Karen M. Raisch-Siegel, the executive director of LifeWorks of Southwest General, shares the importance of re-recruiting your team.
Recently, I received an email from our organization’s human resource department about the importance of re-recruiting our team members. Our fitness center is owned by a hospital located just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. The healthcare industry has been and continues to be fiercely competitive in this area with competitors such as the Cleveland Clinic just a short drive away.
Not only has recruiting to fill open positions become more of a challenge, current employees are now actively being recruited by competitive hospitals offering $5 to $10 more per hour for the same job. While the fitness industry in our area is not experiencing the same level of competitiveness and abundance of open positions, re-recruiting to retain our employees has become a key focus for us. Having an engaged workforce is critical for our success.
Gallup — a national organization that measures engagement — defines engaged employees “as those who are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and who contribute to their organization in a positive manner.”
Gallup’s research has shown engaged employees report lower levels of stress, anxiety and depression, and bad cholesterol. Gallup also informs us that supervisors and managers account for at least 70% of the factors affecting employee engagement and play the most significant role in building engagement.
So, what can we do today to re-recruit and re-engage our teams? First and foremost, it’s critical we sit down and have meaningful conversations with our team members. During these conversations, we want to focus on three key areas:
- We want to reconnect the work they do to the organization’s mission. It’s important they know how their role impacts achieving the mission.
- We want to reconnect the work they do to the member experience, as well as how they work with each other. We all rely on each other for success.
- We need to express our gratitude for our team members by not only telling them but showing them how much they are valued and appreciated. Effective recognition needs to be honest and based on specific acts or outcomes that are measurable. Appreciation and recognition are said to drive well-being, trust and pride in the corporate symbol. You can never give too much recognition if it is honest and deserved.
As Helen Keller said, “Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.”
