Not all companies have Talent Retention strategies, but the ones that do benefit from loyal, productive, and efficient workers. It has been discovered that the majority of employees respond positively to compensation with a close second group preferring benefit packages. Although effective, having a strategy based on either can be costly. There are alternative benefits, which can be employed and applied to draw in and retain new resources just as effectively.
Some examples of these alternatives include flex-hours, work-life balance, communication, involvement, challenging assignment, training, company events, and a good number more within the strategic plan. To keep your employees working for you, consider following these seven recommendations:
Hire The Best
Define:
The process of retention all starts with the job interview. This is the time when the candidate is impressed by offerings by the hiring party.
Why?:
If the package isn’t attractive to the candidate at that point, it’s too late. S/he will pass on the opportunity. It’s a buyer’s market.
How?:
Research the candidate. Determine what s/he brings to the table. Make sure that the offerings are competitive to your closest competitor. During the interview, test your assumptions. Get a sense of how the candidate reacts to anything said during the interview. Look for body language and what they have to say in response. If the discussion starts down the wrong path, make course corrections along the way. Ask how the candidate feels about what is said about any offerings.
Metrics
Define:
Metrics are the measurement of how the employee is performing. Not just how they execute their tasks, but how they fit in socially.
Why?:
Employees need evidence that they are needed and valued. Metrics will give them the evidence that they are an integral part of the company and come to think of it as their own. Metrics are the indications of how well the employee is doing and how valued they are by the employer.
How?:
WikiHow offers a comprehensive guide to effectively measuring employee performance (https://www.wikihow.com/Measure-Performance). Below is a summary of the approaches presented. See the article for more detail. More…
Performing a 360 Degree Evaluation
· Gather appraisals from subordinates.
· Perform a self-appraisal.
· Collect colleague feedback.
· Compile supervisor evaluations
· Understand the limitations of 360-degree evaluations.
Conducting Performance Measurement
· Use quantitative measurements.
· Compare quantitative plans, goals, and results.
· Use measurements to create a plan of action.
Ensuring Work Quality
· Evaluate employee work quality.
· Conduct comprehensive employee assessments.
· Establish random quality control checks.
· Solicit customer feedback.
Gauging Time Management
· Measure time spent on particular tasks.
· Give regular, but not too frequent, feedback.
· Note lapses in workplace decorum.
Work/Life Balance
Define:
In the side hustle society in which we now live, people find it harder to work and maintain a home life as well.
Why?:
An element which can make a difference to an employee is giving them the flexibility and freedom to have time to themselves to attend to those non-work-related things that are important to them.
How:
Having management flexible in their management style will allow employees to want to give back in return and work even harder.
Industry Leader
Define:
People want to work for leaders in their industry. They want to take pride in their work and the company for whom they work.
Why?:
People want to want to look forward to getting up in the morning to go to work and enjoy what they do.
How?:
Management should make it well known as to what makes them a leader.
Give Your Employees Options
Define:
When it comes to on-the-job training, the objective should be to grow their employees’ skill sets; give them the skills to allow them to grow within the organization; not just stronger in their present role.
Why?:
Good employees want the opportunity to advance, not just maintain momentum.
How?:
Consider cross-training and mentorship programs. Create a leadership ladder that can help individuals earn the skills they need to move up.
Practice a true Open Door policy
Define:
Welcoming criticism and/or feedback isn’t enough. Management need truly engage with the employee.
Why?:
Employees want to be able to speak up without the fear of embarrassment or reprisal.
How?:
Take the time to be friendly and engage with your employees.
Management/Employee Relationships
Define:
Employee turnover is often caused by ineffective management.
Why?:
Estimates in the area of 80% of all employee turnover were due to manager/employee issues.
How?:
While training your management to deal with the technical aspects of their positions, it’s in your best interest to include some “soft skills” as well.
One Strategy
Everything you do should be just a part of a complete and overarching strategy. While attacking employee retention piecemeal will undoubtedly net you results, creating the type of friendly and inviting work environment that you need to succeed is the most effective (and in the end most efficient) way to keep your best employees on.
Ron Rakip is the Operations Manager at Career Negotiations. Ron began his career in systems at MIT where he participated in the well-known Multics Project. He left academia and continued his work at a number of commercial enterprises.
