To keep exceptional employees and to reduce employee turnover, it’s not enough for a company to say that people are their greatest asset. You, the Leader must show you value your employees. If your organization is experiencing a high level of employee turnover, it isn’t okay to dismiss it by thinking it was inevitable or that the employee wasn’t that strong.
When a company loses exceptional employees, the loss can be seen in three critical areas:
1. Impact on other employees
2. Impact on the bottom line
3. Impact on productivity
I’ve listed three small steps a CEO or Business Owner can implement to immediately move the company from good to great when it comes to keeping exceptional employees.
#1: Articulate your philosophy about the people who work for you. Write down your answers to these five questions.
1. How do you want your employees to feel every day when they come to work?
2. What do you want employees to believe in?
3. What do you want them to know about your company?
4. How do you want employees to treat each other?
5. How do you want your employees to treat your customers?
Once you, (the CEO/Business Owner) are clear on the answers to those five questions, ask each of your managers to answer them too. Better yet, why don’t you answer them together as an exercise?
#2: Working with your management team, determine how you will:
Communicate your philosophy of people to the employees in your organization
Reinforce employee commitment to the above
Address employees who challenge the above?
If you haven’t created the core values that drive organizational behavior, it would be advisable to make this a priority. Core values help employees make decisions that line up with these critical beliefs.
#3: Once you and your managers are clear on core company values, find out what makes each person tick. Every employee should be able to:
1. Identify what their strengths are. Are they doing work that plays to those strengths every day?
2. Be keenly aware of what’s expected of them. Can employees articulate their value to the overall goals of the company?
3. Have and use the equipment, materials and supplies they need to do their work
4. Accept praise – In the last seven days, did they receive recognition for doing something well?
5. Feel someone – their manager, the CEO – cares about them as a person
6. Connect with someone at work who encourages their development. Has a manager or leader talked to them about their own goals and aspirations? Has their manager explained how their goals fit within the overall organization goals?
Keeping exceptional employees is the only way a business can capitalize upon profits, productivity, and performance. The number one job for a leader is the development and management of people. Without them, you won’t have a business to run.
We help organizations with employee challenges every day. We’ve been doing this type of work for twenty-five plus years – we know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two. Contact Strategic Human Insights, we’d be delighted to work with you.