I’m an HR consultant who has recently been working with a start-up technology business. Things have been going well for them, but they are finding it hard to keep hold of their staff. They’re in an unfashionable part of the country and people leave to go to London and work for the big US firms or financial services businesses. They don’t have much cash to retain people, and I don’t think money is the answer in any case. What can they do?
Even allowing for the ‘Silicon Fen’ effect, which makes Cambridge an attractive tech community, this is a frequent complaint in my part of the world. And little wonder – engineering is the hardest sector to find candidates. Not only are we suffering a skills shortage at entry level, there is huge attrition higher up too, as talent is tempted away.
My key piece of advice is to get your culture right, and consistent. A progressive working environment will bind people to the company and help overcome monetary challenges. If you’ve brought people in to use certain skills, make sure they are using them, as well as developing new ones. If you’ve told them they can be innovative and make a real contribution, make sure that’s happening – if not, they will go elsewhere.
You can also get creative. Salaries and bonuses are not the be all and end all, as even Google acknowledges. Making people feel special goes a long way. Celebrate achievements, birthdays and work anniversaries. Get your leaders to go out and engage your staff, and set up social events that emphasise the closeness of the team. In SMEs, things can get very focused on hard work, so giving people the chance to relax – or even to volunteer for good causes away from the daily grind – can make a real difference, as can implementing genuine flexible working for those who want it. In the longer term, you could consider using equity as a tool to tie people into the business.
Emphasise the things that make you special, and that bigger businesses can’t provide. And cast your net wider than the usual sources for new hires: candidates who are older and more experienced often don’t want to work in London and appreciate the benefits of an SME. It’s wrong to assume a tech start-up is only for Generation Y.
You won’t keep everyone. Attrition in your sector will be high for a long time, and you’ll have to accept that. But you also don’t have to play second fiddle just because you’re not in a big city.
Sick employee isn't up to the job
We have an employee who has been ill intermittently over the years, even though there has been no diagnosis. This has affected her ability to fulfil her role. Do we have grounds for dismissing her?
I get a lot of emails from HR professionals struggling with unexplained absence. And the short answer is you don’t have to accept people being off without good reason. It is likely to be highly detrimental to morale, and it is simply wasteful. Provided what you do is proportionate, fair and documented, you can investigate someone’s capability to work if they do not seem able to perform at the level required without a valid reason.
The government’s Fit for Work service, which is currently being rolled out, will hopefully be a useful tool in this area. Doctors will make referrals for individuals who are off work in the long term, and will liaise with businesses to find a constructive way forward.
But be very careful how you proceed. Your email suggests you have already decided they are faking their illness. Yet stress – often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed – is one of the biggest causes of sickness absence. Can you be sure you don’t have underlying management issues in your business that are making people ill, or that this individual doesn’t have an underlying condition you simply aren’t aware of? It is dangerous not to keep an open mind until you have spoken to a medical professional and investigated the situation properly as part of a formal process.