5 Incredibly Useful Employee Retention Tips For Small Businesses
Make a conscious effort to make employees feel like they’re part of the team. It’s a lot harder to leave a company where you’ve become close with your coworkers and feel like you’re all working hard towards a common goal and vision.
Give employees the knowledge and tools they need to succeed in their roles. Don’t expect that they’ll show up to your company knowing everything - understand that it’ll take time to learn the culture and company-specific ways of doing things. Support employees with training and mentoring. Provide a detailed org chart and create an open-door policy. Let new employees shadow successful team members in other departments, so they understand all of the roles and how they work together. An employee who feels supported and who is continuously learning new skills is more likely to stay with your company.
Leaders need to lead. Even leaders of small companies need to set the organization culture and tone (there’s no such thing as being “too small” to do this!). It’s easier for an employee to buy into your vision and want to contribute to your company’s long term goals when they know what they are. This improves retention. What kind of company would you want to work long-term for? Build that kind of company for your team. Also, be open to feedback from your employees. If an employee feels heard, they’re more likely to stick around.
Ensure you build diversity into your team. The lone female, or the lone person of colour, for example, isn’t likely to stay long at your company. Create a culture that openly celebrates and respects diversity in all ways (and make sure to “walk the talk!”). Ensure language used in job postings isn’t biased in any way, or doesn’t discriminate against certain groups.
Ensure pay and benefits are based on industry standards. Why? Because it’s often easier for an employee to get an external promotion with your competitor than an internal promotion (be aware of this). As your employees gain new skills and become more valuable to you (and your competitors), make sure they’re compensated accordingly. If not, they’ll leave, and you’ll end up paying the same amount in hiring/onboarding/lost productivity costs for the replacement anyway.
What’s your company doing to retain employees? Let us know in the comments!
HIGH TIDE LEARNING STUDIO
We’re Erin and Peter, a husband and wife team passionate about making your organization successful through employee training and engagement. Join us as we explore new opportunities to improve your workplace.