Every executive should know that simply recruiting the best workers isn’t enough to ensure success in an ultra-competitive business environment. Once you’ve hired those skilled employees, the real key to growth and prosperity is retaining your best talent.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help with retention, whether you’re trying to make sure your baby boomers stay on board or you’re attempting to keep up with the millennials on your payroll.
Here are 10 ideas retaining your best talent for the long term:
1. Pay fairly, and well.
This probably seems obvious, but it shouldn’t be overlooked. As noted in an Entrepreneur article, if you want to keep the best employees, you need to pay the best wages.
“We aren’t talking about a ridiculously high salary for these people, but pay that’s at or below the market rate for the position tells employees that their work is not truly valued. What’s more, they may walk. Change their pay to anywhere from 20 percent to 40 percent over market rate.”
2. Offer flexibility.
It’s interesting that, on almost every list of retention tips you can find online, offering some kind of work flexibility is a top suggestion.
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As one Inc. article notes, one solution to the retention dilemma “is to offer job candidates something they value immensely—flexible work options. A Cornell University study found that organizations that gave employees a choice of when and where to work had one-third the turnover rate compared with less flexible firms.”
3. Provide a competitive benefits package.
Work flex could be part of this benefits package, but you also need to cover the basics, like health insurance and a good retirement savings plan.
4. Dole out small perks.
These should be meaningful, and not just fluff. A Wall Street Journal how-to guide notes that they can have an impact. “Free bagels on Fridays and dry-cleaning pickup and delivery may seem insignificant to you, but if they help employees better manage their lives, they’ll appreciate it and may be more likely to stick around.”
5. Conduct “stay” interviews.
This is another excellent idea from the Journal. Instead of focusing on exit interviews as people leave your company, why not ask some questions of people who have stuck around for a while? ”
Ask questions such as: Why did you come to work here? Why have you stayed? What would make you leave? And what are your nonnegotiable issues? What about your managers? What would you change or improve? Then use that information to strengthen your employee-retention strategies.”
6. Promote from within.
When someone is doing a good job, reward them with a promotion. But make sure to do this appropriately.
The Entrepreneur article notes, “Let’s just say that it’s important to not move a person out of a job he or she loves and excels in, in order to ‘reward’ them. A promotion could mean just a change in title and salary without decreasing the employee’s satisfaction and effectiveness.”
7. Gather and apply employees’ input.
You’ve hired excellent workers, and you trust them to do their jobs right. Why wouldn’t you ask them how your company could do things better? As the Entrepreneur article says, “You may not be able to implement every suggestion, but change where you can and let them know you value their input.”
8. Provide opportunities for career development.
A second article from Entrepreneur says you should encourage employees to set goals that are in line with the company’s larger plans, and then “guide them with professional development opportunities.”
9. Invest in hardware.
It’s frustrating to work with outdated equipment that hinders your productivity. Yet another Entrepreneur article says this “sends the message that your business isn’t interested in staying up to date with the latest, automated tools. Show your employees that you care about them and their ability to do their jobs well by arming them with tools and technology delivered through multi-tenant, public cloud systems—the ones that do the best job of keeping current with consumer-grade standards.”
10. Communicate, communicate, communicate.
This is especially important when some of your workers are telecommuting or have flexible schedules, but it’s vital regardless of the situation.
Managers should have open communication with their team members. Colleagues should have all the necessary tools to communicate and collaborate with each other. If people know what’s going on in the company and feel like they can, without fear, talk to the boss about their concerns, they’re much more likely to stay.
You’ve spent thousands of dollars searching for the best workers, hiring them, training them, and helping them become as productive as possible. It makes sense to invest in keeping them. By following through on these 10 tips, you should be well on your way to creating a company that’s great at retaining your best talent.
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