology

Part of this process of improvement should involve new technologies. Nothing expands productivity like tech. By adding new software and hardware to your team’s processes, you can save significant time and money. You can also improve performance, generating better leads, and boosting your conversion rate.

As a manager, there’s a lot you can do to improve your sales team. However, getting the most out of your team means having the right team members to start with. A strong recruiting partner, like PrideStaff, can help. They can find the perfect talent for your open positions.

Contact PrideStaff today to upgrade your staff with the ideal candidates for your industry.

Learn How to Improve Teamwork in the Workplace

Teamwork may be one of the most common buzzwords in the corporate world. But that only underlines its importance, as robust teams build morale, productivity, and profitability, and make problem-solving more effective.

• There are myriad studies on the value of teamwork. In one report, 86 percent of employees and executives reported that workplace failures were the direct result of a lack of collaboration or ineffective communication.

When all is said and done, successful team building comes down to trust. Team members must be able to trust one another, as well as their leaders, for your business to move in the right direction.

As you foster trust, garner mutual respect, and build industry-leading teams within your organization, here are a few key concepts to guide you down the right path:

Clarify roles and expectations.

From your first point of contact with a prospective hire through an employee’s full tenure with your company, clearly document and communicate everyone’s roles, responsibilities, and mutual expectations.

• People should be aware of their own, and also their coworkers’ roles – those of their immediate teammates, if not the entire organization. This helps eliminate confusion and time wasted on additional reorganizing and delegating – so everyone can focus on their task at hand.

Specify goals.

Make short and long-term organizational goals clear to all team members – and ensure that they understand how they contribute to the bigger picture. When everyone has clear, common targets to shoot for, communication becomes more streamlined, and teamwork more purposeful.

Communicate – and lead – by example.

It’s unarguably true: People don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses. Make active listening, conflict resolution, and other communication best practices integral to your job – every day. A big part of effective communication is encouraging feedback and letting people know their voices are being heard.

• Solicit input from all roles and at all levels within your organization, from receptionists and parking lot attendants to C-suite executives. Use whatever forums work best: town hall meetings, focus groups, lunches with the CEO … and don’t forget one-on-one, online, and good old school suggestion boxes, especially for those introverts who may have awesome ideas and need to contribute, even though they may not speak loudly or publicly.

Reward achievements and milestones.

Acknowledging and praising a job well-done bolsters confidence, boosts morale, and encourages individuals and teams to keep up the good work. And, it has a domino effect: When people see their peers being recognized, they want a piece of the action.

• Tailor rewards to the individual and the accomplishment. They don’t have to be lavish or expensive, just meaningful. Sometimes, all it takes is a personalized email from a department head or pizza in the breakroom for a team that hits a stretch goal. Know your people – and you’ll know innately what to do.

Successful team-building starts with successful hiring. Your process should illustrate how well a candidate would fit into your company culture and help your business achieve its goals and vision. Let the experts at PrideStaff Modesto work with you to optimize your hiring strategy, as well as develop current employees and managers to strengthen teamwork. Contact us today to learn more.

6 Ways to Spring Clean Your Career & Clear Your Way to a New Job

Spring is here and with the warmer weather and longer days comes new beginnings. So if your career is stagnant or you’re not happy with it, it’s a great time to take a step back and re-assess. This way, you can turn the situation around, setting yourself up for more success in the future. When you’re cleaning your career, keep these areas in mind:

Your resume.

If you’re planning on making a move, pull out your resume, dust it off, and get to work cleaning it up. Make sure that when you do, all your job titles, employers, employment dates and duties are up to date. Also make sure you’re including your most recent accomplishments, as well as quantifying them so employers can learn about your proven track record, at-a-glance.

Your interview skills.

Once your resume is all spruced up, make sure your interview skills are sharp, too. One of the best ways to do this is to research common questions and practice your answers to them. Another way is to ask someone you trust to perform a mock interview with you. They’ll be able to give you feedback about your areas of strength, as well as those you need to work on.

Your online presence.

Go ahead and Google yourself to see what comes up. If anything is questionable, you have to clean it up and clear it out before you start applying to jobs. One of the first things hiring managers do is Google applicants. So if you don’t have a positive online presence, or you have an outdated LinkedIn profile, then it’s going to impact your job search efforts.

Your inbox.

Before you start getting calls, texts and emails from potential employers, clean out your inbox. Also, set up a job search folder in your email account so you can store all communications between you and hiring managers in it. This way, you’ll stay better organized and be able to follow up more easily on potential job leads.

Your wardrobe.

During the interview and hiring process, first impressions count. It’s why, if you want to make great one, you need to wear the right clothes. In most cases, this means a business suit in a neutral tone that’s cleaned and pressed. If you don’t have one, now’s the time to invest.

Your office space.

Whether you plan on staying in your existing job or taking the plunge into a new one, it’s always a good time to clean up your office space. Clear out dated files, delete old messages, clean off your desk and make your work area feel fresh and new.

PrideStaff Can Help With Your Job Search!

If you’d like professional help finding a new job that’s right for you, the team at PrideStaff can help. As one of Phoenix’s top employment agencies, we’re experts when it comes to connecting professionals like you with rewarding new jobs. Search our jobs now or contact us today!