The employee market is a concept that should be remembered by every employer who cares about building a harmonious team of professionals and maintaining the highest possible efficiency in their company. There is more and more talk about attracting the best talent on the market to your company, but have you thought about how to keep them? What actions will prevent your best employees from even thinking about looking for another employer? Here are some tips that will help you reduce turnover in your company and keep the best specialists!
1. Appreciate
You may find it obvious, but think about it - when did you say something nice to your employees? When did you appreciate their work? A few nice words of appreciation costs you nothing, and for them, it can have a significant impact on their motivation and commitment to their duties. Even if you manage a large company, don't limit yourself to the highest structures. Check, at least once in a while, what the lower-level employees are doing, and if you notice their valuable input, appreciate it. Sometimes it is the supervisor's recognition that may have a decisive impact on whether a given person decides to apply to another company.
2. Be honest
However, to be honest with potential employees, you should focus on people who have been joining your company for years. It is primarily about a clearly defined remuneration policy adapted to the needs of a dynamically changing market. It often happens that the spreads stated in job advertisements for a given enterprise are higher than the rate of people working there for years in the same position. In such a situation, there is a great risk that the already hired person will feel underappreciated and will be convinced of the truth of the saying, “Do you want to get a raise? You better change your job! ”. This is a big mistake because the cost of recruiting and implementing a new employee can significantly exceed the expenses associated with raising the rate for those already employed.
What's more, you can never be sure that the new person will meet your expectations and fit the team's rest. You may not even decide to extend her contract, and the cost of such wrong decisions is a big loss for the company. That is why it is worth focusing on appreciating the current "proven" staff.
3. Take care of a high level of staff
Probably none of us likes to work with people who are completely unhappy with their position. The quality of work of employees and what they represent impact the mutual motivation of employees. If there are people in the company who do their job poorly, it may impact other team members' work. After all, why try, since the boss keeps in the company even those who do not contribute anything to it, and their work is a daily series of failures? Sometimes, as an employer, you may not notice this, which is a big mistake because such people are very demotivating and reduce the quality of work of the entire team.
4. Respect the private life of employees
Recently, a prevalent concept is work-life-balance, i.e., a balance between private and professional life. Believe it or not, few employees join your company's ranks because they value their employer's brand and the values it represents so much. The facts are that the vast majority work for money and development opportunities, as many studies have already shown.
Therefore, if you care about the opinion of an understanding employer who realizes that the life of his employees is not only work - show that you understand and respect it. To do this, it is not enough to hold off calling them at night to ask about the state of their project. The answer to employees' needs will be to enable flexible hours and remote work, thanks to which you will help them reconcile private and professional life.
5. Support the development and improvement of qualifications
IT specialists need to be able to develop and improve their qualifications. This means that if you want to keep them in the company, you should try to provide them with the right conditions to expand their knowledge and skills. You can do it in many different ways, such as co-financing or fully covering the costs of training and industry conferences, purchasing online courses, or introducing a library for employees.
Another issue is development, understood as the possibility of constantly climbing up the career ladder. Hired 3 years ago, Junior Java Developer is certainly not as satisfied with his position as when you hired him. Remember periodic evaluations and appreciate employees through career promotions, which will certainly affect their loyalty and attachment.
6. Take care of the health and well-being of employees
All of the above-mentioned factors have an invaluable impact on the well-being of your employees. However, this is not all you can do to make their lives better and perform their professional duties with more joy and energy. Currently, more and more companies decide to introduce so-called well-being services for employees, aimed at improving their health and condition. The most popular of them are:
- Multisport cards
- Massages in the office
- Office gyms (only for employees and their relatives)
- Meetings with a physiotherapist or dietitian
- Healthy meals in the office (not only "fruit Tuesdays," but also whole dishes prepared under the supervision of a dietitian)
- SPA services
- Cash allowances for physically active people (e.g., bonuses for people commuting to work by bike)
Some companies go a step further. There are many possibilities, so it is worth considering what will work for your company and best match your employees' expectations.
7. Let yourself be liked
Haven't you heard of superiors who treat their employees in advance and make someone of themselves in the image of celebrities? If we are talking about the employee market, the boss's image, at the sight of whom everyone feels a little anxious and frightened, will not come true at all. Today's employees, and especially the young generation, expect partner treatment and understanding. They want to be appreciated and feel that the employer takes their opinion into account and considers them an important part of their company. They should know that, if necessary, they can turn to their boss because he will always find time for them, listen to them willingly and never send them back. This is especially true for small businesses where employees have direct contact with the founder of the company. Such people usually feel a greater attachment to the employer, have greater expectations of him, and want him to keep them informed about their decisions that affect the company's further development.
We hope that this post prompted you to reflect on how you treat your employees and whether you really are doing everything to make your company work as well as possible.
And if, while reading this article, you found out that you are trying to follow all the above-mentioned tips - congratulations! Your employees will surely appreciate it and will not think about changing their employer soon!
Posted on Mar 23, 2021 by Anna
