9 TIPS TO INCREASE EMPLOYEE RETENTION

In today’s highly-competitive business environment whereby employees are king, it is not enough to simply wave an attractive job package in front of a candidate and obtain a highly engaged, motivated and driven employee for 5-10 years. This is when your duty as a leader to motivate and engage your new employee begins.

The devil is often in the details and motivating employees requires a vast spectrum of practices, procedures and perks thoughtfully planned out and implemented throughout ones employment with your company. Here are 9 specific things companies can offer or do for employees to keep them motivated.

A Clear Career Path

It is not simply enough to offer an attractive salary and benefits if you are looking to attract and in turn motivate the most talented, hardworking talent. Job satisfaction is of paramount importance, as is a clear understanding of where the job may lead your employees’ career path in the future. Top employees will want to know they can progress and take more and more responsibility in their roles if they are to stay engaged and committed to their career with you as an employer.

Financial Stake in the Business

Offering shares or other forms of equity compensation isn’t without its challenges, but if you can find a way to ensure your key employees feel like they have a direct investment in the success of the business you are likely to see motivation and retention levels increase as a result.

Communication

Communication should be on-going and frequent and provide employees with the opportunity to have their questions answered. Employee engagement is driven by interaction between all hierarchical levels of the company and better yet, you might gain useful insight and actionable ideas from your subordinates, who are more likely to open up and share ideas if they know they are being listened to.  It can also help you to identify any concerns that the employees you value most have and give you the chance to resolve these before it’s too late.

Working from Home

Working from home is not ideal for any business to implement, due to the inconvenience of having to communicate over phone/email as opposed to the fast and easy nature of a real time face-to-face conversation. That being said many employees value this aspect of their employment greatly and would even drop down in salary to maintain this type of working relationship with their employers. If strong lines of communication are in place and the employee can be trusted to be productive in their out-of-office role then telecommuting could be mutually beneficial to all parties and help keep your employee motivated.

Flexible Schedules

If working from home isn’t feasible for whatever reason, giving employees the opportunity and responsibility to set their own schedules is one way companies can keep their employees motivated. There may be problems with this approach such as when an employee is part of a functional team. However work-life balance is fundamental to maintaining an engaged, efficient and productive workforce. Therefore you should aim to meet these employee requirements accordingly if at all possible.

Make your Ideas Theirs

People hate being told what to do, its human nature. Instead of telling people what you want done; ask them in a way that will make them feel like they came up with the idea. The next time you begin to say “I’d like you to do it this way”, try a change of tact, and tweak your statement to a question like “Do you think it’s a good idea if we do it this way?” staff are likely to appreciate this line of questioning as opposed to being dictated to.

A Small Treat

Sure, we can’t all afford to put a cafeteria in the office for employees, but luckily that isn’t needed to possess a happy team. Simply taking one employee out to lunch per week or month would be a great way of spending out of office personal time with your workforce and showing them that you appreciate their efforts and wellbeing. Surprise them. Don’t make an announcement that you’re establishing a new policy. Just do it. You will be pleasantly surprised at the good will this small gesture may bring.

Give Recognition and Rewards

These two things come in many forms: Give a shout out to someone in a company meeting for what they have accomplished. Or if the whole workforce is performing well… throw a party! Doing things as a group can go a long way.

Meaningful Work

Compensation, a hefty salary, perks and treats are all well and good but at the end of the day, the real passion and drive for a job comes from the work. The work needs to be engaging and challenging enough to warrant getting out of bed on a Monday morning. More importantly to keep your employees from looking elsewhere for more challenging and rewarding employment!

Employees should feel valued, respected and cared for and in return you are more likely to get the same back. All these ideas may sound basic and simple but could have a huge impact on your retention levels, and having a strong committed workforce will make you an even more attractive proposition when it comes to recruiting your next appointment.