NEWS

Employee retention can be a stressful subject. For a business, one of your worst fears is losing the valued and successful team members that grow and run your business. Replacing them is sometimes costly and impossible.

During the past 3 years or so, there haven’t been many other jobs for talented team members to run away to. However, with the slow growth the economy is seeing alongside the thousands retiring on a daily basis, those individuals now have options again. So now what? As a business with the desire to keep the star performers you have; what should you do?

Since I’m a recruiter, I’m sure you can appreciate the irony of me writing a blog on the topic of Employee Retention. Please bear in mind; a question I ask my candidates on a daily basis, “Why are you looking for a change?” Here are a few of the top reason that I hear from candidates as to why they are making the leap from their current position.

Benefits and Compensation:  As an employer, make sure you keep up to date on how benefits and compensation are changing in the work place.  Know what your competitors are offering and what industry trends are for your market.  Even if you don’t know, I can bet your employees do.

An article published by, www.shrm.org., written by Joseph Coombs, states; “U.S. employees should see median base salary increases of 3 percent in 2013, according to global consultant Hay Group… The majority of planned salary budgets for 2013 in the industrial sector—which includes manufacturing, a strong job creator in the post-recession recovery so far—are scheduled for increases at or above 3 percent.”  Are you planning to give your employees a raise in 2013? If you’re not willing to pay your employees, there is a good chance someone else will.

Lack of personnel:  During the last few years, everyone across America, including most businesses, had to live and be productive with a tighter budget and fewer employees. This forced many companies to work with a “skeleton” crew.  This model will not sustain itself for very long.  Companies need to start adding new staff to take pressure off the employees they burdoned with too much responsibily during the hard times.  If you have a key member of your personnel doing the job of 2, sometimes 3 people, give them a little help.  Whether it’s a part time support member to help with their administrative duties or another full time employee, show them you’ve noticed the situation and care.

Company culture:  Define your company culture clearly and make sure any employee policies adhere to the perception you are pushing forward. If you claim to be a laid back creative atmosphere, then chastising employees for wearing jeans to work or instituting a once a week “dress down Friday” isn’t going to cut it. Realize that the employees you have now are not the employees you had ten years ago. Find out what makes your staff happy; (you wont find the answer in articles on Forbes.com and random recruiting blogs *cough**cough*). Ask them. Gen X and Gen Y love to be asked their opinions. They need to feel like they’re being considered in company policy and heard by upper management.

Now that you have some insider information; in 2013 how are YOU going to thank your employees for their continuous loyalty and support during the rough times?