6 Ways to Retain Key Employees

By Rieva Lesonsky

Think your employees are satisfied with their jobs? You may need to think again. According to a new survey recently released by job-placement firm Manpower, 84 percent of employees plan to look for a new job in 2011. That’s an increase from just 60 percent who were planning a job search last year.

At this point in the economic recovery, I’m guessing that, if you’re like most entrepreneurs, you don’t have a lot of “dead wood” on staff. The employees you kept on board through the tough economic times have learned to do more with less, have demonstrated loyalty and have helped your business survive and even thrive. In short, these are desirable employees and if you lose them, you’re losing key knowledge and skills, which could hinder your business.

What can you do to retain key workers? Here are some ideas.

More money: OK, you didn’t really need me to tell you employees are eager for salary increases. Can you offer raises at this point? Many small employers probably can’t, but if you possibly can, now’s the time to consider it. Other options that enable you to reward staff without getting locked in to permanently higher salaries include setting up some form of profit-sharing plan or offering bonuses for employees who meet performance goals. Both options are tied to performance, so if your company or your team doesn’t do well, you’re not on the hook for the additional expense.

Perks: Some perks employees want may be beyond your budget. But others can be offered without a lot of cost. Working from home is one perk that doesn’t cost much to implement (beyond making sure workers have the technology they need) and can actually save you money in the long run. Another smart perk is offering flexible hours.

Benefits: Depending on the size and average salary of your work force, there are some big tax breaks available for small companies that offer health insurance. Health insurance is the number-one benefit employees value, so if you’re not already offering this, now is the time to investigate. Healthcare.gov explains the rules and benefits of the new health insurance laws, and offers lots of resources to find coverage.

Training: Especially in today’s economy, employees are acutely aware of how important it is for their job skills to be up to speed. Encourage your employees’ growth by assessing their skills and training them in new ones. You can use cross-training (where employees train each other in their jobs), online training or training programs offered by your industry association. There are many options to help your staff learn more—which helps your business as well as your team.

Communication: One edge that small companies have over big ones is the ability to create an environment where employees feel listened to and respected. Make sure your staff feels comfortable coming to you with problems. Keep an “open-door” policy and get out and mingle with your staff. Weekly staff lunches or other informal events are a great way to build team spirit. Communication is key to keeping the “family feeling” in your business.

Empowerment: Give your staff the autonomy they need to grow in their jobs. Empowerment mean letting them make some mistakes, of course. When that occurs, investigate what went wrong, but don’t blow your top over it. Give the person the responsibility of figuring out how to prevent the same mistake the next time. Giving the employee ownership of the problem turns it into a learning opportunity.

Image by Flickr user Kandr Newall (Creative Commons)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 at 10:30 am and is filed under Workforce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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