Paying a fair salary is one of the best ways to maintain staff and avoid high turnover, but there are other means of keeping employees happy in addition to good pay. Global business expert and author John Spence’s video on how to attract and retain top talent provides an excellent synopsis outlining some of these key factors. Highlighted here are five different ways to retain talent with non-monetary benefits.
- Challenging, meaningful work: Keep top talent challenged and motivated through interesting projects that utilize their strengths and specific skillsets. Give employees a clear direction and set realistic goals and standards. Create opportunities for advancement and promotions.
- Positive work environment: Create a positive work environment where people enjoy their colleagues and spend time recognizing and appreciating each other’s efforts. Celebrate employee milestones such as birthdays and work anniversaries. Offer fun teambuilding activities that allow colleagues to socialize and associate outside of an office setting including outings like volunteering, cookouts, hiking, and trivia or karaoke nights.
- Foster a winning culture: Attract employees who share similar values. Provide a mentor for new employees to help them settle in and adjust to the position. Manage an onboarding program to help retain new hires. Since more and more individuals are seeking work/life balance these days, Forbes recommends offering scheduling flexibility, a perk that became even more attractive during the pandemic. This might entail some remote work options in industries where the approach is feasible. A flexible work arrangement also demonstrates trust in the employee that they will manage their time effectively and get the job done. Remind people that they are appreciated and recognize their accomplishments. Solicit feedback from employees on why people stay with the company to monitor turnover risk and proactively prevent it.
- Promote personal and professional growth: Invest in the professional career development of your employees and provide them opportunities to grow and succeed with the company. This might entail sending employees to training seminars or having them watch webinars that contribute to their personal and professional growth. The employee must be able to envision a strong future career path with your business five to ten years down the road. They need to know that they are a part of the company’s vision and will play a role in helping achieve goals and benchmarks. Ninety-four percent of employees surveyed for a 2018 Linkedin workplace study said they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development.
- Leadership style: Employees will want to work for someone they trust, admire and respect.As Spence said in his video, “top talent is attracted by great leadership.” Leaders can draw people to a company or drive them away. Investing in management training for leaders to learn how to motivate different personalities and better handle crisis management can increase employee retention. Meet regularly with employees either biweekly or monthly to gather feedback and address any concerns they might have. Engage them and show them that their opinions and input matter.
Additional sources: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2021/02/25/cant-afford-raises-15-alternative-ways-to-keep-top-talent-on-board/?sh=2bb5e67872aa, https://www.apollotechnical.com/employee-retention/, https://sparkbay.com/en/culture-blog/employee-retention-stategies-2, https://learning.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/learning/en-us/pdfs/linkedin-learning-workplace-learning-report-2018.pdf
By Colin McCandless.
