900 N. Kings Highway, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 08034
856.667.4100 ·
215.563.0276 ·
Fax: 856.667.3652
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Business Tip |
Employee retention is a major concern among companies today. Every month,
one out of seven workers quits to take a new job. And the cost of turnover is enormous. Company morale, your customers,
and your bottom line may all suffer when an employee leaves.
What can you do to keep your employees? Here are a few suggestions:
- Hire the right person for the job. Identify the traits, talents, and behaviors of your best employees. Include your employees in the interview process. Let them listen to a potential new hire. Then ask them how they see that person fitting in with your company.
- Hire and promote managers who can manage people. One of the main reasons employees stay with a company or leave is whether they like their boss. Don't promote technical specialists to management positions if they don't have good people skills.
- Salaries have to be competitive, but money alone isn't the answer. Consider these benefits that might increase your employee morale, impact their
quality of life, and not cost your company anything:
- Flex-time hours
- Casual dress
- Telecommuting
- Encourage employees to learn new skills and give them the time and resources to make it happen. Cross-train every employee to do another's job. Not only does this promote teamwork, but it can have the added benefit of reducing panic when an employee leaves unexpectedly.
- Demonstrate management's interest in employees' ideas. Create on-the-spot cash rewards for employees with money-saving or money-making ideas. Employee suggestion boxes and employee surveys are great ways to solicit input.
- Hold regular staff meetings. Each employee should be called upon to speak at these meetings. Make the meetings a forum for discussing customer complaints, new product or service ideas, suggestions for efficiencies, etc. Hold the meetings during regular work hours and pay your staff to attend.
- Conduct regular (at least annual) performance reviews with your employees. Use these reviews to increase your communication, to set clear expectations, and to create a plan for each employee's development. Employees want to know what is expected, how they are doing, how they can improve, where they are going with the company, and that you are interested in their feedback.
- Treat your employees as you would your best customers. Some studies show that it costs five to six times more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain an old one. The same could be said for your employees. Select the right people, get them off to a good start, and never stop listening to them.
To discuss these and other ideas to retain your employees, give us
a call.
