Three Ways To Retain Your Best Talent
Hiring in the current working environment has become highly competitive for top-notch talent. Once these employees are obtained however, it becomes even more important to keep them within your company and foster their growth so that they stay. Often times employees leave a company because they don’t share the same vision, and sometimes they may not even know exactly why they are unhappy, but feel it necessary to change. It becomes harder and harder to retain employees if you don’t first understand their needs. Retention of the best talent isn’t rocket science, it comes down to three main points.
1. Communication & Vision
By having open communication, employees feel that they can be open with ideas as well as problems. Successful companies allow their employees to seek help with open communication from inter-department support and sharing of information. The best talent wants to seek out answers to their questions and feel fulfilled with the response. When employees are communicated with clear, concise direction, given prompt feedback, and provided quick answers when they have questions, they are more likely to feel supported throughout their work environment and comfortable sharing their goals. Company directors must also share the corporate vision with their employees, making it clear that they have a vision and how their employees fit into this larger goal. Employees feel that they are part of the bigger whole when they are treated as a team player and are more likely to remain a team member for the future.
2. Empowerment & Growth
Work environment is important when considering retention of talent. Morale between departments is key in continuing the happiness and well-being of your employees. Employees that are given direction and support, feel like they are making a difference within their workplace and will more than likely continue to contribute positively to the overall environment. Management should make sure that their employees feel empowered to do their best daily. Incentives, encouragement, and feedback are most important to maintaining a positive environment of empowerment.
Coupled with empowerment, employees must feel that they have space to grow. Job growth is the number one reason why employees may be willing to jump ship into a new position at a different firm. In order to keep the talent within your company, demonstrating and promoting internal growth through education, as well as mentoring programs allows employees to grow within their role and remain a dynamic part of the company. Without the growth opportunities, employees tend to feel stagnant and bogged down, becoming more likely to leave their current role in search of another.
3. Trust & Transparency
Another important phase for talent retention is information transparency to build trust within the company. The Y-Generation will soon become the majority of the work force and talent pool. Many of which are highly overqualified for entry level positions. However, by gaining their trust it is more likely that this quality work force will remain within the company to grow, rather than jump ship quickly. Many large companies publish some of their financial data and other important business information for their employees to access. In the old days, this type of information would only be made available to high officials within the business. However, with newer generations, the transparency is key to trust. Employees want to feel that they are being treated equally and have all of the information that they need to make informed decisions, good or bad. When employees feel trusted with important information, they in turn trust the company and will stay with what they trust rather than an unknown. Building rapport and trust with employees can be the key to success in keeping great talent and building up your business for success overall.
