The Most Powerful Tool for Retaining Your Employees

Employee retention is one of the biggest hurdles that companies face today.

The tables have turned and the employment market in 2018 has become an employee-driven market. The labour market is so tight now, that many companies are finding it difficult to attract and then retain employees.

There are fewer people working today than there was 45 years ago. Therefore, there are lots of quality jobs out there but a smaller pool of talented workers to draw from. As a result, employers are finding it more difficult today to hang on to their great employees, because there are numerous options available to them.

You can recruit and train a person, only to have them be poached from you by a competitor within a year.

Losing any employee is a costly expense.

• First there is the cost of recruitment and then
• Second, there is the cost of training.

Top companies know the cost and are spending significant dollars just to keep their employees happy to reduce turnover.

To help you deal with this problem, we spoke to Todd Palmer who is a top staffing and recruiting executive in the Michigan area. He shared with us the four top reasons why people are leaving their jobs today.

1. They cannot stand their immediate supervisor.
2. They do not like their hours.
3. They are not challenged by their work.
4. They do not like their wage.

So, money is not as important as employers might think.

If you are hiring great people and they are leaving you; then there is a reason. You can’t recruit someone away from a company unless they want to leave.

As we mentioned in the beginning, we are experiencing full employment today; so, to get people to work for you and to stay with you, Todd strongly recommends that you create a defined working culture in your business.

So, what is a Defined Working Culture?

If you are in an accounting firm, in the tech space or even in the manufacturing industry, you need to hire people with a skillset. You need to define the skillset that you need.

Once you define that skillset, you then must find people that are a good cultural fit. To determine if candidates are a good cultural fit you first must determine your values. Write them out and then communicate those values to every member in your organization. Every hiring decision going forward should be based around your values to discover if the people you are hiring fit.

Creating a strong company culture is the most powerful tool for retaining employees. 

Salesforce is an example of a company that commits to its workforce and because of its commitment it has been named as #1 on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” List.

Check out these articles, that were written by Salesforce,  to help you understand why culture and values matter– and to help you Build a Plan to Bring Your Culture and Values to Life, in your business.

• Once you define your values then you must LIVE those values.
• Of course, you still need to pay employees a competitive wage.

Employee retention is also dependent on the senior staff exhibiting strong leadership and that comes from the top.

In the last blog, I talked about styles of leadership.

You need to step back and look at the way you are managing your people. What worked for you 5-10 years ago, does not apply today. There are new people entering the workforce and they are looking for different things in a company. Employees want:

• To be treated with respect.
• To be listened to.
• To be trusted to complete their job.
• To be recognized as people as well as employees.

Progressive companies offer a fresh approach to retaining employees. If you want to be successful in this new employment market, look at those companies that are thriving and emulate them.