We have all heard the saying “people are your greatest asset”. Indeed, numerous studies show that employing the right staff and retaining them is an important factor when it comes to business success. This is largely because constantly having to train new employees reduces productivity. Plus, customers get used to being looked after by the same people. Therefore, they only become repeat customers because they know and trust your staff. Fortunately, there are some fairly easy things you can do to help you to retain your staff.
Offer the right package of benefits
Offering the right benefits package is important in some industries. For example, opting for an Evoque lease instead of one for small, low-spec vehicles can make a huge difference. Very few of your sales team will want to spend all day driving around in a compact car without air-conditioning when they can work for another firm and drive something better.
You need to understand the benefits that matter to the type of people you want to employ and put together a package that reflects their tastes and needs. The fact that people´s aspirations change means that you need to regularly review your benefits package and compare it to what your competitor´s offer.
This is particularly important right now. Currently, tens of thousands of baby boomers are leaving the workplace. Therefore, you are definitely going to be employing more Millennials, in the next few years. Given the fact that these two groups have very different aspirations and desires means that you really need to move with the times to stand any chance of succeeding with retaining the new generation of staff you need.
Do not let your staff stagnate
A recent study carried out in the UK showed that 35% of people had left their job because they were bored. Clearly, some jobs by their very nature are boring. However, there is still a lot you can do to reduce boredom levels amongst your workforce. Simple steps like rotating people through the various jobs can make a huge difference. Offering people the chance to learn new skills also helps. Involving them in workshops to find more efficient ways of working or testing out new technology can also help to reduce boredom levels.
Enable your staff to maintain a good work/life balance
Another big reason people leave a job is a lack of work/life balance. Often, they will cope with long or erratic work hours for a few months. However, eventually, this becomes too stressful for them and their family. Therefore, they start looking for a new job.
It is very important not to treat your staff like they are a piece of equipment you can switch on and off. They will not work productively for long under those conditions. Of course, you can get away with offering mostly ´zero hour´ contracts and only telling people you need them to work late at the very last moment. However, if you take that approach you will always have to deal with staff churn. In the long term, it is rarely an efficient way of working.
Fortunately, switching to a culture where maintaining a healthy work/life balance is possible for most of your staff is not as difficult, or costly, as you may think. You can find out how to get started with making the switch from this page.
