How involved are your employees in recruiting talent? Often the best people know the best people, and a vouch from a current employee often makes the employee and their referral accountable. This kind of system — called grassroots acquisitions — is integral to getting the best performers in a field.

But, often, HR departments won’t use referrals as their first choice, which can be detrimental to obtaining top performers and a recruiting budget.

A referral is free, whereas advertising and headhunting can cost tens of thousands.

You want the former to drive your talent acquisition during these economically challenging times. But implementation is critical.

Here’s how you can implement a winning grassroots talent acquisition program.

Develop a Strategy With the HR Team

The process begins by creating a framework for hiring. Identify the gaps in your current structure and then determine when you want to add these roles to your company — preferably segmenting the hiring calendar into quarters, especially for management-level positions.

The strategy session should also include a structure for sudden hires if employees resign with short notice.

Create Incentives for Successful Referrals

While strategizing, determine which incentives you can offer, given the budget.

Suppose your budget is limited; offer more time off, especially during quiet periods. If you have some budget, consider offering cash bonuses, the equivalent of a percentage of the annual salary provided for the role.

Consider implementing prize givings, like weekend getaways, tickets to sporting events, spa treatments, and so on, to honour frequent referrers.

Note: Team leaders and managers should naturally be exempt from programs relating to their teams.

Inform Your Employees of the Goals and Rewards

The key to a grassroots hiring strategy is informing employees of the ideal candidate you’re looking to acquire, more than the experience and expertise; describe the individual’s characteristics and ethos.

This gives your workforce accountability about who they recommend, as they’re likely to stress that their recommendations meet these characteristics.

Next, inform them of what they obtain if their recommendation is hired. The reward is likely to make them more invested in finding an ideal candidate than a friend or relative looking for a job.

Sending reminders about closing dates and rewards and sharing the final selection will keep the grassroots program alive.

Grassroots hires encourage loyalty and retention and can often be the most effective way to acquire high performers.

When implementing this program, remember the old idiom: birds of a feather flock together.

We can all agree that times are tough. The last few years have had a massive knock on effect on the economy and businesses. The word ‘recession’ is terrifying and creates a lot of doubt for companies.
What will the future hold for the business?

Should we be hiring new staff when we don’t know what is around the corner?

During these times, many businesses choose to gain control of their budgets by putting recruitment on hold. Yet doing this delays growth, causes undue strain to the current employees and resources and could limit the ability to be flexible, which is essential to surviving a recession.
The better choice, is to implement a recession-proof hiring strategy, that keeps the long-term vision front and centre.

Define your hiring needs
Before you start looking for candidates, you should define the specific roles and skills that you need for your business. This will help you to avoid wasting time and resources on irrelevant applications.

Use multiple recruitment channels
Don’t limit your search to just one recruitment channel. Consider using job boards, social media, employee referrals, and recruitment agencies to find the best candidates.

Focus on candidates with transferable skills
In a recession, many people may be looking to change industries or job roles. Look for candidates who have transferable skills that can be applied to your business.

Look for potential, not just experience
In a recession, many talented candidates may be out of work due to circumstances beyond their control. Consider hiring candidates based on their potential, not just their experience.

Consider offering temporary or part-time work
In a recession, some candidates may be more open to temporary or part-time work. This can be a great way to get to know a candidate before making a permanent hiring decision.

Be transparent about your company’s situation
Let candidates know that your company is operating in a difficult economic environment. Be transparent about your financial situation and your plans for the future. This will help you to build trust with candidates and ensure that they are committed to your business.

Prioritise diversity and inclusion
Don’t let a recession lead to a lack of diversity in your workforce. Prioritise diversity and inclusion in your hiring process to ensure that you are building a team that represents a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.

Overall, hiring in a recession requires a flexible and open-minded approach. By focusing on the needs of your business and being open to new candidates, you can find talented employees who can help your business grow and succeed.

As a business owner, you’ll often be confronted with where to invest for the most significant impact on your bottom line. Often your attention will be on enhancing or expanding the essence of your business.
While business owners regularly consider scaling their workforce in anticipation of growth, they may overlook investing in their current workforce.
As long as you’ve got engaged employees, expanding your workforce may not actually be necessary. High performers can do the work of two, three, and sometimes even four employees.

Why You Should Invest in People
Sometimes the aspects lacking in your business have less to do with processes and more to do with those performing the tasks.

Increase Productivity
Disengaged employees cost British businesses £150 billion annually, and small businesses will experience the severity of that most profoundly

Enhance Your Retention Rates
British businesses lose approximately £5 billion a year in unplanned churn. Investing in employees is the best way to avoid being part of this statistic.

Improve Profit and Performance
Your profit is, of course, linked to how well your team performs. Creative thinking, personal problem-solving and accountability can reduce wasteful expenditure.

How to Invest in People
There are several ways to invest in your workforce and you can use any combination of these methods based on your goals and budget.

Provide Mental Health Resources
Often employees’ performance takes a significant knock when they’re feeling stressed, burnt out, or dealing with other mental health issues.

Prioritize Professional Development
When employees have the opportunity to grow within their organization, they are incentivised to be more engaged and perform better. Also, consider offering “senior” roles within the company to offer vertical growth.

Respect Life Outside the Office
One thing business owners may not realize is how often they infringe on their employees’ lives beyond the office. Unlike C-suite executives and upper management, lower-level employees often don’t expect their lives to be overtaken by their jobs.
Use overtime sparingly, allow employees to come in later during emergencies, and avoid punishing during more challenging times.

Offer Bonuses and Rewards
Bonuses are an excellent way to reward good work and loyalty. Even if it’s not a four or five-figure bonus, the additional cash is the kind of thank you most employees will appreciate.

Encourage Feedback
Workers can quickly disengage when they feel ignored. Make them feel valued by encouraging feedback and implementing their ideas.

Often those at the helm may ask if they should invest in people first. In most circumstances, the simple answer is yes. Once you have these processes in place, recycling them ensures you’re constantly investing in people and improving your business