It’s no secret that happy and fulfilled employees do not go looking for new jobs. Retaining employees, especially the best ones, is a good exercise of employee relations.
Knowing the pulse of employees and hearing them out can push the company to be more creative in engineering KRAs and KPIs, salary and benefits and other programs that engage them. It is critical that companies actively seek feedback. Unfortunately, some companies are only made aware of issues and concerns at the last minute, which happens to be at the resignation stage or in the exit interview.
Nurturing and keeping the best employees isn’t only about saving costs; it’s also about increased productivity and performance, improved services and ultimately, keeping valuable people and knowledge within the organisation.
Recruitment is the first step.
The recruitment phase sets the stage for retaining employees. Do not purely focus on attracting talent, dig deeper and ensure that you are matching candidates to the company’s culture and vision. Hiring managers need to identify the people who can stay not only because they are perfect for the role but also because they seem to complement the company’s purpose. You also need to translate this to the candidates at the interview, sell the benefits of the business, the value proposition your business has, the vision and what the company can do to support their goals.
Ongoing motivation, mentoring and engagement.
During this pandemic, it has become more evident that employee “engagement” isn’t just about brown bag sessions or seasonal town halls. It’s an ongoing commitment that requires business partners, immediate supervisors, department heads and Executive Committee Members to be hands-on in enriching the employee experience in the company. It requires a corporate culture to include basic human values such as empathy, compassion and kindness to keep employees feel safe and valued.
An employee needs to feel they matter. Knowing one’s employees, their talents, strengths and skills can help a company assign them to the right projects that will bring in not just the numbers but will also bring out the best in them.
Motivation, mentoring and engagement bring out the best in employees because they feel a genuine sense of solidarity from management. These pillars of employee relations give the best talents more reason to feel empowered to give their best for the team.
The right benefits and the right enablers.
Finally, good work needs to be compensated with good rewards. These do not only translate to better salaries but also benefits, rewards, tools of work and opportunities for learning that help the best talents grow their roots deep into the core of the company’s culture and mission. Their identity as employees become more meaningful when they see that they are being empowered to keep and become better in their jobs.
Keeping the best employees is a matter of attracting and nurturing those who can become the best ambassadors of the company. It’s science, art, strategy and good old human relations rolled into one goal.
