Do you ever stop for a second to consider the consequences of your staff deciding to leave your business?
You’ve put mass amounts of time, effort, and money into finding and recruiting the very best people, so it would make great sense to think about how you can continue to make a return on your investment by nurturing your employees and doing all you can to hold on to them.
It’s worth noting that there are right ways to improve your retention rates, and there are approaches that are far less desirable. In some cases, certain popular practices could do more damage to your business than good.
Let’s examine some shady ways of holding on to your staff that you should seek to avoid.
Making big promises that you know you can’t keep
Perhaps you are aware that your staff wants greater opportunities for learning and development. Your staff has shown interest to take on more responsibility and that they have the drive and ambition to succeed.
It can be tempting to promise them what they’re looking for, but this should be avoided at all costs unless you know that you can deliver.
You need to effectively manage expectations, and you need to run your business with integrity. Be honest but look for other solutions. In the end, your staff will thank you for it and value the approach you take to running your business.
Offering retention bonuses
Retention bonuses have been the subject of many discussions in the world of Human Resources and People Management, and there are people on either side of the fence. It is known that there is very little evidence that suggests that giving your employees a bonus for staying with your company is all that effective.
Some argue that paying people for their loyalty rather than earning it is never a long-term solution. The buzz created by the cash incentive will wear off fairly quickly. As well, if you’re dealing with top performers, they may wish to receive a sign-on bonus when they join a new business. In short, the cash won’t make that much difference to them. In many cases, people leave not because they simply weren’t getting paid enough, but for a deeper range of factors.
Finally, there are so many better options to pursue if you have a budget to help you to improve your retention rates. Think about how you could improve working practices for everyone and make changes that really impact on motivation and engagement. You might have to get a bit more creative and think outside the box, but it can be very much worth it.
Taking the one-size-fits-all approach
Perchance, you’ve done your research by reading a guide on the best retention practices, and you’ve chosen to use what you have learned by implementing some overall changes to your policies and procedures. Although you do need to take a proactive approach to every angle of your people management needs, a textbook overload isn’t very likely to really deliver every single thing you may be searching for.
Because every business is different, what makes your business unique is its culture, which is created as a result of a wide variety of factors. You may often need to dive deeper into the real issues that are at play and craft a strategy that delivers real results.
Similarly, it may be necessary to have differing approaches throughout the same business. What keeps top performers in their roles isn’t always what motivates staff on the operational front line, and you need to tailor your practices to take this into account.
Would you like a FREE 30-minute consultation with a seasoned Senior HR professional about what you can do to improve retention? Do you want the chance to work with someone who can get to know your business, and make recommendations that will have a real impact? If so, Smarter HR Solutions would be delighted to help. Give us a call today at 713-999-1205.