I was asked today to list five proven, and cost-effective ways, to improve employee retention. There are so many factors that affect employee retention, and they all work together. Here are just a few strategies that come to mind.
Hire Effectively – Retention starts at the hiring process. You’ve got to ensure the person you’re hiring is the right fit for the job, department, company. Hire people who not only have the skills and abilities to do the job, but also have the DESIRE to do the job with enthusiasm. You can use a variety of interview techniques, assessments, and even instinct, but be sure you have a system in place so you are hiring people whose mission is in line with your company’s mission and who will fit in with your company’s culture. Why is it cost-effective? Hiring the right person the first time around will save you the costs of hiring someone new when the “wrong” person leaves. A great book to help you in this effort is Finding and Keeping Great Employees by Joan Brannick and Jim Harris.
Roll Out the Red Carpet – When people leave a company within their first 90 days of employment, it can be for several reasons. For instance, the company/job was the wrong fit for them (see Hiring), they didn’t feel as though they fit in with the group, they had expectations that weren’t met, or they didn’t feel trained well enough to do the job. Set the stage for how you want your new employee to treat your customers by improving your onboarding process. Go out of your way to make new employees feel welcome. Schedule them to come on a day when their immediate supervisor is available to spend time with them. Involve the rest of the team in the welcome. For instance, at Jobing.com team members send welcome email messages to their new co-workers before they ever start the job. This costs absolutely nothing, but it enables the new person to have relationships with co-workers from the very beginning. Considering a Gallup poll found that having a best friend at work increases retention and engagement, why wait to start the relationship-building process? Ensure that your new recruit feels properly trained and has everything he or she needs to jump right in and feel productive.
Train Your Supervisors – Another Gallup study found that a person’s relationship with their immediate supervisor largely determined the length of their stay with the organization. You could spend all kinds of money on perks and recognition fads, but if you have supervisors and managers who don’t know how to inspire their employees and make them feel appreciated on a daily basis, you will still have poor employee retention. Take the time to hire managers who have the ability to lead effectively, and train them continuously on how to reward and recognize their employees. Your money would be better spent here than on the annual “morale building activity.”
Understand that YOU Can’t Motivate Them – People are self-motivated. Trying to “motivate people” will have you spinning your wheels. (I can’t tell you the number of managers that hire me to speak to their employees and say “I just want you to motivate them.) You can, however, tap into what does motivate them and reward and recognize accordingly. The key to retaining employees is to look at them as a group of individuals. Each individual is inspired or motivated by something different. It might be verbal, public recognition. It might be the assignment of a challenging new project. Perhaps it’s flexible hours. Maybe it’s competition. It could be the ability to move up in the company. Smart managers will get to know what motivates each employee to give their all, and will reward accordingly. That kind of “motivation” doesn’t have to cost a cent.
Engage Employees In Your Mission – Develop and constantly communicate clear-cut expectations, values and standards. Create a huge, clear, exciting vision for the direction of your company and involve your employees in the process of making the vision a reality. Celebrate each success and constantly recognize those fully committed to the mission. People want to feel as though they are part of something bigger than themselves. When you give them that kind of purpose, you will not only improve employee retention but your bottom line results as well. For instance, when Maria Motsavage, president and CEO of Ideal Senior Living, engaged her team in a new Red Carpet Program (as featured in The Celebrity Experience), employee turnover dropped from 52% to 24.8%.
Question: What is it specifically that keeps you on the job?
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