Retaining Your Best Employees
Employee retention is essential to the success of any organization. Hiring and training employees is expensive, and excessive turnover can harm more than just the bottom line. But even more critical is a company’s ability to retain its top employees — that small group of high performers that are a cut above the rest. These are those members of your workforce who deliver results and drive your organization forward. As hiring managers, we know who these people are. They are dynamic and innovative, and when they leave an organization, the impact is so much more than just financial. These departures can damage everything from employee morale to client relationships.
Keeping your best employees takes effort. Start by focusing on the following five areas.
#1: Hiring
When it comes to retaining top talent, organizations must strive to hire additional high performers. Your best employees will likely have difficulty staying engaged if they are the only ones with any good ideas. HR teams should be actively seeking applicants that not only have the right skills and performance results, but the character and maturity that will add value to the organization long-term. Your commitment to hiring top talent will not only reduce employee churn but yield better business results.
#2: Culture
What are your company’s core values? Do your employees understand your purpose or vision? These two simple questions are incredibly important to your organization. The key to company culture is values-driven. Employees want to subscribe to leadership models that provide them with a sense of purpose. Cultivate company values that encourage and embolden employees.
#3: Managers
I cannot overstate the importance of developing great managers within your organization. Managers set the tone for your entire workforce as they work day-to-day with the broader employee base. They should be strong leaders, model your company’s vision and values and empower their employees to do their best work. This winning combination can be tough to find, so it should be the focus of HR and leadership teams to cultivate these characteristics in their managers through frequent coaching and mentorship. Be involved and know what is really happening.
#4: Career Development
If your employees feel like they can’t grow or progress within your organization, they will leave. It’s vital that they can see a future with your company. To accomplish this requires businesses to invest time and resources into career development. The best employees want to learn and grow. Programs like tuition reimbursement or paid certifications or seminars allow personnel to learn and acquire new skills and gain confidence in their ability to do great work for your company.
#5: Work-Life Balance
If you haven’t already, it’s time to start encouraging a better work-life balance among your staff. More than ever before, this is a top concern for your best employees. How you implement this is up to you, but some ideas include allowing your employees to work remotely, work schedule flexibility, offering more vacation days, maternity/paternity leave, exercise access, childcare services, company outings, etc. Engage your employees when making decisions about which programs or benefits to provide them. Demonstrate that their health and happiness is a top priority.
Want to learn more? Stackrock Talent is ready to help you optimize your talent strategy to attract, engage, and hire the right talent for your company. Email us at cammas@stackrocktalent.com.
