Want Top Talent to Stay? Try These 4 Winning Retention Tactics.
I want to give you some tried and true retention tactics, that you can start implementing immediately in your organizations. Whether for a department, group, or whole company, these approaches work. I have used them time and time again – and indeed, they have produced good will, trust between employees and management, and created an open and transparent work environment. An environment where everyone wants to come to work and stay.
Resources for Retention
There are some good books on the market about retention that I recommend you read as well. The Deadly Sins of Employee Retention by Mark Murphy is terrific, as is Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em, Getting Good People to Stay by Beverly Kaye. My blog post on the 7 Stay Interview Questions to Ask is another great resources to reference. What I do find amazing though, is we wouldn’t have to be marketing anything about retention if we just created a great work environment right from the start. It will save you tons of time, money and effort, trust me. But if you do need some help…keep reading!
4 Winning Retention Tactics
1. Create open communication between employees and management
- Have regular meetings where employees can offer ideas and ask questions
- Host brown bag lunches, or round table discussions for the President and/or CEO and each of their executive leaders to host monthly with a group of employees (no more than 10)
- Have key leaders take employees to lunch; top, critical employees need to “feel the love” – taking them to breakfast/lunch makes a difference; also, send a group to lunch or dinner and pick up the tab (key leader manager doesn’t even need to go)
2. Managers need to be involved and empowered
- Require managers to spend time coaching and developing employees;
- Follow-up regularly on performance discussions and development plans; make these part of consistent, and every day interactions, not a once a year event
3. Business Plans and Strategy
- This needs to be communicated regularly and often – where is the company going, how are we going to get there, what role do the employees play; can be done through email updates and in person meetings
- President and/or CEO should ensure executive team has this information and require that they are pushing it down to every employee
- It is important that all employees know their role in the company and how they contribute to the plans and strategy; tying this to individual goals is key.
4. Rewards and Recognition
- Use “now that” rewards…don’t promise the reward for great work up front; if people are self-motivated to contribute and do a great job, i.e., a pitch, project, etc., reward them when the work is done, without their expecting it
There are many more ways to “show the love” and put retention efforts in place. They critical piece is, make these activities on going – part of the fabric of your organization. Make it so they aren’t even considered retention efforts, but just doing business as usual.
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As the CEO & Founder of East Tenth Group, Michelle leverages 25 years of business and experience as a strategic advisor and executive coach to help drive actionable people solutions and provide practical insights on business strategy to senior leaders. she and her team and are fiercely committed to the development and growth of people and companies because we believe that when people thrive, business thrives.
