How to Keep Your Best Employees

Employee retention is a crucial consideration for all businesses. By keeping your best employees, you can improve productivity, cut training costs and reduce the time your HR staff spends hiring new employees. The best retention programs are proactive, starting long before an employee considers leaving the company for a better offer.

Communicate with Employees

Employees are motivated by different things. Some are interested in building skills and taking on new responsibilities, while others work solely to earn a salary. One of the most important things you can do to boost employee retention is to communicate with your best employees. Find out what is important to them. Pay attention to offhand comments that indicate unrealized desires. Check in with your staff members on a regular basis to learn about their goals. Gauge their level of satisfaction, and find ways to improve their overall experience.

Create a Positive Environment

If your best employees dread coming into the office each morning, it can be almost impossible to keep them. Although you cannot control your workers' emotions, you can create a positive and open office environment. Encourage laughter and open conversation. Listen to your employees' complaints, and make changes if necessary. When the office feels like a comfortable and welcoming place, staff members are more likely to bring problems to your attention before they become serious obstacles.

Offer Opportunities for Advancement

Your best employees are likely ambitious and eager to grow. Without the opportunity to advance, they may seek other opportunities. Keep your best workers motivated and engaged by providing a steady stream of new challenges. Assign new projects to qualified individuals, offer promotions and delegate more challenging responsibilities. Make sure each opportunity you provide is in line with what each individual employee desires.

Provide Feedback

Motivated workers thrive on feedback, as it helps them gauge their performance and identify areas for growth. Don't leave your best employees guessing when it comes to their performance. Offer advice, redirect employees when necessary and provide constructive criticism. Remember to praise your employees for a job well done; even the most independent worker needs validation at some point. Pay attention to your staff, and make a point to thank them when they go above and beyond for a client or the company.

Pay Appropriate Salaries

An inadequate salary is a deal-breaker for most employees, no matter how satisfied they are with their jobs. If you want to keep your best workers, pay them according to the industry standard in your area, and pay your top people even more. With all other things being equal, a higher salary can be the deciding factor for an employee who is choosing between your company and a competitor.

When it comes to keeping your best employees, small efforts over a long period of time have a powerful cumulative effect. By prioritizing employee and client satisfaction, you can create a caring and positive culture that encourages employees to stay.

Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net