Features and tRends

(July 2008)

Seven Ways to Retain the Best of the  Best

By Steve Kleber

An effective team of employees is the heart and soul of any successful, prospering business. Keeping the best staff and cultivating their talent for long-term growth with your company is a vital component to sustainability and forward motion. The potential loss of gifted team members to alternative career opportunities, higher compensation, or more personally valuable benefits disrupts company dynamics and costs management energy, time, money and lowers company morale.

According to a survey developed by Robert Half International, the leading reasons top employees leave a job include:
1. Limited advancement opportunity (39%)
2. Unhappy with management (23%)
3. Lack of recognition (17%)
4. Inadequate salary/benefits (11%)
5. Bored (6%)
6. Lifestyle change (moving, etc.) (2%)
7. Other/don't know (2%)


When corporate resources are stretched as far as they can go, it becomes even more difficult to motivate and retain the best of the best. So how do you keep your employees content in a tough market? Here are eight tips for effective employee retention.

1. Establish an Open Line of Communication
Frequently ask your employees their opinions on the business, work environment, and most importantly, inquire about their professional goals and work/life balance objectives. In The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave, employee-retention expert Leigh Branham states that performance coaching and feedback are essential for employees because they answer four basic but all to important questions: 1) Where are we going as a company?, 2) How are we going to get there?, 3) How do you expect me to contribute?, and 4) How am I doing?

Great people want to work on exhilarating projects. They want to feel like they are making an important contribution that is valued by the organization. And lastly, a productive person wants to successfully juggle a rewarding career and a satisfying personal life.

2. Give Praise
Acknowledging the excellence or exceptional effort of your employees doesn’t have to expensive, but it should be recurrent and preferably personalized. According to Branham, feeling undervalued and unrecognized is the number four reason that employees leave an organization. Give kudos to them during a company-wide meeting, send them an email (or even better a handwritten note or personal phone call) of gratification for their late hours the previous night or their superior performance on that last presentation. It doesn’t have to be money. If you look above, money ranks number four on the list. Top performers can thrive on a simple “thank you,” additional time off, and flexible work schedules to name a few of the most popular added value benefits.

3. Let Them Work in Their Pajamas
Speaking of flexible work schedules, consider telecommuting options. Gas prices are hitting record highs nationwide and even the most highly compensated and valuable employees are feeling the pinch. Reward them with the opportunity to spend some time away from the “office” by offering a flexible schedule based on an expectation of performance that will alleviate commuting cost or simply help to reduce stress. Rewarding top performers with level of trust can be a powerful motivator.

4. Evade Burnout
Top performing employees are generally those who stay late, putting in the extra effort to make sure that a major presentation will go just right. Your best players are also most likely to carry the biggest loads and are least likely to complain during crunch times. Insist on time off and try to staff the busiest times adequately; even using temporary help if needed to alleviate strain on permanent staff.

5. Encourage Collaboration
Competition among employees can be healthy and stimulating, but it can also be detrimental to the happiness of your most valuable employees. Provide a working environment where your staff can work as a team toward success instead of against one another. According to a survey conducted by the Gallup Organization (as reported by USA Today), those who have a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be engaged [in their work environments].

6. Lighten Up
Have a little fun with your staff members, which is who you spend approximately 85 percent of your day with.The workplace doesn’t have to be stressful or silent to achieve profound results. Going back to our list again, being bored is one of the top turnoffs to good employees. Have a barbeque in the parking lot, send your employees to the movies in the middle of the workday, provide lunch in the conference room where your employees can interact…just relax once in awhile.

7. Stimulate Your Staff
Top talent wants to work for top companies which are forward thinking and dynamic. Improving your company profile, recognition, reputation, brand and product offerings shows a commitment to being on the cutting-edge and keeps teams interested and enthused. High performers are attracted to a company that provides challenge, change and results. If you work to elevate your business to the highest standards you will attract and retain quality employees.

Theory in Action
One recent example of taking the theory above to a point of action is what we recently did at K&A to stimulate our teams and aid in employee retention. In fact, we created an internal initiative for 2008 called “The Year of the Employee.” The goal was to involve our team in enhancing our environment to make it more pleasant, personal and productive for our valued staff members.

Some initiatives of note included fun rewards for everyone such as our recent half workday to attend a movie premier. We also opened the lines of communication by offering Friday lunches with the agency leadership to present potential issues, concerns, professional goals or simply to get to know one another better. In this forum, the communication is direct and nothing gets lost in the translation.

Bottom Line
Overall, a company that makes the effort to sustain its top performers will experience greater revenue, elevated market share, a general sense of well-being and team spirit and general business success. Today’s pool of employees is gifted. Keeping that talent under your roof is a worthwhile goal. Making this a priority by using some of the guidelines here will result in having talent in the bank for a bright future.

Want to learn more about employee retention and K&A’s “Year of the Employee?” Email me at sk@kleberandassociates.com.

 


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