Attracting and Retaining Employees for Your Moving Company

Employees are a key part of your moving company because they are the face of your business. Everything they do will reflect on you and your operation. This is why you want to hire employees that do a good job, and it’s also why you want talented employees to stick around. However, attracting and retaining employees for your moving company is easier said than done. What sort of employees should you be looking for? And once you have them on your crew, how do you keep them satisfied with their job? Nth Zone™ Moving is here to provide insight on these topics so your moving company’s team can be the best team it can be!

The First Step: Hiring

Of course, you have to hire employees to have a moving crew. If you are a smaller operation or just starting out, it’s likely your responsibility to advertise your employment openings. You can do this on websites like Indeed, Google Careers, and LinkedIn. Don’t forget to provide thorough job descriptions and highlight the benefits of the job (more on that below). That way, you can attract good talent and applicants will understand what they’re applying for.

Be sure to schedule interviews so you have plenty of time to acquaint yourself with your applicants. Additionally, don’t forget to have your questions ready for the applicants, and be prepared to answer some questions yourself! Your ideal employees are those who show genuine interest and want to stick with you for the long term. 

Employee Retention

So, now that you’ve assembled a team, the question is, how do you encourage them to stick around? Obviously, you don’t want your moving company to be a rotating glass door of employees with staff members constantly funneling in and out. You won’t be able to retain every employee, but there are many things you can do to keep them satisfied.

Treat Your Employees Right

Remember, just because you are in charge of a business doesn’t mean you’re the only person with needs to be met. Your employees deserve respect and compassion, too—so show it to them! Provide them with modern equipment and software for the job. Make sure your moving crews have access to water, gloves, back braces, and ponchos. When your employees feel cared for by their company, they will care about their company in turn.

Keep Morale Up

Every once in a while, treat your employees as a little “thank you” for their good work. Are company profitability benchmarks being met? If so, why not have a pizza party as a celebration? Have any property claims been filed for the quarter? If not, perhaps this warrants a barbecue lunch. This will let your employees know that you recognize their hard work and care about them.

Meet and Communicate

As with any relationship, communication is important at your workplace. Hold company and department meetings at least once a month, and make sure there is extra time at the end of these meetings so your staff members can express any thoughts or concerns that have about operations. Additionally, do employee reviews! We recommend conducting a review after an employee’s first 90 days, then every anniversary of their hire date after that.

Offer Benefits

Of course, when we say “benefits,” most people’s minds go to health benefits. These can make your employees fiercely loyal, but they may be too expensive to be an option for your company at this point in time. In that case, why not offer gift certificates or free restaurant dinners for employee families if they meet a particular milestone, such as a number of positive reviews or a certain profit threshold?

Recognize Employees in Front of Their Peers

When employees are recognized for doing a stellar job in front of their co-workers, it makes co-workers want to strive for excellence, too. This can even become a “self-oiling machine” by encouraging your employees to recognize each other! For example, urge your employees to pin notes on a board when they observe excellence out on the job. You can even award the employee that receives the most notes by the year’s end as “Employee of the Year!”

Satisfied Employees is Your Own Reward

Going above and beyond to keep your employees satisfied is not a thankless job. When you treat your team right, they will do what they can to treat you and your business right, too. Not only will you enjoy lasting working relationships with loyal employees, but your customers will appreciate your team’s positive attitudes as well. After all, no customer likes seeing the sour faces of employees. And satisfying the customer is the key to receiving good reviews, return business, and business referrals.

We hope our insight will help you with attracting and retaining employees. Put these suggestions into practice and enjoy building lasting working relationships with satisfied and loyal team members.