Employee retention is a challenge for most organisations irrespective of their size and experience. By the very nature of talent – when people have visible skills and work hard they quickly become attractive to other employers and your competitors.
Employee engagement and retention is raised time and time again as a key business issue when I speak with clients and fellow business owners. How can we keep our best people? This is especially crucial when replacing a middle manager can cost an organisation up to 100% of that employee’s annual salary in lost I have put together some top tips to help you to retain your people. Why such a high figure? Well when you consider lost knowledge; mourning, insecure coworkers and a costly candidate search aside, failing to retain a key employee can have a huge impact.
We have include five top tips for retaining your employees…
1) Provide your employees with recognition and feedback
We all need to hear when a job has been done well, however, it’s just as important to give your staff constructive feedback when something isn’t quite right. We all grow from feedback and as cliched as it is – feedback is a gift.
2) Remunerate your employees fairly
I have had the delight to be working with Get It Done Cleaning Services this week where Managing Director, Derek Cowan, has introduced the Living Wage to ensure all of his staff are fairly paid and have less financial worries. This is such an innovative approach to engaging and retaining staff. As we all know the minimum wage does not enable a comfortable lifestyle the increase and introduction of the living wage is a huge step forward for employees to provide employees with more choices.
3)Clear job roles and expectations
When clear job roles and responsibilities are in place it means that every employee knows what is expected of them. When we are clear on our part in the jigsaw puzzle engagement and motivation are increased. When people have objectives and targets to work towards they are more engaged in the overall organisation vision which in turn leads to an increased sense of loyalty to the company.
4) Open and Honest Communication
An organisation that promotes open and honest communication is far more likely to retain its talent. When people feel they can voice their opinions and be heard, ie. action is taken around this, then the employee will feel more able to voice concerns as they arise and not allow issues to fester. Ongoing communication from management to employees and vice versa builds trust in the manager and employee relationship.
5) Training
Finally and a topic which is clearly close to my heart is training. When employees have the best training and mentoring in their role they are likely to grow in confidence and uncover opportunities to develop. Through training and coaching an employee’s engagement is increased as they begin to see where their role within the company could develop.
Valuing your employees as the biggest asset in your organisation will be the best decision you ever make! Don’t underestimate the value of your people – they have all the answers to your business success.