How to retain employees

Michael Girdley, who I have referenced before, recently asked his many Tiwtter followers the question, “what’s your best advice how to retain employees?”. He collated the best answers into this list of 15 points. Great advice in my opinion;

1- Pay competitive and fair wages. Don’t wait for them to ask. (This often means paying more than the market rate!)

There is no need to screw your staff down to the smallest wage possible. All of our team had an annual bonus scheme as well, based partly on personal performance and partly on the company’s performance.

2 – Have regular chats about career development. Understand employee goals and help them get there.

3 – Treat people as humans first, employees second. Know their spouse and kid names. Support them in living a good, balanced life.

4 – Learn the “why” for employees. Ask what motivates them.

For all of the above three points, we had weekly one-to-one meetings with all staff. A great way of ticking all of the above points, and hugely valued by the team. The original idea for me to do these came from the excellent Manager Tools.

5 – Show appreciation. Say thank you.

I totally agree with this one. ‘Please’ and ‘thank you’ are two of the most important phrases you should use as a Business Owner

6 – Have the courage to listen to employee feedback. Then take action.

We did this in my business. Read about my own personal experience of this here.

7 – Go remote. Or let that be an option. One study showed 70% of employees prefer to work remotely.

Even before the pandemic, we offered staff the opportunity to work from home, for some of the working week. Some wanted to, some didn’t but the option was there.

8 – Make your workplace enjoyable. This is more than free snacks and pizza parties. Cut out the stupid hassles and BS (including bad managers!)

There are many many ways to do this. We ended up with a PlayStation in our office, but simple things like a good physical working environment make a huge difference. Getting rid of your ‘brilliant jerk’ will have immeasurable upside when it comes to making your workplace a joy to be at.

9 – Be honest about your company during the hiring process. Share the good AND bad.

10 – Empower your employees to speak up. They need to know they can contribute feedback without fear.

I discussed this previously in more depth here.

11 – Customize employment based on what each person needs. Remote, hybrid, flex schedules, in-office, childcare, etc.

We offered all our staff a choice of start time, from between 8.00am to 10.00am, the opportunity to work from home and always, as any decent business would, allowed time off for things like school plays, ballet, the inevitable poorly children etc etc. None of it is difficult.

12 – Create a culture of transparency and honesty. Top to bottom from leaders and amongst peers.

13 – Create a culture of ownership and agency. Don’t micromanage employees.

Delegation is a key to this. Set clear and measurable targets and let the team get on with delivering them.

14 – Make sure your company’s mission is inspiring and noble. Engage people’s purpose with the purpose of the company.

15 – Employers must offer learning and growth opportunities to recruit.

We continuously asked our team members what training they wanted, rather than the management foisting unwanted training upon them. Not only does this motivate the individuals, but it also invests in your business.

You can see the original Tweet here, as well as the subsequent comments.

Please let me know what you think about these 15 points of how to retain employees. And any feedback/comments etc about the above would be more than welcome.If you’d like to receive great advice, tips and tales like the topic discussed here to help you on your business journey, make sure you don’t miss out. Sign up to my free newsletter.

WHAT NEXT?

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