Are you Preparing for 2025?

Q4 is off to an amazing start. Professionally, everyone is preparing to make their final placements of 2024 and welcoming new staff. They’re finalizing next year’s budgets and wrapping up all the “to-dos” for the year. Personally, everyone is gearing up for all the festivities of the Pumpkin Spice season and the holidays.

With all the hoopla that happens this time of year, it’s easy to overlook one critical task for Q4—preparing for next year! But as a wise man once said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”  Let’s review a few things to keep in mind as you plan and prepare for 2025.

Review your staffing levels and anticipate any changes

Company Leadership should always have an eye on staffing, but especially so at the start of a new year when oftentimes new budgets go into effect in Q1. Things to consider at this time of year…

• Are there current team members in line for promotion?
• Do you anticipate anyone leaving or planning LOA?
• And most importantly, do your staffing levels meet business needs? If targets are being missed, does that result from employee workload – do you need more staff? Is that a result of low performers – do you need better-equipped talent?

Sometimes, a company could benefit from having an outside, unbiased resource like Kalos Consulting to meet with your leadership and help you uncover answers to those critical questions. Now is the time to start preparing for your hiring needs in 2025.

Allocate for recruitment resources

As your firm walks through budget conversations, remember to allocate funds for recruitment resources. When there is a vacancy, HR teams will do what they can to run their own search and hire new talent from a job posting. This can be very time-consuming and pull HR away from their other tasks. And as we’re all aware, there’s no perfect equation to ensure the employee vacancies you encounter will be filled with a “free agent” from a job posting. The market fluctuates from year to year, and in times of uncertainty, the top players you seek, the top players your company needs, will put roots down where they’re at, doing what they know and can control. In other words, they’re not active on the job boards and you will miss out on the best talent. To avoid that problem, prepare in advance and allocate funds for a recruitment partnership with a specialty firm that will work alongside your HR team to contact passive candidates and attract top talent for you directly.

You may be wondering how much to allocate for recruitment resources. A typical recruitment fee with an upstanding firm usually equates to 3 3-month salary for the vacant position. Once you work through your staffing goals for 2025, you can anticipate how many roles you will likely need to fill and what level those roles are at from a salary perspective. From there, you can determine the total budget for recruitment resources. However, keep in mind that not every role will require assistance. Nevertheless, it’s better to be prepared. For more information on recruitment resources, reach out to Kalos Consulting.

Prepare (or create!) your employee engagement program

Everyone loves to feel appreciated. Employees who feel appreciated are engaged with the company, the role, and with leadership. They often stay loyal to a company as well.

Feeling appreciated can mean different things to different people. For some that’s a public display of praise and recognition. For others it’s a simple note or “thank you” from a manager. And others appreciate employee events. To meet the interests of all personality styles, your program should include a variety of recognition opportunities. If you don’t have one now, prepare to kick off the program in 2025.

What can that look like? Truly the sky is the limit. Here are a few ideas to get you started… employee birthday and work anniversary announcements/gift cards/lunch delivered, Thank You cards available for managers to personally hand write a thank you note, company apparel, Top Golf outing, raffle for tickets to a Carolina Panthers game (or a team outing to a game), annual awards for accomplishments, company picnics, ice cream or food truck visits, team volunteering event, etc. Tap into Kalos Consulting for a complimentary consultation on employee engagement.

Consider the potential economic changes that may lie ahead due to the election

With the new Administration joining (or returning to) the White House in 2025, we must prepare for the economic changes that may occur. Keep in mind that employees will also be on high alert during the transition to see how this will affect them. Plan ways to engage employees in company decisions and keep them apprised of financial standing. They will be less likely to be concerned if they feel informed and included. They will also feel more connected to the company and less likely to walk away. This will ultimately positively impact the work environment and productivity as well. If you’re looking for other ways to include employees in company decisions, Kalos Consulting can make recommendations.

As you enjoy your next Pumpkin Spice Latte, reflect on a couple of these items and start preparing for 2025!