4 Useful Strategies to Retain Your Best Employees
If you had to guess, what do you think is the top Human Resource challenge for business owners over the next ten years? Maybe you’re thinking scalability or avoiding legal issues. While those are real and important concerns, the number one challenge according to surveys is: Employee Retention. Employee engagement is a better term over retention because at some point, most if not all employees will leave a company. The key is to keep your employees engaged so they stay and do a great job for a very long time.
Over time, employees tend to get better at their jobs and grow with the company, so their value also grows the longer they are with you. Decreasing turnover will save money on hiring costs and new hire training while your company becomes more stable. Here are four useful tips that you can implement right away to retain your best people:
1. Bored is the enemy of great.
Never let your employees get bored. Boredom is a seed that will take root and sprout if ignored, ultimately resulting in the employee feeling like they don’t want to work there anymore, or that the company doesn’t care that they’re bored or underutilized. Address this by acknowledging that an employee may feel underutilized and recognize that it is the owner or manager’s problem to solve.
2. Teamwork makes the dream work.
Create an environment where employees feel like they are part of something bigger – that they are working together to contribute to the whole. Have systems in place that allow employees to see how their work contributes to the overall goals of your business. This obligation to the team and subsequent commitment to your company is highly motivating.
3. Pay it forward.
Treat your employees like one of your customers. While an employee may not always be right, the concept behind this is to take good care of your staff so they stick around to take great care of your business and customers. Displays of mutual respect go a long way!
4. Appreciate and recognize.
Owners, partners and managers often make the mistake of assuming their employees know when they have done a good job. Newer employees tend to feel insecure about their work, less experienced employees look for feedback, and it is demotivating to a longer-term employee to not receive recognition for a job well done. When you consistently recognize good work, you tend to receive people’s best work in return.
Building a great business means improving management skills to support your business and help it to grow. This is a long-term proposition and must be woven into the fabric of your company culture. Focus on your “people strategy” as much as you do your overall business objectives and you’ll maintain a great staff of motivated, happy employees for years to come!