Brought to you by Mercato:
Gone are the days when it was easy for employers to retain their top talent. Until a few decades ago, just having a job was considered a privilege, even though there were fewer employee benefits to speak of, and employees had better job security.
However, retaining top talent on their teams has become quite difficult for managers today. Since layoffs are frequent and the offer of a change often being more lucrative for workers, employers don’t enjoy the same loyalty from their employees.
Where does that leave employers today?
Here are five tips for you to retain your top talent and hire new candidates easily:
1. Invest in Training and Supporting Your Employees
As an employer, it can be tempting to cut extra costs just to get by. However, that also means less for employees. Instead, use that budget cut to encourage employees to learn and develop new skills. This will not only increase their skills but also boost their productivity.
Otherwise, you’ll see times when the top performers in your firm start leaving one by one, in search of better career opportunities that offer them more professional growth.
Harvard Business Review interviewed 1,200 employees who were great at work and found that there were gaps between the training and support they expected and what they got. This led to a feeling of frustration that made them scroll the job listings in their free time.
2. Grow up and Leave the 9 to 5 Mentality
There is no doubt that a company that offers flexible work hours is more successful in attracting new talent as well as in retaining its existing employees these days. In a recent survey by the Center for American Progress, over 75% of respondents said they would want their employers to offer flexible work hours that allow them to work from home for at least half of the work week.
Be it for employees across different departments, company-wide, or just for top performers, it’s important to let go of the 9 to 5 mentality and be open to a less traditional work schedule.
Simply set your focus on employees’ performance, what they have accomplished, make them feel valued, give them respect, and you’ll earn the same in return.
3. Provide Additional Benefits
If yours is a well-established organization and you want to put in more efforts to retain top talent, then one big step you can take is to provide free or low-cost meals to your employees. In order to do this, simply ask the HR department to initiate a survey and be open to suggestions your employees have to offer.
Many individuals today prefer to eat healthy foods about five to six times a day rather than eating three large meals. Out of these six meals, they eat three to four meals during their work hours. Suitable meal options can be introduced and employees can be encouraged to eat together, thereby increasing the connection to their team and company culture.
Another thing you can do is provide them with coupons for groceries on achievements of weekly targets and other activities. Alternatively, you can partner with a grocery ecommerce brand to provide your employees with great discounts on weekly shopping.
4. Start Acknowledging Efforts over Results
You must know that your younger employees seek regular feedback based upon their deliverables. On the other hand, your older employees expect you to acknowledge their hard work.
A weekly or monthly feedback session can do wonders for your company. Besides, your employees start believing that you care for them when you engage them, get involved with their on-the-job development and acknowledge their achievements. While email acknowledgment is one way, giving small tokens of appreciation like Amazon gift cards will also work wonders.
Another step you can take is to start the culture of awarding an “employee of the month” across all departments in the company. Those who get these awards may also be given certain additional perks or benefits.
5. Start Managing Your Managers
Never overlook the fact that even managers across departments are your employees. You need to make sure these managers know what they’re doing. Some organizations simply promote their employees and put them in charge without providing them any sort of training. Needless to say, doing this a recipe for a disaster.
Instead, every time you promote employees or hire managers, make sure to provide them with the required training to handle the expectations from upper management as well as their subordinates. As they’re the link between those who seek results and those who deliver them, they must learn how to make and keep the work environment positive.
Conclusion
When it comes to retaining your top talent, nothing serves as well as perks associated with their jobs, but additional factors, like the ones mentioned above, play an important role as well. Start acknowledging your employees’ efforts and keep rewarding them accordingly to make them feel valued.
