How to Retain Your Best Employees
Identify them
How can you retain your best employees if you do not know who they are?
An easy way to do this would be to take a piece of paper and then write the names of perhaps twenty employees (at all levels) whose service is indispensable to the organization.After that, be proactive and do everything you can to keep them.
Most organizations take the easy way out by only taking action when a good employee puts in his/her resignation letter. These employees are only then told of how good they are and how valuable their services are to the organization. To make these employees retract their resignations, they are bribed with promotions and pay rises. Some may stay but if their concerns and grievances are not addressed, then it is most certain that they will put in their resignation letters within the next year.
Listen to the voice of your employees
Conduct organizational surveys so that the pulse of the organization can be monitored at all times. Get feedback on what is right and what is wrong in the organization from an employees point of view.
Don’t assume that you know.
Heed the results of exit interviews with departing employees as they provide valuable information you an use to improve the organizational working environment.
Appreciate and recognize your best employees
Time and time again, research has shown that people crave and yearn for recognition. People like to feel that someone appreciates the work they do. It is common therefore to walk through an office and see employees displaying items of recognition like a thank you card from a manager, a latter of appreciation from a customer, or an award.
In situations like these, sincere recognition can mean a lot more to staff than just financial incentives. A genuine pat on the back, given at the right moment, for the right reasons, and in front of the right people, can boost staff morale and commitment in many ways.
Never, ever show appreciation only when people have put in their resignations. It’s then too late.
Ensure that your management team treats your best employees well
In a poll carried out by Gallop Organization, it was revealed that “what most employees want, more than anything else, is a good boss.” This was the most influential factor affecting both employee retention and performance.
Curt Coffman, lead researcher at Gallup says that, “If you have a turnover problem, look first at your managers.” He adds, “People leave managers, not companies!”
It would be critical therefore that companies take a cold hard look at themselves and ask the question, “Are we doing enough to retain our best employees?”
Any organization is only as good as its best employees.
