Keeping The Best: A Guide On Staff Retention

It is so often the case, that staff members are a business's most valuable asset. However, keeping the best ones over the long term can be a real challenge for companies, both large and small. After all, people's needs change, and there are always competitors that will try and poach the best workers away. Happily, there are some tactics you can use to keep hold of the very best employees.

Read on to find out what they are. 

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Don't say goodbye to your best employees! 

Work environment 

Above all else, what keeps people in their jobs for the long term is that they enjoy them. That they don't dread going into work each morning or watch the clock religiously until it gets to 5 pm each day. 

That means as an employer, you need to make the atmosphere in which your employees work as positive as possible. In fact, you can approach this situation in two ways. The first is to look at the physical environment in which you expect people to work. The idea being to ask yourself whether it's safe, clean, and aesthetically pleasing? These are the factors that can make the most difference in staff satisfaction.

Secondly, don't forget that the atmosphere of a workplace is more than just the physical environment but extends to the emotional situation as well. Therefore, someone feels left out, or there is a particular toxic member of staff, you must deal with this as soon as possible. In fact, doing so can not just help you retain the best staff over the long term, but also reduce any employee advance days due to stress as well.

Training 

Next, if you want to keep a hold of the best employees in your business over the long term, you must provide them with opportunities for training.

Now, you may think that as long as they are performing their work tasks adequately, training is an unnecessary expense and use of time. However, this is not the case. In fact, offering training to staff can help them be more invested in their work, and stay in their posts for longer, especially if it is leveled training that is related to official levels which can be displayed on their resume.

Happily, you don't have to dedicate a lot of person-power or in work time training to provide these benefits either. In fact, you can use automated lms software to manage training functions. Something that basically allows employees to work through the content at their own pace with very little interaction from your HR department. 

Wages 

They say that money makes the world go round, and it is true that many of us would not work if we didn't have bills to pay. Of course, what this demonstrates is the importance of remuneration for a job well done. In fact, being able to offer comparatively high wages is something that will also help you to keep the best employees working for your business. Often over the long term, this can be very beneficial for your company. 

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Being The Best Leader For Your Employees

There are many aspects to being a manager and employer which you need to focus on in order to run your business well. One of the most vital, however, is always going to be the issue of how you deal with your employees and how you treat them. The way that you approach this is really indicative of your management style generally, and it is something that your employees will be looking to in order to determine what kind of a boss you really are.

There are a great many things you might be keen to do in order to make sure that you are treating them right, and  that you are being the best leader you can be for them, and it’s worth paying attention to all of these as best as you possibly can. It could mean a better business, as well as happier colleagues.

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Provide A Safe Workplace

One of your most important priorities is that you need to make sure you are providing your employees with a safe workplace for them to operate within. This is not just a legal and moral necessity, but something that you will find people leap on if you don’t get it right. So make sure that you are aware of what it entails, and that you are really doing everything necessary to bring it about wherever you need to. The truth is that providing this kind of workplace is all about paying close attention to risk management. You need to remember that it’s worth being aware of the legal risks, for which you might need some help. Hupy & Abraham is a firm dedicated to providing excellent services which might prove useful here.

Encouragement

You want to get the best from your employees, so that means that you need to encourage them in such a way that that is likely to happen. Of course, that is something that can be a little more challenging than you might like to admit, but as long as you are happy to work on it slowly and surely you should find that you can really make it a reality.

A big part of this is making sure that you know what each person needs to hear in order to be encouraged - although that doesn’t mean you should simply lie to them in order to spur them on. By encouraging them as fully as possible, you can ensure that you get the best out of them, and so improve the way your business functions too.

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Leadership

Finally, being a leader means - well, leading. You need to make sure that you are approaching your leadership as best as you can, otherwise you won’t be able to ensure that your team works to the best of its capabilities. Good leadership is all about spotting what a person’s real skills are and making the most of them, so that is a good place to start. With that, you should then find that your people are also encouraged more, which will prove necessary too.

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Happy Staff / Happy Business - How To Make This Your Mantra

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It’s easy to think that in order to run a successful business, you need to crack the whip and squeeze every last ounce of value out of your staff. In some respects, it’s important to stay firm. If someone is continually taking days off, making a mockery of your process or acting as dead weight, disciplinary and dismissal processes might be needed.

But it’s also essential to, as a baseline, ensure your staff are happy at your firm. If not, then standards slip. It can be easy to think that staff will just leave if they are unhappy, but in some job markets that’s not as easy as you think. Some might prefer to stay for the security and financial comfort of a job while stress harms their working productivity, or they simply decide to achieve the bare minimum. No, actualized people, those who care about your brand, those are the people you want to work at your firm.

But it’s your job to actualize them through their career. It doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and you can’t expect your staff to always bring their best selves if you don’t give them that conduit. So, let’s consider how you might achieve this with care and intention:

A Rational Work/Life Balance

Some careers are known for their heavy time investment during the working week. For example, you wouldn’t expect to only work 35 hours a week as a partnered lawyer. Yet does this mean you should completely revert your needs for a healthy work/life balance? We’re not so sure that would be healthy. If anything, a rational work/life balance is needed, in fact, it’s absolutely essential.

This is where you need to consider your work schedule. If we’re not being naive, most business leaders know that overtime, working through lunches or a range of other effort-laden requirements are needed, even when fully staffed. But it’s important to know what features your work schedule should include, so that you can disseminate that information to our staff well. It can take a little time to implement a schedule that works for you, your staff, and the repeated sustainable needs of your business. And yet this is what you must fine tune, over and over again, in order to get to the best result. We think you can achieve this, with the resources linked.

Training

Training your staff is essential. You cannot simply expect staff, even if experienced, to be aware of every single process you have to deal with. They might not understand your working module, you might not have taught them of practical procedures unique to your firm, or they might just be confused with a process and need a further explanation. Do not treat this as a waste of time.

The more you can engage the learning interest of your staff, the better. For example, let’s use a business everyone can understand to illustrate this point - a restaurant. Let us say you’re making new changes to the menu. Instead of simply telling your staff how to describe the menu and showing them what it looks like, have them taste each item. Get their thoughts. Ask them how they might describe it, and what wines those foods would pair with. This is the difference between an order and helping staff absorb the new direction, able to use this to inform their best work.

In an office setting, it can be the same way. For example, helping them become aware of the intimate details of a client’s brief rather than simply telling your staff to do something a certain way can inspire the best work, and help the entire team, even in a hierarchical structure, feel like more of a collaborative environment.

Confidentiality And Respect

It’s essential to treat everyone the same way. Treating staff with confidentiality and respect is essential. No matter if they have been accused of workplace bullying, stealing from your stock room, or simply failed to make a certain deadline. It’s important to give everyone their fair chance, and be as neutral as possible from your HR perspective as you can.

Sometimes, unless essential, having your HR staff inform you of only the lightest, anonymous and most needed details of caring for a certain employee can help them retain their dignity, especially through essential matters such as mental health issues etc. There is a way to conduct this work and keep an open door policy that will always help your team know you are there for them. This is important.

With this advice, we hope you can ensure a happy staff, and from then on a happy business.

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How You’re Going To Keep Morale High In The Workplace

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In the majority of instances, a business’s level of success and growth is dependent on how well the staff works together. If the employees are performing at a high level, the company as a whole is going to experience fantastic results and flourish faster. Adversely, if they aren’t hitting the required standards, the company won’t reach anywhere near its potential. It could stand still or maybe even go backward, which could lead to failure. 

Sometimes there’s a secret formula and a method that means everything in a particular workplace flows so very smoothly, but the majority of the time it’s down to hard work and concentration. We all know that hard work gets us what we want in life. We also know that motivation and initiative can be hard to come by sometimes. If we were all able to stay switched on like robots, we’d probably all be millionaires, or maybe even billionaires! 

So if you’re the boss of a firm, and you need to keep your staff focused, motivated, and willing to get things done in a fast manner, what can you do to achieve it? Every single person is different, and they all have complex thoughts happening in their heads, so not everything will work for all of them. There are little things you can do, and little changes you can apply that may give everyone a boost, though. Let’s take a look at some.   

Keep Your Work Space Clean and Sanitized

A clean and healthy environment is one that will likely create a lot of productivity. There’s no reason why you should have to attempt to get things done whilst surrounded by ugly and dirty items, sticky furniture, and other work-related bits and pieces. If you’re in an unsanitary place, workers are likely going to be distracted by the unpleasantness. You’ll need them to be focused fully on their jobs. Get everything cleaned up. If you have the funds, you could hire cleaners to come in a few times a week to make sure the place is consistently kept fresh.

Be Organized

The workplace won’t operate to its potential if there are constantly bumps and kinks along the way. A lack of organization could result in slow work and, thus, be an annoyance for all staff members. Make sure the desks or workstations and neatly arranged. Make sure also to remind each individual to assemble their stations efficiently. 

Keep Your Work Space Safe for Employees 

Similar to cleanliness, the staff is going to work with a lot more confidence and peace of mind if they know that they’re safe and comfortable in their surroundings. You’ll want to make sure the place is secure from any problems in terms of criminals and the building’s condition. 

Installing security systems such as CCTV cameras and alarms could deter robbers from breaking into your office or warehouse. You could also build a gate or fence, hire security guards, or buy large locks for the doors. 

The premise itself needs to be safe to work in, otherwise, your staff will not want to go to work. Check to see if all of the utilities are working correctly. Be sure to check that none of the fundamental parts are shoddy or damaged. If they are, you could also get in contact with contractors and handy people that can fix those issues. If you need an electrician to rewire parts of the systems, or roofers to provide a commercial roof replacement, it’s probably wise to get in touch sooner rather than later.   You just want to be sure the entire office or warehouse is in working condition and up to the city or town’s code.

Spread Positive Vibes to Everyone on the Team

Finally, make sure that everyone on the team is satisfied. Do this by cultivating a laid-back attitude and welcoming work environment. A stressful or toxic work atmosphere only leads to burn out, which negatively impacts attendance and productivity. You could also provide your staff with rewards, incentives, bonuses, and perks such as holiday and thanksgiving gifts for employees to show your appreciation. An employee will be as grateful for a gift as much as you take the time top tap them on the shoulder and say “thank you.” 

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