Great employees are the heart of any business. And nothing is more frustrating than when your best people quit. Finding and keeping talented employees is a never-ending struggle.
Retaining employees is one of the most important parts of business. That’s why learning how to retain staff is so crucial. Let’s take a look at some of the things your company should be doing to keep from letting top talent slip out the door.
How to Retain Staff When Your Top Talent Is Leaving
What can you do to prevent your employees from resigning? Here are some tips on how to retain staff after your top talent leave.
Give Staff as Much Autonomy as Possible
Talented and creative people thrive best when given as much creative freedom and autonomy as possible. They excel when given the power to pursue new ideas on their own. The best and brightest employees don’t want to be micromanaged.
It is important to show that you trust them by giving them responsibility and letting them grow.
Allow Them to Share Ideas
The employees at your company are a tremendous source of ideas. Create an atmosphere where your people understand that their ideas and perspectives matter and are encouraged.
Ask for their input on a consistent basis. Because the more they understand that they have value, the more they’ll be willing to speak up. Even bad ideas should be met with respect because often it’s these bad idea that can lead to breakthroughs that otherwise might have gone unnoticed.
Let them know that you appreciate it each time they speak up by giving their input value.
Develop Career Development Plans
According to research, career and personal development is key to staff retention. Set regular personal development meetings with each staff member and build a personalised career development roach map. This empowers your employee by making everyone aware of their long term and short-term goals, and how the business can support them in achieving these goals. Investing time listening to your employees aspirations is important in making them feel valued and part of an organisation that cares about their future.
Providing your staff with CPD training and upskilling courses can have significant benefits for the business too as besides empowering your employees, it also brings new skills and technical approaches.
Reduce Workplace Stress
Promoting a healthy work-life balance within the organisation is a great way to improve staff retention rates. According to ACAS there is a “disconnect” between employers and employees perceptions of the cause of workplace stress. Many employers think the root causes include lack or work life balance, and the ability to contact staff at home via email and phone. However, according to Towers Watson Staying@Work Survey, employees reported that the main causes of their workplace stress was:
> Inadequate staffing
> Low pay
> Unclear job expectations
Therefore, it is important that you identify the correct causes of workplace stress before diverting resources to the wrong places. Overall it is important to benchmark your staff salaries against industry standards, make sure your staff have acceptable and achievable aims with SMART objectives to follow, and have clearly defined expectations.
Give Feedback/Ask for Feedback
Offering your employees feedback lets them know that you are paying attention and that they matter. It’s often far too easy for months or years to go by without providing thoughtful, constructive feedback. Feedback gives them a sense of progress and thus needs to be done on a consistent basis so that they don’t feel overlooked.
Asking for feedback from them is every bit as important. This is another way of letting them know they are heard and that their opinion is valued.
Check in with them regularly, get a read on the resources they might need as well as how they are handling their workload. Keep in mind that unless you ask, many employees will be reticent to openly offer feedback on issues because they might fear their opinion will be received with open hostility.
Give Recognition Where Due
In some instances, performance is recognised in the form of financial bonuses, but money isn’t the only motivator. Everyone wants their hard work and successes to be recognised. It is easy to say “well done” yet it has a huge impact on employees self esteem and motivation. Show your staff you appreciate the work they do, and make sure to give them a pat on the back when a good result is delivered.
A key reason staff leave is due to a lack of appreciation, and the feeling of being undervalued. Don’t lose great staff when all you need to do is say “thank you”.
Pay Them What They’re Worth
This is a big one. How much is it worth to your company to keep the best talent? While every manager obviously has to keep an eye on the bottom line, you have to offer competitive pay or be prepared for talent to go elsewhere.
Take a look at the market. What are similar positions paid at other companies? It’s vital to match industry norms. This might require creative incentives such as bonuses and extra vacation time.
Pay your people what they’re worth or be prepared to lose them.
Promote From Within
Companies that promote from within demonstrate to their employees that their effort matters. When someone watches a new-hire placed in a position above them, this can lead to animosity and a sense of apathy.
It’s vital to maintain a corporate culture that leads by example and promotes a genuine atmosphere of teamwork. Your people need to believe that everyone is in this together and that effort is rewarded.
Promoting from within allows talent to see potential, to set goals, and to believe that it’s in their best interest to want a future within your company.
Hiring the Best and Keeping the Best
Every company succeeds or fails based on the quality of its people. And good employees don’t grow on trees. Companies spend a significant amount of time and resources to recruit the best talent possible, but then neglect staff retention to keep them in the long term.
Learning how to retain staff is a necessity. Because the happier and more motivated your people are, the stronger your business will be. Top talent is worth the money and the effort it takes to keep them.
Make employee retention a top priority. Because ultimately your business will have a hard time surviving without them.
