While creating jobs is great for the economy, retaining employees is crucial to keeping companies afloat. Unfortunately, many companies might not be able to pay them as much as their worth and will oftentimes need them to wear many hats. In this case, you need to find other ways to get involved in retention. Recognize, engage and challenge employees so they want to continue to work hard. Here are several things you can focus on to help retain your top employees:
Hire from within. Give employees the incentive to stick around and look to promote within the company.
Keep top talent engaged and client-connected. If employees aren’t given stimulating work and recognition, they will soon lose interest. Keep them engaged by allowing them to build direct relationships with clients so they can gain recognition.
Engage the employee’s family. Offering activities for your employee’s kids during vacations or after-school strengthens the relationship with the employee’s family.
Stretch their comfort zones. Purposely rotate top talent into positions that force them to take on new knowledge and skill sets. Pushing high-potential employees outside of their comfort zones is a great way to promote professional growth.
Develop coaching programs. This doesn’t have to be some big, expensive process. Try something small and informal, such as weekly check-ins to make sure employees are on track to reaching their goals.
Link critical competencies to business strategy. Make sure everyone understands their value to the company. Let them know why their job is important to the overall success of the company.
Provide opportunity to influence company strategy. Invite workers to contribute ideas and participate in meetings that discuss the future direction of the company.
Facilitate career planning. You need to create opportunities for employees to move up on the career ladder. If there isn’t much room for growth, consider offering other options that improve work-life balance.
Create alternative employment structures. Sometimes employees leave a job because they want to spend more time with their families. By offering part-time work or job sharing opportunities, you can still market yourself to those talented workers.
For more tips on retaining your top workers, please visit Inc. Magazine.