The recruitment process is challenging for hiring managers. The average recruiting process takes about 23.7 days across 25 countries.
During this period, different employees work together to make the hiring period a success. It involves several monotonous and time-consuming activities, from writing job descriptions to interviewing, screening, and selecting the best candidates.
A rigorous and inefficient hiring process can take a toll on a team, leading to pressure and frustration that breeds misunderstandings and conflicts among members. Therefore, you must follow specific recruitment practices when hiring candidates for your organization.
This article examines how hiring managers can handle employee conflicts when recruiting new staff.
Let’s get started.
9 ways to mitigate workplace conflict during the recruiting process
There are certain strategies to adopt for peaceful talent acquisition. Let’s examine them below:
1. Write an effective job description
A clear, detailed job description is one of the best ways to avoid conflict when recruiting new employees. It eliminates confusion by stating the roles and expectations accordingly. This allows you to attract suitable candidates and eliminate any chaos during the interview and screening stage.
It’s a good start to prevent situations where employees won’t fulfil their responsibilities because they don’t know the hiring manager’s expectations. Additionally, it avoids controversies among staff, as each person will deliver their responsibilities to move the team forward.
So, although writing job descriptions can be tedious, it’s crucial to invest your time and efforts into it, as it pays off in the long run.
Make job descriptions easy to read and straightforward. Start by defining what the roles entail, listing the responsibilities, and the requirements for qualification. Use simple sentences, so that prospective candidates reading it will understand what you are looking for and know if they qualify.
An example of an excellent job description is the Homerun iOS developer job description. It contains sections explaining the job summary, expected candidates’ profiles, and information about the company.
These fundamental elements are crucial for a working job description. The job summary explains the position; the candidate’s profile contains the skills, qualifications, and attitude the company wants the new candidate to bring to the job.
On the other hand, the section containing information about the company shares details about the organization’s beliefs and values. Although the about us area is often neglected in most job descriptions, it’s a crucial part of every successful company profile.
It increases the chances of attracting suitable candidates and mitigating workplace conflict because it ensures whoever is employed shares similar values with the company. As a result, there is less interest clash because every staff works with the same principles and towards a common goal.
Therefore, eliminate conflicts from the get-go by ensuring the job description is clear and contains all the required details. Doing this prevents workplace conflict and ensures the selected candidate is the best fit for the role.
2. Support your employees’ mental health
Study shows that 70% of employees experience stress at work, while four in ten suffer from burnout. Workplace pressure affects employees’ mental health, hampers their productivity, and negatively influences their attitude to work and their team members. Therefore, support your employees’ mental health by providing an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).
This program assesses the common issues that impede workers’ attitudes, including anxiety, stress, and depression. It supplies the resources employees need to navigate workplace pressure and perform efficiently.
Since the hiring process is challenging for workers, launching an Employee Assistance Program will greatly support their mental health. It supplies the tools they need to manage stress and prevent burnout and other stress-related behavior that can instigate conflict.
EAP provides expert counseling, and support for every staff member, relieving them of stress and putting them in the best mental state to collaborate peacefully with the rest of the team during the recruitment process. Learn more about launching the EAP with the Perkboxs EAP resource.
3. Create a simple application process
An easy application process is a win-win for applicants and existing employees in an organization. Creating a series of rigorous application activities will make the process tiresome for your employees, affecting their motivation toward work.
Additionally, top talents are searching for seamless application activity. If your hiring process is strenuous, there’d be a higher chance of losing out on the best candidates. Statistics show that 92% of applicants don’t finish online job applications.
So, simplify the application process for better results. Eliminate unnecessary steps and make it straightforward.
Ask relevant questions only and automate repetitive tasks. Consequently, the recruitment process will be faster and more seamless for applicants and workers, mitigating stressors that build conflicts.
4. Set clear expectations on the job role
After highlighting the critical functions of a vacant position in your job posting, repeat the position expectations during screening for better understanding. Conflicts are bound to happen when workers are unclear on their responsibilities and what the company expects from them.
Therefore, explain all the details during recruitment so that they can deliver the required results when hired. Additionally, stating their responsibilities explicitly prevents mix-ups that incite disputes in the future.
Since every employee is aware of their duties, no staff will handle another’s tasks out of ignorance as each worker is held accountable. As a result, they won’t be frustrated for bearing responsibilities that aren’t theirs, preventing hostility among the workforce.
5. Leverage AI to facilitate recruitment
An easy recruitment process creates happy employees. However, spending days talent sourcing manually, going through tons of applicants’ information on a spreadsheet, and responding to multiple emails back and forth will leave them stressed. As a result, they may become cranky, demotivated, and unable to perform excellently in their roles.
By introducing AI technology, your staff will have significant relief from monotonous tasks. This is because AI automates recruitment, boosting productivity and efficiency. For example, it tracks the most qualified candidates, dismisses applicants unfit for the position, sends instant messages to prospects before contacting the recruiting team, and manages tasks such as scheduling appointments. With AI assistants, your team can focus on more strategic aspects of recruitment while ensuring operational tasks are efficiently handled
It optimizes recruitment to reduce time-to-hire, speeding up hiring activities and enabling the HR team to focus on other aspects of their jobs. AI gathers quality data about candidates, selecting the top picks in no time.
If recruitment activity is smooth and efficient, employees will work with less pressure and have a relaxed mindset to approach qualified candidates. This enables them to work collaboratively with the rest of the team.
6. Involve the whole team with HR tools
Effective recruitment is never done in isolation. It requires every team member to work together and choose the most suitable candidate. So, carry everyone along, from the HR team to managers and other employees with whom the prospective hire will work closely.
Therefore, incorporate HR CRM to keep everyone updated about the process from start to finish. Ask them for referrals, and seek their opinions on the best skills and personality types to employ. Establish an open communication process to encourage every member to give feedback. Consider integrating a referral software into your HR CRM system to streamline the referral process and maximize the efficiency of gathering recommendations from your team.
When this happens, no one will feel alienated, and they will be actively engaged in the recruitment activity. Also, your employees will feel valued, knowing their opinion counts, fostering healthy relationships during the talent acquisition process.
7. Avoid favoritism
There are chances that team members will feel especially connected to specific candidates during the screening stage. It could be based on shared similar interests, backgrounds, and qualifications. However, don’t let that hinder your objectivity.
First, disputes may generate from other employees who do not share similar sentiments. Also, it may let you make biased decisions that could prevent you from hiring better-qualified candidates.
Therefore, to prevent controversies, and lack of objectivity, place your sentiments aside and recruit new staff based on their qualifications.
8. Train hiring managers to control situations
The screening and pre-screening stage will reveal candidates’ personality types. To avoid personality clashes, conduct workplace management training to help managers understand different character types and know the right approach to use for each candidate.
This will prevent misunderstandings, as they can communicate with applicants from their viewpoints to avoid conflicts. Additionally, managing different personality types will influence their relationships with the rest of the team, preventing disputes.
9. Manage problematic employees to maintain a positive workplace culture
It’s best to control problematic employees as quickly as possible. If you notice a member disrupts the workforce by constantly instigating disputes, put the employee in check immediately.
Avoiding this can make the workplace environment unhealthy for the rest of your workers, increasing the turnover rate. So, establish a workplace policy that discourages harmful disputes and communicates the consequences.
While sanctioning employees may not be your favorite thing to do, it’s a necessary step to creating an excellent work culture. So, prevent workplace conflicts quickly by putting necessary measures in place.
Conclusion
Workplace conflicts are common during talent acquisition because it requires several personalities’ collaboration for successful execution. It is also among the most challenging responsibilities for most employees, causing a significant strain on their mental health and prompting disputes.
Therefore, this article discussed nine practical ways to prevent conflicts during talent acquisition. Apply these tips for a harmonious, conflict-free recruitment process.
