Keeping top employees as your company grows can be challenging, but the benefits are undoubtedly worth it. Today’s employees have more opportunities than ever before. If you don’t provide them with something better than what else they can get elsewhere, they might very well take their talent to another company that does.
With the right employee retention strategy, you can keep your top employees even as your company grows. After all, no matter how much money you make or how big your business gets, retaining valuable staff is essential to keeping your business profitable and successful.
Thankfully, hiring and retaining the best employees isn’t that difficult if you set out with the right approach from the start. Here are some of the best employee retention strategies for growing businesses.
Hire the Right People
If you don’t hire smart, hardworking, and conscientious people, you will definitely not have a strong company. Many companies fail because they have great ideas but weak leaders or managers. If you find yourself with troublemakers on your team, you must address them immediately and try different methods of getting them back on track.
Cultivate Relationships
If you want employees to stick around, take time with them. You should ask about their lives outside of work and show genuine interest in their well-being. Make sure your business has a positive and fun culture; people won’t stick around just for money. Look out for signs that someone is unhappy and address any issues promptly. You can also involve employees at all levels of your company, encouraging them to feel a sense of ownership over your business—this will help them feel invested in its success long term.
Adapt as Your Company Grows
One of the biggest challenges for a growing company is creating a work environment that’s both exciting and encouraging. But it should also be a mix of being productive and manageable. As your organization expands, you’ll need to hire talented new employees who can help take on additional responsibilities—but you’ll want to retain and encourage your existing staff at all costs. There are some actions you can take as a manager to keep them on board:
- Emphasize team growth goals over individual ones
- Make clear how they fit into the big picture (and what they have already accomplished)
- Celebrate victories regularly
- Evaluate their performance honestly and consistently
- Offer frequent professional development opportunities
Retain a Good Work Environment
The topmost reason top employees leave is a poor work environment, so you must do your best to create a good one. It might mean staying more flexible with hours and increasing pay, but there are other ways of making sure your best workers stay. Maintaining a good work environment isn’t just about keeping your staff—it’s also about retaining clients.
Your office exterior is also as important as its interior. People want a professional environment, and if your business looks unprofessional, then so will you. Make sure you have a clean building and fresh paint when possible, that everything is in good repair. Hire landscapers to have the grass mowed, keep weeds under control, and maintain a good curb appeal since badly-maintained lawns are often eyesores. Showing employees that you care about their working environment helps them become better workers. They enjoy being at work and love bringing clients through a well-kept facility, making both your clients and employees happy.
Help Out With Benefits
The best way to ensure your employees are happy with their job and won’t be tempted by other opportunities is through good benefits packages. These perks might include paid time off, health insurance coverage, life insurance plans, travel reimbursement, and a wide variety of other benefits. These perks will help keep your talent pool full and grow with you as you expand your business.
Offer Regular Feedback
It’s easy for staff to feel disillusioned with their position and lose passion for their work when they don’t receive regular feedback on their performance. By holding a structured one-on-one meeting every month, you can keep your employees engaged in what they do and ensure that they have ample opportunity to grow within your company. However, it’s also crucial that you don’t hold these meetings too frequently; once every two months is a good rule of thumb.
Have Professional Development Opportunities
An excellent way for companies to keep top employees around is by giving them professional development opportunities. Companies should find innovative ways to boost their employees’ skills and make those learnings applicable in real-world scenarios. For example, companies can set up regular training sessions or provide funds for specific certifications. When it comes down to it, companies need to make sure that they are encouraging employee growth at all company levels.
To avoid losing top talent, be open about your company culture—and mean it. Your brand can set you apart from competitors who promise a fun atmosphere without truly following through. Demonstrate that there is a higher purpose at work, and show your employees that they are valued as individuals.
