“Employees don’t quit jobs, they quit managers.” – Steve Miranda.
The job market is buzzing with comprehensive people strategies for higher productivity and better results. But, the thought to ponder over is, can the same be accomplished without introducing proven retention strategies?
You’ve worked hard enough to map talent and carry out an efficacious recruitment procedure. Right from small businesses to multinationals dealing in billions, employees are the most treasured asset any hiring manager can possess.
However, reasons that a worker calls it quits might be numerous to list. Nevertheless, the point is to find a hack to the underlying situation.
Hence, here are seven effective techniques that’ll help you retain your best employees and move towards better results.
1. Track retention first. You can’t blindfold yourself and move towards the goal you desire. Before doing anything, you need to start with gauging the employee retention and employee value rates in your organization. How can you simply judge the line of managers who need coaching, without knowing about the department with optimum level of performance in this context?
2. Be decisive while hiring. Your employee retention campaign will begin during the recruitment process itself. It is not about those run-of-the-mill ‘make a good impression’ tips, but about focusing more on job skills to make the right pick. This would more likely cause a longer and smoother employee tenure on an average, if nothing else.
3. Keep your employee going on those metrics. People have a dire craving to know that they are making numbers and a difference towards business goals, using their talents and capabilities. As soon as your workforce inculcates the feeling that their actions are making the right ends meet, they feel increasingly motivated and responsible to develop a sense of belonging for your organization. Vague feedbacks or appreciations seldom work, so try focusing on numbers and let them get acquainted with reality, well-enough.
PREMIUM CONTENT: The most attractive staffing markets globally
4. There shouldn’t be any shortage of options for your employees. Agreed that you are providing enough on-the-job training opportunities, but your employees require hacks to grow and expand. Goes without saying that performance improving drills are imperative for staying aligned to the business objectives in a specific role. However, this alone wouldn’t suffice. Look out for things like cross training and skill based mentorship programs, which prove handy to move up the leadership ladder and inculcate adequate transferable skills. This way you can spot the ‘good employees’ in your company, who not only want to keep up with the pace, but find chances to learn and advance as well.
5. Don’t compromise on the flexibility factor. Stringent working conditions and overly rigid rules have driven away even the most responsible employees, if not create internal tussle within various departments. Need of the hour is to take up extra steps to find ways that cater to the non-work responsibilities and desires of your employees. Obviously you want them to believe that the recruiter is considerate about their situation too.
6. Your benefits package and perks might also prove handy. To clear the air of any misinterpretations, this doesn’t mean that you need to increase the perks and non-monetary benefits to the extent that the company reaches a negative deficit. Just keep them right enough to be at par with the industry standards and to meet the needs of your employees, especially the ones who might make a switch in the future.
7. De-stress the work environment. It’s fair to state a considerable percentage of people in your company are exposed to various flavors and levels of work stress. Of course, a cup of cappuccino won’t solve your problem. What you need is to come up with norms that have space to add personal touches, yet help to keep things organized and right in order. Communication (both upward and downward) needs to be set right too, because stress cases just worsen, if not reported at the right time.
In the end, you can’t approach employee retention by taking half-measures. It’s just some rudimentary factors that need your attention. Once these are kept in mind, a worker would find no reason perfect enough to contact other recruiter. This assured, your targets will be nipped in the bud, right away!
MORE: How to hold on to top talent
