Every successful company understands that an essential pillar of their success is dedicated, well-trained employees who are loyal to the company – in other words, they stay. In our mobilized world, however, retaining employees can be a difficult challenge. Evaluate your company against these five crucial keys. Put them into practice and watch your retention rate climb.
Onboarding
Employee retention begins on the first day. Start new employees a jump ahead. Provide them with a welcome tour and introduce them to present staff. Ensure that they not only have the employee handbook, but also an overview of the unwritten rules, company culture, etc. Connect them with a mentor. Provide ‘cheat sheets” of useful information including user names and passwords needed to do their job. Make an effort to include them in the lunchroom and in after-hours office get-togethers. Employees who are well grounded from the first day have a greater tendency to stay.
Communication
Communicate to all your employees exactly what the company stands for –your core values, and your mission statement. Ensure that they understand how the day-to-day operations reflect them. Be very clear about your expectations. Provide consistent feedback on performance. Hold sufficient meetings to provide clarity across the board regarding company goals, projects, and the acceptable framework with which to accomplish them. When employees understand what is happening, what their role is, and how they fit in the big picture, they are much more productive and happy in their work.
Opportunity
You provide training when they hired in – now give them opportunities to grow professionally. Provide new and challenging responsibilities. Promote within the company. Encourage your employees to participate in conferences, webinars, MOOC, etc. Cover the cost and/or pay them for the time spent in specified self-education. For example, a retail store wanted management employees to participate in a series of webinars on some new high-end products. In addition to being paid for their time, the employees were given the opportunity to purchase the product at cost. It was an extra expense, but had a high ROI. Not only did the employees understand the new product, they were honestly enthusiastic about sharing its virtues with customers because they were using it. In the end, the increased sales revenue far outweighed the initial cost. More importantly, involving employees, investing in their training, and trusting their opinion of the product built company loyalty.
Compensation
Stay abreast of trending salaries, benefits, and perks. Offer the standard salary plus a little. Provide benefits and perks that encourage work-life balance. For examples, flexible hours, work-from-home options, wellness programs, onsite child and pet care, etc. Few companies can offer it all, so ask your employees what matters the most to them and choose accordingly. Better yet, create flexible benefit packages that allow your employees some options in what they choose. When one engineer accepted a position in Texas, but was unable to move his family from Pennsylvania until three months later, his boss went the extra mile. He allowed his new employee to work online from Pennsylvania for a couple of weeks at a time followed by a week onsite until the move was complete. He also increased the sign-on bonus to accommodate the extra travel expense. By working with the employee’s specific situation, the company gained a top tier engineer with “built in” company loyalty.
Appreciation
Your employees are your greatest asset – let them know that you value and appreciate them. Recognize and reward both the big accomplishments and the small. Take the time to know your employees and customize the recognition to fit their personality as well as the accomplishment. Some employees thrive on public recognition, while others are much more receptive to a quiet form of thanks. One company CEO wanted to recognize the extra effort a diligent employee put in before leaving on vacation. He gave her a prepaid credit card to splurge and do something her family wouldn’t normally indulge in doing. She deeply appreciated that her boss recognized that her family had been part of the sacrifice of time she had given.
On the other hand, if it was a team effort, thank the whole team. Throw an office party. Provide a pizza lunch and offer an extra afternoon of PTO. Regardless of their personal confidence, everyone wants to know they are making a difference. Fostering a culture of appreciation inspires company loyalty, resulting in a higher retention rate.
Building company loyalty builds retention and improves the bottom-line. By taking time to focus on these five keys, you can turn the challenge of retention into a consistent company practice. Contact Robbins Staffing Solutions. We specialize in finding candidates who not only fit your company, but also will respond to these five points with ongoing company loyalty.
