It’s no secret that employee retention is important, and lack of focus on this area, costs companies millions of dollars per year. Yet, many companies continue to experience high turnover and are not doing anything to address it.
The first step is to actually VALUE your employees. When you have good people in a position, do what it takes to keep their engagement high and their job satisfaction at a peak. Realize if you don’t keep employees happy, another company will be happy to.
[bctt tweet=”Today’s employees want to FEEL valued. ” username=”bizmastersglobal”]
There are many ways employers can accomplish this. Recognition is often overlooked. When people are going beyond the call of duty, recognize them. This could be done verbally, in a staff meeting, employee of the month recognition, taking them for lunch, a small gift certificate for a local coffee shop, or many other ways.
If you choose to take them for lunch, it can benefit in a couple of different ways. The obvious is they will appreciate the gesture. Secondly, and often overlooked, is the opportunity to talk in a non work environment about the goals they have, what they would like to learn, etc. A casual conversation over lunch is different than a formal mtg in an office. You may very well gain some valuable information that you wouldn’t otherwise get, in the office.
Because today’s employees want to learn and grow, you could tie this into feeling valued. Give out gift certificates for books, or actually take 60 seconds to wrap up a favorite business book that you would like them to read. What a great way to provide training, get the messages across that are important to your organization, and to help them learn, grow, and feel valued.
Remember if they cannot learn, grow and advance in their present role, most will not stay past 2-3 years.
[bctt tweet=”The millennial generation is looking to make up time and hit their career goals. ” username=”bizmastersglobal”]
If this can’t be done where they are, they will move on to another company that will support this. Make sure you are supporting their ongoing learning and development to help them reach their potential. This benefits them as well as your company.
Being a part of something meaningful is another area of importance to today’s employees. Get creative, ask for feedback on things you can do as a company to make a difference. Your employees have ideas, give them the space to share those ideas. This will also help them feel valued. Nothing feels better inside than to feel what you do actually makes a positive difference. When employees are happy, self motivated, feel they have a “reason” beyond the paycheck to do what they do, they are more engaged, and employee retention is a natural result.
