BusinessDay... the voice of business: Recruiting and retaining quality personnel in SMEs

Recruiting and retaining quality personnel in SMEs
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OLUYINKA ALAWODE on 04 May, 2008 02:00:00
 
The Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), through its women’s
network, NECA Network of Entrepreneurial Women recently explored issues of
recruiting and retaining good quality personnel. The forum which is the
network’s second quarterly meeting held at Sheraton Hotel brought together
hundreds of women entrepreneurs who needed to know how to make their companies
attractive to good personnel despite the competitive edge the big companies have
in terms of staff remuneration.
Nike Desouza, managing director, People Temp, human resource business advisers
and C.A. Daregos, proprietor of St. Benedict and Daregos Academy explored this
issues based on their professional experience over the years.
Highlights
Problems: only about five million people of the total adult population in
Nigeria are skilled. The competition for the skilled manpower is very keen. No
matter how much money is put in to float a project, it can be copied. So a
business must be dynamic.  One of the ways a company’s trade secrets go out is
through disloyal staff.
Staff members now have access to endless technology such as phone and e-mail.
They can work long and hard during office hours but not for their employer. Some
employees are also idle or bored while some are over burdened with tasks by
their employers because they are good and reliable. These one may leave due to
stress. But even small or medium enterprises can have happy, contented workforce
producing very highly.
Reward seeking: these days, not many employees are looking for careers. Money
is what talks because the economy is too hard. As a result, there is constant
movement of employees from one company to another. The skilled workforce now
demands better conditions of service and some of these things are even required
by law.
Be a better employer: Many Nigerians have so much potential because when
Nigerians go to a better environment, they flourish. If government is not
providing the enabling environment, employers have to do it, so as to have
access to those good skilled employees. The employer must be informed about
issues such as tax and pension and not cut corners. Integrity is part of a
business owner’s retention strategy. If an employer cuts corners, defraud in
tax payment and other issues, employees would also cheat on the employer.
The business owner who also manages the business must be on a salary apart from
dividends collected as a shareholder. When there is a cash crunch and the owner
cannot get a salary, it should be seen as a debt the company owes. If the
business is always having cash flow problems, there is a problem which must be
dealt with.
Human resource department: Once a small business operator begins to employ
staff, there is a need to engage someone whose job would primarily be to take
care of the employees. The reason some businesses are not retaining staff is
because they are not looking after them. Every business must establish good HR
policies. Most times, people leave a small company because there is no
structure. You cannot have one person doing the work of four professionals in
different fields. If the HR person does not have the skills, send such a person
for training.
Recruiting
You have to determine ahead of time what the business needs such as skills and
competences and establish job/person specifications. Determine the search
strategy- where and how and the requirement tools and procedures. Have high
standards in recruitment; stop informal ways of employing due to your personal
relationships with people. Have interview sheets that highlight all the skills
you need.
Get a panel consisting of two or three people who are in the same line when
interviewing candidates. Ask questions that reveal integrity. Prepare ahead of
time questions that reveal issues of character that one cannot know just by
looking at the CV. A good HR person will help you develop a good strategy. Some
people in your company can spot good people.
Retention
The cost of replacing an employee is 10 times the cost of retention. A new
person has to learn all over again. Once you get the right people into your
business, you start to have better returns. 80 percent of employees leave a
company because of their boss. Bosses should avoid verbal or emotional abuse. 
Have a corporate culture and ensure that all employees know the vision, values
and what the company stands for.