Keeping your best employees happy and satisfied can save your company thousands of dollars in training costs, lost production costs, and wages. Not to mention it will prevent you from forcing other employees to pick up the slack when you lose valuable employees. When a company invests in retaining their valuable employees, they are less likely to have problems meeting customer expectations. The problem is retaining employees is not always as easy as it sounds. Not every employee feels that financial compensation, flexible work schedules, and room for growth mean a company values them. It is important to talk directly to your staff to find out what they value, and how you can become part of their long-term plans. Use these three strategies to help you retain your best employees.
Challenge Your Staff
People want to feel valued and they want to know their opinion matters to the company. You need to motivate your employees by challenging them with different projects. Look at each employee’s job description and seek out different ways you can challenge each of the employees. Do you have employees that are not being utilized properly? Which employees could contribute more to different projects within the company? Do you see potential for growth with certain employees? The best way to present challenges to your staff is to sit down with each one of them and talk to them about their goals and ideas for the company. Discuss upcoming projects to get an idea if they would be a good fit for the projects. Always look internally when hiring for different positions within the company. You have people that want to share their knowledge and talents within the company, and they deserve a shot at a promotion instead of hiring an outside party.
Praise Employees
If employees are the ones that come up with some unique ideas, make sure you recognize them for it. You need to praise your employees and make sure they feel they are valued by the company. Openly talk about the success of their ideas in staff meetings to show your employees that you do listen to their suggestions and you do honor the people that thought up the idea. If you can praise your employees and really listen to them, you will have an easier time finding success for the future. When you do provide your staff members with challenges, make sure you are clear in your direction. Some employees will leave a company when they feel the managers are not clear in their expectations and it becomes difficult for them to please their managers. Clarity is essential for a person to become successful. When you have employees that do meet your expectations, always recognize them for their hard work. Frequent “thank-yous” can go a long way in making an employee feel valued. Not only do you want to praise them, but you need to reward them. Consider offering bonuses and raises to the employees that are meeting or exceeding the expectations of the company.
Flexibility
One of the other areas a company needs to focus on to satisfy their employees is by offering a flexible working schedule, and creating a fun working environment. Do people truly enjoy coming to work each day? Do they feel relaxed and comfortable with their coworkers? Look for different things you can implement to provide your employees with flexibility in the workplace. Some people prefer having the ability to set their own hours, while others prefer the structure of an 8-5 workday. Call your staff together to talk about different things you can do to provide the employees with some flexibility, and to make the office environment fun and enjoyable for everyone.
Retaining your top employees is one of the most important things you can do as a business owner. Managing salaries, offering room for growth, and looking toward the future will make you into a better leader and will strengthen your workforce.
Photo Credit: Flickr/IBM Events
