Re-Recruiting: How to Retain Top Employees

If you are lucky enough to have some real star employees on your team, you must get used to the fact that external recruiters and other businesses are aware of their presence as well. With the connectivity of social media, the superstar software developer doesn’t go “off the market” when they sign up with you and yours. They don’t even go off the radar in many cases. According to an article from Dr. John Sullivan, HR thought leader and ERE.net contributor, your top employees may be receiving upwards of 5 communications or offers per-week from recruiters and your competitors.

While it may feel a bit like poaching, there is no Star Employee Protection Agency in the wings to prevent a competitor from snatching away your rare, prized Idea Guy from the marketing department. The best way to work against these external forces is to periodically “re-recruit” your top performing employees. Dr. Sullivan compared it to a married couple re-affirming their wedding vows to strengthen the relationship.

Re-Recruiting and Employee Retention Strategies

The most effective strategies for employee retention are to keep your star employees interested with new opportunities within the company and to make sure that they feel recognized for their achievements at your company. It could mean offering them an entirely new set of responsibilities in their department, a pay increase or even business travel opportunities. Basically, you just want to keep your top performers excited about working for you.

Additionally, giving your employee more flexibility for when they come and go from work, can also help do wonders for retaining them. Think about it, by giving them this flexibility you’re showing them that you have a high level of trust for them, something that other companies will not be able to replicate.

Another important point to make is about how your re-recruitment will compare as a counter offer to another company’s recruiting efforts. In short, an external offer will always be more exciting because your employee has probably been given an extremely rosy, idealized picture of the job. They already know what it’s like working for you and this makes re-recruiting as a counter offer a rather weakened strategy. Instead, try to do it every 18-24 months to try and solidify any loyalty your top employees have for your company so that they will be more resistant to other offers in the first place.

Re-Recruiting Strategies

Yes, we touched on a few points but what you really care about are different ideas for re-recruitment of employees.

Here’s a list of re-recruiting strategies that you can use:

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