Ways to retain your best talent

Attracting and retaining employees has become increasingly difficult in recent years with many workplaces changing up their style to fit around modern working conditions/environments. We know how difficult it can be to stand out from the rest of your competitors, so we’ve some great insights into what encourages employees to stay loyal.

Be open to flexible working

Flexible working conditions are quickly becoming the norm and a lot of businesses are consciously trying to keep up with the times by welcoming this approach. If your business is office based, and the work could be completed remotely from an employee’s home, why not set this up? This could help retain those employee’s that have a long commute and want to get a better work life balance, rather than battling the daily commute.

Offer opportunities to further their skills

Do you want to develop the best talent in your business, and improve their skills to help achieve your overall business goals? Do you want your employees to feel a long term investment in their career within your business? Offering to enrol your employee in a training course could be the solution to boost their knowledge and skills, as well as a reward for their loyalty.

Ensure your employees are engaged

Engaged employees are crucial to your business’ success. You may not think it but your employees are your biggest advocates to gaining potential future staff. A great ways to keep your employees engaged is to ensure they feel listened to through anonymous regular feedback. There are multiple online tools that allow you to do this. It’s important for them to bond with other members of staff and feel part of a team, which can be helped by throwing regular staff socials too.

Have a clear career progression path

Some employees may feel they go to work to earn money and go home, without a real idea of where their career is heading. But for many employees it is vital to have a clear vision of what they need to do to develop and progress to the next stage of their career. Producing a clear transparent career development plan can provide that clear direction that employees need.

Appraisals

Appraisals are important in every business, and every job role. By having an annual or 6 monthly 1-2-1 sit down talk with your employees, it can help clarify where your employee should be in their career development whilst allowing you to see how they’ve progressed over the last 6-12 months. If you don’t work directly with your employees on a day to day basis, it’s also a good chance to catch up and reflect on what went well and what could be improved.

Ensure the leadership are on the same page

If employees are being pulled in multiple directions and don’t have a clear vision, then they’re less likely to feel productive and as a result may produce lower quality work. Ensure your leadership team are all on the same page with where the direction of the company is going and what the vision and goals are for the year.

Invest in up to date software and technology

Slow, out of date software is often the cause of a dip in productivity as workers are spending their time waiting for programs etc to load. Spend some time researching how this can be improved will increase employee productivity and decreases the chances of employees thinking about what competitors are like to work for with their snazzy technology.

Have an upbeat office environment

Most modern offices are becoming bolder than ever with the likes of pool tables, chill out rooms with games consoles and some even have a bar for employees to enjoy a cold beer on a Friday afternoon. Although these things all contribute to a happy workplace, quite a lot of the time it’s the little things that matter the most such as having reliable heating, tea-making facilities and a bright office to boost morale.

Recognise good work

Some companies have annual awards in which they celebrate and reward hard work. Some companies go all out and offer free holidays as a reward, whereas others offer things such as gift vouchers. Either way, no matter how big or small the gesture is, it’s still an incentive to work hard and go for gold. Others may just appreciate the fact that the extra hours and the hard work they’ve put in over the past year has paid off and hasn’t been brushed under the carpet.

Be approachable

If an employee has a problem, they should feel as though they are able to come and talk to you to resolve any issue. It’s a good idea to have an open-door policy so that employees feel you are approachable and are willing to help them at any time and any day. It goes a long way to know managers always have time for their team.

The bottom is line is that this is a two-way street… not only should your employees work hard and produce results, they must also enjoy coming to work and feel motivated to be a part of your company’s success.

We hope you found these tips useful. Be sure to let us know if you have any more suggestions on our LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter pages.