With the New Year many employees will start to think about changing jobs, after all, you know the old adage: New Year, new job.
So with that in mind follow these top tips to keep your employees working for you and not your competitors:
1. Measure results, not hours
Trust your team to use their time wisely in order to achieve the goals they’ve been set. By allowing some flexibility for health appointments, or looking after dependents, you’rehelping your employees achieve a better work-life balance, which can only be a good thing. After all, most people work to live, rather than live to work.
2. Promote your values and mission
Talk to your employees about the organisation’s values and mission, and then make sure you are walking the talk. By ensuring your employees understand those values and mission, they can understand how their role contributes to the organisation’s success, and why their own individual contribution is important.
3. Share information about what is going on within the business
People want to feel involved in the organisation they are working for, so let them know about the business’ strategy and goals. Where appropriate you can involve them in the decision-making process, through consultation and feedback.
4. Invest in training and development
Most employees want to progress within their chosen career, so look for opportunities for them to develop both existing and new skills. Implement a mentoring programmewithin your organisation, that will help your employees find solutions to their problems, get introduced to others, and benefit from the knowledge of a more experienced member of staff.
5. Promote from within first, before hiring outsiders
Show your employees that it is possible to have a career with your company, by always trying to promote from within before recruiting externally. Encourage their ambition by giving them more responsibility, and exposure to different areas of the business.
6. Appreciate them and recognise their achievements
Appreciation and recognition doesn’t have to be about rewarding those that achieve targets, it can also be about recognising an employee that demonstrates model behaviour, or the company values that your want to promote. Andremember it’s the little things that mean the most; a simple personalised note can make a big difference.
7. Recruit the right people
Don’t recruit people for the business that fit what you’ve had in the past; recruit the right people who have experience based on where the business strategy and goals are taking the organisation. Find talent that fits with your values and business culture, who will get on with the rest of the team, and who can adapt to change.
8. Show people the organisation
Arrange secondments and cross-department project teams, so that your talent has the potential to get exposure to different areas of the business. Broaden their experience, skills and their contacts, so that when you promote them they are more than capable of performing to the best of their ability in the role.
9. Listen
Engaged employees want what is best for the company they work for, so when they come to you with an idea or opinion take the time to listen. It may be something out of your control, but you will always be able to do something, such as pass it on to the appropriate person, and then feedback what you’ve done to your employee.
10. Set high standards
Don’t accept or reward mediocrity, because people will be inspired by others achievements, and aim to achieve those standards themselves. When it comes to quantifiable targets make sure they are SMART, but also set standards for behaviour relating to your values and vision. Even if your employees don’t achieve the targets, you can celebrate what they did achieve in trying to attain those targets.
