Employee Retention – How to Retain Employees

Offer a competitive benefits package that fits your employees’ needs

Provide some small perks Use contests and incentives to help keep workers

motivated and feeling rewarded Conduct “stay” interviews:  In addition to

performing exit interviews to learn why employees are leaving, consider asking longer-tenured employees why they stay. Ask questions such as: Why did you come to work here? Why have you stayed? What would make you leave? And what are your nonnegotiable issues? What about your managers? What would you change or improve? Then use that information to strengthen your employee-retention strategies.

 Promote from within whenever possible Foster employee development Create open communication between employees

and management Get managers involved Communicate your business’s mission Offer financial rewards Make sure employees know what you expect of

them Communicate, communicate, communicate: try to

meet with them in person on a regular basis –

maybe not monthly — but at least 2 to 3 times per year.

Establish clear performance metrics and make employees accountable for delivering

Underscore positive feedback with something tangible: Beyond salary/bonus/equity, think about “rewarding” employees for truly superior performance — How about dinner on the company as a spot award?  Or, recognizing employees’ start-date anniversaries?  Or, closing the office early before a holiday to allow the team to get a jump on the holiday? Or, awarding a personal day after completion of a ‘hairy-scary’ assignment?  

Flexible work schedules that recognize their need for work/life balance

Find out what your employees need. Ask your employees on a regular basis how they’re doing, and be ready to follow up on their input

If you’re not investing in your employees, you’re investing in an employment agency.

"Pat on the back" awards:

1. Send the employee a recognition memo from the Manager's Resource Center.

2. Pop in spontaneously with the CEO or other high-level executive to thank the employee in person.

3. Hold up an applause sign at the next staff meeting after you mention your employee's successes.

4. Send out a weekly "Great Achievement E-mail Award" to the entire company acknowledging one outstanding employee.

5. Award the employee with a "plum assignment"- their choice of what they want to work on for their next project.

6. Send flowers to one of the less recognized "behind the scenes" individuals.

7. Create a "Hall of Fame" in the lobby. Put up a picture of each employee of the month, and engrave their name on a master plaque with words of recognition.

8. Hand out the "Bright Ideas" award for innovative thinking. The winner gets a free dinner, tickets to the movies, etc.

9. Give the "High Five" award. Pick five people in the department and have them go up to an employee and say "I heard that you did a great job at . . . Good work!"

10. Give the "Mint Condition" award of silver dollars to all who had perfect attendance at the end of the year.

11. Offer employees something that complements their favorite hobby (a fishing pole, a golf club, sunglasses).

12. Pay for your employee to go through a local car wash and get a tank of full serve gas.

Outstanding, above and beyond awards:

1. Give out the "Golden (symbol of your company or department)" award that outstanding employees of the month can pass off to one another each month.

2. After an employee has finished a project involving long hours at the office, send their significant other a letter of appreciation and a gift certificate for two at a quiet restaurant.

3. Hold a monthly "Queen/ King of the Hill" day where the outstanding employee is given the closest parking spot, treated to lunch, and let off early with a gift certificate to the movies.

4. Pay for the employee and a friend to go to a local all-you-can-eat restaurant, offering them the "Above and Beyond" award for extra long hours on the job.

5. Offer a "Squeaky Clean Quality Service Award" where one outstanding employee in quality service gets free dry cleaning.

6. Award the "Lean and Mean" award for cost effective work, within or under the expected budget. Give the recipient a 3 month membership to the nearest gym.

7. Give an employee the "Gracefully Handled" award when they help the company pull through a sticky situation. Offer tickets for two to the symphony or ballet.

8. Give an employee the "Golden Research Award" for detailed research they conducted to make a project successful. Offer them a subscription to their magazine of choice.

"With so many personal demands on workers today, a flexible work schedule is a big plus in a benefits package,"

All in all it's about planning your recruitment drive, communicating properly with employees and rewarding their hard work. 

Issue handbooks Make an attractive website to attract job seekers Power,Information,knowledge.reward – employee

engagement

Here’s a guide retaining top sales talent.

Money typically ranks very high in importance among sales people and it is usually their key motivator. It is essential, therefore, to maintain the right mix of base salary/benefits and earnings related pay. Ensure that the mix is suitable for each type of role, i.e. new business versus account management. Make the

effort to benchmark your base and OTE levels against the rest of the market to stay competitive.

The products or services that you expect your sales teams to be selling need to seem compelling. Whilst great sales people can sell almost anything, most quickly grow tired of selling things that they do not believe in - so make them believe in what they’re selling! Ensure they have access to the right sales support, tools and training. The better the platform provided, the more they enjoy selling.

Whilst sales professionals are often attracted to the flexibility and autonomy that many sales roles provide, it is imperative that they do not feel removed from the company they work for. Effective and frequent communication is vital, especially around celebrating success and recognising standout performance.

Be open and clear with regards to setting expectations related to performance. Ensure that the sales environment is fair, transparent and consistent. Unexpected changes to incentive schemes and moving financial goalposts during the year doesn’t encourage staff retention! 

Career progression for sales people is frequently overlooked, as financial performance and earnings tend to dominate performance reviews and management meetings. A large proportion of sales professionals who contact us seeking a new job cite the lack of visible career progression as one of their reasons for leaving.  Ensure that your sales force is motivated by the potential for progression, as well as financial rewards.

Training and development is also often overlooked, especially after an initial training course or induction process. However, sales people tend to be ambitious, driven and keen to develop and training on subjects such as negotiation, conflict resolution and people management is usually appreciated. Also, given the frequency with which they interact with current and prospective customers, additional soft-skills training will help protect brand perceptions, as well as helping with retention.

Above all else, the key to retaining sales staff is to ensure you hire the right people in the first place. If you succeed in attracting people of the right calibre who have a natural fit with the culture of your organisation, retention becomes far more straightforward to manage

Conduct a personality test at the time of hiring/interviews

Does the entire have official email id? Satisfy their need to grow by expanding their

role: Promotion to higher levels. OR Expansion within the job

Give Them Support

If they are already getting great results in what they currently do, you will get more productivity out of them by giving them support. In Sales, for instance, an inexpensive support person can make a huge difference.

This action also expands the role of the top performer and keeps them growing.

Get Strategic Planning Ideas

A person who is really doing well in their job can be relied upon to have a good grasp of their area. They know what is going on in real-world terms.

It is therefore very valuable to get their input when you are looking at the strategic direction of your operation.

Senior managers rarely have time to get involved at all levels. They can therefore lose touch, jeopardising the veracity of long term decisions.

Seeking input from effective employees can overcome this, whilst also validating those employees (the top performers) and giving them the sense of expanded responsibility they need. It’s also a great way of retaining employees.

Involve Them in Staff Training

When an employee has become so good at their job that they just keep on producing top class results, month after month, theyreally do have something to offer other staff, both new and old.

Getting such people involved in training is not only a good way to transfer some of their skills to others, it is also a great way to acknowledge the top performer. And it usually helps to satisfy their need to expand their sphere of responsibility. Retaining employees this way is very effective.

Ask about their families Treat them with respect Celebrate brithdays/anniversaries etc

Schedule meetings with your sales staff regularly. Instead of focusing on what they are doing wrong, make sure that some 1-on-1 meetings address their worries, pain points and work environment issues. You are likely to catch motivation problems before they affect their season and quota, if you try to fix negative work pressures.

Ask your sales staff what motivates them during these meetings. You may find some salespeople respond to monetary rewards, while others respond to promotions or a supportive team environment. Take notes on what motivates each person.

Implement daily, weekly and monthly incentives. Offering a trip, day off, large gift card, coffee, free lunches or gym/club membership for the most sales in a week will encourage staff to go the extra mile. These interim bonuses can also help salespeople to meet their larger quotas by helping them hit milestones during the season.

Incentives also increase friendly competition. Competing on a daily basis for new leads or lead qualification can cause people to push each other to do better. Keep incentives at a value where they increase friendly competition but do not encourage sabotage.

What defines job satisfaction? In a nutshell, important factors conducive to job

satisfaction include mentally challenging work, equitable rewards, supportive working conditions, and supportive colleagues. Commitment to and

involvement with the organization and the actual job are also factors.

Mentally challenging work: Are there opportunities to use skills and abilities with variety of task, some freedom and constant feedback? Jobs with too little challenge are deemed boring, frustrating and can produce feelings of failure.

Equitable rewards: Employees want to work in a system that is perceived as just and fair. Are your promotion and pay systems policies meeting their requirements? While not everyone seeks a paycheque as the sole reward, the key is linking pay to satisfaction, which does not mean the salary paid but the perception of fairness. If these policies are perceived as just and fair there is likely to be greater job satisfaction.

Supportive working conditions: The working environment is very important in terms of safety, health and wellness. Physical comfort, location heating, noise and professionalism are all-important contributors. Ensuring that your environment is complying with all legislation and listening to employee complaints is important here.

Supportive colleagues: For many employees the opportunity for social interaction, with friendly coworkers and supervisors adds greatly to the dimension of job satisfaction. The supervisor's role is a major determinant of satisfaction because of the direct impact this role plays with the employee. Whether there is praise, good listening skills, positive role modelling or a fair attitude, the supervisor will affect the satisfaction level.

Job Involvement: Employees with a high level of involvement strongly identify with and care about the kind of work they do. The person here identifies closely with their job title and the perceived value of their individual performance and contribution to the organization.

Organizational Commitment: Some employees identify strongly with the employing organization. Perhaps it is the mission or vision or value system of the organization. However an interesting development can occur: while the employee may be dissatisfied with his or her particular job, the employee may view this as a "temporary" condition due to high satisfaction with the organization as a whole and remain loyal. But when dissatisfaction spreads to the organization itself, the employee is more likely to resign.

Be Supportive

A good manager gives his/her employees the tools they need to be successful. A bad manager assigns tasks with little or no direction, and then becomes upset when the employee doesn't meet the expectation. Remember the Seinfeld episode where George doesn't hear his boss' instructions, but he is too afraid of what his boss might do if he asks for clarification? He spends the whole week pretending to know what to do. Two words come to mind here, lost productivity. Be approachable so your employees feel they can ask questions.

Understand and Harness the Power of Praise

Positive reinforcement is one of the most effective tools for a person in a leadership role. One of the biggest complaints from people that hate their jobs is they never receive any credit for a job well done. If you want your employees to like working for you and to perform their best, try giving them an atta a boy every once in a while when they do well. Nobody likes to work in a thankless environment.

Lead By Example

If you want your employees to take you seriously you must lead by example. If they question your work ethic, integrity, or skill to get the job done, then they are far less likely to do their best work themselves. As a leader you need to be blazing the path for success. If you are one of those managers that comes in late and leaves early, then you might want to rethink the example you are setting for your employees.

Show Appreciation by Hosting Some Team Building Events

Too many companies have cut out the Christmas party. Even if you don't do a Christmas party, you should put on some events throughout the year to show appreciation and increase morale. If there are budgetary concerns just do something simple. My company has an employee pot luck once every couple of months. Employees bring in

dishes from home and then management buys the rest at a local grocery store. It is far from extravagant but the employees really enjoy it. It is a great way for the employees to get to know one another and feel a sense of community at the work place.

Listen to Your Employees

Make sure your employees voices are heard. In order to foster an environment of innovation, management must be open to their employees ideas. Nothing stifles progress more than shooting down your employees every idea. Pretty soon they will not even offer them. This will lead to stagnation within your company. Also, consider distributing an anonymous employee satisfaction survey. This will measure the temperature of your employees. If there are action items that need to be addressed they can be identified and action can be taken to improve the work environment. Companies that don't survey their employees are running the risk of never knowing what the problems are within the company. Thus, they have no way of fixing them.

Be Generous by Offering Incentives for Longevity

Studies show that companies that offer incentives for longevity have a greater retention rate. Whether it is a raise, bonus, additional time off, a better title, or a combination of the

aforementioned, incentives for long tenure should be a part of your employee retention strategy.

Be Authoritative

Just like in my previous article when I discussed how nobody likes a micromanaging jerk, they don't like a wimpy pushover for a boss either. You can be authoritative; and, still go about it with integrity and respect. Your employees need to know that there is someone very competent at the helm. I guarantee you that Lombardi's players knew who the boss was, and they respected him for the hard work he put in.

Well there you have it. Last time, many of you said that you learned the most from a negative experience on what not to do. Can we learn just as much from a top performing manager as we can from the worst one? I also heard from a lot of you that were like me, and; had an experience with a bad boss. Have you had an experience with a good boss that has helped you develop your own management style? If so, what attributes did they exemplify?

"Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase it, we can catch excellence." Vince Lombardi