Keeping your best people…

Staff turnover is part of any business, but SME owners understand that once you have a team of people who work well together to deliver the objectives of the business, it makes good sense to improve your staff retention and ensure you keep them employed within the business.

So what can you do to help retain those valuable employees?

Let’s first of all consider the reasons why an employee might want to leave…

Lack of pay and benefits is not usually the main reason. Common reasons include moving to a role with better prospects for career progression, or a role that provides a bigger challenge, lack of flexibility, better work/life balance, health issues and unhappiness at the way they are treated at work.

Firstly, you need to fully understand why someone leaves your company. Consider carrying out exit interviews to formally understand and record the reasons for leaving. These will give you subjective information and enable you to assess whether there are any patterns that may need further investigation and analysis. Analyse the statistics – understand what your staff turnover rate is and then decide what steps needs to be taken to reduce it.

Decide on your strategy to improve retention. This needs to start right at the beginning of the relationship with an employee. It’s vital that you recruit the right person for the role and the business in the first place. Review your recruitment practices to ensure that you always get the “right fit” for your business. What about using psychometric tools to assist you in this process? These can help to ensure you get the right fit in terms of the best person for the role and also the best person to fit in with the rest of the team.

Review your induction process, making sure that a new employee feels welcome and is able to settle in quickly. Review their progress on a regular basis and give them feedback so they can address any concerns and build on their success.

Carry out regular reviews, giving them the opportunity to share their long-term career aspirations with you and provide training opportunities. Enable them to grow in their role and make sure you benefit from their key skills and talents. Make sure your managers are well trained to offer a supportive and positive work environment and culture and build good working relationships with their team.

Ensure good communication channels are in place so that everyone is kept informed of the direction of and developments within the business.

Accommodate flexible working arrangements to provide employees with better work/life balance. Regularly review pay and benefits to ensure they are in line with your industry standards.

These are just a few suggestions to help ensure that your employees feel valued.

The cost of recruiting new employees is enormous so it’s a no brainer to put in more effort to retain the employees you already have!  Please do drop us a line if you would like a conversation around how to retain your best people.

Jo Ramsdale, Regional Director