This past week I spoke to a careers class about how to find a job from an employer’s perspective. We discussed the preparation and execution of a good job search including what employers want and need. Similarly, I also speak several times each year to cooperative education students about how to keep a job, also from an employer’s perspective.
Someone suggested flipping the scenario and considering what employers should do to keep their people, as so many organizations seem to suffer from employee retention issues. The suggester and several others believed it would be helpful for employers to consider solutions from their employee’s perspective.
Although I have circled this topic before, this post is devoted to that topic, using many of the comments from discussions I have had and listened to. Please feel free to comment, positively and/or negatively about what I have included and suggest points I have missed.
Be honest with your people. There is no such thing as business ethics and personal ethics, there are only ethics, and nor are there different degrees of ethics. By being honest, in good times, bad times, and easy and difficult circumstances, effective leaders and employers earn and maintain trust and loyalty by being honest and having integrity.
Don’t be quick with “No.” Effective leaders and managers should try to avoid “quick no’s.” When a new idea or method of doing something is suggested, a quick “no” signals rigidity, stifles creativity, and builds resentment. A better response might be, “That’s an interesting idea, let me think about it, and we will talk about it later,” even if the answer is still no later, at least the person feels listened to. Flat-out “no’s” leave zero room for accommodation and consideration.
Listen to your people and allow them to challenge your and your manager’s thoughts, plans, and actions. Successful organizational leaders realize they do not have a monopoly on good ideas. They know they are fallible. They empower their employees, give them responsibility, and allow them to grow helps to build loyalty and a stronger organization less dependent on one or two key people. Consider having a Team Charter to provide the mechanism to allow your team of people to grow in an interactive and collaborative environment.
Hire good people. Too few organizations take the time to establish a “shopping list” of skills, attitudes, and behaviors when they go to market. In addition, reconciling their shopping list with their budget is equally important. Job advertisements need to evolve and change, interview questions should be tailored, and interviewers need to be properly briefed. People are usually the single greatest investment an organization can make, finding and hiring well-matched people is important. Existing staff notices the method and results of hiring.
Pay at least a minimum living wage. Use full-time instead of part-time and pay benefits, even if they are cost-sharing. Too many people say this is unaffordable, not doing so is what isn’t affordable. People will stay if they can afford to live, and they won’t if they can’t, both have a dramatic effect on staff morale and performance.
Inspire your people. Everyone wants to believe what they do makes a difference. Give your people hope. Demonstrate gratitude for what they do and how they do it and do this more often than you think is necessary. You need to do this even if no one does it for you.
Train your people. Training is the one thing that is 100% within an organization’s control. Start planning before someone is hired and have orientation and onboarding processes that live and evolve. Have interactive training with your existing people, not just the new ones. The more people know, the more they can contribute, the more interesting their jobs are, and the more valuable they are to the organization.
Appreciate your people. Appreciation is more than just saying “thank you” although that is important. Learn to stand behind and up for your people when they make mistakes. Publicly give your people credit for success and shield them from unconstructive failure. Teach and enable them to learn from bad luck and failure. Remember your people are the face and strength of your organization.
Lead from the front when necessary. Effective leaders don’t waffle the hard decisions must be made. Effective leaders never play favorites, nor do they ignore bad behavior. Effective leaders do what needs to be done, whenever it needs to be done, and their people acknowledge, appreciate, and expect this.
Solicit and utilize lessons learned conversations. Effective organizations learn from their mistakes and successes. Effective organizations also learn from other people and other organization’s mistakes and successes. It is a fundamental maxim, to ask “What did we do right? What did we do wrong? and What should we do next time?”
Be fair, and consistent. Leaders are held to a higher standard by their employees. Leaders earn their respect by how they handle adversity and how they maintain their ability to do what is right regardless of the circumstances. Being fair, consistent, thoughtful, and poised when the “shit hits the fan” builds trust, respect, loyalty, and retention.
Keep your short/medium/and long-term plans within a 15-degree arc. Effective organizations and leaders work from a plan. Effective leaders lay out a strategy after prioritizing objectives and don’t try to do too much all at once. Effective leaders allow their plans to adapt, evolve, and correct as necessary; they don’t “flip/flop” and give their people and plans time to accomplish their tasks. When organizations constantly change direction and fail to keep their sense of perspective and priorities; they are doomed to structural failure as well as retention failure.
Deliver on promises. “Doing what you say when you say you will” is the hallmark of successful organizations. Whether leading a project, business, charity, or any endeavor, delivering on commitments as early and as often as possible builds reputation and retention.
Respect your people’s lives outside of work. Your people work so they can live, too many employers simply see their people as “cogs” in their machine. Your organization is not the most important thing in their lives and should never be. For example, good employers can demonstrate this by having schedules that balance the needs of the organization with the needs of the employee. Schedules should be done as far ahead of time as possible to minimize stress for employees with family commitments. Your people will understand and appreciate the balance as long as their employers understand them.
Your people are your priority. When your people have questions or problems, remember their needs trump almost everything else. If your organization helps and takes care of them, they are much more inclined to want to help take care of the organization.
Beware of leadership entitlement. Managers and supervisors to be effective must never believe they are more necessary than their people. Successful organizations rely on everyone making their contributions to success. No one is ever just “an employee.”
Make it easy for people to grow, even if it makes them grow out of your organization. Developing people is a fundamental key to retention. Sometimes though, as people grow, they outgrow the positions available within the organizations. When this happens, making allowances for people to leave can actually strengthen the originating organization as it expands and builds stronger external networks and alliances.
Build your community through your people. Organizations that are active participants in their communities build connectivity and goodwill that translates into staff retention. For example, having employees who volunteer with community groups, minor sports, local theatres, and service organizations helps to strengthen your organization’s brand and recognition. Most importantly though, supporting and encouraging your people gives them yet another reason for your people to be loyal to your organization.
Make the effort to talk to your people. Know your people, listen to your people, know what is happening in their lives, and do so genuinely. Caring and being approachable, especially on a “first name” basis makes you and your leaders “real” people, if your people know your organization cares about them, the ties that bind them to your team are strengthened.
Provide feedback. Perhaps the simplest and easiest task of all to build retention is to provide timely feedback. Let your people know either you are happy with their work or what you think they can do to be better and do it often. Your people should never have to wonder where they stand nor should they feel insecure and/or threatened because no one has provided any kind of performance review. When people feel insecure or underappreciated, they will try to rectify those feelings by looking for someplace that will provide that feedback and appreciation.
Is this list comprehensive and complete?
No, but it is a good start at looking at staff retention from your employee’s perspective. Use this as the basis of a discussion within your organization and with your people. Create an environment where your people feel valued, and appreciated, and where they can grow and develop and you have set the stage for people to want to remain with your organization.
Good luck,
Paul