Employees are the backbone of a business, and it’s important to ensure that they remain satisfied in their job. Create a workplace employees enjoy with these expert tips:
Russell Davidson, Managing Director at Davidson Asset Management
Davidson Asset Management is an employee benefits adviser, specialising in the hospitality and retail sectors.
1. Make promotion a realistic possibility
If you want your employees to be passionate and committed to your company, then you need to think long-term. If a promotion comes up and there is a current employee who could be a good fit, then at least invite them for an interview. A business that consistently hires outsiders rather than promote their own staff will soon find it hard to convince disgruntled workers to stay.
2. Pay well
Alright, this one is more than obvious but still worth highlighting. No matter how much a staff member may love your company, if a competitor can offer a much better salary, you’ll soon be looking for a replacement.
3. Offer an employee benefits package that excites
As an employee benefits adviser, I too often meet businesses with an ancient employee benefits package (or worse – no package!) that hasn’t been revised in years. If you want your employees to actually benefit from their employee benefits, then it might be time to update your current one.
4. Communicate your employee benefits
Once you’ve got an employee benefits package, you’re missing out if you don’t communicate it well. Benefits can be a great way to encourage employees to stay with a company, but they need to know about these benefits and understand them.
5. Support your staff’s causes
More and more, workers are giving time to charity. Whether it’s a 10k run or a week away volunteering, many employees are making the world a better place. By agreeing to donate to or give extra holidays for your staff’s charity causes, you’ll be doing good and have grateful employees.
Sue Foster, Head of IT at Ataris Executive Search
Ataris Search is a premier UK executive search firm operating within a wide range of technical sectors.
1. Create a positive working environment
We have designed the interior of our new head office to be a positive working environment. The office is open plan which adds more natural light and it has several breakout areas. These include a kitchen with a PlayStation – so staff have the chance to get away from their desk and relax during their lunch hour.
2. Have a good work/life balance
We want our employees to have a balanced lifestyle so we provide them with 28 days holiday per year. This gives employees several breaks from work throughout the year to keep them refreshed – they come back to work with recharged batteries.
3. Invest in your workforce
We believe that if you invest in your workforce, it will benefit the business. This is why we regularly put staff through training courses to help develop their skills. We have a number of apprentices who are training at local colleges as well as employees doing qualifications in accountancy, HR and recruitment. We have also supported employees financially to pass their driving test.
4. Reward
To maintain a happy workforce, Ataris Executive Search rewards staff for their continued hard work. We provide bonuses to both our recruitment consultants and our back office staff for hitting their targets. We also reward staff with private health care cover and host an annual team building day that combines a fun day out with getting to know their colleagues better. Employees who have a close relationship with their co-workers are less likely to leave the business.
5. Review
We hold a detailed review with each employee every year. This provides them with the opportunity to reflect on the past year, what they would like to achieve in the upcoming year and how the business can help them achieve this. This also gives employees a chance to outline their goals and targets, so they have a clear direction of what they are working towards and what steps they need to achieve to be promoted to the next level.
Michelle Henry, Managing Director and Signwriter at HNS Signs
HNS Signs is a Birmingham-based bespoke signage, vehicle graphics, screen and digital printing company.
1. Be flexible
We operate on a flexible schedule at HNS. We allow staff to start early and finish early or start late and finish later. This helps out the early birds and the night owls, and helps us plan our workload around our clients.
2. Take an interest in your staff and their welfare
Our job can sometimes be physically demanding and so we’ve recently installed a gym to support our staff and their physical fitness requirements. We also have a fruit delivery every week – free fruit keeps the office healthy!
3. Rewards and recognition
It’s not always about the salary. At HNS we like to reward our staff in other ways including paying for driving lessons, regular staff nights out or take-aways. And if they want to improve their skills, we will send them on training courses.
4. Eliminate hierarchy
Don’t ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself – we delegate fairly and often work side by side without hierarchy. As a hands-on boss, I’m a regular in the unit with my sleeves rolled up and always ready to take my turn with tea runs.
5. Listen and learn
I often share my experiences and skills with my team, but I regularly listen and learn from them too.
Thanks to all our contributors for their valuable input. What has been your experience as an employer or employee when it comes to employee retention? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.