By Jason Rowe, courtesy of SBAM Approved Partner ASE
While running a successful Human Resources department is more than just getting bodies in the door and keeping them there until they have served their usefulness, taking a look at your organization’s recruitment, retention and severance practices and strategies from time to time is always beneficial. Compare your organization to other Michigan employers by reviewing ASE’s recently released 2016 Severance Pay, Policy and Practices Survey and the 2016 Recruitment and Retention Survey.
Some highlights from these surveys are below.
More than 50% of employers have had a difficult time finding and sourcing qualified applicants. For non-technical applicants, 40% of employers reported having a somewhat difficult time finding qualified applicants. 14% of employers reported having a very difficult time locating qualified applicants. For employers with technical applicants the situation is even worse. 26% of employers reported having a somewhat difficult time finding and sourcing qualified applicants and nearly half (47%) reported having a very difficult time locating qualified applicants.
Once employers have found that qualified applicant getting them to accept employment is not always easy. 26% of employers reported a somewhat difficult time getting technical applicants to accept employment. While 22% of employers reported having a very difficult time securing qualified applicants.
Over 85% of Michigan employers are concerned about employee retention in the next 12 to 24 months. Compared to the last 12 months, 98% of employers’ concerns have increased (37%) or stayed the same (61%). Despite these large concerns over 80% of employers do not have any plans, programs or practices that specifically address the retention of key employees.
Unsurprisingly employers identified base salary and other cash incentives as the most critical factor in retaining key employees and nearly 6 out of 10 (58%) have said that they are planning to focus more on competitiveness of base salaries in 2017.
If your organization does need to let an employee go (in a severance pay eligible event) it would be prudent to have some type of written documentation (formal plan, employment agreement, etc.) in place. However, 56% of Michigan employers have unwritten or undocumented plans and policies in place.
When severance pay is provided to an employee it is contingent upon signing a separation agreement or waiver that relieves the organization from liability or future liability 100% of the time according to employers.
Most employers continue to use years of service as the basis for the calculation of severance benefits, with 56% of employers providing one week of pay per year of service. The most common minimum amount of cash severance that can be provided to an employee is three weeks pay, whereas the most common maximum amount of cash severance that can be provided to an employee is 27 weeks pay.