Last week I gave you some ideas about how to attract top talent. This week I will talk about how to retain those great employees.
New Hires and current employees want to feel ‘cared for’. In your organization develop a process to show that individuals are important to the organization. Have specific activities, with ‘employee retention’ in mind, and that says that each Team member is valued.
Here are a few suggestions.
The Retention Process:
Create ways and processes to honor the individual; from the first day of hire to the years that follow. For New Hires (even on day one of their employment), Work Anniversaries, Birthdays, for example, have a weeklyor monthly Celebration time, to acknowledge individuals. Make it really special by having breakfast delivered and special coffees ordered.
Need more ideas on retention? The Terryberry organization specializes in employee recognition and retention. (https://www.terryberry.com/resources/). Here are three ways to recognize individuals. Here is what Terryberry says:
Day-to-day Recognition means appreciating one-another for the daily attitudes that create an environment for success.
Informal Recognition is a loosely structured way to acknowledge and reinforce the behaviors that move you toward your shared mission.
Formal Recognition means significant awards for significant contributions. Formal recognition involves symbolic (a tangible awards / gifts) for individuals and groups that achieve the milestones that define your success.
Conduct a ‘Stay’ Conversation with each individual. This is a Quarterly conversation with each employee, asking them, what would make them ‘stay’ (not just money)? How can you, as the leader, help them? There maybe lots of ways to help an individual; perhaps they would like to learn other skills that you could teach them. Or they would like to find out about the work / new technology that another department is doing; let them have an informational conversation with the other department.
- Reinforce Weekly / Monthly / Daily Team Communication by creating ‘communication moments’ like, scheduling a brief 15 minutes per month to have each team member explain to the group, any new trends in your industry that they would to share.
- Lastly, Building Trust in an organization is paramount. In the great book “The Speed of Trust” by Stephen M.R. Covey, he describes organizations where there is trust.
These Healthy workplaces have individuals who are polite, cordial, and conduct ‘healthy’ supportive communications with each other. Organizations who have ‘aligned systems and structures’, focus on working together smoothly and efficiently. There are few office politics; people are mutual tolerance and have acceptance of each other with few worries. In organizations with higher trust, people have true joy in family, and their friendships at work too, and are characterized by caring and love for each other.
Next week in this Series: Engaging Employees