Did you know that over half of all U.S workers are either looking for a new job or looking out for potential new job openings?
It’s a sobering thought for senior managers and business owners who have taken the time to seek out and employ the best staff only to potentially lose them to their competitors.
Surely there must be steps that you can take as an employer to keep your employees not only happy, but also eager to work to the best of their abilities for you.
Thankfully, there is.
If you do want to ensure that your staff are committed to you on a long-term basis, you need to fulfil all their needs as an employee; from treating them well to making sure they are challenged career-wise.
Read on to find out exactly what you should be doing.
1. Show appreciation
Saying thank you to your employees is such a simple gesture, but one that is often overlooked. If you want your staff to work hard for you then you should always prioritize showing appreciation for their efforts. This is an especially important task if you are not in the position to reward your employees with a pay rise or a bonus; explaining to them that the business cannot afford to monetize their efforts but that you have noticed their accomplishments and appreciate them can go a long way to ensuring job satisfaction.
2. Offer non-monetary rewards
There are many ways in which you can reward your employees without simply giving them a pay rise. For example, you could publicly recognize their efforts in front of the whole company, throw an event to celebrate their achievements or even something as simple as a ‘thank you for all your hard work’ lunch can really make the difference to your employees’ morale.
3. Help them grow
Few employees will stay with a company for a long period of time if they see no room for career development or personal growth. Again, this is not directly linked to a promotion (although these are important), but moreover showing your employees that you care about them as professionals and want them to feel that they can improve their skillset whilst working for you.
Offering relevant courses, encouraging mentoring, on the job training and even rotating employee roles where possible can all help with your employees’ career development.
4. Know your employees
Your staff do not want to feel purely like a cog in a well-oiled machine, they want to be treated as individuals with their own strengths and merits. Although this may be difficult in a large corporation, it is important that you know every one of your employees both for their self-esteem and for you as a business owner so that you can maximize their potential.
An easy way to do this is by having a workforce analytics program in place that can help you access and understand your human resources data with the click of a button.
5. Support their work-life balance
This is equally as important for yourself as a business owner or manager as it is for your employees, as an unhealthy work-life balance can cause your staff to become stressed, anxious and even lead to burn out; causing you lost working hours and putting your employees’ health and wellbeing at risk.
Ways in which you can help your employees have a good work-life balance include; offering flexible working hours where possible, showing them how to maximize their time whilst in work, organizing well-being or stress-relieving activities during working hours and arranging team building events.
Remember it is a lot easier to keep existing staff happy than it is to have to keep on recruiting new ones; put in the effort and your employees will do the same.
Video – What is Human Resource Development?
Human Resource Development or HRD refers to the training and development of a company’s workforce. Employers that spend time, effort, and money on HRD tend to retain their workers longer than their counterparts that don’t. Watch this Market Business News video, which is aimed at lay people, for a brief description of the term.