We are fond of the phrase “Recruit. Retain. Rock” here at Building Gurus. Sure it's fun to say, but more importantly, it's a simple equation we live and breathe. Recruit the best + focus on retaining them = your business will rock.
You should know one of your greatest assets is your employees. Top performers are the living embodiment of your success. Employees don't just keep the lights on and checks rolling in, they are your company. Keeping your best performers satisfied, engaged and interested should be one of your top business goals.
Retention is good for morale and your bottom line.
Don't Just Think About It….DO IT
Just having the intention of rewarding and engaging your brightest stars isn't going to get you far. You have to actually take steps and keep a sustained focus on retention for it to amount to a hill of beans.
If you don't have a group focused on keeping your employees, you should form one now! And don't just rely on what you think will engage and motivate employees, find out what they actually care about and want.
Once you know what they want, you have to make it a part of every day. It should have a process and measurable success/failure rates. Retention practices should start well before someone interviews with your company and continue throughout their career.
Where To Start
At the most basic level, employees need something to work towards and they need to feel passion if you want true engagement. Start by answering some questions:
What's in place for employees to grow within your company?
Do you have defined paths?
Do they know how to go about expanding their horizons in-house?
Is your business something to be proud and passionate about?
Do you reward your employees across all areas of business?
Do you focus on setting and achieving goals together with your employees?
Demonstrating Retention Is Important
Retention isn't a silent program running in the background. Successful companies let employees know they value them and want them to stay. Here are 4 areas you can focus on to build a solid retention program.
Rewards
If you want true engagement across the board, you must reward across the board. It's great when your top salesperson gets to go somewhere, but how does that inspire accounting and marketing? Figure out metrics and ways to reward great performance everywhere and you'll grow a team of raving supporters.
Make it meaningful and tied to success factors. If you can afford trips and huge ceremonies, great! If not, get creative. Maybe flexible scheduling and extra vacation are more important to your team.
Training and Growth
Rewards are only a very small part of the picture. Few people enjoy boredom and almost no one wants to do the exact same job for 50 years. Employees who learn and expand their skills are happier and more engaged. Developing, refining and maintaining a solid training program will continue to pay out for years. Show your staff a path to follow and how they will develop a rounded set of skills if you want them to stay.
You've invested in hiring high-potential employees; they need access to the right tools, knowledge, and skills to empower confidence.
Culture
Have you ever worked somewhere that you dreaded going into each day? Or felt like you just didn't share the same values or belong? Culture affects your team more than you might imagine.
Do you focus on innovation and technology? Are you more concerned with customer service? Is your organization family friendly? Are you flexible or rigid? Knowing what culture you want to cultivate and putting energy towards meeting that goal leads to greater employee satisfaction.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere is another key consideration. Is your business relaxed or structured? Is there an open-door policy or more of a chain of command feel? Do you encourage suggestions and innovation? Is it quiet or chaotic? Again, settle in on what you want to project and make that known to your prospective hires as well as long time employees.
Communication
Communication goes hand in hand with both rewards and culture/atmosphere. How do you celebrate and talk about success? When issues arise, how are they handled and addressed? How do you reprimand someone or offer a correction? Language is one of the most important tools humans have and how you communicate as a company says a lot.
Spending time working on a solid retention program is a great use of time and resources. It costs far more to find and train new employees than it costs to engage and keep the rock stars you already have. By letting it be known you focus on retention, you will be able to rock your business.
