Why Retaining Talent is Better than Hiring

Hiring the ideal candidates that fit perfectly with your organization is one of the most crucial aspects of achieving sustained growth in today’s ultra-competitive business environment. Amidst the current covid19 virus outbreak in India, the unemployment rate in the country has increased to 27.11 percent. Another shocking statistic that showed up in April is that the unemployment rate in April increased to 23.52 percent when compared to 8.74 percent in March. The spread of the virus coupled with the restrictions that came into action due to the lockdown has resulted in many businesses from almost all the industry verticals laying off their employees. Organizations both big and small have been severely hit by the economic impact the virus has had and owing to this reason many firms are planning to cut down their employees furthermore to achieve some kind of financial stability going to their operations post lockdown.

While this might benefit organizations in the short term, one thing that most of these firms are forgetting is the fact that when things come back to normal, they will need to either hire new employees or rehire their previous employees to cope up with the pace of their operations. Hiring new employees is a lengthy and time-consuming while rehiring your previous employees is also a tedious process. At the same time, retaining the existing employees in the organization will allow businesses to easily align themselves with the requirements demanded in the market. Apart from the opportunity to achieve some kind of financial leeway in the short run, retaining the existing personnel is a much better option for the business from all other standpoints when compared to rehiring. Now let’s look at some of the most important reasons that make retaining your existing employees a much better option when it comes to rehiring employees.

• Cost and time of Rehiring: As mentioned before, rehiring employees will cost companies more when compared to retaining the employees. While the cost will not be as high as hiring new employees, the organization would still need to spend in order to rehire their employees. Apart from the cost that is spent on rehiring employees, the entire process of rehiring is in itself time-consuming and tedious. This time and cost that is required to rehire employees might have an adverse effect on the day to day operations of the business and in the current market condition where time is money this can cost the organization dearly.

• Might Show a Drop in Motivation: While this may not be the case for many, still some rehired employees will feel the lack of job security in an organization that might result in them feeling less motivated to work for the organization. This can deteriorate the relationship between the employer and the employee and result in work conflicts within the organization. While it is also seen that the performance of rehired employees can also drop a notch because of the same fear for job security and the feeling that the organization doesn’t value the work they put in for the development of the business. Retaining your employees will not only help the organization to motivate the employees but this will also nurture a feeling of belongingness among the employees which will help them to perform better for the growth of the company.
• Building a Bad Reputation: Rehiring the employees on multiple occasions has the possibility of giving out the notion that the organization doesn’t give the needed recognition and importance for its employees. This will create a bad reputation for the firm and when it comes to hiring new employees, the company might find it hard to attract qualified candidates that are willing to work for them. Building a bad reputation in the market can also adversely affect the goodwill of the company which can make it hard for the firm to operate successfully in the market for a longer period of time.

When it comes to choosing a better option, retaining your existing employees is a far better decision than rehiring employees. Retaining employees will allow the firm to achieve sustained success in the market and at the same time create an inclusive work environment to keep their employees motivated to give their all for the organization.